Guest Post: Carol K, M.A./CCC-SLP/L
Allow me to let you in on a secret, from one Speech-Language Pathologist to another. I’ve often thought that being an SLP can be difficult, because you can’t pull the words out of a person’s mouth. Speech therapists cannot force sounds, words, or phrases from a student. Our job is to help someone do something that they find challenging or impossible. When a skill is particularly challenging, students may not want to even attempt it, for fear of failure or a sense of hopelessness. In addition, they are missing class time, lectures, or recess. Sometimes they miss their favorite subject. Sometimes they attend sessions after school and miss out on playtime, their favorite cartoon, or time with their family and friends after a long day at school. To a student, attending speech sessions can be frustrating and have little point.
As Speech-Language Pathologists, it is our job to make this experience as pain free as possible. We need to ask ourselves how to make speech therapy fun and relatable, and keep students engaged.