As the title implies, this past weekend I finally felt like an adult. You see, John and I have been in school for a very very long time. John is currently in grad school working on his M. Div and will hopefully be finished in 2 years. Even though we have been grown-ups (paying bills) throughout our time in school, something about continually making plans around an academic schedule sometimes has us feeling stunted. It doesn't help that society has various ages for when a person can do something. 21 to drink, 18 to join the military, 18 to vote, 25 to rent a car, etc. It takes a long time for someone to reach an age where they are no longer restricted by age to do something.
In my mind adults have kids. I have always thought I would feel like an actual adult when I am in charge of taking care of another human being. I explained this to my father, who insisted that he at the age of 54 he still doesn't always feel or act like an adult. I suppose adulthood is all theoretical anyway. Some countries consider adulthood to begin at ages 13. It was only in the last 100 years or so since people commonly married at 18. Needless to say feeling and being an adult do not happen at the same age for everyone.
This weekend I was on my way to Houston to a continuing education course for work. Upon arrival at the hotel I checked in and quickly changed. I was picked up by one of best friends from elementary school for dinner and drinks. She is an attorney working for a law firm in Houston. Seeing her looking all lawyery (professional and elegant) it hit me, "Geez, we are adults". I played on the swings with this kid at recess, played with animal erasers, had sleepovers with ridiculous amounts of candy, talked about boys....you name it. There I was looking at us in the mirror while we were talking about careers and kids. It was the craziest thing to see this person I have known almost my whole life and to realize how far we have come and where we have gone. I'm not sure this gal knows how special I think she is or amazing she is so her being an awesome attorney is not surprising, but us being so grown-up is sometimes.
Friday my BFF and I went to day one of our training which was a 10 hour day. This friend and I became instant best friends in 2008 in our undergrad program for speech language pathology. We have been inseparable since then. Her and I spent so much time talking about what it would be like to be practicing speech language pathologists, what we would we specialize in, where would we work, what populations would we work with, etc. And here we were in Houston studying yet again. It was really interesting to think about far we have come. After our insanely long day we met a friend of ours from grad school for dinner. Over dinner and fro-yo we discussed our jobs, plans for the future, colleagues, treatment, travel, etc. It was an amazing dinner. I guess for me some of it was strange because 3 years ago we were discussing how we were going to pass the exam and still have a great time at the Harry Potter premier at 12:00 am.
Ideas of when John and I would have children never crossed my mind at that time because it seemed years away. John and I were more interested in where careers and travel would take us. Our friends were getting engaged and married and now our friends are having babies. John and I never thought we would be foster parents. Now half of the conversations John and I have are about kids and foster care. I know these life changes are not a big deal, but it was just something interesting I couldn't help but think about. No matter what kind of plans you make you really never know where life will take you. So yes right now I feel like a grown-up, one with a plan. I am sure once children walk through our doors, my plans will walk out those same doors. I am sure it will include sleepless nights of me wondering if I am or ready to be an adult. I imagine in another 5 years I will have yet another (as John would say) an existential moment that will look nothing like I think it will now.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
More Preparations
As I said last week, June came and went in such a whirlwind I am not even sure there was a June. We have been doing lots of prep lately getting ready to have kids in the home. I have spoken a lot about home preparations, but little about the emotional.
More than ever before, John and I have been told, "It is going to break your heart when they leave you" or some variation of this. While I want to shout... every time... "I KNOW!" I will offer this quote for you and others to consider:
"They have to go someplace, the children you read about in the paper, the injured ones with burns and broken arms, the little ones found alone in cold apartments, the frightened ones in the scenes when parents are arrested on drug charges, the glassy-eyed teenagers sleeping on park benches." -Kathy Harrison, Another Place at the Table
Anna, an incredible friend of ours and her husband are currently foster parents of 2 children. She is able to speak about this particular topic better than I can and she is wonderful with words. But she goes on to say the heartache we are signing up for is worth it because again, this isn't about us. This is about the kids. I highly encourage everyone to read this. The Inevitable Hurt In Foster Care And Why It's Worth It
Anna, an incredible friend of ours and her husband are currently foster parents of 2 children. She is able to speak about this particular topic better than I can and she is wonderful with words. But she goes on to say the heartache we are signing up for is worth it because again, this isn't about us. This is about the kids. I highly encourage everyone to read this. The Inevitable Hurt In Foster Care And Why It's Worth It
My heart is doing its best to prepare for what will come through our doors in possibly weeks. I am already loving and praying for our future kids just as a mother does when she is pregnant (I think, I haven't been pregnant so I guess I can't know for certain). But I know I already love them. I can't wait to meet them, see their personalities, watch them grow and change. I am so excited and yet so scared. Most days I feel lucky to get myself cleaned and fed and now I am jumping through hoops to get the opportunity to take care of some tiny people.
The kids that end up in foster care need a safe and loving place to go. Those types of homes have to come from somewhere. Will our home be perfect? Of course not. Do I know what I am getting into or what to expect? I don't. Do I know what it is like to part with a child you love? I don't, but I am signing up anyway. These kids do not deserve to be punished or miss out on something because I do not want a broken heart. This isn't about me or John, this is about some kiddos who need a place to sleep.
I am not naive. I know this won't make it easier or less painful when a child goes back, but the loss will be the side-effect of a far greater joy. Hopefully they will be leaving our home because they are being re-united with their family. Hopefully someone has done their part to recover and deserves another opportunity to parent. I was once told by some very seasoned foster parents, "nothing will ever prepare you for what you are about to do." I think she was speaking about both the good and the bad.
So in answer to what I can only assume is a rhetorical statement about the heartache of having children leave our home, yes it will cause John and I to experience a heart break like neither of us ever had, but that is not a reason to not do this. We need our friends and family to stand behind us and say, "What do you need?" or "I am here for you." We don't need an "I told you so" because..................... we know.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Summer Slow Down
Sorry about the absence folks. It has been a crazy summer. It started and has not stopped.
John and I went on vacation from June 8th-13th. It was a much needed blessing. While I might live with my husband, I really don't see him as much as I would like and we never see each other without cell phones. This vacation was just the 2 of us and with little technology. It was wonderful to have some one-on-one time. We considered this our "last" trip without kids, or so we think. Once we got back the craziness picked up right where it left off. Finally, amidst errands and chaos with my car yesterday, John said, "I'm hungry" and proceeded to pull into Costco parking lot. He said he wanted a quick bite and this would be a good cheap place. There John took me on a mid afternoon date where we shared a hot dog and a churro under a red and white umbrella. It was an amazing afternoon date. We have learned you take the date where you can and when you can.
We have been getting a lot of questions about where we are at in the foster process and when we are getting kids. The short answer: no idea. I find this is probably normal in the world of foster care. We have training July 12th and a foster parent retreat weekend of July 18th. In my mind we will hopefully be finished sometime in the neighborhood of end of July beginning of August. We will see our social worker on July 12th and are hoping she can give us a better idea then. From what we understand paperwork is pretty much complete. In terms of what we have at home..... not much. The room is finally cleaned out. John and I decided to slow down on the purchasing of things. We don't know what ages or genders we will be getting so we are trying to get the basics and wait until they arrive. While this plan adds to my already existent terror (remember: control freak here) I think it will be the best plan for controlling the chaos of our garage. We already have limited space and preparing for kids between the ages of 0-7 can take up a lot of space if not careful. I looked at daycares recently and we are trying to make a game plan for when the kids get here. We have purchased some things the house has to have and now we just need to install. We passed fire inspection so that is done.
I started a new job on June 17th which I LOVE. It has been a great and pretty peaceful transition which has been a pleasant surprise. I have so much to learn and so much training ahead of me, but it is all in areas that I really care about.
John is doing well. He started a 4 week bible study on worship and he is doing the sermon tomorrow. He has been pretty busy with lots of wonderful things.
It is hard to believe June is almost finished considering it feels like it only began, but that is the way summer usually goes.
John and I went on vacation from June 8th-13th. It was a much needed blessing. While I might live with my husband, I really don't see him as much as I would like and we never see each other without cell phones. This vacation was just the 2 of us and with little technology. It was wonderful to have some one-on-one time. We considered this our "last" trip without kids, or so we think. Once we got back the craziness picked up right where it left off. Finally, amidst errands and chaos with my car yesterday, John said, "I'm hungry" and proceeded to pull into Costco parking lot. He said he wanted a quick bite and this would be a good cheap place. There John took me on a mid afternoon date where we shared a hot dog and a churro under a red and white umbrella. It was an amazing afternoon date. We have learned you take the date where you can and when you can.
We have been getting a lot of questions about where we are at in the foster process and when we are getting kids. The short answer: no idea. I find this is probably normal in the world of foster care. We have training July 12th and a foster parent retreat weekend of July 18th. In my mind we will hopefully be finished sometime in the neighborhood of end of July beginning of August. We will see our social worker on July 12th and are hoping she can give us a better idea then. From what we understand paperwork is pretty much complete. In terms of what we have at home..... not much. The room is finally cleaned out. John and I decided to slow down on the purchasing of things. We don't know what ages or genders we will be getting so we are trying to get the basics and wait until they arrive. While this plan adds to my already existent terror (remember: control freak here) I think it will be the best plan for controlling the chaos of our garage. We already have limited space and preparing for kids between the ages of 0-7 can take up a lot of space if not careful. I looked at daycares recently and we are trying to make a game plan for when the kids get here. We have purchased some things the house has to have and now we just need to install. We passed fire inspection so that is done.
I started a new job on June 17th which I LOVE. It has been a great and pretty peaceful transition which has been a pleasant surprise. I have so much to learn and so much training ahead of me, but it is all in areas that I really care about.
John is doing well. He started a 4 week bible study on worship and he is doing the sermon tomorrow. He has been pretty busy with lots of wonderful things.
It is hard to believe June is almost finished considering it feels like it only began, but that is the way summer usually goes.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Current Status on the Foster Stuff
Well there isn't a whole lot to report. Two weeks ago we had our big psycho-social interview. Saying I was nervous is putting it lightly. The director of our agency came to our house Sunday night. She informed us it could take several hours and we should let her know if we get tired. This concerned me. When someone tells you before an interview, "let me know if you get tired" I panic and think emotionally tired. I know, I am crazy. I knew this interview would include a myriad of personal details about our up bringing that I was slightly hesitant to discuss. Think about how you might respond if someone asked lots of super personal questions on how your were raised, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Long story short it went well. We all had a good time and got along very well. You could almost say it was therapeutic to discuss your childhood, plans for the future, marriage, etc over chips and salsa with someone you have never met before.
Here is the part I love. After our interview she said, "Well everything seems to look pretty good and you guys have been quick with your paperwork, so it looks like you guys could be licensed by mid to late June." That was the moment John and I both looked at each other with mostly panic in our eyes. Our background checks had taken so long we thought we were looking at closer to September before we would be licensed. It didn't take long for us to make a crazy long to-do list, verbally reprimand past John and Ashley for not doing things sooner on a better time schedule, and jump for joy with excitement. We are so excited that this summer could possibly include kids. However based on when trainings look like they will be scheduled we are still not planning on being licensed until end of July.
So what do we have left you ask......
Fire Inspection
Get pets vaccinated (no one, including cats, is looking forward to this) We did this on Saturday and as predicted it is was not fun.
TB test for John and Seester
Training (July 12th)
Finish kids' room
Various simple home repairs
My fingerprinting
Couple more documents like budget form, disaster plan, emergency contacts, etc.
(These are things we are doing)
I think the agency still has to call references and health inspection.
The list is not what I would call daunting, but will take some basic skill in time management. All in all we are doing pretty good. We could really use some prayer that things continue to move right along.
Here is the part I love. After our interview she said, "Well everything seems to look pretty good and you guys have been quick with your paperwork, so it looks like you guys could be licensed by mid to late June." That was the moment John and I both looked at each other with mostly panic in our eyes. Our background checks had taken so long we thought we were looking at closer to September before we would be licensed. It didn't take long for us to make a crazy long to-do list, verbally reprimand past John and Ashley for not doing things sooner on a better time schedule, and jump for joy with excitement. We are so excited that this summer could possibly include kids. However based on when trainings look like they will be scheduled we are still not planning on being licensed until end of July.
So what do we have left you ask......
Fire Inspection
G
Training (July 12th)
Finish kids' room
Various simple home repairs
My fingerprinting
Couple more documents like budget form, disaster plan, emergency contacts, etc.
(These are things we are doing)
I think the agency still has to call references and health inspection.
The list is not what I would call daunting, but will take some basic skill in time management. All in all we are doing pretty good. We could really use some prayer that things continue to move right along.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
What Is It Like for Me on Sundays?
Disclaimer: If you do not like hearing the lovey dovey stuff, be warned. This blog post will contain some of that.
What is it like for me on Sundays? Honestly this is not a question I get asked, however it was one I always wanted to ask other Pastors' spouses. What does a spouse get out of the sermon on Sunday? Of course the Pastor is preaching on Sunday which is basically teaching. Other parishioners are learning and listening to their spiritual leader. What is it like for me when my husband is the spiritual leader? Keep in mind this is very new territory for me, so other seasoned spouses might feel differently.
Sundays are very exciting for me. One Sunday, as I was listening to my husband preach I couldn't help but think how great this minister was, looking at him and realizing I married to this guy. It is so interesting to see someone you have known half your life in different role than at home. It is interesting seeing a spouse in other roles. Generally speaking I know very little about the sermon come Sunday. John doesn't ask to rehearse on me and I don't offer. I think it is exciting to hear his sermon for the first time on Sunday just like everyone else.
Does John teach me? Boy howdy does he teach me. While I often like to say I am my own woman and we are equal partners in the relationship, it isn't true when it when comes to theology. I am light years behind John in my theological development. Do I have a basic understanding? Yes. Am I able to form opinions? Yes. But really what I know could fit in a thimble. John teaches me each and every day (for the record he doesn't just teach me about the Bible, there are some pretty awesome other life things he teaches). He says I challenge him and he likes that, but I think he is being encouraging.
I can't tell you the number of people in the past year who have said, "You sure are lucky to be married to him." This always makes me chuckle. Yes, I am so very lucky to be married to John and will never deserve to be married to such an amazing husband, but I am not sure people realize how that sounds when they say it. There is an implication whether it is meant or not when someone says, "You are so lucky to be married to him." When someone says it, I typically nod and smile. Sometimes when I am feeling sassy I say, "Yep, and he is super lucky to be married to me." I have received some interesting facial expressions with that line.
There is one thing I have not been wild about hearing and it has happened a number of times. John will sometimes introduce me to folks in the church that I have not had the opportunity to meet individually, often because they go to a different service and we do not cross paths at other church functions. John sweetly introduces me and I am met with the, "Oh we just know you as John's wife." Not going to lie, that phrase bothers me. [Husband edit: Me too. I don't try to hide my displeasure either. I have always considered myself a husband first and a pastor second.] When someone says that, it is like they are saying I am not important enough to be worth having my name remembered. I love and support John, and really am his number one fan, but what others need to remember is I have a name. I am an individual with a full time career that I love too. (I too wear more that one "pair of shoes".) I do my best to remember everyone's name. It isn't very kind to assume my only role is to stand behind John and nod at everything he says. We are a team and I am so lucky to be a member of that team, but please assume I have other things to offer as well.
I have a feeling being married to John will be quite the adventure, for many reasons. Not just his career in ministry, but also because he is a fun man with an enthusiasm for life and people, which I admire greatly.
So in answer to the big question What is it like for me on Sundays? An overall wonderful experience that I look forward to having Sunday after Sunday for years to come.
Does John teach me? Boy howdy does he teach me. While I often like to say I am my own woman and we are equal partners in the relationship, it isn't true when it when comes to theology. I am light years behind John in my theological development. Do I have a basic understanding? Yes. Am I able to form opinions? Yes. But really what I know could fit in a thimble. John teaches me each and every day (for the record he doesn't just teach me about the Bible, there are some pretty awesome other life things he teaches). He says I challenge him and he likes that, but I think he is being encouraging.
I can't tell you the number of people in the past year who have said, "You sure are lucky to be married to him." This always makes me chuckle. Yes, I am so very lucky to be married to John and will never deserve to be married to such an amazing husband, but I am not sure people realize how that sounds when they say it. There is an implication whether it is meant or not when someone says, "You are so lucky to be married to him." When someone says it, I typically nod and smile. Sometimes when I am feeling sassy I say, "Yep, and he is super lucky to be married to me." I have received some interesting facial expressions with that line.
There is one thing I have not been wild about hearing and it has happened a number of times. John will sometimes introduce me to folks in the church that I have not had the opportunity to meet individually, often because they go to a different service and we do not cross paths at other church functions. John sweetly introduces me and I am met with the, "Oh we just know you as John's wife." Not going to lie, that phrase bothers me. [Husband edit: Me too. I don't try to hide my displeasure either. I have always considered myself a husband first and a pastor second.] When someone says that, it is like they are saying I am not important enough to be worth having my name remembered. I love and support John, and really am his number one fan, but what others need to remember is I have a name. I am an individual with a full time career that I love too. (I too wear more that one "pair of shoes".) I do my best to remember everyone's name. It isn't very kind to assume my only role is to stand behind John and nod at everything he says. We are a team and I am so lucky to be a member of that team, but please assume I have other things to offer as well.
I have a feeling being married to John will be quite the adventure, for many reasons. Not just his career in ministry, but also because he is a fun man with an enthusiasm for life and people, which I admire greatly.
So in answer to the big question What is it like for me on Sundays? An overall wonderful experience that I look forward to having Sunday after Sunday for years to come.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Purge #2
I should have titled the "Garage Cleaning" post as Purge #1, but didn't. Anyways, we are working on Purge #2 at our house. What do I mean you ask? I mean taking out everything from the guest room to make it a kids room. It has been quite the challenge. We didn't want to just pile all that crap , I mean important belongings into the garage. We are already "those" people that store their inexpensive stuff in the garage as opposed their cars; we just didn't want to make it worse. John is really trying to make sure he gets to keep at least half of the garage for his wood shop. We had to go through lots of items we have been storing here and there in closets for years.
Now you might remember be saying John is a collector. I have to sadly admit I too collect something. Everything from 6 years of college. I have every text book, binder, power-point, research article, everything from undergrad and graduate school. I have a good reason, or so I thought. When SLPs go to college everything we could possibly work with is briefly and quickly hurled at you. You have a short amount of time to learn oodles. You sit there in class being told, "Hey, you might see this so you better know how to treat it." Clearly most of us only remember what we need to in order to pass our big exam and what we use regularly at work. So the rationale was, I shall keep everything and when I come across something I don't remember I shall retrieve my old textbooks, binders, power-points, and research articles. How many tubs of this non-sense do I have you may ask? Oh, in the neighborhood of 5 or so. That takes up a crazy amount of space.
So I took a poll at work. I asked some of the seasoned SLPs if they had any of this stuff still and if they ever needed it or used it. I was met with a resounding "no." One asked me how long I had been out of school. When I told her 2 years, she said "well most of what you learned is already outdated." That was the kick in the pants I needed, and of course the fact that I am officially out of space at my house.
None of this is what John wanted to hear because it meant he had to bring all of those boxes into the house for me to go through. One evening while going through all this I asked him why he left one in the garage. He said, "Well it was really full, so......" I think what he was hoping I would respond with was something like, "okay well since it is full I will keep all that". That is not what I said. Again, he was not so happy. While going through this stuff it became apparent........There is no way I would have ever found or remembered having most of that stuff. I would like to say that made it easier to throw away, but it didn't. As I was going through it I kept thinking, "Oh I remember that now, or I should really re-read this because I need to know it." I know, this instills an incredible amount of faith into my professional competency.
After having my walk through academic memory lane, I decided to throw the majority of it away. I condensed 5 boxes into 1. A feat I would have never thought possible. I think it really motivates a gal when you realize you are out of options if you ever want to make the kids' room look like a kids' room.
We still need to do home repairs, get things in order based on state standards like cleaning products and medicines, and furnish the kids' room. We are quickly running out of time. Our social worker informed us she still thought we would be licensed by end of June or so. Fear and excitement are really the only two emotions I have right now when thinking about all of this.
Now you might remember be saying John is a collector. I have to sadly admit I too collect something. Everything from 6 years of college. I have every text book, binder, power-point, research article, everything from undergrad and graduate school. I have a good reason, or so I thought. When SLPs go to college everything we could possibly work with is briefly and quickly hurled at you. You have a short amount of time to learn oodles. You sit there in class being told, "Hey, you might see this so you better know how to treat it." Clearly most of us only remember what we need to in order to pass our big exam and what we use regularly at work. So the rationale was, I shall keep everything and when I come across something I don't remember I shall retrieve my old textbooks, binders, power-points, and research articles. How many tubs of this non-sense do I have you may ask? Oh, in the neighborhood of 5 or so. That takes up a crazy amount of space.
So I took a poll at work. I asked some of the seasoned SLPs if they had any of this stuff still and if they ever needed it or used it. I was met with a resounding "no." One asked me how long I had been out of school. When I told her 2 years, she said "well most of what you learned is already outdated." That was the kick in the pants I needed, and of course the fact that I am officially out of space at my house.
None of this is what John wanted to hear because it meant he had to bring all of those boxes into the house for me to go through. One evening while going through all this I asked him why he left one in the garage. He said, "Well it was really full, so......" I think what he was hoping I would respond with was something like, "okay well since it is full I will keep all that". That is not what I said. Again, he was not so happy. While going through this stuff it became apparent........There is no way I would have ever found or remembered having most of that stuff. I would like to say that made it easier to throw away, but it didn't. As I was going through it I kept thinking, "Oh I remember that now, or I should really re-read this because I need to know it." I know, this instills an incredible amount of faith into my professional competency.
After having my walk through academic memory lane, I decided to throw the majority of it away. I condensed 5 boxes into 1. A feat I would have never thought possible. I think it really motivates a gal when you realize you are out of options if you ever want to make the kids' room look like a kids' room.
We still need to do home repairs, get things in order based on state standards like cleaning products and medicines, and furnish the kids' room. We are quickly running out of time. Our social worker informed us she still thought we would be licensed by end of June or so. Fear and excitement are really the only two emotions I have right now when thinking about all of this.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Best Month Ever, aka "Better Hearing and Speech Month"
Did you know May is "Better Hearing and Speech Month"? Exciting I know! This is the month SLPs (Speech Language Pathologists) give little tidbits about hearing, speech, language, pragmatics, basically everything we work with (also we get discounts on stuff and have ice cream).
Someone once asked me if I was being pretentious when I said I was a Speech Language Pathologist. He wanted to know why I didn't just say Speech Therapist. Well for starters that is not my title. Yes SLPs do speech therapy, and we are called speech therapists quite often, but that is not our true job title. I am sure you are thinking I am just being snotty. I promise I'm not. I don't care if someone calls me a speech therapist. In fact sometimes I call myself that just to make things easier. The reason we don't go by speech therapist is due to what our job encompasses. Speech therapist implies I only work with speech (like stuttering and articulation), but that is a small part of my job. SLPs work with articulation, language, pragmatics, swallowing, feeding, voice, etc. Language especially makes up a huge amount of our casework. Language includes anything from working with children who do not communicate verbally to an adult who has had a stroke or Traumatic Brain Injury. It also includes working with children who have difficulty with grammar and vocabulary. My best friend works with individuals who have had their larynx (voice box) removed and now use a prosthetic, patients who have had strokes, and she works with babies and adults who have disorders in swallowing/feeding. Other friends work in schools like me. We help children with something as simple as making their "wabbit" sound like "rabbit" to helping a student with significant developmental delays or complex diagnoses learn to communicate without words. The point is we are all called SLPs, but we have jobs that are quite different.
Unfortunately, lately I have spent a good deal of time complaining about my job because of paperwork, policies, state regulations, scheduling, meetings, etc. All of this often takes up more of my work time than I would like. Special Education can look like quite the obstacle course when looking at ARD paperwork and listening to a flood of acronyms.
All of the paperwork, policies, state regulations, scheduling, meetings, etc are in place to help a student succeed; however that doesn't make the paperwork enjoyable. Even with all the not so enjoyable parts of my job, I can without a shadow of doubt say I love being a Speech Language Pathologist. The great really does outweigh the bad. In honor of Better Hearing and Speech month I decided to make a list of just a few of things I love about my job.
1. Hearing a non-verbal child's voice for the first time. I have had the privilege of working with a few children this year who did not speak. The first time one of them said "no" was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. Working with someone for 6 months and then suddenly hearing their sweet voice is amazing, even if it is to protest.
2. Kids say the funniest things. Kids are hilarious. They come up with the craziest things. Most of the time they have no idea how truly funny they are.
3. Watching someone do something they couldn't do before. For example, hearing a child call everything a "him" and then suddenly you hear that same child use all their pronouns correctly is very exciting. Grammar can be quite exciting.
4. Themes. I love themes. In graduate school I had a clinical supervisor insist we use themes in our therapy. I didn't like it at the time. I thought themes were silly and time consuming. Now looking at my theme calendar I think themes are the best. I even have my students asking me what the theme is for the week. It makes therapy fun and gives me structure. When you can dedicate a whole week to pirates and accomplish a great deal in speech therapy you know it is going to be a good week.
5. Hearing a parent say they can understand their kid better. When a parent tells me, "Hey this speech stuff is working, I can understand what my child is saying" it is pretty great. Knowing the child isn't struggling as much to share their thoughts and knowing a parent is less stressed because now they understand their child is nice to know.
6. What other job gives you the opportunity to crawl under a table to retrieve a child. Yes there are days I am trying to get a child out from under the table and thinking, "Really kid." Makes me wonder what is so exciting about that table. And of course those days often have me saying things like "not again" or "I chose this". When I am comfortably sitting in my chair at the end of the session, thinking "boy that kid looked happy under there" its not so bad. Plus it is a good way to burn a few calories.
7. Eating. No, not me eating, helping others eat. I haven't had the opportunity this year to work with feeding/swallowing difficulties, but when I was in the nursing home for a short time I did. I had one patient who couldn't drink without having it go down into her lungs. We figured out if her drink was thickened to a certain consistency she could safety drink. Seeing how happy she and her family were when I said she could thicken her coke (or even wine) and drink safely was great. She was so happy to be able to have something she had been without for awhile. Being told you can't eat and drink, especially as an older person is a really hard loss and helping someone regain some of that normalcy is exciting. I hope to someday work with those disorders again.
8. Other forms of communication. Watching and teaching someone of any age to use a different form of communication is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Being able to see someone communicate effectively with pictures, gestures, facial expressions, or even iPad is such a special experience.
9. Crafts. I do a lot of paper activities in therapy so kiddos can take it home and work on it for practice. I love paper crafts. In other words it is awesome that I get to make stuff at work.
10. Therapy materials/toys or lack there of. I like puzzles and kids are like little mini puzzles. SLPs and families often do not have access to a variety of materials. Finding ways to make therapy fun with a pencil or paper cup is a puzzle. Creating a language rich environment anywhere and everywhere can sometimes be a fun challenge. Nerdy perhaps, but fun.
There are some not so great things about my job, but there are so many wonderful things that make it all worth it.
Someone once asked me if I was being pretentious when I said I was a Speech Language Pathologist. He wanted to know why I didn't just say Speech Therapist. Well for starters that is not my title. Yes SLPs do speech therapy, and we are called speech therapists quite often, but that is not our true job title. I am sure you are thinking I am just being snotty. I promise I'm not. I don't care if someone calls me a speech therapist. In fact sometimes I call myself that just to make things easier. The reason we don't go by speech therapist is due to what our job encompasses. Speech therapist implies I only work with speech (like stuttering and articulation), but that is a small part of my job. SLPs work with articulation, language, pragmatics, swallowing, feeding, voice, etc. Language especially makes up a huge amount of our casework. Language includes anything from working with children who do not communicate verbally to an adult who has had a stroke or Traumatic Brain Injury. It also includes working with children who have difficulty with grammar and vocabulary. My best friend works with individuals who have had their larynx (voice box) removed and now use a prosthetic, patients who have had strokes, and she works with babies and adults who have disorders in swallowing/feeding. Other friends work in schools like me. We help children with something as simple as making their "wabbit" sound like "rabbit" to helping a student with significant developmental delays or complex diagnoses learn to communicate without words. The point is we are all called SLPs, but we have jobs that are quite different.
Unfortunately, lately I have spent a good deal of time complaining about my job because of paperwork, policies, state regulations, scheduling, meetings, etc. All of this often takes up more of my work time than I would like. Special Education can look like quite the obstacle course when looking at ARD paperwork and listening to a flood of acronyms.
All of the paperwork, policies, state regulations, scheduling, meetings, etc are in place to help a student succeed; however that doesn't make the paperwork enjoyable. Even with all the not so enjoyable parts of my job, I can without a shadow of doubt say I love being a Speech Language Pathologist. The great really does outweigh the bad. In honor of Better Hearing and Speech month I decided to make a list of just a few of things I love about my job.
1. Hearing a non-verbal child's voice for the first time. I have had the privilege of working with a few children this year who did not speak. The first time one of them said "no" was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. Working with someone for 6 months and then suddenly hearing their sweet voice is amazing, even if it is to protest.
2. Kids say the funniest things. Kids are hilarious. They come up with the craziest things. Most of the time they have no idea how truly funny they are.
3. Watching someone do something they couldn't do before. For example, hearing a child call everything a "him" and then suddenly you hear that same child use all their pronouns correctly is very exciting. Grammar can be quite exciting.
4. Themes. I love themes. In graduate school I had a clinical supervisor insist we use themes in our therapy. I didn't like it at the time. I thought themes were silly and time consuming. Now looking at my theme calendar I think themes are the best. I even have my students asking me what the theme is for the week. It makes therapy fun and gives me structure. When you can dedicate a whole week to pirates and accomplish a great deal in speech therapy you know it is going to be a good week.
5. Hearing a parent say they can understand their kid better. When a parent tells me, "Hey this speech stuff is working, I can understand what my child is saying" it is pretty great. Knowing the child isn't struggling as much to share their thoughts and knowing a parent is less stressed because now they understand their child is nice to know.
6. What other job gives you the opportunity to crawl under a table to retrieve a child. Yes there are days I am trying to get a child out from under the table and thinking, "Really kid." Makes me wonder what is so exciting about that table. And of course those days often have me saying things like "not again" or "I chose this". When I am comfortably sitting in my chair at the end of the session, thinking "boy that kid looked happy under there" its not so bad. Plus it is a good way to burn a few calories.
7. Eating. No, not me eating, helping others eat. I haven't had the opportunity this year to work with feeding/swallowing difficulties, but when I was in the nursing home for a short time I did. I had one patient who couldn't drink without having it go down into her lungs. We figured out if her drink was thickened to a certain consistency she could safety drink. Seeing how happy she and her family were when I said she could thicken her coke (or even wine) and drink safely was great. She was so happy to be able to have something she had been without for awhile. Being told you can't eat and drink, especially as an older person is a really hard loss and helping someone regain some of that normalcy is exciting. I hope to someday work with those disorders again.
8. Other forms of communication. Watching and teaching someone of any age to use a different form of communication is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Being able to see someone communicate effectively with pictures, gestures, facial expressions, or even iPad is such a special experience.
9. Crafts. I do a lot of paper activities in therapy so kiddos can take it home and work on it for practice. I love paper crafts. In other words it is awesome that I get to make stuff at work.
10. Therapy materials/toys or lack there of. I like puzzles and kids are like little mini puzzles. SLPs and families often do not have access to a variety of materials. Finding ways to make therapy fun with a pencil or paper cup is a puzzle. Creating a language rich environment anywhere and everywhere can sometimes be a fun challenge. Nerdy perhaps, but fun.
There are some not so great things about my job, but there are so many wonderful things that make it all worth it.
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