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How to Communicate

We know that the overuse of the Internet can be detrimental to our mental and physical health, but when used for just the right amount of time (and the right information), it can be a gift. Being an SLP today is so different than when I graduated 5 years ago or even 10 years ago, when blogging wasn’t really as trendy as it is today.

I had never really even stopped to ask myself this question for the parents of my monolingual clients, let alone for the parents of my bilingual clients. After two intense years of grad school, I left with more knowledge that I thought my brain could ever soak up, but still felt uneasy when I would have to share the news to caregivers that their child was not developing like the others for that particular age. Sure, I had an undergraduate degree in psychology which helped, but no amount of knowledge can prepare you for the conversations you have with these families. No one taught me how to approach the subject during those two years of grad school or when I got thrown into 5 different schools at once as a CF, many times leading IEP meetings and translating for every provider there. Side note: Remember translating is NOT part of your job description as an SLP! More times than not, I found IEP meetings to be frustrating and draining for the parents – a bunch of providers sitting around a stuffy conference room taking turns focusing and listing off what the child can’tdo rather than what the child can do.