The Speech Spirit: April 2009
Today's post is the first of a new month and highlights my next entry of "The Speech Spirit". Today's post addresses a concept I have played with over and over again both personally and professionally. I have debated how to eloquently present this belief....so please, bear with me.
Before I begin, I would like to pose a few questions to the readers: Have you ever searched for the light in a child's eye? Struggled to make a connection with them? Trying desperately to figure out "what makes them tick"? Have you ever watched a parent share these same struggles with their own child, knowing that they want nothing more than to connect and communicate with their child and yet they are continually hindered by an unexplained obstacle?
It is at these moments that I most feel as an early intervention speech therapist that helping a child communicate and in essence find their voice, is often the same as seeking for the child's soul.
Online dictionary Answers.com defines 'soul' as: "The animating and vital principle in humans credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity".
To me, this means, the light in one's eye, the spirit that makes them uniquely who they are as a person - their thoughts, emotions and purposeful actions. What this means to me as a speech therapist working with a small child who is struggling to communicate with their family and vise versa is that for some children, by helping them focus, organize and eventually communicate, we are unlocking their soul. We are helping the child find their voice and essentially their power as a human being.
A Special Note:
As many of you know April is Autism Awareness Month and over the next several weeks I plan to write several posts addressing various aspects of the disorder that affect so many of the children that we treat everyday as speech-language pathologists. I would like to welcome both therapists and parents to please write in and communicate any questions or topics of interest or concern regarding Autism that you would like to see addressed and/or answered through this blog and I, in turn, will do my best to honor your requests. In addition, if you have information that you feel would be helpful for your colleagues and/or parents to read, please share!