There's More To This Brave Adventure

I'm going to be honest here, I haven't felt much like blogging the past couple days. I've been fairly overwhelmed with work and general feelings of apathy. If there's one thing I feel sometimes as a therapist it is isolated, or alone. Home health has its perks but the constant time to oneself can get old.

Yesterday I had 10 sessions planned for which I came up with 2-3 activities I could use for the majority of them. I decided to go with an early "summer" theme consisting of these adorable Articulation/Language Sandcastles from Crazy Speech World and Summer Pronouns card game, which is a freebie download over at Speech is Sweet. Thanks ladies for the great ideas!

Articulation Sandcastles

Summer Pronouns

I also brought my "Under the Sea" lacing cards for some integrated fine motor and language work. The kids loved all the activities tied together. Here's a picture of one of my kiddos showing off his activities:) My phone camera quality clearly leaves much to be desired.














In the afternoon I had to make a notably long drive to and from a particular session. As I mentioned earlier, the time you have with yourself as a home health therapist is great for introspection but can get you bummed out from time to time. No matter what people say, interacting with people via text and over the Internet is just not the same as face-to-face interaction. And while I appreciate being invited to activities after work, not many people understand that if will take me more than ten minutes to get there, I just won't go. I've been in the car all day! So catch-22.

Anyways, I had my iPod linked up to my car speakers and just as I was starting to let myself get down about things, a certain song popped up. A song that I listened to my first day of grad school. I remember putting on my cutest outfit for orientation, binders in hand, and pulling out of my parent's driveway while packing the goofiest smile, thinking, "I'm going to be a speech pathologist. It's actually happening." I was nervous but damn, was I excited.

May 2011 - Prepping for week 1 of SLP grad school 

In fact, here's me looking a little too excited. I'm one of those girls who gets excited about school supplies.

Anyways, I remember starting my first practicum with a fun, amazing group of girls and feeling those exact same feelings as we all stood there, waiting to see our clients for the first time, armed with bubbles and a visual schedule, which never really worked, but it made us feel prepared. We chased those kiddos around, analyzed our own behaviors, and by the time we got to closing circle time looked at each other with exhausted "omg" faces and smirking eyes that said, "Whew. Thank goodness that's over!" But we loved every single second.

As I listened to this song I was reminded of the passion I started this journey with, and that's something I never want to lose. I formed relationships back in grad school without knowing that eventually I would choose the home health setting and that these relationships would be invaluable. I have continued to form new relationships since grad school but the point is- I didn't go through all of that to be alone. I don't have to be. And I didn't go through all of that to let myself become preoccupied with things that aren't of primary importance, even this blog, for example.

I remember posting a Facebook status one day in the midst of my first year of grad school chaos that said, "At the end of the day, I just want to be a good speech language-pathologist."

And that's still true. Sometimes you just have to remind yourself to forget all the B.S., and remember why you started this journey.

"To The Sky" - Owl City

And here's the song that reminds me. So what if it's from an animated movie about owls. :)

What A Crazy World

Good morning, guys!

It has been a crazy week so far and I am starting my day a bit later today, albeit with green tea in hand, like I always do. I was pleasantly surprised to get on Blogger this morning and see some surprising traffic on my dear blog here and it warmed my heart. So thank you!

Today I'll be going to see my most furthest away kiddos and ironically, they all are toddlers or younger, so many of the Easter activities I've been using lately just won't cut it. I'm mourning the loss of a couple pieces of Mr. Potato Head's body but the kids don't seem to care. I think this is maybe the fifth Mr. Potato Head that has been a part of my traveling therapy circus since 2011. :)

Anyways, yesterday was one of those days that I didn't have anything *new* for therapy really but I was proud to be able to make a few things "work" for my kiddos in a new way.

Take the cult favorite, "Articulation Chipper Chat" from Super Duper- I used it with a kindergarten friend who is working on an odd goal in my opinion, word-finding. We played a version of "I Spy" in which she both had to work at using descriptive terms to help me find objects and vice-versa, and then had to name all of the objects suggested. I purposely picked non-everyday vocabulary in each photo scene. Yes, it is struck me as very odd that I have found myself using some of the same strategies I used in grad school for my adult Wernicke's patients with a 5 year-old and it's actually been working. I might do a little more research into this as time goes on.

For the rest of my kiddos, we played with the Articulation Easter Basket Hunt game again, this time looking for the carrots. I'm for real, this game has been a hit and I can't believe I've already gotten 2-3 sessions out of it. I even was able to use it for grammar and language goals.

I also decided to make a visual for one of my kids working on using appropriate volume at home...it has a picture of a "loud lion" and "quiet mouse" to help them learn to self-identify their own vocal behaviors. You can get it for free right now for download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

                                                         Mouse/Lion Voice Poster 

I just want to encourage you guys, wherever you are, to keep doing what you can, with what you have, where you are, to quote one of my favorite sayings. If you are anything like me, your heart may be feeling a little heavy right now, but it is not anything you are not equipped to handle, no matter how much you may feel otherwise. Dig in your heels, do some killer therapy, and worry about the rest later.

The only things I can really control are my songs, and my behavior. The rest? If I focused on it, that would lead to insanity.” — Taylor Swift, in Glamour UK

Things I Accidently Taught Myself While Teaching Kids

There are a lot of times during speech sessions I will be working with a child and make a passing statement to them that causes me to think, "Man. I think I meant to tell myself that."

Here's a list of semi-profound statements I have accidentally made while working on some kind of mundane puzzle that made me stop and think.


"That piece doesn't go there. You can't force it to fit. If you push too hard, the whole thing might break apart."
Say hello to the queen of, "I am going to force this to work and if it doesn't, I will just keep trying."

"You're not using your thinking brain." 
When am I ever using my thinking brain?

"You need to wait."
Why wait when I can exhaust myself by doing anything in my power to force something to come to fruition?

"Just because we are scared of something doesn't mean there is something to be scared of."
I am the adult version of the little girl who is scared to use the other toilet in the adjoining room because one time it made a really loud noise that scared me sh*tless. No pun intended.

"Sometimes friends don't want to share or play with us, and that makes us sad. That's okay. We can find something different to do that is just as fun."
It's okay to be bummed out when people don't share our passions for things. Do your own thing and the people who think you're super awesome will support you in what you love.

"I need you to calm down and then use your words, please."
The best way to be heard: express your needs simply and concisely when you achieve a moment of clarity following an emotional experience.

"What's important in this picture? Is it this tree? Or this person in the middle."
What's really important in this situation you've somehow managed to blow out of proportion? Are you focusing on a tree in the background when the main idea is right in front of you?


We all still have lessons to learn as adults. I'm sure I heard these very things at one point in my childhood. I'm just thankful I get to hear them again, because they still make me stop and think.

Is there anything you say to your kids that you are really saying to yourself?

There is nothing wrong with you.

I am going to try and tie this post into something speech-related so it makes sense in the context of this blog; however I believe this applies to the much bigger picture we're all familiar with known as life.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Ah, perfectionism. Being a perfectionist has its pros and cons.

The pros include always striving for the best version of yourself and striving to view yourself analytically.

The cons include always striving for the best version of yourself and striving to view yourself analytically.

Yes, these are both good and bad things in my opinion, simultaneously.

I grew up in a household that sought to make me feel accepted and loved for who I was, but at the same time never hesitated to point out where I feel short. Constructive criticism, you may say. But it instilled in me a very real sense that unless I attempted to alter myself in certain ways, I would not be deserving of love. Or support. Or acceptance. This is an exhausting, mental juxtoposition, one that the Christian faith attempts to soften with the concept of grace.

Society tells us to love ourselves for who we are but to never stop striving to better ourselves. When are you, as is, enough?

All I ever needed to know was that even if I didn't change, even if I didn't do this one thing, I would be loved and life would not cease to be fulfilling.

I had a youth pastor growing up who said something to me that has always remained lodged in my heart and has been a comfort in the face of such pressure.

He said, "There is nothing you can do to make God love you more than he does right now."

My friends, there is nothing wrong with you.

You are a human, and being human is hard. We have not been put here not to torture ourselves with internal and external pressures but to rest in the grace that God offers that says we are enough. 

We beat ourselves up for lack of achievements but hey, you are still living! You are still working at this thing called life! And God has not forgotten you.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with formulating and working towards goals. That is an integral part of my life as an SLP.

But when those goals become so significant that they cloud our ability to appreciate ourselves for who we are today, I think it's time to sit back and rest in the knowledge that you will never be the best. Or the worst. And no one expects you or thinks you to be either. It really doesn't matter.

Happiness matters. You matter. So before you internalize outside pressures or expectations, sit back and remind yourself that the only one putting that pressure on you is you.

I am seeking to live life in balance. And I believe remembering that regardless of whether you got that workout in, or felt like you blew that evaluation or session, you are simply human. Which is nothing to be ashamed of.

There is nothing wrong with you.

"...i mean really. what is the the thing you are good at? what's your thing? what's the thing you use to make you feel like you're great? take it away, do you still think you're great? because you are." - jillian edwards chapman (http://ifyoufeellikereadingit.blogspot.com)

How To Get Your Motivation Back (Therapy-Wise)

Across my adult life thus far, since graduating high school, I have struggled with continuous low-grade depression. It affects me to varying degrees daily, and often I feel like my attitude towards work and life and general can be affected by things as insignificant as whether the sun is literally shining or not. I'm working on this.

One thing I continually come back to the drawing board on is how to re-gain my motivation in regards to work. Some people may find this strange; after all, you went to the effort of getting a Master's degree in your field, you must love your job! And I do. But home health can be very isolating; you have a lot of time to yourself to think; a.k.a., ruminate on your problems. Long drives between sessions become pressure cookers for insecure thoughts. Or Britney Spears karaoke sessions. It really is either or. Anyways, this isolation and time spent driving can lead to a monotony that slowly drives you insane. I am sure there are plenty of home health therapists that travel very short distances between clients but I am not that SLP. My closest client is 8 minutes away and my furthest is an hour and fifteen minutes.

However, there are a few things that help me find the joy in what I do on days when I just don't know if I can handle another 30 minutes working on past tense verbs again with the little guy I have seen for several years straight. When 30 minutes seem like the longest 30 minutes of my life. One of them is telling myself that I'm a badass. A la Leslie Knope.

On top of that, here are some of my go-to strategies:

1) Take 10 minutes to print out a new themed cut/paste activity and make enough copies for all clients. Check out Teachers Pay Teachers and bring one new activity or toy to therapy today. 

Seriously. Stop using that same deck of Super Duper cards that only makes your kids cry and you want to hit your head against the wall. Even typing in "preschool March cut/paste" into Google can give me something quick to print out so I don't have to face the monotony of my usual go-to materials.

2) TREAT YO SELF.

Bring a new snack (aka bribe yourself with food, usually works for me) or stop at Starbucks for a midday pick-me-up. Being able to look forward to a treat or something relaxing in the midst of a busy day will help carry you through. I like to download The Jillian Michaels Show podcasts. New podcasts automatically download every Tuesday and therefore every Tuesday I actually look forward to my long drives so I can listen to this show. 

3) Emotionally re-invest in your clients.

Stop thinking about that one client as the 3-year old who's been working on past tense verbs for like forever. Instead, sit down and make a new game plan. Imagine this child finally mastering their goals and becoming functionally communicative in the way you want them to be. Remember their names. Enjoy their personalities. Think about them as if they were your own children before you scold them for scooting around the living room every second of the session. Love on them. 

4) Come up with a new game plan. 

In grad school when I was an SLPA and had only 3-4 clients, I used to come home and think through each child, their deficits, and formulate how I could use very effective activities to get them in and out of therapy fast. I had a lot more time on my hands, obviously. Regardless, consider coming up with three new activities to target goals you're just over, so you can feel more effective during therapy and break up the monotony.

5) Clean out your car. 

Home health speechies, I know you feel me on this one. Hey, who knew you had these auditory awareness dry erase worksheets in there?! It's amazing what you can forget you're lugging around after weeks of dragging toys in and out of your trunk and backseat. Pull everything out, take an inventory, make sure you're carrying only what you need, and then replace worn-out toys and activities with new and exciting ones. 

Also throw out all those Starbucks cups and fast food wrappers. That will be helpful in maintaining your sanity. 

I hope some of these ideas help shake things up for you. And when you're all alone in your car, drinking an Icee and eating another bean burrito from Taco Bell, driving an hour to your next session...know I'm here for you, girl. 

Lindsay