I know the job title is speech/language pathologist. One of my favorite parts of the job is giving a voice to someone who doesn't have one...whether it be a small child just learning to talk or someone who needs to use an augmentative communication device. Communication is power, and it is humbling and rewarding to help someone find their voice.
And then there's the other part of my job. That is actually the hat that I love to wear the most. It relates to pragmatic, or social, language. I look like an extravert, but I'm really an introvert. My friends from high school used to joke that I only talk when there are 5 people or less in the room. They would also play a game where they would make me sit on my hands, and then I couldn't talk, either. We communicate a lot with our bodies, and there are so many social nuances that are hard to figure out. Add social media to that, and there is never a moment to get a break. Teaching all the rules of social interaction truly is a full- time job, and it's incredibly important in today's world.
I spend a lot of time telling people to stop talking. As we work on emotional regulation, we focus on understanding how we are feeling and using tools so that we can be successful. Our tool categories are Mouth, Move, Touch, and Think (I like to call it M Squared T Squared but that has not caught on the way I want it to!). The Think tools are especially important for social interaction. The "you need to stop talking" tool is a filter. I talk constantly about the impression you are making. I draw a lovely stick figure, and the main points are that based upon the look on your face, the words that come out of your mouth, and what you are doing with your body, people will have thoughts about you. They might have good thoughts or weird thoughts (thank you, Michelle Garcia Winner for those descriptors of thoughts people will have) because you may be doing something unexpected. You have the power to change what people think. We also work constantly on perspective taking...I take a lot of notes and draw a lot of stick figures so that kids can figure it out. And the "ah ha" moment is the best part of my day! It takes a lot of creative thinking to get a concrete thinker to change their mind about something. There's a lot of arguing, a lot of filter moments, and an occasional realization of, "I'm doing better than I think I am" when playing a game. It's learning how to make good guesses and verify those assumptions (ask a question). It's finding appropriate "small talk" conversations and remembering something about someone else in order to ask about them instead of making it all about me. I spent all last year doing basic manners lessons; it may have seemed obvious, but I now have a few kids who have figured out how to greet others, and it always makes my day when they come in.
Social interaction is so important. It gets you a job, it helps you get things you want and need, it finds you a friend. Sometimes, it's my job to get people to stop talking.
And then there's the other part of my job. That is actually the hat that I love to wear the most. It relates to pragmatic, or social, language. I look like an extravert, but I'm really an introvert. My friends from high school used to joke that I only talk when there are 5 people or less in the room. They would also play a game where they would make me sit on my hands, and then I couldn't talk, either. We communicate a lot with our bodies, and there are so many social nuances that are hard to figure out. Add social media to that, and there is never a moment to get a break. Teaching all the rules of social interaction truly is a full- time job, and it's incredibly important in today's world.
I spend a lot of time telling people to stop talking. As we work on emotional regulation, we focus on understanding how we are feeling and using tools so that we can be successful. Our tool categories are Mouth, Move, Touch, and Think (I like to call it M Squared T Squared but that has not caught on the way I want it to!). The Think tools are especially important for social interaction. The "you need to stop talking" tool is a filter. I talk constantly about the impression you are making. I draw a lovely stick figure, and the main points are that based upon the look on your face, the words that come out of your mouth, and what you are doing with your body, people will have thoughts about you. They might have good thoughts or weird thoughts (thank you, Michelle Garcia Winner for those descriptors of thoughts people will have) because you may be doing something unexpected. You have the power to change what people think. We also work constantly on perspective taking...I take a lot of notes and draw a lot of stick figures so that kids can figure it out. And the "ah ha" moment is the best part of my day! It takes a lot of creative thinking to get a concrete thinker to change their mind about something. There's a lot of arguing, a lot of filter moments, and an occasional realization of, "I'm doing better than I think I am" when playing a game. It's learning how to make good guesses and verify those assumptions (ask a question). It's finding appropriate "small talk" conversations and remembering something about someone else in order to ask about them instead of making it all about me. I spent all last year doing basic manners lessons; it may have seemed obvious, but I now have a few kids who have figured out how to greet others, and it always makes my day when they come in.
Social interaction is so important. It gets you a job, it helps you get things you want and need, it finds you a friend. Sometimes, it's my job to get people to stop talking.