by Danielle Kent, Stern Center CCC-SLP, Instructor
I am so fortunate to have a profession I love. As a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I provide services in areas not often heard of before. Most people furrow their brow as I list my skills and interests—speech, language, swallowing/feeding disorders, post-stroke treatment, cognitive-communication skills, social-emotional skills, autism, voice disorders, fluency disorders—and the list goes on. Fortunately, the field of speech and language pathology has evolved and we are now, more than ever, delving into so many needed areas of social communication and human relatedness.
I am so fortunate that my profession allows me to crawl on the floor with a two-year-old engaging in early joint attention and communication, talk Minecraft with middle schoolers, chat about dating and friendships with high schoolers, and work in acute care with patients, all in one week.
The most difficult part of my job is that I work with fragile, emotionally and psychologically compromised patients, students and families. Some of my patients suffer unimaginable brain trauma and are left without words, or without the ability to eat or communicate with their loved ones. Sometimes my students suffer such psycho-emotional trauma that they are highly reactive and unable to stay in class for 10 minutes at a time. It is difficult for them to form attachments or relationships/friendships as they have been in and out of foster care for most of their lives.
