So, what does that mean?

by Danielle Kent

I'll never forget the wide, frightened eyes of the child’s parents as they darted back and forth among my colleagues, my supervisor and me after we completed a complex diagnostic evaluation for the child. I was in graduate school and my team had just provided this family with a diagnosis, which explained the serious communication troubles they had been experiencing with their child for the past few months. Weeks of heartache and frustration had ended; at least, that's what I believed then. 

Fast forward to today. I am a parent of a six-month-old and I now understand the fear those parents experienced to the core of my being. When my daughter had feeding troubles in the early weeks, I sat with pediatricians and lactation consultants for weeks on end. I asked them, “What does it mean?” with wide and frightened eyes.

I pictured the future. Would life as I knew it ever be the same? When things don’t go as planned it can quickly become very overwhelming. I finally had an understanding of the fear felt by parents when I diagnosed their children, their minds wondering if college, school and a working job would ever be possible. It's amazing how a five minute diagnosis can make a parent look ahead 18 (or more) years in the future.

That realization is colorfully etched in my mind and is at the forefront of my personal character as a speech-language pathologist. I remember to be a person first, and treat my students/patients as people first. I consider their strengths, likes and their motivational core, all of which will allow me to draw connections and establish a working relationship with them.

Communication with family is thought through, done with compassion, and provided with time to explain what everything means. I now understand that coping and living with a communication trouble can be devastating for some families. Therefore, I strive to be personal and professional as I work with children and adults who struggle with speech and language, or have problems integrating themselves socially into society.

I continue to grow and remember that most families that I work with didn't go to graduate school for speech- language pathology and don't have years of practice and observations to explain what apraxia, autism, aphasia, or phonological disorders are. They don’t know the cognitive challenges associated with dementia.

So what does this all mean to me? I have learned to take time to work with families and understand their perspective. I treat them as people first, and draw inspiration from them as they work tirelessly to achieve success. I educate my students and patients so they understand what is happening without it becoming overwhelming.

What it means is that it’s important to celebrate each milestone and each goal met no matter how slow the progress. While the road may be long, the views can be beautiful. 

Danielle Kent, M.S., CCC-SLP, has a B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Psychology as well as an M.S. in speech-language pathology from UVM. She works with children who have social cognitive and general speech/language challenges, including autism and social-emotional communication challenges. Danielle lives in Montpelier with her husband, six-month-old daughter and golden retriever.