perfect cadence

I have been having some excellent communicative moments at work lately.  Which is good, because that is pretty much the core business of my job as a speech pathologist.  Reflecting on it, I think it has a lot to do with persistence, consistence, relationships, risk-taking, trust and perfect cadences.

persistence - I have kept going with these little people with complex communication needs.  Sometimes it does not happen at that minute.  Or that day.  But each time I talk with them, or model something with them, or listen to them, or watch them carefully, another dot is filled in in their painting of their communication and relationship with the world.  Each time I encourage others to see how their kids are communicating it fills in another tiny piece of their puzzle.  It is definitely not all up to me - I would say my job is like a tugboat gently nudging the big ship along a course, a multimodal communicative course.  I speak goals around the kids - 'I am going to love having a roast dinner with you at graduation (to a little person who has trouble eating anything)', 'I can't wait to get an email from you (to another little person who is just starting to learn letters for her name on an alphabet chart)', 'You are going to make a great speech one day' ( to another little person who is just starting to explore sounds).

consistence - turning up is really important.  The rhythm and expectation that you will come builds a trust, and you are ready to communicate more.  Today, when I was feeling less than well and not quite on top of my game for most of my sessions, turning up was the thing that was most important for one boy.  He was happy to see me at the same time, in the same place, and he concentrated for such a long time and we had such beautiful moments with playdough play.  Mostly because I turned up.  Not because I had a flashy session planned.

relationships - it's hard to explain to the university students that do prac with me, but hanging out is really important.  It is the 'hot air' of relationships, the chatter, the stories, that underpin most of our communication.  This counts for the people I work with as much as the kids.  It's hard to write notes on, and hard to write SMART goals for, but the hanging out time is one of the most important things I do.

risk-taking - sometimes communication is all about risks.  And if it is something you are not good at, and have failed at a lot, and you have complex communication needs,  there needs to be a lot of trust with your communication partner that they will understand you and will not let you down,  If you are going to have a go at saying it, whatever way you can, you need to be sure you will be understood.  Building rhythms and rhymes, and s p a c e , into the conversations helps the kids take risks.  It's ok.  I will wait for you.

which leads me to

perfect cadences - that sense, in music, that you want something to resolve well. To not leave it hanging, discordant, but that you want it to finish with a 'ahhh' that strums in your heart.  Sometimes communication happens like that - I send out a question, a comment, an unfinished sentence, a gesture, a picture model, and the student finishes it for me with ...........whatever is needed.  Ahhh.  That's what I was hoping for.  That we would connect, and join in the moment together.

So I have had so many of these moments lately with students.  Their steps are tiny but so large at the same time.  It warms the cockles of my speechie heart.