I just had such an affirming experience. On my 8hr intl flight back from a conference, I sat next to a father/son. In broken English, the father began to apologize/warn me that his ~10 yr-old son had severe nonverbal autism, and that this would like be a difficult journey. 1/
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I told him not to worry, I was a speech-language pathologist with lots of experience with minimally verbal kiddos. Challenging behaviors began even before take off: screaming, hitting me, and grabbing for my things. The father repeatedly apologized, but did little else. 2/
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I asked him how his son preferred to communicate. He didn’t seem to understand. Perhaps this was a language barrier, but I think instead the child had very little experience with communication therapy. I put away the talk I was working on & asked if I could try. He nodded. 3/
I tried to see if he was stimulable for a communication board. I started by pulling up some standard images for basic nouns on my computer but I could tell that screens really bothered him. So I summoned my god-awful drawing skills and tried to create a (very!) low-tech board. 4/
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And by god, it clicked. I made symbols for the things he was grabbing, for his favorite stuffed penguin, and for his dad. He took to it very quickly. I introduced way more symbols that I normally would, but hey, how often do we get an 8-hour session?! 5/
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By the end of the flight, he had made several requests, initiated several times, & his behaviors had reduced quite a bit. The father was astounded – clearly no one had ever tried an AAC approach with him. I gave him the paper & showed him how to use it, and he nearly cried. 6/
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This was the human desire for communication, pure and simple. To connect with another person and share a thought. Communication is a basic human right, and I was overjoyed to help someone find it. What a privilege and a gift. 7/
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As I face the upcoming job cycle and the nearly endless imposter syndrome of academia, this was precisely the reminder I needed about why I love studying language/communication development. It was a good day to be an #SLP! 8/8
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Thank you for using your proffessiinal ability to help a grateful father.
Blessings to you for being a wonderful, compassionate human being.
You made a tired womans day. 💙🙏🏼
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This is honestly the best thread I've read on Twitter. I love your passion, I truly honour your thrice blessing. Rare and precious... respect to you for stepping up and for raising our collective consciousness
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It isn't by chance that you were sitting where you were all of our paths are divinely ordered.
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Right place, right time, right person and you changed a life or two, father and son! A grand teacher you are indeed!
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Your humanity alone has me welling up, if we all could only reach out to help each other.
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