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/
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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
As the father of an autistic child, this thread really resonated. Particularly this last tweet. The academics and even MDs don’t connect with my kid. It’s the therapists and teachers who communicate with my child and get the most progress from their sessions.
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Dr. Rachel. I just want to tell you how much your story had touched me. It almost feels that there was divine intervention at hand... that you were placed there so this young boy and his family would know that life could be different...
unroll please. Who needs a computer when you have a professional like this. Nice one, Rachel. Best wishes.
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Hello, please find the unroll here: Thread by : "I just had such an affirming experience. On my 8hr intl flight back from a conference, I sat next to a father/son. In br […]" #SLP threadreaderapp.com/thread/1166817
Have a good day. 🤖
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I was tearing up as I read what you posted. We need more people like you.
