Elaine's gift

Just before Christmas break I was observing one of my students in our local Early Childhood Center.  Elaine is a "non-traditional" student in the sense that she is NOT 18-25, she IS married with a child and this is a second career move/choice for her.  (And YES, I DID get her permission to mention her first name).  Being new to the clinical practice experience, she often worries that her treatment plans are not good enough and that she makes too many mistakes.......basically everything a new clinical student worries about.  She sees children for speech and language therapy individually or in groups of two every 30 minutes for 2.5 hours.  On this particular day, she was beginning treatment with a new child.  On her way out of the therapy room door she told me she was heading to this new child's classroom to pick up Lily (I am of course making up the name here) to add to her other child at that time thus creating a two person  group.  (For the purpose of this blog, I will call the other girl "Angie".....again, a fictitious name)


Elaine had been seeing Angie individually all semester. Angie is basically non-verbal.  Angie makes a few noises and occasionally tries to imitate the /b/ or /p/ or /m/ sound but mostly she hides under the table and refuses to do anything, coming out only for snack which (conveniently--NOT) falls in the middle of Elaine's therapy time.  In short, Angie was difficult for anyone to work with, especially a beginning clinician.  The one thing Elaine had going for her was that she was "non-traditional" and with age came experience with life and particularly children that she brought to the table.  Even that though, was never quite enough and we all became frustrated with the situation.

When Elaine was leaving the speech room to go get Lily, she was told by two other speech-language pathologists on her way out to "be careful" because Lily NEVER EVER EVER talks but what she does do is CRY and she is very good at that particular skill.  Elaine passed me as I was seated on the other side of the partition, kind of like a confessional.  (I could hear Elaine's therapy but I had to stand up and peek over the partition to actually see Elaine and her children because having me stand over them often freaked them out causing even more non-participation and hiding under the table.)  As Elaine passed me she said under her breath, "I'm just warning you, I am WINGING this!"  I completely understood this having just heard what the other therapists said and I patiently waited for her to return.

A few minutes later, in walked Elaine with Angie holding one  hand and Lily holding the other.  They got around into their "corner" and sat down at their table.  Elaine said, "okay girls, what should we do today?  I have bubbles.....look" (pointing to the shelf above her where she cleverly keeps all of her materials--or what James often refers to as a therapist's "bag of tricks").  Lily stood up, squealed, clapped her hands and said "bub!"  Angie looked at her.  Elaine looked at her.  I peeked up over my partition and looked at her and the other therapists who were working at their desks suddenly stopped typing and listened to make sure they really heard Lily actually say something.  Angie then stood up and said /b/ a few times and Elaine blew some bubbles, standing up to peer at me wide-eyed over the partition.  I made a circular hand motion to indicate "just keep going!" and she did.

Over the next 30 minutes, I was joined by my fellow therapists in my hiding place and we listened as Lily said "bubbles,"  "more bubbles," "my turn," "c'mon Angie," and "pop."  WOW.  Lily who never ever talked to anyone including her classroom teacher was running the show and Elaine who was functioning in a daze of disbelief kept going.  I can't remember what other activities they did that day but if it was a puzzle, or coloring or board game, Lily spoke and Angie TRIED.  At one point, Lily went so far as to put her  hand over Angie's to show her how to put her puzzle piece into its correct spot.  It was truly unexpected and most amazing.

Now, I don't really know what happened that day and it doesn't really matter to me.  In fact, we collected no data that day at all. What I do know is that Elaine, who had been diligently trying very hard all semester to coerce Angie into speaking, was on the receiving end of some success with the help of a little girl (who NEVER talks) named Lily.  What I do know is that it was a gift.  Was it Elaine's gift of an amazing therapeutic disposition or was it a gift TO Elaine given by Lily?  I have no idea.  I have observed that group once again since school has started for this semester and I can tell you that Elaine's gift continues.  Lily speaks and Angie tries. Sometimes, I just love my job!

My life today: Elaine's gift

My life today: Elaine's gift: Just before Christmas break I was observing one of my students in our local Early Childhood Center. Elaine is a "non-traditional" student i...