Fuel for an SLP

Today was Friday; sometimes, I feel so tired by the end of the week that a Friday is more like a Monday. I did not want to get out of bed. I did not want to go to work. I enjoy working, so to not want to go is significant. Some days, I just want to curl up into a ball.

By the grace of God, I arrived to work on time. My morning appointment did not show. I was annoyed but glad to have time to accomplish other tasks.

My first group was two students who stutter. One is in third grade while the other is in second grade. One teacher reported that the student was participating more and using a strategy we had practiced the week before. The other student reported saying words she used to avoid. I was thrilled, so speech time became a time of celebration. The best part? They wanted to learn more, so they practiced math problems on the whiteboard. I was floating on air.

I also ran around my classroom with a group of kindergarten students playing zombies. It was really fun. It's also not unusual.

The second highlight of my day was exiting a student from special education services. He no longer needed speech therapy. It's just such a blessing to see the parent, the teacher, and myself supporting a student. It's also bittersweet to graduate students from speech. I'm so proud, but it means I no longer get to work with the student. He is such a good role model for pretend play; he has a convincing dragon impression.

As an added bonus, I practiced my Spanish today with a parent. We did fairly well communicating. Her daughter only translated for us a few times. I really just need to make up words, because half the time what I would have made up is actually correct.

I really am doing the job I was created to do.