01/20/2026
Sometimes, in my otherwise very verbal life, the best thing I can do is not saying anything at all 🤐.
An important, and often overlooked, side of being a speech therapist is counseling. It’s a part of our scope of practice. Whether for our patients/clients or their family members, some of the most important conversations I have don’t look like speech therapy at all. It looks like silence and listening. It looks like providing the space for loved ones to grieve the very different family member that now sits before them.
In all of our efforts to heal the “speech” problem in front of us we can easily ignore the other, and often more massive, issues that are dwelling under the surface.
It doesn’t have to be about % accuracy rates and cues. I may not have every appropriate research article at my fingertips. But compassion and a listening ear? I’ve got it on speed dial in order to sit with hurting people.