When we think of speech therapy, we often think of children learning to talk. Lenora helps educate us on the many ways speech therapy can be used. As a Speech Pathologist for Better Help, Lenora has great insights and tips on how we can improve speech growth.
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Jen: Welcome to the Parents Place podcast with Hilary and Jen.
Hilary: Welcome to the Parents Place podcast today. We are excited because we have a special guest with us. This is Lenora Edwards, and she is joining us from Pennsylvania, which I hope that your weather is much more beautiful than ours is today because I'm looking out my window and it's not pretty. But we know that Utah has kind of thrown a weather fit recently, so we're used to it over here. But Jen and I had a chance to speak with Lenora for a few minutes before our podcast, and she is, I can tell that she is an individual that just has a heart of gold. So, we're so excited that she's here with us. So, I'm going to turn it over to you, my dear. And if you just want to introduce yourself a little bit, tell us a little bit about your education and what you do and what agency you're joining us from.
Lenora: Thank you so much. I love the weather fit analogy. That's a super cute way of talking about the weather.
Hilary: Yes. It's the positive way of saying Utah weather stinks.
Lenora: So, to all your listeners, hello, I hope you're doing well. My name is Lenora Edwards, and I am a board-certified Speech Language Pathologist with a company called Better Speech. We are an online speech therapy company, and we provide speech therapy services throughout the entire U.S. And we are also international. We’re over 150 Speech Language Pathologists strong. So, if you ever have any concerns, you are more than welcome to reach out to us at betterspeech.com and we will do our very best to answer any and all of your questions. You asked about my background. I actually live in Pennsylvania, and I went to school in East Stroudsburg and then Marywood University and I've been in the field since 2009. And one of the really incredible things about better speech is all the speech pathologists need at least ten years' experience of being in the field, so we're not right out of school. So, for me personally, I've worked in the NICU and in the PICU. I've worked in the adult intensive care unit inpatient and outpatient units, home health, skilled nursing facilities. So, I've run quite the quite the array of experience and I was always blessed to be very wonderfully supported by incredible people within the field and then close to the field. So, it's really wonderful.
Hilary: Oh, that is so cool. You know, it's funny because I think a lot of us had to... we're a little disgruntled and had to come with...you know dragging our feet when we made the shift to online transition from in-person to online for a lot of our services and courses, but aren't we so glad that we did that now. That we have the chance to have these services offered virtually so that we can have that, so that we can provide this information and these resources to these families in need, especially in those small communities that may not have it. So very blessed.
Lenora: Very much so. I love being able to use technology to our advantage. And we've actually been online since long before the pandemic. So, we're very comfortable and already equipped with Zoom, ready to rock and roll when everything shifted. And it was something that I personally think for the rest of the world and the people emerging from being in-person to online, it was going to happen. I feel like the pandemic just put it on speed.
Hilary: Oh, yes, it forced us to this new world and learn these new skills. And we're now looking, you know, now moving forward. We're glad it happened. But
Lenora: Silver linings I would like to focus on.
Hilary: Right. So, regarding your services, do you have particular ages that you work with or what is the age range that most of your clients are?
Lenora: So, we work with children and teenagers and adults and geriatrics. So as a speech pathologist, they'll often hear, ‘Well, how's my speech?’ And we work with so much more than speech. I often tell people we work from the neck and up because we do work with individuals on swallowing and being able to safely consume nutrition. You know, that's why I had been in the NICU to make sure that little ones were able to safely consume nutrition as they entered the world and before they went home to their loving homes that they were headed to. We also work for chewing to make sure that children can actually safely chew the food and swallow it safely. And then we also do work on that speech component, which when we talk about speech, we're talking about fluency, we're talking about our voice and our articulation of speech. Then when we talk about language, which is two parts, we have the receptive part of language. So, understanding directions, understanding when somebody is asking a question, the information coming in, everything that listeners are doing right now that you're doing is the receptive part of language. And then once we express, we also work on the expressive part, how our sentences come together, the grammatical structure, things like that. And then we also work on cognitive skills, things like memory, problem solving, reasoning, sequencing. So, whether it's telling a story or remembering to take your medication or remembering how to do things and write things down on a calendar or we worked a lot with individuals with COVID brain fog, but also, we see individuals for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. So as a Speech Pathologist, we truly see all age ranges and with better speech because we are online, we have the ability to provide speech therapy services to people of all ages in any state, which is a great thing.
Hilary: Yeah, I'm so glad you clarified that, because I think there's a lot of individuals that when they think of a Speech Pathologist or they're thinking early intervention, they're thinking young children developing those initial language skills. And we don't tend to think that there are definitely other situations as we grow and as we become older where we still might want to seek out this intervention and this help.
Lenora: Very much so, absolutely.
Hilary: And just so our listeners know, talk to us about how I'm obviously there's a fee associated with that. How does that work when it comes to the cost for services?
Lenora: That's a great question. So, for us, one of the things that I'm incredibly proud of with Better Speech is we offer a free consultation. So, if you have questions or if you have questions about your loved one, no matter what age, you get to actually reach out to us as early as the next business day and ask a speech language pathologist your questions. And I truly think that's so important because if you called up an outpatient clinic or if you called up early intervention and you said I have concerns, they would say, okay, great, we can get you on the schedule in 3 to 6 months. And when it's your family member, when it's your loved one, no matter what age, time is of the utmost importance. So, to wait 3 to 6 months is a very long time. I don't know if anybody's rolled over at 2 a.m. with questions. I have. To wait six months to ask my questions, it's a long time. So that's why I always encourage people, if you're not sure if you want to speak with somebody, reach out to us at betterspeech.com and we will absolutely be there to support you in any way that we can. As for therapy sessions, ethically, we will do our assessment and we will make a recommendation. And individuals can choose to go session by session or they can go month to month. And there are truly benefits to going month to month just because it's definitely a greater savings. But also, you'll get on a schedule, you get a consistent clinician that you work with, and then we'll be able to provide those therapy services on a consistent basis. Repetition is wonderful and when you get to build that rapport with a speech language pathologist and that family, you get this beautiful relationship that develops.
Now, if you go to a school or if you get speech therapy services in an outpatient clinic, you may be separated from your child or you may be separated from your loved one. You might be in the waiting room; they might be in another room. And they're also out of their element. They're out of the place where they're most comfortable. Sometimes if it's after school, they're also quite fatigued, and then you're hoping you're going to get the best session possible in that small amount of time. When we are with you in your home, you're in this place where your child is most comfortable. You get to be a part of the therapy session. And thankfully we are able to provide therapy services, whether it's 30 minutes or 60 minutes, whatever the case may be. But we're only with you for that short period of time. And when the parent or guardian get to be a part of that therapy session, it's that much more beneficial to everyone because I now have the opportunity to teach you what I'm doing, but also explain why I'm doing it, the reasons I'm doing it one way versus another way, how they can apply it when I'm not there, how they can apply it during their daily routine, how they can make it very, very functional, is a fantastic thing. And then the child also understands on a very deep level that somebody, their loved one, is with them, which reinforces the fact that they're seen and heard and they're important and that they matter. And then when you have this ongoing support, it helps little ones and it helps all, all individuals make greater gains overall because that is something that is truly, truly, unconsciously communicated to them. So, I love that we can provide them online. And then it's so fun because they'll bring up their toys or that they'll take the laptop to the bedroom where they'll hey, this is where this is where I keep my books and stuff.
Hilary: Hold up their cat so you can see their head.
Lenora: You have no idea how many pets I’ve seen online. And it's so much more inclusive and we also offer the opportunity to record the session. So not only do they have us there, then after we've shared a ton of information, they get to replay that session, whether it be for the babysitter or another loved one, whatever the case may be. So that way people really understand what we're doing and how to support whomever we are working with. Whether it may be your 70-year-old mother or it may be your four-year-old child, whatever the case may be. And that is truly a wonderful thing that we are so proud to be able to offer.
Hilary: You guys have got it figured out. I just love everything about that. I love the collaboration, I love the cohesiveness, and I love the recording idea because I remember when I was working with my daughter, and she was attending therapy due to some anxiety. And I remember after the appointment because I did attend it with her and I remember her therapist saying, you know, half of the work is going to be you applying it in home with your daughter. I was like, oh, I better listen up then, right? Because I am one of the foundations in order for this to succeed. But I love that you have that recording because I've made some notes here and there of what we've learned. But I don't know about you. And I jot down my notes usually later weeks, months, sometimes years after I look at those notes. And I think I'm sure that made sense at some point it doesn’t anymore.
Lenora: Definitely. Definitely. Especially because so much information is coming to you. And as you well know, when you're in a field where you get to be of service and you have experienced a ton of information is coming to you and through you and your, you know, your family members are listening and you're hoping that getting as much as possible. But to have that recording is so nice because it's like backup ears. It's like, whatever I can get, I can review, and I can make sure I have it so that I can help in the most possible functional way.
Hilary: Oh, very cool. So, tell us a little bit about I'm like I said, I think I'm expanding even my thinking with this topic. But talk to us about some of the clientele because like I said, we have early intervention. But you also mentioned maybe an elderly parent with Parkinson's or different situations. Tell us about some of the situations why people seek your services out.
Lenora: Absolutely. So, with seeking and speech therapy services, for example, I have an individual she experienced a stroke a number of years ago, and she still wants to work on improving her speech therapy services. Now, there are times where outpatient clinics may say, okay, you've reached your maximum point, but as the client or as the individual, they don't feel like they've reached their best and they get the opportunity to still have speech therapy services. And she couldn’t drive. So, the fact that we are there in her home, we get to work together on her device and that's a great thing. It's very functional for her. We also have, I don't know if you've ever heard of something called the Sandwich generation. And this used to be much younger and now it's mostly people in their forties and fifties who are still raising children, but who are also having aging parents. And how can they help there between the two generations? How can they help support their parents while they're taking care of their children who may be perfectly, you know, middle school, high school, whatever the case may be? And their parents are starting to experience difficulties, whether it be, you know, mom, I'm noticing you're missing a lot of words as you talk to me. You really can't keep track of your thoughts, or you keep calling this the wrong thing or, you know, you keep forgetting to take your medication, I'm really concerned. When you have those worries and they're not in the circumstance of thankfully, so advanced that they need 24-hour care. Who else do you go to? Because they might not qualify for, or they might not feel comfortable receiving services if they have to get in the car and drive an hour. The fact that we're there and then we can be in the home with you, or we can be a part of the session and we can have it with the client, they can record it, and then the family member can see it afterwards. It really offers that additional level of support because dementia is it's an ongoing decline. But there's really, it's more of an umbrella term that that we use for Alzheimer's and for other things that are occurring. And it's progressive. We don't want people to feel like they're not safe in their home. And the fact that we can provide these therapy services that say, here are our strategies, here are tools, here are techniques that you can apply right now to maintain where you are. And raising your level of awareness of this is where I'm having difficulty. Here's what I need to do to help myself is a great thing.
Hilary: So fabulous. I just love, I love this. And I think I can imagine our listeners out there thinking, oh, I would have never thought about that for my elderly parent, or I would have never thought about that for this individual that I'm, you know, maybe is regaining their speech after a car wreck or a traumatic situation. So, I think this is really powerful. So, let's dive a little bit deeper into this idea, because you talked about either building or maintaining these skills in our home. Well, let's spend some time talking about how we as parents can best do that. And maybe we can divide it up with our younger children who are still developing these skills and then maybe talking about some of those unique cases or the older generation. But what can we as parents do within our home?
Lenora: Within our home, for your children. So, whether it's a little one or an older one, if it's your little one to keep expanding on their language. Let's say you have a two-year-old and they're using two-word combinations. Cup please. Oh, you want your cup? Okay, well, we're going to put milk in your cup. So here is your cup. More milk, please. So, they're at that two-word, cup please. And you're building in, No, let's say more juice please, rather than cup please. We'll go with juice please. And you're going to say more juice, please. You're expanding on what they have. And as you as they said, more juice. You're acknowledging what they said and now you're adding to it. More juice, please. That's building their language and that's a great thing. So, wherever they are to acknowledge where they are, but then to also offer that additional verbal support. When it comes to older ones, especially when you're sitting with your five-year-old or your six-year-old or seven-year-old, ask questions while you're reading, oh, what do you think's going to happen next? What else? How else could they have solved that problem and have a back and forth and make it really playful is a great thing to do because when you're doing that, when you're asking questions in a conversational way, you're offering that. I want to know what you think, Oh, here's what I think, and you're giving that back and forth. They gave a different answer. You gave a different answer. The book given in a different answer. And now we have thought flexibility. We have a variety. And that's a great thing because then they'll start to understand, oh, there's more than one solution. There's more than one way to go about the adventure. And maybe I would have taken my bicycle instead of a scooter. And just building on it and expanding is truly a great thing when it comes to our lovely tweens and teenagers. And especially, after all, what did you do today? What did you learn today? Everybody hates that question. Finding ways to have a conversation and asking what their favorite part of the day was or what are they most looking forward to tomorrow. Framing it in those ways are very, very helpful because it's not coming at them as a test question, What did you learn today? Tell me everything that you remembered. What was your favorite part today? What was the funniest thing you saw today? That way you're engaging in their day and you're also tapping into what was really good about it so that they actually think, what were some things that were good? They're focusing on the things that were good, and that's a wonderful thing. One thing I also like to do is to pause in the middle of the movie or pause in the middle of the game and say, Oh, what do you think's going to happen next?
And what has happened so far, especially when children are getting more wrapped into their devices, it becomes very passive. And when they don't know what happened after that, the movie. Oh, well, tell me about the movie. And they can't tell you, that's a red flag. You want to be able to know that there was a beginning, there was a middle, there was the end, and you want to be able to follow that story. So, if you notice that you're your teenagers or your pre-teens aren't able to give you story structure, if they're not able to recall what they did over the weekend or a week before or what they're going to do next weekend, that is something you really want to focus on. And if you're noticing patterns, definitely reach out to professionals because those are the types of kids that tend to slip through. And if you're noticing they're struggling with their grades, that's also another red flag that information is going in, but something is happening and they're not able to process it and express it effectively. So that's truly, truly important. When it comes to aging parents, notice, be very observant of their consistent behaviors. If you're walking into the home and suddenly they're not taking as much care of their home, that's a red flag. If you're noticing that there's expired food in the fridge or expired food on the shelves, those are absolutely red flags. To say something else is going on. I'm starting to have concerns. If you notice that there is medication that's not being taken if they're prescribed something or if you're noticing that they're running out of things and they forgot to pick up toilet paper a number of times, those are those are things you want to be aware of. People want to maintain where they are as and maintain their level of hygiene, maintain their level of care, be able to effectively know how to write a check, or use a debit card, or use a credit card, use their phone, use their calendar, use the things that are within the home. And if you're noticing that they're not using things that they should be or if they've changed behaviors or habits, those may be indicators of something else going on, especially if you talked to them recently and then they're asking you the same questions that you just had with them and they're not able to recall. Those are absolutely concerns of something else going on. And you absolutely reach out to professionals.
Hilary: Do you tend to find that most of these, you mentioned, red flags are identified with our children, with school personnel, or more so in the home, the parents identifying them.
Lenora: I haven't really noticed one or the other specifically, but I do love to reach out to the teachers. And I encourage people to talk to teachers as much as possible because they are paying attention in a different way. Not that parents aren't paying attention. It's their job to pay attention in a different way. And the more people we have saying, okay, well, this is what I'm seeing. For example, if you attend any IEP meeting, you'll hear people have different perspectives of how your child is doing. And that's a good thing because you have multiple sets of eyes helping to ensure that your child is participating in school and learning and helping and being supported to grow from an education standpoint. And if you're a busy parent and you're working because your kid, you're working to keep your roof over your head and food on your table, you might not see these things and that's okay. It doesn't make you a bad parent. It doesn't make you irresponsible by any means. It simply means they're seeing a different part of your child than you are seeing. So, if you're not sure, reach out to the teachers and say, ‘Are you noticing anything? What do you think?’ Just and especially because teachers often coming from a sincere place. They want what's best for your child. They want your child to be doing well. And they're not saying that your child is failing or something. It's simply this is what they're seeing, and they want to make you aware so that way we can all help support your child.
Hilary: It's so true because I'm thinking about my, you know, the funny thing is, is we oftentimes joke about how our kids may act differently in different settings, you know, the home setting versus the school setting. And so, I think that, like you said, not only do, are they listening for different things and watching for different things, given their education, but our kids, yeah, depending on the environment, they're going to act different ways. And so, it's good to see them on all of these different realms.
Lenora: Completely, especially if they go over to a friend's house or if they go over to a grandparent's house, because that's a very normal thing when our language so our language among friends is different than among colleagues. Language among children of the same age is different than language between parent and child, child and grandparent, child and friends, parents. That's very appropriate because we're supposed to know how to shift our language. We're supposed to know when to be more casual, when to be more formal, when to be more informal. So, it's good to know and it's good to ask for other insights and not as a judgment, simply as you're seeing things from a different lens. And I want to make sure that I'm doing what I can for my child.
Hilary: With our young ones, particularly, and I know there's probably a lot of parents that have been in this position before, when do we know, particularly with our with our children that are just developing their speech and with our little ones, when should it be a concern for us? When is it a oh, maybe they're, you know, we've heard things like, oh, they're the youngest child and so they're just really quiet because they have siblings that tend to talk over them or they're just really shy, you know, or really introverted. For those young ones, when do we know when it's time for us to reach out for more of that early intervention versus just they'll catch up?
Lenora: That's a great one. A kind of a rule of thumb is by one year old, they should be having vocabulary of one word at a time, and it will build as they're going through one year. So, they may be able to say mom or dad by their first birthday, and then it will continue to build. By two years old you're going to start to your vocabulary, go from 1 to 2 words. So, juice to more juice and then from 2 to 3 you're going to hear more juice, please. And that's a very natural progression. I often encourage people, if you have concerns, my rule of thumb, if you have concerns, trust your instincts. Reach out to a professional because the worst thing that you're going to hear is they're doing great. Don't even worry about it. Keep doing what you're doing. And especially when we when people offer complimentary consultations, I think that's a fantastic approach. But if you're lying there in the middle of the night going, is this appropriate? I don't know. I'm before you get lost down that Google rabbit hole. Speak to a professional and reach out to people because people are more than happy to share insights. People are more than happy to talk with you and to let you know how your child is doing. So that is definitely a rule of thumb for sure. Trust yourself. Reach out to somebody.
Hilary: Um, so I'm intrigued because you talked about different language and different communication with different individuals. Jen and I just did a podcast a few days ago with teens using slang and, you know, these different acronyms for different phrases. It is text messaging and kind of our condensed version of communication affecting our speech, particularly for our teens.
Lenora: Very much so. Extraordinarily more than you would think. Especially from even the uptick we've seen in the need for speech therapy services from the beginning of the pandemic. Because what happened was social communication. You know, think about when people when your little ones were you know, I grew up in the eighties, in the nineties. So, it was normal for to knock on the door, hey, can so-and-so come out and play? It was normal to have friends come over to the house and for us to go there. It was normal to go to the grocery store. Now we had newborns and very young children not being immersed in language. So, nobody was coming over to the house. Nobody was going to the grocery store. nobody was going to the playground. So, all of this language, quite literally, conversational language that we overhear in the grocery store that we hear on the playground that we hear when our parents are on the phone or when we're face time with somebody or when they're in actually having a conversation with coffee back and forth is missed with radio silence. And that development in the brain is truly important because this is how we communicate. So now what we're seeing is we've also taken away, when masks were up, we took away a massive majority of communication because we don't just communicate with our language, just our words, we're communicating with our face or watching our lips. Especially, when you're trying to draw your attention to your face and you now have it covered. They can't hear you as well. They can't see you as well. You're missing the opportunity to give them all of this information that we're giving when we are talking. So, we actually did see quite the uptake in the need for speech therapy services, but also parents had to do something with their children and they could not stop working. So, a lot of them experienced lengthy times in front of the TV, which you could say, ‘Well, that's language’, which it is, but it's very passive language. You and I are having or all of us, excuse me, are having this back and forth of communication. It's a turn taking. It's a understanding. It's a, I have a question. It's so much is going on that we don't consciously think about because we're very used to it. But that's what was missed. And because those neural pathways weren't able to be built at that time, they're missing gaps of information that we now have to do the best that we can to ensure that they have an understanding of language, how to take a turn. How to ask, how to integrate, how to go up to somebody and say, hey, can I come play or how to leave a conversation. They are so important and they're very difficult to understand that this was missed. Yes, it was missed for a very important reason, but it still was missed.
And we need to target it. We need to go in and make sure that these children understand how to communicate when it comes to teenagers, especially when it comes to teenagers, our smart devices, you know, I grew up with a flip phone. Once I got to a driver's license, I did not have one before it. What we're noticing is they don't know how to engage in a turn taking conversation, but also how to deal with confrontation. Because if I have confrontation on Instagram, I could swipe away and I can go to Facebook and be distracted by something else. They don't know how to deal with going back and forth and saying, ‘I have a difference of opinion’ or ‘I have a question’, or ‘What did you think about this?’ So we are missing big gaps of communication. And somebody had said to me and my teenager son was here and his friend came over and it was like they were grunting at each other because they're texting back and forth. They're not conversing back and forth. And they get like a couple of chuckles here, a couple chuckles there. So it's really important to be able to encourage children to put them down for a period of time and to know how to carry a conversation. And I often encourage people to when you take your children to the grocery store, depending on the age, say , go ask the go ask somebody who works here. I can't find the cereal what aisle do I find it in. And put them in those situations that they have to go up and ask a question . They have to say, Excuse me, can you assist me? And to ask that conversation, I used to have to call for pizzas when I was younger and saying, ‘Hey, can I order a pizza?’ We don't have to do that anymore. Or if you go in and you order a coffee, we don't have to do that anymore. So it's important to put them in those situations that where they can engage with a cashier, where they can engage with somebody doing that financial transaction or standing at the conveyor belt, because there are times where we don't even need a cashier anymore. So putting them in those situations, going into the library, asking for help, putting them in situations where they can then know they build that skill of I can talk to people. I'm okay. I know how to communicate to the gas station person that I need assistance. They really need to understand that because these are skills that are not going away anytime soon. They're not being developed, which is a totally different thing. The fact that they're not being developed is our responsibility to develop them.
Jen: I needed that back in the eighties. My younger sister that she would not go in for anything to talk to anybody. And she was in speech therapy sometime prior. And then she had an accident where she almost bit her tongue off. And so, she had to go back and learn to reuse her tongue. But, boy, just putting her in situations. I wish I had that a long time ago because I always ended up having to go in.
Hilary: You develop that skill.
Jen: And develop that skill. Yes.
Lenora: Yeah. And it can definitely be unnerving for them at times. But to start early and to also start letting them know that you were there, it's okay. You know, sometimes they're getting very uncomfortable because they don't feel safe. And to show them that it's safe to communicate, we're not just going up to strangers in dark alleys. We're going up to the appropriate personnel in a grocery store. Okay, I'm going to do this. We're going to do this a couple of times and make it natural for yourself so that way it becomes so natural that they don't realize, oh, she's doing it again. Now I'm going to I'm going to be uncomfortable again. Oh, hold on, I’ll be really quick. I just have to stop and ask this gentleman a question. Stop. Ask your question. Make it a part of it rather than a formal, this is what we're going to do. And now we're going to make it really uncomfortable because I break out into a sweat. And if you can make it very natural, it becomes natural to them.
Hilary: Yes. I have a brother-in-law who is not much older than I am and I'm not very old. But he rarely will send text messages. He always calls any time, anytime you need something. And I love that. And it was funny because, I mean, we clearly know we don't do that anymore. We don't call people, we text people. It's easier, it's more convenient, it's faster. And there's a lot of us nowadays that when we see someone calling, we're like, ‘What? What are you doing?’
Lenora: ‘Are you Okay?’
Hilary: Yes! And I remember getting off the phone with this brother-in-law one day and my middle schooler saying to me, ‘How come he always calls you; he never texts you?’ And I said, ‘I know. Isn't it fantastic?’ Because I just think that we have stopped doing that as a society. And so, I appreciate the fact that any time he has a question, and it can be big or small, that is his that is his natural reaction is to have this conversation.
Lenora: I love that. That's great you know, it's such a beautiful thing to adopt. Yeah. And integrate. Yeah.
Hilary: And he and I've seen it with him, they have an adult child. He is 19 and he calls too. He chooses to call over sending a text message And so you can see that child down at the top, huh?
Lenora: Yeah, very much so. That's fantastic.
Hilary: It's so cool. Well, I've just got a few final questions maybe to wrap up. So, you have provided us with some wonderful insight, and I love this, of the tips you provided. I think for parents they can take them and they’re small, they're manageable. It's not something big that we're asking individuals to do. I love that. But any other, for parents wanting more resources or more guidance, any of their suggestions as to where to go are there? Are there good books out there? Are there any other good agencies or resources online that we can turn to, to educate ourselves on this?
Lenora: That's a great question. We do have resources at betterspeech.com. And I would say depending on what you're looking for, there are so many phenomenal books out there. There's so many great podcasts out there and so many great things on YouTube that it is so good that it can be overwhelming. Almost like you go to the buffet and you're like, I don't know where to go first. I don't even know if I want to be here. Go with what your preference is, if your preference is podcast research parenting podcast, and you will get a slew of fantastic resources. If your preference is YouTube videos in 5 minutes or less, go to YouTube. And there are so many great things because especially when the pandemic happened in my very specific field of speech pathology, there were therapists coming out of the woodwork. This is what I'm doing here. Try this, here try this. Here's a tip. Here's how I do this. Here's how I do this. And it was so amazing to see how supportive everybody else was. It wasn't ‘You're going to take my information’. It was ‘Here, try this, try to do this digitally’. And there's just so many so many fantastic people out there sharing information in a way that feels natural for them. And I love this. I was working with somebody and she's an author of a book, and she had said, you know, somebody is always two steps ahead of you and somebody is always two steps behind you, and you never know whose hand you're holding, but you're holding somebody's hand. And I just love that because it's so it can really feel like I'm not a good parent or I'm not good at this. I'm not good at that versus I didn't know that I'm not I must not be good versus Oh, they knew something I didn't. Now I have another gold coin in my bag, and I wonder who I get to share it with next. And just looking at it as gathering information and gathering coins is such a lovely way to approach things of there's no way I'm going to know at all. Absolutely. I'm not Google and even Google gets it wrong every now and again. So, to approach it, saying I'm not meant to know at all, I'm just meant to learn as much as I can and to share that as much as I can. It's like passing around cookie trees that never end. It’s a great thing.
Hilary: I want to ask one more. We shared this with our last guest, and I loved asking this, so I want to ask you. So, in the course of your career, I'm sure that you have seen some beautiful success stories. So obviously maintaining confidentiality. Is there any success stories that stand out to you as individuals that you've worked with?
Lenora: Oh, gosh, there's so many. There are just so many things because, you know, especially when you work, there are times where you will work with the Speech Pathologist for a short period of time in your life. And there's times where you may work with a Speech Pathologist, or a team of Speech Pathologists and speech therapy will be in your life for 20 plus years if your child needs that support. And there's so many incredible stories out there. I don't have just one, unfortunately. But I love the idea of being a part of a family for a period of time, offering what I can and helping them go forward. And that to me is a successful relationship with a family and with a Speech Pathologist. You want them to have a good experience interacting with you. You want to give as much as you can and to support them. And you might not be the only therapist that they ever worked with, but you were there for a period of time and to give as much as you can so that they have such a great lesson that they, there's so many lessons that they learned with you, but also that they can carry on with them. I think that is what being successful at this career is.
Hilary: I can just imagine with speech being such an important tool to have in our life, being able to help someone maintain that or even build that. That's probably so, so beautiful to have that experience, to be able to give someone that essential skill to use. So very cool. Thank you.
Lenora: Thank you guys for having me. It was lovely talking with you.
Jen: Yeah. Thanks for coming and giving our listeners lots of great advice and so we would like to thank everyone coming and listening to the podcast today and we hope that you can be patient and kind with yourself, and we will see you back here next week. Thank you for listening to the Parents Place podcast. If you would like to reach us, you can at parents@thefamilyplaceutah.org or you can reach Jen on Facebook. Jen Daly - the Family Place. Please check out our show notes for any additional information. Our website is thefamilyplaceutah.org. If you're interested in any of our upcoming virtual classes, we'd love to see you there.
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