LLA Therapy: How Being a Mom has Changed Me as an SLP

When you decide to have kids, you know it will change your life in many ways. However one unforeseen way that having a child has impacted me is that it has affected my career…for the better. Yes, I may come to work with my son’s peanut butter fingerprints on my shirt, but there are a number of ways that it has helped me to become a better speech therapist.

I can use my own personal experiences to relate to their child. When working with a young child with delayed language, I have always told parents not to anticipate their needs. To pretend you don’t know what they want to encourage communication. While I still tell parents this, I now understand how difficult this is. When you know your child wants a cookie, it’s your parental instinct to get him or her a cookie! Now I can offer parents a personal story of how my son whined when he wanted something, and when prompted to “use his words” he was able to say that he wanted a banana, and then we had a successful example of using communication to get what he wanted without me reinforcing whining or tantrums. I feel those personal stories are meaningful for parents because they know that I do everything with my child that I am asking them to do.

I am more sensitive. When parents say that their child is sick, or missed his nap, I totally get how that is going to throw his whole day off in a way that I couldn’t understand before. I may take it easier during the session and it helps my rapport with that child because I am not pushing him or her too hard on a day where they are not feeling their best. Before having a child of my own, I did not have knowledge of naps and teething and how those things impact a child’s day and their willingness to participate in a speech session.

I have more empathy. When I am working with a child with a speech or language delay, I can easily put myself in the parent’s shoes. I am more sensitive and thorough when explaining things because I now understand from personal experience that health care professionals often appear rushed, insensitive, and dismissive. When it comes to a child’s speech concerns, I don’t want a parent to have any unanswered questions and I want them to completely understand what we are doing in speech therapy.

As I embark on my second Mother’s Day with one child and one on the way, I can say that working and being a mom is a balancing act. Luckily, being a speech therapist has made me a better mom and being a mom has made me a better speech therapist.