Speech Therapy in a Big Purple Bag: January 2014

Where do I begin? The starting point of my journey is difficult to pin-point. When I think back on my life, the stepping stones on my path are scattered throughout my experiences, even from the point of my birth. You see I was born a premie, 6 weeks early weighing 4 lbs, 3 oz. Recently, I was sharing stories with my mom about working with families of premature infants in a home health setting. This conversation led to her sharing how difficult it was for her when she was told I was not strong enough to breastfeed. "I really wish I had someone like you, in my home guiding me through the difficult process of feeding you. I suppose you were always meant to help babies learn to eat." As a child, I was fascinated by stories of children with disabilities. The first biography I ever read was about Helen Keller. To this day she remains one of my heroes. Growing up with 3 cousins with hearing loss I had heard about the impact their special education teacher had made on their lives. Their perseverance has inspired me throughout my journey.

By the time I was in junior-high I was convinced that I wanted to be a teacher, specifically a reading teacher. I held onto this goal even into my first two years of college at Texas A&M. It was there that I met my husband, got married and moved to the small town of Del Rio, Texas so that he could work in the family business. I planned to finish my teaching degree at Sul Ross University there in town. But, as we all know, life becomes more complicated when marriage enters the picture. Complicated in a wonderful way of course. But, we needed money. So I went to work for a vet in town, working as a receptionist at the front desk. I loved every minute of it. I loved the animals. I loved the world of medical terminology, treating patients, and surprisingly I wasn't grossed out by needles and bodily fluids. And actually, as my dad pointed out to me one day, it wasn't too surprising that I was comfortable in a medical setting. In high school my favorite classes had been Biology and Anatomy and Physiology. I decided that maybe becoming a vet tech was my future. I took courses to learn the basics while gaining experience on the job. A couple of years down the road and my husband and I moved away from Del Rio, and away from the family business. We moved back to my home town of San Marcos, Texas. There he went to work in a local hardware store and I found a job with a local vet in town. Springtown Veterinary Hospital. There I continued to use my people skills as an outpatient technician, performing technical skills like blood draws, x-rays and injections, while using my people skills to educate clients about their pets' medical needs. I enjoyed every minute of working with the clients. Dr. Nowland, my boss told me one day that he thought I needed to go back to school. He said that I had the gift of talking to people. I smiled and brushed his comment aside. I was happy as a vet tech. Or so I thought.

But as the years passed I slowly began to feel that out there in the big world there was something else that I was meant to do. I needed to help people in a bigger way. I loved working with animals, but I loved people more. One of my co-workers at the time was pursuing a degree in physical therapy, another a degree in nursing. Each of them wanted to work with children. In talking with them, a longing began to grow inside of me. From my youth I had always loved children; loved playing with them and had wanted to be a teacher. But I had grown to love the world of medicine and wondered if there was a career that would allow me to grow my medical knowledge and interest while allowing me to educate children. It was then that I remembered my cousins and their speech teacher. I got on the Texas State website and began exploring degrees in the health professions department. Communication Disorders. It sounded fascinating! I wondered if this could be my future career. The next spring I took a few of my basic courses and signed up for Intro to Communication Disorders. During the first week of class the professor played a video of a man who was recalling his experience of losing his ability to communicate after a traumatic brain injury. "My speech therapist changed my life." Tears came to my eyes as I watched and listened, and I knew I had found my passion.

The next 6 years are really a blur. I continued to work at the vet while pursuing my education. The more I studied and learned about speech-language-pathology, the more I loved it. I especially loved my courses on dysphagia and neurogenic disorders. In 2010 I completed my Bachelor's degree in Communication Disorders and in 2012 my Masters degree. I completed my CFY in March of 2013, spending part of my time in a pediatric outpatient setting, and part of my time in a nursing home. I was thankful for the opportunity to have both experiences as I grew and learned what area of speech-pathology interested me the most. During that time my love for treating dysphagia and feeding disorders grew, and in July of 2013 I took a home health position at Christus Santa Rosa in their pediatric department. In September of 2013 I became Vital Stim certified. This job has offered me the opportunity to work with some amazing SLP's with experience in pediatric dysphagia, especially with the birth to 3 population. I also discovered my love for the birth to 3 population and early language development. Since completing my degree in 2012 I have learned so much and I am excited for opportunities to learn more. My hope is that one day I can specialize in pediatric dysphagia. My goal in creating this blog is to share what I learn along the rest of my journey. I hope you'll come along for the ride!

Speech Therapy in a Big Purple Bag

Friday, January 24, 2014

My Story: Becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist

Welcome!