The High and Lows of the Week

This week was stressful in a low-key sort of way. Some weird, tense situations came up that put me in a perpetual funk until the work week officially endedat 2:30 P.M. yesterday.

For one, I re-learned a very important professional skill -- defend your statement by giving as little information as possible. I participated in one of my most intense IEPs a few weeks ago, and the mother kept repeating the fact that her son has a mild hearing impairment as if it was having a devastating effect on his language. I argued that it wasn't as evidenced in his verbal responses and as documented through his progress in therapy and his academic work. He has been compensating just fine; actually, I did not know he had a hearing impairment until I recently reviewed his IEP again.

That was the big bone of contention. I truly said that in a positive way as in he was compensating just fine, but parents twisted it to criticize me for not doing my job right. Apparently, after I left the IEP, she said aloud, "I can't believe that SLP didn't know my son has a hearing loss." Talk about passive-aggressive and not saying that to me during the meeting. Not that I necessarily would have had a good comeback. Subsequently, the parents refused to sign until it was stated in the IEP that I didn't know he has a hearing loss amongst other details worked out with the other specialists. I'm sorry if I can't remember every single detail of 67 students. When I was traumatically removed from my original assignment back in October to do major damage control here, I reviewed goals and services from each IEP and not every single page of these 15-30 page IEPs.

The good news is that they finally signed after the case carrier wrote on a "supplemental team notes" page, "SLP mentioned she did not know about student's hearing loss."

So that and other criticism received and being caught in the middle of drama at work that was unrelated to me were the downers for the week. I know in the grand scheme of things, they're not major fiascos, but I still felt like a dummy. You're hardly ever recognized for your good work but 50 people will know about your mistakes in a day.

On that note, I did have a huge upper this week. In April, I did an assessment at a private school. Saving a lot of background information, this case was unique to me because 1) it was my first assessment at a private school; 2) it was my first IEP facing an advocate; 3) I didn't know the student nor parents since we don't service private schools but judging from parents' interactions with other specialists, they didn't seem that easy to get along with; 4) student has a diagnosis of autism and a slew of private services.

After I presented at the IEP, the parents looked at each other and said, "We don't know what our private SLP is working on." I was floored! If anyone could have read my mind, they would have heard me shouting, "Pay me $150/hr to work with your kid and not let you in on what I'm doing!"

But the professional part of me actually told them to look over my report and goals and if they have any questions after they discuss with So-&-So and Associates, they can contact me. (The parents kept name-dropping and asking if I knew these people and that people.) So mother and I have been playing phone tag, and we finally spoke on Wednesday. She politely asked if I would talk to the private SLP (if this is allowed) to discuss my findings, recommendations, and therapy ideas b/c she shared my report with the private SLP. She also asked if there is any way that we could cut the Inclusion Specialist's 10 hours of consultation to 5 hours and then have me consult the other 5 hours. I was like, whoawhoawhoa...b/c the I.S. is really good at what she does (working on inclusion, i.e., behaviors). I was flattered that she would want me to take half of that consultation time (of course for legit reasons of working on pragmatics in a group setting, etc.).

At the end of our conversation, I said, "Thank you for talking with me," and she said, "No, thank YOU. I mean it, I really appreciate you taking the time to diligently call me back and just from the IEP meeting and your report, we were all really impressed with how thorough you were and how you really knew your stuff." She elaborated on "we" as in her husband and her, their hoity-toity name-dropping advocate, private SLP, and two private behavioral agency representatives.

I was like, wow! That was really, really awesome to hear. I guess it's b/c that's the first time any parent has ever said that to me. I know I am not in this profession for the glory...but there are times, when we as SLPs can't help but feel underappreciated, especially when working with learners with autism. I feel like I put in so much work with the severe kids, but it is never enough and any progress (in communication) is not because of any work that I have done. It's just nice to hear a compliment and feel somewhat competent, after a week of hearing how incompetent I appear to be.

Rough crowd, man. I've been a relatively good sport about it, though. Although I was previously counting down the months until the end of this assignment, I am proud to say I haven't counted down the days. I will say that I've counted down how many more sessions with the student who is the bane of my current existence...5 more!

Thank God for weekends.