Motor Speech Therapy Is Hard Work for Clinicians Too

Full transcript

Hi, it's Nicole coming in from the NYU Motor Speech Lab. I'm super excited to start a new semester. We took a little time off, and now we're back in full effect. We have our new cohort of research participants coming in, and it's going to be a really great year. I'm going to start up these quick video tidbits again.

To start the semester off, I wanted to focus on us, the treating clinicians. This type of therapy is hard work, and it's not just hard on our clients, the kids and participants we work with. It's hard on us, too. It can be exhausting. Sometimes in our sessions we're getting 200, 300, 400 productions. You might think, that child is working really hard, and they are. But we are also working so hard in these sessions: getting the child to say these words, giving them the feedback they need, being their cheerleader, helping them feel comfortable, and letting them be vulnerable with us and try.

So if you come out of a session and you're like, "Phew," that's normal. One thing to think about when you're starting with your caseload, or adding this type of treatment in, is protecting your time: making sure you're sleeping, eating, and hydrated, so you can be the best clinician possible in these moments. Because again, it can be exhausting for everyone involved.

I'm going to be doing my best to do that, and we're going to have a really wonderful semester.