Lear Communication- well above “par” this week!

What was your work-week like? Mine was full of joy, pride and gratitude! Lear Communication is a private practice and our clients struggle with all sorts of communication barriers. These barriers often leave our clients feeling misunderstood, lonely and frustrated. It is imperative that the speech-language pathologist make a connection with their client in order to counsel them accordingly, provide explicit feedback and help make meaningful changes with them. I see great things happen everyday at Lear Communication but the last 2 weeks have really made my heart swell. I observed a group of clinicians at their best, individually working to support their clients not realizing that together they were a powerhouse of heart and excellence!

I arrived to work last week and Katelyn was wiping the sweat from her forehead and removing her running shoes. Why did this talented speech pathologist look like a phys ed teacher on that beautiful sunny morning? Well, her client who experiences exercise-induced vocal cord dysfunction has been working on breathing techniques in session but Katelyn wanted to support the client in transferring her technique to running so, Katelyn laced up her runners! Then on Tuesday, I drive to supervise Jaylene’s work with a client who has a brain injury and Jaylene is in her sweats and wearing safety goggles! Why would Jaylene be wearing safety googles for a speech therapy session? Well, this client loves to fish and he needs to work on reading comprehension, executive functions and problem solving so, they set out over many weeks to organize a project of making homemade fishing lures! On Wednesday, I go to the office and try to catch up with Amy but I can hardly see past her desk! Amy’s neck deep in organizing over 25 new school clients, coordinating schedules to work around school hours, piano lessons, available classrooms and in-clinic client schedules. I was beaming at the way Amy was pouring in so much effort to connect with every family and school representative in order to get the services up and running for the new school year. My week ended with participation at the Birmingham Invitational Golf Tournament at beautiful Legends on the Niagara where local colleagues came together to raise funds for Brain Injury Niagara.I’m not much of a golfer but I know enough to not share just how “above par” we were!

I hope your week filled you with as much gratitude and joy as my week did!

Jennifer Horton