The Visitor

Feb 5 / 2014

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entitled the Ten Commandments of Speech Therapy; The Teaching of Talking. In it I referred to one of the concepts of treating each and every patient as a V.I.P. (Very Important Person)

Marie

Today I was paged in the hospital and asked to come to the reception area. They said there was a woman who wanted to see me. When I arrived at the reception area, there was Marie, a woman who brought her husband for speech therapy with me; must have been for about 6 months. I worked with them three times a week. We laughed and cried together; any problem they had would be discussed in therapy as part of her husband’s speech and language stimulation. We could talk about anything….. and that’s what made the therapy so powerful for them.

She kept hugging me and telling me what a difference our work had made for them. He passed away 4 years ago before our therapy could conclude, and I was a special guest at the funeral.

Well, yes, they were treated like V.I.P’s; but really it was like my professor in college used to say repeatedly in speech pathology classes. Treat each person who comes to you as if they were your mom, your dad, your brother or sister, son or daughter. If you could treat them that way, no matter what, they will work for you, improve, and you will have a “friend for life.”

Best, Mark
Mark A. Ittleman, M.S., CCC/SLP
Senior Speech Language Pathologist

The Teaching of Talking:

Please stop by our website and visit.  If there is anything I can ever do to help you in any way, please do not hesitate to drop me a line at markittleman@teachingoftalking.com or visit our website at http://www.teachingoftalking.com.  Please feel free to share this with your colleagues or friends.

See the original article:

The Visitor

in

The Teaching of Talking