Shared by Sara Salas, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS AVT. Sara currently serves as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Communication Specialist for the Birdville Regional Day School Program for the Deaf. She lives with her family in North Richland Hills, Texas where they enjoy serving others in their local church and playing with their fun-loving English bulldog.
How do we look at people who are different than us? Do we try to make them understand us? Do we work to understand them? Many times, the people we encounter are really, just like us, people who want to share their thoughts and ideas with someone that cares. Think about a world in which we could understand each other, even if we are from different parts of the world. How often do we share our ideas and feelings with those we love? How often do we share these ideas with our children? Maybe working to understand each other, we would have a more peaceful world. That would be beautiful.
I am a mother of a 9-year old daughter, a step-mom to a 15-year old son, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a “teacher,” and friend. I became a Speech-Language Pathologist in order to share with young people that everyone has ideas and everyone’s ideas are important. I grew up wanting my family and friends to just get along. I could not stand it if I saw someone alone on the playground. It broke my heart to see people making fun of someone. I became friends with one boy in particular and watched his sign language interpreters in our classes, because how can you NOT look at them in front of the classroom? I watched how the interpreter communicated with my friend and how he communicated easily with her in return. I wanted to learn sign language so I could communicate with him, too.
Don’t you just love how all the experiences in your life lead you to a richness and fulfillment in life?
Having a heart for people and wanting people to have friends and connections with others, made me a perfect fit for my current profession. I have the joy of using my creativity, collaboration with teachers, parent ideas, and trial and error to develop systems of communication so that everyone will learn to share their thoughts and ideas with each other.
We all have a “voice” but our voice may look and sound different than others’. Some preschool children communicate through eye contact, smiles, gestures, and hugs. Other children communicate with their voice, gestures, pointing, and leading to what they want. Older children learn to communicate with words, signs, pictures, or a communication device that talks for them. Elementary and middle school children can learn to listen to the ideas of their friends, take turns in conversation, and think critically to explain reasons to back up their ideas. High school students learn to think about what they have to offer the community and dream about jobs that could help them be independent members of our community. I want the students I work with to know they have a “voice” and that their “voice” is important.
It is important to share our ideas about the world with everyone close to us! That is how we learn to empathize with others and see the world from someone else’s perspective. Everyone has a voice. Everyone’s “voice” deserves to be “heard”. Even if the way they communicate is different from what we know.
Shared by Sara Salas, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS AVT. Sara currently serves as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Communication Specialist for the Birdville Regional Day School Program for the Deaf. She lives with her family in North Richland Hills, Texas where they enjoy serving others in their local church and playing with their fun-loving English bulldog.
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