Click image to find this tee by Peachie Speechie!
Friends, I wanted to title this post “I CAN: How the language and philosophies in our classrooms/speech therapy sessions lays the foundation for a child’s growth” because that’s where my stream of consciousness went when I sat down to write this. Here’s why…..
“I can’t do it”. That’s what a 4 year old said to me when I asked him to say a word that started with the /f/ sound. I was so shocked to hear this sentence from such a little human. Where did he even learn this? It baffled me. Despite wanting to react emotionally and ask his parents and teachers where he learned this statement, I quickly told my student that he COULD do it and we would keep practicing together. I told him that he could do anything he wanted to, as long as he tried.
Here’s the thing, he learned this language somehow. From somebody, or some environmental influence (you know… like a movie, tv show, books). And while I’m not trying to place any blame on anybody, I am trying to inspire change in EVERYBODY because this thought of “I can’t” can be so powerful and detrimental for adults and the little ones we have the responsibility to teach.
Another scenario: In years past, I have observed the challenges that teachers may face when including a student who needs extra support to learn in their classroom. I love seeing districts, schools, and classrooms embrace inclusive practices and open up their environments for students of all needs and abilities. I also understand that some students may initially be more challenging to work with than others. By challenging, in this case, I mean that a student may demonstrate behaviors that impeded his learning and the learning of others (sounds like good ol’ technical IEP jargon..heh?).
A couple of years ago I saw a situation unfold where the teachers spent months saying that they were having a difficult time with a student in their class. Months of “I can’t” Language. “I can’t read a story to the entire class because he is running around the room”, “I can’t run my math center because…”, “I can’t reason with him because…”, “I can’t”, “I can’t”, I can’t”.
It starts with us. The adults. The teachers. The MODELS. We are modeling behavior for these kids whether we realize it or not. Every negative gesture, glance, or noise that we make sends a message and our students pick up on it, no matter their age.
Click the image to find this tee inspired by “Friends” by Peachie Speechie.
As a Speech Language Pathologist, I’ve encountered many challenges. I love what I do but sometimes the challenges cause me to question my abilities to serve my students and colleagues. At the end of the day, I understand that I am getting so much learning and growth from challenging situations. But the “I Can’t” Language has crept into my day to day and I’m owning up to it. This past week I focused on this. Every morning I spent 5-8 minutes meditating and filling my mind with “I can” words like “I can motivate, I can inspire, I can learn, I can love”. This has helped me during therapy sessions when things didn’t go “as planned”. I took a page out of the ol’ improv philosphy that encourages you to say YES, AND. I yes-anded the heck out of my work week and guess what? My students were more engaged and I felt more successful after each therapy session.
I’m learning that sometimes “I can” means “I can try”. If you don’t KNOW whether or not your capable of something, it doesn’t mean you’re not, it means you can try and learn how to implement some sort of strategy or support for yourself or another to thrive. If that doesn’t work, maybe try another option. But going back to my four-year-old student, our first response should always be “I can” AKA “I can TRY” and then improvise our way to success and ask for the support we need. Because would we want the little humans who are growing up in this world to lead with an “I can’t” attitude? I should hope not.
So here’s what I want to encourage you to do, friends. Next time something comes along your way and you have the urge to say ‘I CAN’T’, change that to an ‘I CAN TRY’ statement and see how well that can work out for you.
TLDR? Put your Happy Hat on and say “I CAN DO IT”! enough said :)
With love and encouragement,
Morris.
