July 23rd, 2018

Post date: July 24, 2018

We had a great meeting last night at Dysart's.   Three of us were in attendance: Me (Marybeth, of course!), Lauren returned for her second meeting and Elijah, who had been to a meeting 2 years ago and was finally able to get back to one!!  I swear if we ALL ever show up at the same time... we'd have to take over two tables!!  Anyway... after an initial check in and introductions, we settled on a few topics.  Elijah, as a new SLP who is also a PWS, had a challenging 1st year, but is very happy with his accomplishments.  He was doing a lot of talking and stuttering meetings with teachers and parents.  I (being in that place many many years ago) could empathize with the feelings of maintaining your confidence as a "knowledgeable clinician".  Lauren, a forestry major at UMaine, and Elijah discussed issues of being in a field mostly populated by the opposite gender!  Finally we had fun working through a checklist I had brought on "Being a Good Listener".  Although none of our chapter members were able to go to Chicago, I had remembered one of the best workshops I ever attended at a conference on basic good communication skills.  So this little handout has 10 basic rules and we sort of went around the table , role playing some of them until we ran out of time.  It was a good meeting and we hope to see more of you next month... let's fill up at least 1 table!