Editor’s Note:   This article appeared here on our blog in 2012.   Erik Raj originally wrote this excellent blog post for his SLP readers.  I think it applies to ALL our therapy clinician friends out there!    Therefore, I have taken the liberty to replace the word ‘SLP’ with “pediatric therapist” for the PediaStaff version of this post.   Thanks, Erik for your inspiring words!

by Erik Raj, MS. CCC-SLP

I don’t think there’s a single person alive who could honestly say that they’ve never experienced a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. As practicing pediatric therapists, we know that some days are incredible, everything goes just as planned and the skies are sunny and crystal clear. But then, other days are not as picture perfect. I wanted to write this blog post today for anyone who might not have had the best day at work today. I want you to know that I feel your pain and it’s my hope that these digital words that I’ve typed bring you a bit of comfort because you deserve it, friend.

EEK! – Sometimes you’ll have one of those days where a student will hide and cry under your therapy table during the whole assessment, for what seems like no reason at all. You’ll feel defeated because you tried everything to cheer that student up and nothing worked. Trust me, we’ve all been there before. Just keep your head up because you’re amazing.

YIKES! – Sometimes you’ll have one of those days where you discover that your school building has 5 new students, all with IEPs in YOUR area. You’ll feel frustrated because you already have 60 students on your caseload and you just don’t know how it’s possible to provide any more services. Trust me, we’ve all been there before. Just keep your head up because you’re amazing.

AHH! – Sometimes you’ll have one of those days where you look into your therapy bag for your perfect, go to therapy material, but it just isn’t there. Then, you realize that you mistakenly left it at home on your kitchen table. You feel down on yourself because you can’t help but feel like you’ve let this particular student down. Trust me, we’ve all been there before. Just keep your head up because you’re amazing.

YEESH!

Sometimes you’ll have one of those days where you realize that it seems like every single piece of paperwork is due tomorrow. You’ll feel overwhelmed because you just don’t know how all of it could get done in time. You frantically scramble and feel exhausted in the process. Trust me, we’ve all been there before. Just keep your head up because you’re amazing.

In closing . . .

Let this blog post be just a small reminder that you were put on this Earth to move mountains. Glorious and huge therapy mountains. Any hectic situations you might have encountered today were simply just little hiccups that helped you to grow and get stronger. Tomorrow is a new day and I know that it’ll be better. So, keep on shinning like the bright and sparkly diamond that you are because you are seriously the best pediatric therapist around.

Featured Contributor: Erik X. Raj, M.S., CCC-SLP

Erik X. Raj, M.S., CCC-SLP is a practicing speech-language pathologist and app developer living in Detroit, Michigan.   Originally from Jackson, New Jersey, he received his B.S. from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and was awarded a M.S. from Misericrodia University.

You can learn about Erik’s apps for speech-language therapy and read his blog on erikxraj.com