It’s been a year since I packed up all my therapy materials and moved to Wisconsin. Anyone who does a big move knows that it’s “tedious and disruptive” as one of the movers said. I thought I did a good job but basically got the boxes to Wisconsin but then forgot about a lot of what was in them. So today I went through them all and found old friends. I found Tommy Toot, a little horn by Ambi Toys that helped produce a simple first toot for kids, my Kaufman Treatment Kit and Books that seemed so simple yet worked like magic with my apraxic kids. It was so against my method of speech therapy to “drill” words with picture cards but the kids loved them and showed wonderful progress as we used them. Two of my oldest friends from my clinical practice in graduate school at Northwestern University were my “30,000 Selected Words Organized
by Letter, Sound and Syllable” and Therapy Kit. The book of words was invaluable before word lists were prolific on the internet and posted by SLP’s offering free lists for all of us. Apparently others recognize its value too because it goes for $2,371.01 on Amazon.. Ah but their copy must be in better condition than mine. My “Therapy Kit” was loved and cared for as I carried it from place to place doing speech therapy. Amazingly versatile and useful, it opens to a triangle with sides of pockets for picture cards, felt for attaching story pieces, and a large mirror. Of course now we use our iPhone as as mirror in therapy. This friend is no longer mentioned on the internet. Anyone remember it?
Friends who are downsizing and moving have told me about a book I should read (in my spare time??) about saying goodbye to possessions and thanking them for their use. So I am officially thanking my old friends who entertained, taught, and made kids laugh while progressing on our speech therapy goals. I will pass them on to continue the good work im other hands!
