Building on Strengths

One of my good friends is a speech therapist who has had great success helping young children make life-changing progress in areas many of us take for granted - eating and speaking. She is incredibly upbeat, and genuinely cares about her clients. Adults and children both feel at ease with her instantly.

When I asked about her secret to success in making such great strides with children, most of whom have severe disabilities, she says she simply finds something the child can do well, and then extends that ability to create new functionality. "We build on their strengths," she says.

Most of her clients are younger than school age, but from time to time, she does work with children in the school setting. It is not uncommon for her to be frustrated by her experience at the school. Her frustrations have often made me stop dead in my tracks, and consider things from a whole different point of view.

If you think about the way we address challenges for students, we often do the exact opposite of what my friend does. If a student has trouble with reading, we pull them out for extra work on the very thing they have trouble with.  We don't find the hooks - the things they do well - and then build a bridge to those things that are challenges for them. This is actually what families are best at!!!  They understand their child's strengths, and have opportunities to help the children build on those strengths. What we must do is help families have the tools to help build the bridges from strengths to challenges, so that the challenges become competencies too!