You know you’re a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) if…

The rest of the world won’t get this. But you know who you are – you fellow Speech-Language Pathologists – who live to help kids and adults with speech, language, cognitive-communication, fluency, feeding, swallowing,… and oh so much more! We put together this list with much help from our on-staff SLPs, and in honor of Better Speech & Hearing Month coming up in May we salute you in your daily mission to help the world communicate better. Where would we be without you?

What are the things that make you unique as an SLP? What would you add to the list? Tell us in the comments below!

• You reach into your bag and find a collection of toothettes, packets of ThickIt, masks, and tongue depressors that could last for days.
• You see a new memory card game/flashcard set in the dollar section at Target and can’t resist the need to throw it in your cart.
• You’ve seen closets larger than your office (if you have an office…)
• The phrase 90% productivity sends shivers up and down your spine.
• You choke and immediately envision the current path the aspirated liquid is taking… and can’t help but comment on it (and have subconsciously conditioned your friends and family members into using terms like “aspiration”) 
• You find grammatical errors to be akin to nails on a chalkboard.
• Your Type-A personality leads you to organize your partner’s or roommate’s belongings… but you’re too overworked to find time to organize your own closet… erm… office.
• You can’t help but internally diagnose various speech, language, and cognitive disorders while watching TV.
• You wear earplugs at concerts (gotta protect those cilia!)
• You find yourself internally questioning your own pragmatic judgment daily.
• You have a collection of newspapers and magazines you keep meaning to bring into work to use as therapy stimuli.
• You inevitably have to explain that you don’t just work with small children with lisps and /r/ trouble whenever someone actually asks what you do as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
• ju spik ði ˈsikrət ˈlæŋgwəʤ (including all the acronyms as well as IPA).
• You find typically developing children to be geniuses. I mean, really, HOW ON EARTH did they pick up all those words AND learn to negotiate with peers on their own!?
• You can put together a visual support for a patient in about 5 minutes… and somehow always have a notes backlog.
• You couldn’t imagine a more rewarding career!