"Voices" A Reflection Perspective piece by Noelle Scolieri, M.S. CCC-SLP

​I think often times when parents find out they’re pregnant, they start thinking about what their little one will be like. Which genetics from the gene pool will they get? Dad’s bright blue eyes? Mom’s light brown hair with that reddish tint in the sun? Maybe they wonder what their child’s personality will be like… will they get their mom’s compassionate heart with a bit of dad’s stubborn side and love for math?

But one thing I think is often not thought of is: what will their voice sound like?

In my time as a speech-language pathologist, I’ve seen first hand how often our voices are so easily taken for granted. How the ability to say what you’re thinking or what you want or need without too much conscious effort is just assumed for so many people until you’re faced with having to view communication from a different lens when someone is having difficulty with it.

I chose to specialize in Childhood Apraxia of Speech, and at this point a majority of my day is full of children with this motor speech difficulty.

Recently in a session, a 3-year-old with apraxia said a word for the first time. (It was “Dino” for the dinosaur toy we had been playing with. It wasn’t even a target word that day, she just watched me and imitated it.) She looked so proud of herself and her eyes lit up. I cheered and made sure she knew how proud I was of her hard work to get there. I was so focused on this little girl that it took me a minute to look up at her mom sitting in the chair in the corner of the speech room. She had tears slowly falling down her cheeks and a smile on her face. The mom said, “it’s just so cool to know what her little voice sounds like”. Now, she’s chattering up a storm, getting more and more functional words and sounds every session. But I think about that day often, when her mom was just so excited to hear her daughter’s voice after years of wondering what it would sound like.

I would go back and choose this path again and again if I could. Despite the long years, challenging tests, endless hours studying, and-to be honest- many many tears to get to this point, I would do it all again. You can’t really prepare yourself for the first moment when a parent hears their child’s voice for the first time. No textbook or course prepared me for the feeling of pure magic watching a child say one of their first words and watching their parents eyes fill with happy tears. Or watching the child’s face light up when they hear their own voice.

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