An elementary school injustice!

My brothers didn’t get pulled out of class.

My friends Dana and Robby didn’t get pulled out.

None of the kids who sat near me had to go either.

I walked out of my class, my fist in a ball, angered by the injustice. Every week from second to sixth grade, I had to leave class — usually English or History — to see a Speech Therapist. I hated school with a passion, but History class was bearable. Why couldn’t it be Math? I would’ve been on board with that.

Eat your vegetables and be quiet!

Whenever I asked why I needed the silly class, the therapist would always pause and look at me like I called her a horrible name. And then for the millionth time, she would respond that I slurred my “r,” “s,” “th,” and “sh” sounds. “You know this Brian. I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. You’re supposed to be working on these sounds outside of class.”

Boo, hoo, hoo!

She would drone on and on about how speech therapy improves articulation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar, and social skills. She would add that it would enhance my ability to communicate and succeed in life.

 Oh, whoop-de-doo to that!

Of course, I never dared saying anything like that out loud. I was a smart ass. I had enough sarcasm to fill a classroom. Yet, I still respected authority. Any kind of talk-back would get back to my mom and then all hell would really break loose. My mom grew up Amish and lectured us about Jesus’ love, but heaven forbid, I ever smart mouth a teacher. I could hear her in my mind: “You said what? Her punishment would be far worse than anything a teacher could give me.

To top it off, she would tell me that I had “disappointed” her. My two brothers and I complained about a lot of things but we never wanted to disappoint her. We knew how fortunate we were to have her as mom. So, I kept my sarcastic comments to myself.

The pain is still real

Fifty-some years later and the pain of that speech class still comes back to me. I hated being called out of class. Additionally, the therapist wanted me to move my tongue in ways that I could never move.

She would tell me she was frustrated with me for failing to practice. The reality was different. I spent hours in front of a mirror at home. I just couldn’t make the same sounds that she wanted me to make. Oh, I’ve gotten better. My “s” and “sh” sounds are fine. However, the “ul” sound in the word “coal” is still beyond me.

The funny thing is that I actually came to appreciate my speech therapist. Over time she saw that I was giving it my all and trying. She ended up becoming a huge fan.

I write more about the challenge of speech therapy in my story, No One Size Fits All Solutions, on The Heart of the Matter. I had a chance to listen to a preview of Vicki’s and Wynne’s Podcast interview with Andrew Mayne, an artificial intelligence developer, consultant and Wall Street Journal best selling author.

You can do it!

Mayne touches on how he was looking for a template to success when he returned to the U.S. after living abroad. Mayne speaks on the video, but I could have swore I heard my speech therapist. She used to say many of the same things. One of the biggest lessons from the podcast: We make our own success. There are no templates. What worked for one, might not work for the other.

Watch the interview preview in my story and be sure to check out the podcast in full when it gets released on Friday. To subscribe to the podcast: Search for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts. And subscribe to our YouTube channel for videos of our interviews and shorts.

And oh yea, for the record, I’m still angry that I got pulled out of class.

The injustice of it all. Who’s with me!