A Year in Review and Inspiration for 2021

Happy New Year!

I hope 2021 is treating you well. 2020 was certainly a challenging year. Closing my office and not seeing clients for several months was bitter. However, with that bitterness came some sweetness as it enabled me to focus on my family and spend quality time with my children. For this I am fortunate. 

While this pandemic is not entirely behind us, we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, I would like to take a moment to share my small accomplishments, some favorite readings, and perhaps some inspiration for 2021. 

I love to read and take continuing education courses. I was hoping to take more classes and read more books, but homeschooling during a pandemic, managing the household, and squeezing time in to read and learn was tricky. 

Here are some of the courses (certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) that I took:

1. Changing Developmental Trajectories of Toddlers with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders)

2. An Integrated Approach to Early Speech Stimulation

3. Minimizing Bullying: Working with the Child Who Stutters

4. Pediatric Voice Therapy Part 1

5. Flow Phonation

6. Pediatric Voice Therapy Part 2

7. Pediatric Voice Therapy Part 3

These courses are available through Medbridge which is an online education platform that offers unlimited CEUS. Click here, if you’re a fellow SLP or a PT or OT, and would like to subscribe to this platform. Using this link, extends my subscription to Medbridge!

I’m excited to take even more classes in 2021 so I can earn my 5th ACE award for continuing education.

As for books, my favorite reads from 2020 were:

1. Non-fiction – *The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

2. Fiction – *Finding Dorothy 

• Amazon Affiliate links included for your convenience.

For those who love reading, consider following me on Goodreads. I look forward to reading more and finishing the non-fiction books I started in 2020 but haven’t yet completed.

Two years ago I began, How to Raise Kind Kids And Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain. This is probably my favorite parenting book to date. It stays on my nightstand so I can read and re-read sections as needed. Most of the book is highlighted, the pages are dog-eared, and the margins are filled with my scribble. 

One of the many incredible resources, author Dr. Thomas Lickona, provides and I feel compelled to share is Teach With Movies. This website provides recommendations for movies with “memorable role models and strong character themes” and it also gives discussion questions and prompts to spark thoughtful dialogue and free worksheets and lesson plans.

Another book I’m halfway through is Raising an Organized Child: 5 Steps to Boost Independence, Ease Frustration, and Promote Confidence by Dr. Damon Korb. This easy to read, practical book gives specific activities and recommendations to improve executive funtion based on your child’s age and developmental level. I appreciate his nuggets of wisdom and non-judgmental reminders sprinkled throughout. Here’s an example:

“When parents say no too often, the child learns to tune them out, but when parents save their reprimands for the most important situations, the word no is more meaningful. An effective strategy is to catch them being good. Parents who can compliment their child during the moments of calm, or after a kind or gentle behavior, tend to raise better listeners.” (page 54)

– Dr. Damon Korb from Raising an Organized Child

In hopes to accomplish more during my days, I also started reading The 5am Club: Own Your Morning Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma Honestly, starting my day at 5am has not become part of my daily routine yet…but when it happens, I feel incredibly accomplished and more peaceful – I can drink my coffee uninterrupted! Sharma has a wonderful newsletter and recently he shared 10 habits to practice for the first 66 days of the new year. 

Hopefully, he doesn’t mind me sharing a few of my favorites here (source – Robin Sharma newsletter dated 12/31/20 “My Top 10 Habits Challenge for 2021):

#1. “Speak not anything negative. Try “complaint fasting” for one day. Then stretch it into a week. Then into months. Transformation begins with tiny triumphs, never wholesale change.”

#3. “Keep a night journal. Before you sleep, each evening of 2021, record what you learned from the day, what you’ll improve tomorrow and where you are winning.”

#4.”Study for an hour a day. It’s remarkable how many people are unprepared. They show up for meetings with little advance knowledge, deal with customers with minimal expertise and have little sense over what they want their future to look like. In 2021, read, write, strategize and reflect for at least 60 minutes a day. For breakthrough results.”

#7. “Represent noble virtue. Yes there are many selfish people in the world and yes, pessimism grows. Yet, this age is a beautiful period to live the ideals that the heroes have lived. Over 2021–beginning in January—resolve to operate with honesty, imagination, hard work, compassion and courage.”

#8. “Leave everyone you meet better than you found them. True leaders and genuine heroes are hope-bringers. They make people feel bigger, never smaller, in their presence. They have a trained gift to inspire and activate other humans to own gifts they didn’t know they had while achieving feats they never dreamed they could do.”

#9. “Have a bias for the doing of hard things. A lot of my new book (out in 2021) is about the best ideas I know for elite productivity and the kind of high-impact that launches movements. One of the insights I’ll offer to you right now is to consistently embrace the activities that are hardest. Hard is what makes you stronger, more skilled and braver. Doing easy acts has very little reward.”

I’ll end this by expressing my gratitude for my clients – past and present –  who continue to support me and my practice and my readers who purchase my books and product. Thank you for entrusting me with your children and thank you for supporting my tiny business! Guiding this ship requires effort, risk, and patience – nothing is guaranteed. However, I am blessed to love my profession and am grateful for clients and readers who share feedback, lift me up, and make me a better clinician and writer. Thank you!!

Wishing you all an extraordinary, happy, and healthy 2021!

Thanks again,

Kim