2005-10-24 - 10:00 p.m.

I wish I was more experienced in my job! It's very frustrating... I have a kid with feeding/swallowing issues that I'm having a hard time with. In school, we learned a little bit about swallowing, more about the normal swallow and diet considerations. Not much on pediatrics. This little girl isn't safe swallowing thin liquids and can only take 1-3 bits of thick consistency foods. She doesn't even know to suck! So its MY job to teach her how to suck on a pacifier, close her lips, lift her tongue, and swallow her food! Its so frustrating! I love to work with this little one, but I feel so incompetent. I brought my supervisor in for help, which turned out to be useless, and she just made me feel more incompetent. I wanted her to come into the session to help, but she just sat back and later nicely told me that I need to do more research on the subject. So I did my research, and today my other boss came with me (I think cause my supervisor suggested it) and she was generally nice, but had some 'feedback' for me afterwards. I know I'm a new therapist, and very new at working with feeding issues, but I wish I knew my stuff and didn't feel so lost. Izaak told me that it's ok, and everyone starts off like this, but it makes me feel so insecure. I feel like my boss thinks I'm incompetent. Ugh! I am trying my best, so I guess thats all I can do. I can't wait til i'm an experienced SLP and I can just whip things out of my bag of tricks.