Rooting For The "Underdog"

I am from Cleveland and have lived here for my entire life.  And I’ve ALWAYS been proud of my city.  Winning teams are exciting, but they don’t increase my pride in Cleveland.  I love Cleveland for so many reasons that don’t even include sports. And I love our teams whether or not they bring home a championship.  Maybe I’m an optimist, or maybe I just root for the underdog!

I work with children who may seem like the “underdog”.  Speech and language skills that many of us acquired naturally, require direct teaching and practice for these children.  These skills are critical for the child’s success in communication, but they need extra “training”.  These children may seem less capable then their peers.

Some children are just naturally talented at something.  My oldest daughter was naturally talented at softball from an early age.  My other two daughters were naturally talented at dance.  However, they all were exposed to both activities and worked hard under the guidance of a coach or dance teacher to overcome their lack of “natural talent”.

When the Cleveland Indian pitchers had to bat in Chicago this week, I was struck by how nervous they appeared. Hitting is not their natural talent and therefore they may lack confidence in their ability. When Kluber got an RBI single, the joy in his smile was undeniable.  Imagine how empowering it is for a child to use newly acquired communication skills to express their wants, needs, emotions…to say “I love you” for the first time.
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The world loves stories of underdogs “winning”.  I am fortunate to spend my days making this happen for my clients, who in my eyes are ALL champions!

Author

Donna Rowan Culley is an SLP and a life long Tribe fan!