Erica Hoffman came into our lives to work with our oldest daughter Grace. She’s a speech pathologist, and right around her second birthday we were worried that she wasn’t talking much, didn’t have many words, and wasn’t progressing properly. So we had her evaluated, it turned out we qualified for services, and Erica started coming to our house once a week to work with Grace.

It’s been a pleasure getting to see her work, in some part because what she actually does is what people think I do when I tell them I have Master’s Degree in Speech Communication. I also geek out over the nuances and vagaries of people’s speech patterns and their personal style, due in large part to listening to people in my headphones for several hours a week. I’m especially enthralled by those with an unusual flourish or a cute affectation.

So this episode is fun for a number of reasons. First, she’s done exceptional work with our daughter, and I cannot recommend her highly enough. She’s incredibly savvy and has a fun and easygoing demeanor. Second, she indulges some of the questions I have about how different sounds are made in our mouths and we dig into some of the nitty gritty of language and speech. Third, this episode is a great representation of what I hope this show is. We talk about how she got into this line of work (college survey courses are important, kids), the twists and turns her career has taken, and some of the day-to-day ins and outs of the work that you wouldn’t know from a surface level chit-chat.

I adore this episode and suspect you will, too.

You can download it on Apple Podcasts, stream it on Stitcher, or listen for free and forever on the Jon of All Trades Podcast homepage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS