Professional Growth + Lemonade: Light Summer Reads for SLPs

I am always trying to think of ways to improve my clinical skills, but summer is a time for me to recharge and, well, check out.  As Kira mentioned in her blog earlier this month, engaging in non-work activities is invigorating - it inspires creative thinking and energy that will fuel our productivity when we are back at work.  

That being said, I do love a good book in the summer, and it's always a bonus when I can tie to it my work.  Add some of these books to your summer reading list - they are excellent reads, and kind of have to do with our profession.  It's like professional growth for slackers.  Maybe poolside, with an iced drink and a bowl of cherries (or frozen grapes, my new favorite discovery)...  

Happy reading! 

Fiction

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman -  Eleanor Oliphant struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.   

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simpson. Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially inept professor of genetics, has decided it’s time he found a wife.   But he ultimately discovers that the art of love is never a science.

 Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. 

 Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. 

Non-Fiction (but still qualifies as Poolside Reading)

How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims. The author of this approachable book draws on research and her own insights as a mother and as a student dean at Stanford University to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children.  She offers practical alternative strategies that underline the importance of allowing children to make their own mistakes and develop skills necessary for success.  

Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung Pang. Rest offers a roadmap to rediscovering the importance of rest in our lives, and a convincing argument that we need to relax more if we actually want to get more done.

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