Simply Op

12/26/25 [inspired while at work] After years of being a speech language pathologist, child led play is not a novel concept to me. It is the individual and play itself that lends to novelty. I currently have a patient who has recently shown an interest in spelling. What prompted the newfound interest, I am not certain. That being said, he has always displayed strengths with pattern recognition and early reading ability (hyperlexia). During our session today, I let him dump out a box of letters onto the floor. From memory, he began spelling words like notifications, artificial, their, pie, and pineapple. He scanned the array of letters to select the one he needed, differentiated consonants from vowels, inquired “where is_?” when there was a letter he could not locate, advocated “I don’t want it” when I tried to hand him a letter that did not match his size/color preference, and then requested “take a picture” so he could see his own mastery. An outside observer might have thought, “Is this speech therapy?” or “What is the purpose of this play?”. But, when you dig a little deeper, there was evidence of connection, attention, recall, language initiation/response, sequencing, and genuine joy. Children are full of ideas, preferences, and strengths that may be recognized when they are given the time and space to lead. I will consider this an “exquisite” moment! 

“I believe every day, you should have at least one exquisite moment”
– Audrey Hepburn

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.”
– Diane Ackerman