Simply Op

7/2/2026 Over the past couple of weeks, I have been notifying a team, parents, and my patients that I have elected to step down from my current role and will be relocating to where I grew up (Michigan).

The Patients Responded:
I wanted to document how my patients (children with Autism and/or other neurotypical differences) responded:
– “Are they going to take you off the billboard?” (referring to the giant TV in the clinic lobby with rotating images of staff- hah, yes… they will take me off)
– “You’re dead” (in my head, I was like ‘dead to me’ would make sense I guess, lol)
– (reads the social story I created, then checks for comprehension… “Where is Ms. Opal going?) response, “The lobby” (hah, well, not wrong, but not right either)
– “Ms. Opal won’t live at work anymore” (funny, because true)
– (Asks “Do you want to keep your color by number/coloring page?) response, “Yes, keep it” (Puts it in his backpack) … (Asks, “Do you want to keep Ms. Opal’s story?”) response, “Not right now” (lol, okay, guess he did not like it)
– “No, you can just put Michigan in California” (hah; no, I can’t)
– (reads the social story I created, then checks for comprehension: where is Ms. Opal going? “Home” Will Ms. Opal still care about you? “Yes” Will Ms. Opal ever forget about you? “No” Will Ms. Opal still be at _ (name of workplace)? “Yes” (lol the answer is NO; so close to being 100% and convincing me that he understood)
– “Ms. Opal will drink water … stop at McDonalds and use the bathroom” (lol, brain tracked road trip rest stops)
– “Like the Wolverines?” (brain tracked football)
– “When will you be back?” (thought- not sure, if ever)
– “Ms. Opal’s going on vacation” (which made me think of a past patient who would say – ‘a forever vacation’)
– “Okay, I guess”
– (Asks, “Do you want a hug?”) (2-year-old, hug denied and still mad that I ended her play because it was time to go, lol… I’m sorry)
So, I would say it is safe to say… I am not sure if they all fully understood. I do know they will notice when their routine/schedule changes and I am not there.

I will say, I may have been too hard on myself (easy to do as a speech therapist when showing goal progress as measured by clinical data matters). I think I felt like I was not doing enough. The truth is… the kids do not care about their progress; they care about having fun with you and feeling understood in their own unique way! What I do have with each of these children is rapport. They willingly come to me in the lobby when they see me (well, most of them, lol), generally tolerate playing with me, get my sense of humor, and trust my language models enough to imitate them (“that’s cool” and “oh dear,” I may say a little too often). They are great kids and they make great little friends, too! I do believe that rapport is the most important therapeutic resource of all.

The Parents Responded:
Well, I e-mailed the parents and the response to my e-mail was this ______ (crickets). Nothing, lol. <1 Parent responded, which I took as a sign of processing, denial, and/or sadness. All of the parents seemed to know when I interacted with them in the clinic lobby (so, they did receive the e-mail I had sent). They seemed to be genuinely sad, yet grateful (quite probably, sadder than any of the kids who I had actually spent the most time with). It made me realize that the parents actually do see the established rapport, the efforts, the progress signs, and the care. The parents do appreciate having a trusted, caring, and consistent provider. Parents, that have experienced high turn-over for their children’s services, saddens me. And to those parents, I’d like to say- I am sorry that has been your experience.

The Team:
My favorite teammate response was, “I’m not talking to you” (lol, as I responded, “I’m not talking to you either”) … a few moments later, she talked to me… “In all seriousness, though, are you excited?” (teammate rapport is just as fun as patient rapport)

One teammate just said, “Opal, noooo” and left it at that.

[I’m electing not to share all of the teammate responses at this time]

If you’ve done your job as a leader well, the team will miss you. They will express appreciation for the things you taught them, the check-ins, the shared laughs, and the support that has been provided as a supervisor along the way. They will want one last lunch together, one last walk break, or one last hallway hi (hug).

Saying goodbye is never easy. And to be honest, it is the humans that make it hard. It was hard for me to choose myself (what I think I need) and it was hard for me to let others down. It was hard for me to say “goodbye” to kids I have worked with for ~5-years and to just let that relationship end because of the end of a service. Sometimes, I wish I could befriend some of the parents because they are great, too. As a leader, you have to hold boundaries with your team. I wish I could have befriended the team better, too. I had battled loneliness, but leaving work made me realize that I had a lot of people I was superficially connected to. I had a lot of people who cared about me even if they weren’t truly present in my life (beyond the workplace).

I am probably going to be processing this for a while… so, stay tuned. xoxo