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Esther Nahon, Long Beach, NY (2026)

06/04/2026

Lately, students have shared that they’re sad the school year is ending.

What that tells me is something important:
They felt connected here.

They built relationships, found routines, took risks, made memories, and created a sense of belonging.

I think many educators experience a version of that grief too, because we’re saying goodbye to a group of students whose lives became intertwined with ours for ten months.

The student who finally started believing in themselves. The one who learned to advocate for their needs. The one who made you laugh every day. The one you’ll always wonder about.

Grief isn’t always about something tragic.
Sometimes it’s simply the recognition that something meaningful is ending.

As educators, we have an opportunity to help students understand that sadness isn’t something to avoid or fix. It’s information. It tells us that something mattered.

Maybe that’s one of the most valuable lessons we can teach before the year ends:
That it’s okay to miss something. It’s okay to feel grateful and sad at the same time, and it’s okay to take time to process the end of a chapter before turning the page.

06/01/2026

As someone who works closely with children who struggle socially, learn differently, or often find themselves on the outside looking in, I’ve learned that exclusion is rarely one big event.

More often, it’s a series of small moments.

Not being chosen for a group.

Not being invited into a conversation.

Not having a partner.

Hearing adults talk about inclusion while watching it disappear when things become inconvenient.

The truth is that most schools are filled with people who care deeply about children. Yet exclusion still happens more often than we realize because belonging isn’t built through assemblies, special events, or end-of-year recognition.

It’s built in the everyday moments.

Who we sit next to.

Who we invite in.

Who we listen to.

Who we make space for.

As this school year comes to a close, I find myself thinking less about awards and more about community.

Because every child deserves to walk into school feeling like there is a place for them.

And if you’re feeling this right now, if this year felt lonely, if you felt overlooked, or if your name wasn’t the one being called, please know that your value was never measured by a certificate, a grade, or a moment on a stage.

As we head into next year, maybe the question isn’t how we recognize more students.

Maybe it’s:

How do we notice one another more?

How do we create more opportunities for connection?

How do we help students discover the strengths in people they might otherwise overlook?

How do we build classrooms where no child has to wonder if they belong?

That’s the kind of community worth working toward.

05/28/2026

Reading is not a single skill, it is a complex neurocognitive process built on language systems.

Within the Science of Reading, skilled reading depends on the integration of:

•phonological processing
•orthographic mapping
•vocabulary knowledge
•syntactic understanding
•semantic comprehension
•morphological awareness

When students struggle, especially those with language-based learning disabilities, the breakdown is often not at the level of “reading more,” but at the level of the underlying language architecture that supports reading.

If vocabulary is limited, sentence structures are not fully accessible, or phonological representations are weak, increased exposure to text alone does not resolve the underlying gap. Practice without targeted instruction can lead to repetition of error patterns rather than skill acquisition.

This is why explicit, systematic instruction in language is essential. It is not an “add-on” to literacy, it is foundational to it.

Effective reading instruction, particularly for struggling readers, requires:

•direct teaching of vocabulary and morphology
•explicit instruction in syntax and sentence structure
•structured support for phonological awareness and decoding
•comprehension work that builds background knowledge and language networks

From an evidence-based perspective, reading intervention is most effective when it targets the linguistic systems that underlie print, not just the act of reading itself.

Exposure to text supports development once language systems are in place. But for many learners, language instruction is the access point that makes reading possible in the first place.

Reading is a language-based system, a foundational Science of Reading concept that isn’t always explicitly taught. Across my experience with educators, reading specialists, and district leaders, I often see language and reading still treated as separate systems in practice. Curious how others are seeing this show up in practice.

05/21/2026

Hills I would die on as a neuroaffirming SLP who stopped people-pleasing and started advocating:

1. A struggling child is not giving you a hard time.
2. “Lazy” is rarely the full story.
3. Regulation always comes before learning.
4. Shame is not a teaching strategy.
5. Behavior is communication.
6. Accommodations create access, not excuses.
7. Emotional safety matters in education.
8. Children deserve support before punishment.
9. Children should not have to mask to be accepted.
10. Protecting a child’s self-worth matters more than protecting adult ego.

This is part of the responsibility we take on as clinicians.

Not just to work on speech and language goals written on paper, but to protect the dignity of the children sitting in front of us.

As SLPs, we are often some of the first people to recognize when a child is struggling beneath the surface. We see how language impacts behavior, regulation, learning, self-esteem, relationships, and access to education itself.

Being a clinician means looking deeper.�It means understanding that frustration, shutdown, avoidance, impulsivity, or “noncompliance” do not happen in a vacuum.�It means using our knowledge to advocate when a child is being misunderstood.

The responsibility of this work is not just clinical skill. It is ethical responsibility.

To educate.�To support.�To intervene early.�To protect children from internalizing shame for difficulties they do not yet understand themselves.

This came from experience, reflection, and learning the hard way. I stand firmly in it now, and if it doesn’t sit comfortably with everyone, I’ve learned I don’t need it to because this work isn’t about comfort. For me it’s about the children.

05/20/2026

A student asked me this year why a teacher used a derogatory word toward them.

And the part that stayed with me most was not the word itself.

It was how calmly they asked.

Like maybe they had already started believing it.

As SLPs, educators, clinicians, and adults working with children, we have to understand something deeply: students who struggle with reading, language, processing, writing, attention, or regulation are often carrying invisible cognitive loads that other people cannot see.

Many of these students are not “giving up.”

They are compensating.

They memorize instead of decode.
They copy patterns instead of fully comprehending.
They avoid participation to avoid embarrassment.
They become socially skilled at hiding confusion.

And over time, repeated misunderstanding can slowly become identity.

This is why the science of learning matters.

Because when we understand how the brain learns, we stop reducing students to labels and start looking at the underlying processes:
language,
working memory,
processing speed,
executive functioning,
retrieval,
attention,
regulation,
and access.

Difficulty learning is not the same thing as lack of intelligence.

And children with disabilities deserve more than accommodation checklists or classroom placement.

They deserve dignity.
Emotional safety.
Evidence-based instruction.
And learning environments where support is not confused with weakness.

This is also part of the heart work of SLPs.

Not just helping students communicate, but helping them understand that their struggle is not a reflection of their worth.

Helping them separate identity from difficulty before shame becomes part of how they see themselves as learners.

Because words from adults do not disappear.

They become inner voices.

P.S. to the teacher, if you were overwhelmed, frustrated, unsupported, or unaware, I hope this becomes an opportunity for reflection, learning, and growth too.

Students remember how adults made them feel long after they leave the classroom.

05/15/2026

We are in a literacy crisis disguised as normal school life.

The 2026 Education Scorecard, conducted by researchers from Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research, Stanford’s Educational Opportunity Project, and Dartmouth College, described the U.S. as being in a “reading recession,” finding that student achievement began declining around 2013, long before the pandemic exposed the cracks more publicly.

This is not just a post-pandemic issue.
This is a generational decline in reading, writing, language, and academic access that has been building for years while school continued to look “normal” on the surface.

Students are still moving grade to grade.
Still earning praise.
Still completing assignments.

But many are struggling silently to access the language that learning depends on.

Because literacy is not just reading words correctly.

It is:
• phonology
• vocabulary and semantics
• syntax and morphology
• working memory
• background knowledge
• written expression
• processing spoken and written language

And this is where schools continue to miss the bigger picture.

We cannot keep treating reading as separate from language.

The science has been here.

We know explicit, evidence-based instruction matters.
We know early intervention changes outcomes.
We know language drives literacy.

Yet too many students are still labeled lazy, inattentive, behavioral, or unmotivated when the real issue is that they cannot fully access the curriculum.

That is unacceptable.

Because when students cannot access language, they cannot fully access education.

And if we continue ignoring this trajectory, the future will not just look like lower test scores.

It will look like:
• widening inequities
• lower confidence
• more disengagement
• students masking instead of learning

Collectively, we need:
• earlier identification
• evidence-based literacy instruction
• stronger language intervention
• teacher training grounded in the science of learning and reading

Because students should not have to work twice as hard just to appear average.

Are we truly measuring learning… or have we become comfortable measuring survival?

05/14/2026

Children remember the spaces where they felt tolerated and the spaces where they felt wanted.

This time of year often brings exclusion into sharper focus. The bus rides, lunch tables, field trips, partner work, and “pick a group” moments can quietly shape how children understand where they belong socially.

The “who will I sit with?” moments may seem small to adults, but for children they shape nervous systems, self-esteem, emotional safety, and their relationship with school.

When exclusion is repeated, children often adapt in ways we don’t always see. One of those adaptations is masking, changing how they act or present themselves to fit in or avoid standing out.

Masking can look like:
• copying peers to fit in
• staying quiet to avoid attention
• suppressing interests or parts of identity
• over-monitoring behavior in social situations
• appearing “fine” while feeling disconnected inside

What is often labeled as “good behavior” or “adjustment” can actually come at the cost of authenticity and emotional safety.

Belonging is not extra. It is foundational for learning, regulation, confidence, and connection.

If we want children to build inclusive communities, they must experience one first.

Because children learn belonging from the environments we create around them.

And inclusion is not just a mindset. It is something we design into everyday moments.

Some ways we can build this intentionally:

• Rotate partners and groupings so children are not always socially self-selecting
• Teach and model how to invite others in and how to notice who may be left out
• Build structured connection points like morning meetings, check-ins, and intentional small group work
• Design seating, grouping, and collaboration so inclusion is practiced, not left to chance

Many adults were never explicitly taught what inclusion looks like in practice, which is why it often gets left to chance.

But inclusion is not accidental. It is built through daily decisions, structures, and adult modeling.

Real inclusion is not about being allowed into the room. It is about feeling safe, valued, and human once you are there.

05/07/2026

Some days I look at my life and think… it’s kind of funny how things find you.

God has a funny way of placing you exactly where you’re meant to be, even when you would’ve never drawn it up that way yourself.

In a million years, my younger self would not have imagined this life, this work, this responsibility, this emotional weight, this constant pursuit of showing up for children who are misunderstood, emotionally complex, impacted by trauma, language impairment, and learning disabilities. I didn’t picture the silent parts either… the planning, the thinking, the holding, the wondering, the starting over again the next day.

It’s a job that takes a lot.
More than people see.
More than it sometimes gets credit for.
And still, there’s something about it that keeps pulling me back in, every single time.

Because beneath all of it, there’s meaning. There are moments of connection that don’t always look loud or linear, but they change everything.

And maybe that’s what makes it all feel so surreal… the load, the beauty, the challenge, the purpose, all held at the same time.

I love being an SLP.

04/30/2026

A child sits in front of you.
They have the idea. The thought. The answer.
But there’s no clear way out.

So we change the path.
We model. We wait. We add visuals. We bring in AAC.
We build language. We support literacy. We make learning accessible.

Because without language,
it’s not just communication that’s impacted,
it’s reading, writing, comprehension, connection, and confidence.

That’s the work.

Not just speech,
access to communication,
access to language, literacy, and learning.

Speech language pathologists are part of the village, yes,
but often the ones quietly building the bridge.

If this resonates, welcome, you landed in the right place
✨🤍

04/24/2026

When a 7-year-old hands you a chocolate bar as a thank you…
it makes you pause.

We meet a child through what we’ve been told about them.

“She’s difficult.”
“She doesn’t cooperate.”
“She struggles.”

And without even realizing it…
we start interacting from a place of challenge.

But you can’t lead, teach, or support a child well from that place.

Because when you’re expecting difficulty,
you look for it.
You respond to it.
You miss everything else.

This 7-year-old girl could’ve easily been reduced to that narrative.

But she’s not a label.

She’s a child learning language learning what words are, what they mean, how to use them.
Learning to blend sounds, read words, write them.
Learning how to slow down enough for her thoughts and words to meet.

And while she’s still figuring all of that out…
she walked over and handed me a chocolate bar.

Not prompted.
Not rehearsed.
Just a quiet, intentional: thank you.

So no, this isn’t about a chocolate bar.

It’s about what we miss when we lead with judgment instead of curiosity and connection.

It’s about how quickly we define children by what’s hard…
and how much we overlook what’s already there.

Kindness.
Effort.
Awareness.
The desire to connect.

And here’s the shift:

You don’t have to ignore the challenges.
But you can’t let them be the lens.

Because the way you see a child
becomes the way you respond to them,
and that response shapes everything that comes next.

We grow together when we choose to see differently.

When we use what I call “shining words,”
words that don’t reduce a child to a label,
but actually help us notice who they are.

Esther Nahon

06/04/2026

06/01/2026

05/28/2026

05/21/2026

05/20/2026

05/15/2026

05/14/2026

05/07/2026

04/30/2026

04/24/2026

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Monday	8:30am - 8pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 8pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 8pm
Thursday	8:30am - 8pm
Friday	8:30am - 2pm
Sunday	9am - 2pm