ABSTRACT
“I used to be good with kids” was a comment made by a graduate speech-language pathology student contrasting her prior experiences with children and her first assignment to provide therapy to a child with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). The phrase effectively captures the bewilderment induced by children whose social and communicative behaviors are unfamiliar and incongruent with accepted notions about the ways young children interact. The following study explored the impact of the atypical interpersonal behaviors of children with PDD on students preparing for careers in speech-language pathology. It describes how behaviors that violate expectations lead to difficulties in establishing interpersonal relationships and can color one’s personal and professional views. The study offers insight into difficulties experienced by speech-language pathologists in training and why, as professionals, speech-language pathologists may avoid some clients or be less effective with some clients than with others. Beyond these practical implications, the study also suggests that knowledge of the impressions children with PDD make and the images students construct of them may help explain why some developmental differences are ultimately more perplexing and challenging than others.
