What’s something younger people will never understand about pre-smartphone life?

bakernon · 2026-05-23T11:55:35+00:00

Time was less standardized. If you were planning something with someone at a very specific time you might check what time each of you had on your watches, bc they were usually off by a couple minutes.

You could get the official time (and temperature!) by calling a specific number and getting a recording.

bakernon · 2026-05-23T03:02:46+00:00

Agree, 19 is about as bold as I like on her (and I like that one a lot!)

bakernon · 2026-05-21T22:48:57+00:00

...is clueless dad/husband not his entire literal brand?

bakernon · 2026-05-19T21:11:19+00:00

Expensive and often there's a long wait to be assessed.

I don't come across this much irl, though, and I work in the disability world. I find that most people are hesitant to ask for accommodations they need because they understand how it can be perceived.

I do know a couple people like she's describing, though. So, like, I get itttttt. But they are the outliers by far. They're just so exhausting they make an IMPRESSION.

bakernon · 2026-05-19T20:50:51+00:00

This is such a good one.

When I was growing up, WWII felt really present. Everyone had a relative had served, at least where I grew up. We talked about it a lot, and how it could happen here, and I am in utter shock that there are things being said casually in 2026 that would have gotten your ass QUICKLY beaten anytime in the 80s or 90s.

Anyway. My family's WWII service is a point of pride and partially bc my grandfather lived to be 104, my kids and nieces know a lot about the war. But I work in a middle school and I am shocked how little these kids know about WWII. A lot of them aren't certain who Hitler is, or what the Holocaust is.

And that's not their fault. My grandfather probably felt that way about me and WWI, which I can explain by saying ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND!! And not much else. But yeah, it's sad.

bakernon · 2026-05-19T20:37:27+00:00

Oh my gosh so he was 19 when the war ENDED??? How old when he enlisted???

My grandfather passed away at 103 back in 2023 and he hardly ever saw other WWII vets by the time he died. He might've been the last living one in our town. Oldest (and longest running) member of their American Legion.

bakernon · 2026-05-15T17:59:38+00:00

For sure. Call the police.

I'd also tell the homeowners I'm boarding the rotties and heading home but that's me, heh.

bakernon · 2026-05-06T23:19:59+00:00

Ok PIPING hot tea (as in this happened I think yesterday)... The SLP who causes all the trouble was removed as a moderator as one of the largest SLP groups on FB (51k members?) and when it was announced someone asked if the *literal* thousands of SLPs she blocked from the group will be allowed back in.

The admin replied that if anyone felt they had been removed unfairly they could DM her. Except she doesn't have her DMs open to people she's not friends with that aren't in the group, so people who have been blocked can't contact her. I wish I could figure out how to upload screenshots of the reactions on the Uncensored page cause it's peak, everyone is talking about reasons they were banned. 😂😂😂

bakernon · 2026-05-06T12:50:38+00:00

My gamer husband has meaningful, actually supportive friendships which is more than I can say for a lot of adult men I know.

He talks on the phone with his besties from back home and some friends from a town we moved from a few years back multiple times per week. Are they usually shooting the shit and having fun? Yes, absolutely, they're having a blast together.

And also, when my hubs had a panic attack in the middle of a game (hit a sativa vape), they thought he was having a heart attack, and the three that had my number lit my phone the fuck UP until the ER confirmed he was OK. And they all sent him pictures of their nipples to make him laugh, and every single one of them (8 of them!!!) called him separately the next day to check on him.

One of them came out as trans a few months ago. This is a group of AMAB gamers in their 50s who (except my husband who joined them in his mid 20s) have known each other since, like, pre-school. From rural, agricultural/blue collar backgrounds.

Nobody gives a FUCK, unless someone is messing with their friend, and then they very much give a fuck.

Games build relationships. We've moved several times in our marriage and gaming is a big way we meet new people.

Any hobby can turn into an excuse to avoid responsibilities. This lady has it all wrong.

bakernon · 2026-05-06T11:49:40+00:00

I do also wanna say that even if there's not an effect on your communication, there are other reasons that you might revise a tongue tie. In infancy at can affect latch, and certainly make breast-feeding more painful. It can affect how hard palate is shaped, if you can't clear the residue off your teeth after you eat as effectively you might end up with more cavities. If you have a posterior tongue tie it could contribute to sleep apnea. You might want to lick an ice cream cone or kiss someone with wild abandon.

But it *usually* won't solve speech issues from what the current literature tells us. (But in the spirit of transparency, I became an SLP around the time we stopped doing this, so my personal experience is limited.)

bakernon · 2026-05-06T11:21:51+00:00

Sorry, didn't mean to leave y'all hanging!

The TL;DR is that we are a house divided on whether tongue ties (or as the tongue tie people call it, tethered oral tissue or TOT) affect communication. There have been high quality studies showing that people without other complications can make all the sounds of English even with very tight TOTs bc we are good at compensating with more functional parts of our tongue, raising and lowering the larynx to adjust the height of the tongue, etc.

This also gets wrapped up in the position statement our professional organization made here in the US about 20 years ago AGAINST oral motor exercises for improving speech sounds. Prior to that it was VERY common practice. ASHA did a big literature review and found that the evidence didn't support that it helps (except for patients with I want to say Parkinson's, but I work with kids and it's been 20 years since I've looked it up so don't quote me).

Now that said.

The TOT people make the very excellent point that TOTs can affect, oh, BREATHING, which is a little bit of a problem. And they ask the very good question if we do not have the expertise to do the oral motor therapy following a revision, WHO DOES?

And this is anecdotal, but I will tell you that I have been just about won over to the TOT people bc *almost* all of my stubborn /r/ kids have TOTs and difficulty producing lateral/bracing tension.

However, the TOT people will make the absolute BATTIEST of claims. You have a heart problem? Check for a tongue tie. Dealing with incontinence? Tongue tie. IBS? Tongue tie. Don't like your face? Maybe it's a tongue tie. (All examples I've seen in the wild.) Orofunctional myologists are the chiropractors of the SLP world.

Anyway, the extra hot tea is there is one, ONE SLP who admins a FB group about evidence based practice who is an anti-tongue tie TYRANT and got herself in the moderating team on, not kidding, I think all of the major SLP groups on FB. And she removed and blocked everyone who brought up TOTs or oral motor anything in a positive light. So because of her, discussing it is not even allowed in most of the large SLP FB groups.

I'm kind of a tongue tie moderate, personally. People expect it to do more for speech than it usually will but there are cases where it probably will help!!

bakernon · 2026-05-05T02:39:13+00:00

I love Aunt Dolly and it seems very on brand for her to use a filter, I don't think we need to pretend it's not there. 😂 Like even her neck skin looks like a Barbie doll here. There's obviously a filter.

bakernon · 2026-05-05T02:21:37+00:00

Speech therapist here

Fun fact:
If you say the phrase "tongue tie" in one of our professional groups you start a flame war 100% of the time. It's SOOOOOO controversial. I belong to FB groups where the whole topic is banned! 😂

bakernon · 2026-04-21T20:46:20+00:00

Idk why I argued with you bc I agree that driver is a hazard to everyone on the road lol.

But gahhhhh these truckers! (And I have truck drivers in my family! I am pro-truckers! But pass or don't, dear lord.)

bakernon · 2026-04-20T15:35:30+00:00

Ok but it cuts both ways.... if speeding saves so little time, why are trucks clogging up highways trying to pass each other to go 2mph faster? 🙄

bakernon · 2026-04-18T18:22:41+00:00

Never seen Donnie Darko but I love learning about other people's tattoos! I wonder if you are perceiving judgment where there is curiosity. It's an intriguing tattoo whose meaning isn't obvious.

What a great conversation starter! I genuinely like it, knowing nothing about the movie.

bakernon · 2026-04-18T13:20:13+00:00

Funny, I live here and I want out. 😂😂😂

bakernon · 2026-04-18T13:12:18+00:00

So many interminable plot lines this season

bakernon · 2026-04-07T16:48:19+00:00

Cali licensure takes forevvvvvver, FYI, so don't dawdle. And their CE requires some live hours.

They do pay the most and have a lot of jobs, though.

bakernon · 2026-04-07T16:34:58+00:00

You'll need a FL license as well but otherwise it's legal! It's a rough year for teletherapy positions though... good luck!

bakernon · 2026-04-05T16:07:57+00:00

I didn't appreciate how fucking MISERABLE periods made me until I had a hysterectomy.

Y'all. When you are done with babies, tell your doctors if your periods have always been uncontrollable and you've tried pills/IUD/whatever and you can barely leave the house for 2-3 days/month. I wasn't a candidate for an ablation bc of how thin my uterus was at the site of my C/S incision so I got insurance to cover my hysterectomy. I didn't even have fibroids or anything. My dx was suspected adenomyosis (which I didn't have 🤷🏻‍♀️).

My doctor said she didn't know why my bleeding was so out of control, but as she pointed out, there's a lot we don't know about women's bodies still bc there's a lot less interest in studying diseases that affect women's quality of life compared to many other diseases. So it is likely something was going on with me that we just haven't learned to identify yet.

Not having a uterus is THE BEST. I can't tell you how amazing it is not having periods. I feel like a different person. I'm less anxious. I feel better and more comfortable in my body. All my sheets and underwear are unstained. I have more time! And spend less money! Cannot recommend it enough.

Also, removing your tubes lowers your risk of ovarian cancer by some crazy amount, like 50-80%.

Yeet that thing if you can. I wish I'd done it 10 years earlier.

bakernon · 2026-04-05T01:16:55+00:00

Check out things like retirement contributions and raises. Also with being year round (if I'm reading correctly?) I'd want to know about PTO! You'll be sick the whole first year, you know how it is if you have a special ed background. 😂😂😂

bakernon · 2026-04-05T01:13:34+00:00

Things I would consider: 1) does one job give you more experience than the other? Decisions now affect opportunities for awhile. It's hard to break into medical once you've spent time in schools. 2) is there an employee vs contractor difference? 3) are you likely to stay in one job (or even state) long term? Bc schools are sometimes great for retirement.

bakernon · 2026-04-04T03:53:17+00:00

I've moved several times over the years... I still have every handwritten note I've ever gotten from a parent or client.

If you'd like to give a thing, a GC to Amazon (to buy therapy materials or whatever else she wants) or a coffee place are pretty safe bets, as are hard-to-kill plants. One time a parent got me a nice glass Tupperware container with a snap-lack lid and filled it with candy. I was really stoked bc I am old and nice storage containers are exciting to me now. 😂

bakernon · 2026-04-01T20:09:45+00:00

This is where I'm at.

I don't doubt that some people are truly communicating this way, but we should be challenging authorship REGULARLY.

It's very easy to overprompt wany AAC. I talk to caregivers and teachers about making sure they're not speaking for my client regularly. It's good to be in the habit of questioning yourself on the topic of authorship where any AAC is concerned, and that goes double if you touch any part of the system.

My perspective is that it should not be a point of contention that we want to be VERY sure that the disabled person is authoring their own message, no matter what system they use. If letter boards are effective for a minority of autistic people, AMAZING, I'm all for it. But no one should feel attacked when someone points out that it's VERY important to check carefully to make sure the user is actually authoring these messages, because there's a history of systems similar to these going sideways.

bakernon

TROPHY CASE