PhD lessons
ReadyStepGrow Kindy Program with Katherine pictured.
Dr Katherine Sanchez - yes she made it through that PhD - was ReadyStepGrow’s first speech pathologist and remains one of our most trusted!
She spoke at one of ReadyStepGrow first fundraising events…
It’s such a privilege to speak to all of you—wonderful people who are just as passionate about Ready Step Grow as I am! The brief for this talk was quite broad. Simone suggested I share a little about myself, and as much as I love doing that, I thought I’d take a slightly different approach—both broader and more specific.
So today, I want to talk about the last two years and what I’ve learnt.
As many of you know, I’m currently in the third year of my PhD, researching feeding and communication outcomes in children born preterm. What this means in practice is that I’m desperately trying to convince myself I can finish this project within a year. But it also means I’ve spent the past two years deeply immersed in the research literature on children born preterm. What started as a keen professional interest in their developmental outcomes has evolved into something of an obsession.
Much of what I’ve learnt won’t be new to you. We all know that prems are more vulnerable to developmental challenges like ADHD, autism, and cerebral palsy. They’re also more likely to experience delays in motor skills, language, and feeding. We understand the complex interplay of factors—being born before their bodies have fully matured, spending their early days in a nursery when their brains and bodies still expected to be in utero, undergoing life-saving but often high-risk interventions, and being separated from the parents who so desperately want to protect them.
But some of what I’ve learnt was new to me—especially when it came to parents.
Speech Pathology is a child-centred profession, even as we work towards becoming more family-centred. I had always focused on the children who walked into my office. So when a psychologist colleague shared research showing elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in parents of preterm children, I was shocked. Of course, if I’d stopped to think about it, it would have been obvious. But I hadn’t.
And suddenly, I saw things differently. Parents weren’t just caregivers; they were a crucial factor in their child’s development—one that needed just as much attention and support.
It was around this time that an ad popped up on my Facebook feed. Being somewhat obsessive, once I dove into the preterm literature, I also wanted to learn about the preterm community. I followed March of Dimes, Life’s Little Treasures, Miracle Babies, L’il Aussie Prems, and this organisation in Melbourne called Ready Step Grow.
They were looking for a Speech Pathologist.
I could not get my application in fast enough. It felt like fate. Here I was, fully immersed in research that overwhelmingly pointed to early intervention—Ready Step Grow offered the chance to work with children earlier than any other early intervention service. The research said to support parents—Ready Step Grow had that written into its mission statement. This was my opportunity to put everything I was learning into action.
But I soon realised I had it all backwards.
I wasn’t here to apply my knowledge. That happened too, but what truly mattered was witnessing the work being done—observing the action—and learning from it.
Research and statistics are important, but they don’t tell you anything about the individual child in front of you. You can say, “A child born preterm has a certain percentage chance of developing cerebral palsy,” but that tells you nothing about this child, this family, and their journey. When I started meeting families, the numbers faded into the background. When I heard your stories, I stopped thinking in terms of statistics and started thinking about this child and this parent.
Here’s what I’ve learnt—five things that stand out:
1. Preterm birth is profoundly stressful—for everyone.
That’s a 100% statistic that actually means something. Stress may look different for different parents—it might be crying every day in the NICU, holding it together only to fall apart months later, or even struggling to bond out of fear of loss. Every single parent in our groups has been tested to their limits by this experience. And we don’t support parents enough. We should.
2. You have to take it one day at a time.
Many parents have said this about their prems, and while it sounds cliché, its truth is profound. If you get caught up in statistics and predictions, you’ll drive yourself crazy. No one has a crystal ball. No one knows what life will look like in a year, five years, or twenty years. The most resilient parents we see are the ones who focus on who their child is today—what they can do, what they need right now.
3. Labels and diagnoses don’t define a child.
This one I already knew, but Ready Step Grow reinforces it constantly. Labels help us understand challenges, secure support, and allocate resources—but they don’t tell you who your child is. If Your child is funny, or thoughtful, or loves trucks, or adores Octonauts. A diagnosis is just one part of their identity.
4. I have never seen love in action as clearly as I see it at Ready Step Grow.
I often wonder if our parents truly realise how incredible they are. We see you comfort, cuddle, listen, play, and push through painful memories. You take your children to appointments, do therapy exercises, research online, ask questions, and advocate fiercely. You show up, again and again, even when it’s hard. The underlying question in everything you ask us is always, “How can I be the best parent for my child?”
I can tell you—we’ve been watching and listening for a while now. And you already are.
5. Some people see a problem and think, “Someone should do something about that.” Very few people can add, “And that someone is me.”
But at Ready Step Grow, we have Simone.
Each member of the team brings our expertise. The board and committee do incredible work. But I don’t think anyone would disagree that Ready Step Grow exists—and continues to exist—because of Simone. She is an extraordinary woman, and every day I spend with her, I learn more about how to build the world you want to live in.
I’m not saying research isn’t important—I’m still holding onto my PhD. But I am saying that the lessons I’ve learnt from Ready Step Grow—the parents, the children, the staff—are the ones that will stay with me for a lifetime.
And I can’t wait to see what else I can learn from all of you.
- Katherine Sanchez PhD ❤️ 👉 Find Katherine at Protea Therapy
