How are school SLPs handling their caseload during the Covid 19 crisis?...

Apr 11, 2020 by

We’ve been out of school now for 4 weeks here in the northeast because of Covid 19.  While I only have a small private practice that I put on hold, I have been wondering how school speech language pathologists across the country are managing their caseloads, especially those therapists who are put in positions where they have 30-50-80+ students on their caseload. Even when working in schools some very creative scheduling, often with help from an SLPA, has to take place to manage a large caseload.   If you’re an SLP with a large caseload you’re often seeing kids in groups of 3-5 (basically each student is getting 6-10 minutes per session to work on their specific skills, less if you’re a big data collector).  I think of these as Band-Aid services, doing just enough for the students...

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Thinking about COVID 19, Schools and Speech Language Pathologists...

Jun 28, 2020 by

To all you Speech Language Pathologists working with unreasonable caseloads now is the time to advocate for yourselves and your students.  Think a lot about this as the guidelines for the “new normal” start coming out in every state. This week in Massachusetts the guidelines for what school is going to look like were released.  It pretty much encompasses what I expected it would.  Earlier guidelines came out for summer opening only a couple of weeks ago.  Both these documents provide very generic guidelines and both read as if the people who wrote them have never spent a day working in a public schools or even remember going to school.  Again it is one more document that clearly shows that they do not know the role of the SLP in schools and how we work with kids. According to...

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Schools have to get back to normal in the fall….not the “new normal”...

Jun 17, 2020 by

***I actually wrote this article about two weeks ago and did not get a chance to post it. Since then the powers that be are hinting at how Covid will effect summer services and school next fall but nothing seems definite yet. Just about every news outlet is starting to do stories on what school is going to look like in the fall. The buzz word “new normal” seems to be the current catch all phrase starting to surpass   “we’re all in this together but apart” (another phrase which is being use to calm people fears, face it we are alone in this and most of us are looking out for number one.  But that is an article for another day).  All kinds of crazy things are mentioned in news trailers and in on line articles.  I just hope...

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The Marshalla Guide: Book Review...

Mar 2, 2020 by

I was recently asked to review a new book.  The Marshalla Guide  A Topical Anthology of Speech Movement Techniques for Motor Speech Disorder and Articulation Deficits  By Pam Marshalla, M.A., CCC-SLP.  Being fairly familiar with the quality of Pam Marshalla’s previous works and using/owning many of her books myself I jumped at the opportunity to review her new book.   The Marshalla Guide is basically Pam Marshalla’s life’s work in the areas of oral motor and articulation. Passing on Pam’s knowledge, research and remediation strategies in a structured and well organized manner,  the Marshalla Guide covers all things articulation. While in the process of reviewing this book I’ve already used it to refresh my knowledge on lateral lisp, jaw stabilization techniques and other ideas to achieve stimulability of challenging error sounds. The Marshalla Guide is a pretty big book, almost 500 pages,...

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How do administrators and teachers perceive language disabilities?...

Dec 9, 2019 by

It has been quite awhile since I posted anything. I apologize for that.  No real excuses, except that writing a blog is a job in itself.  Plus I think I have been a little disillusioned with the field.  However, I haven’t been sitting around feeling sorry for my situation.  After 30+ years in schools I’ve made a positive change.  I’m still running my own small private practice and it has been going well.  I take on a few private clients and a school contract here and there.  It has actually worked out well and I’ve learned a lot working as a consultant in a variety of settings with a variety of teams. The other day I needed another half credit hour to renew my license.  I found a one-credit course through Northern Speech Services called Perceptions of Children in Speech Therapy-What the SLP...

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Smart Goals made easy

Aug 15, 2018 by

Hey SLPs If you are thinking about your personal “smart goal” for the next school year you might want to check out my site on Teachers Pay Teachers.   A few years back the SLPs in my district were asked to put together a short in-service for teaching assistants about the role of the SLP in schools, students we work with and how they can support language development in the classroom. This was to satisfy one of our “smart goal” requirements.  Since I did put a little bit of work into it I decided to make it available on TPT.  The in-service is titled Speech and Language Services In Schools In-service for Teaching Assistants.  It is made up of a presenter’s packet and a packet for participants.  The in-service is appropriate for all levels through middle school. ...

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The Essential 55-book review

Apr 8, 2018 by

I was dusting some of my bookshelves and found this book The Essential 55 by Ron Clark. I remember being very impressed with this book back in 2009 and even wrote a book review. Remember something is a few years old doesn’t mean it isn’t very good or passe. Common sense and good manners go a long way. This book went beyond focusing on successful students (which seems to be the only focus these days)…it focused on creating successful people. From 2009 Your Middle Schooler: A Unique Age I’m always on the look out for common sense ideas that enhance more than just academics. In my field of Speech Language Pathology, pragmatic skill development is as important to us as receptive and expressive language development. Pragmatic skills are the social speech skills that help...

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Just renewed my liability insurance…..don’t forget yours!...

Jan 6, 2018 by

Over the years I’ve had a habit of forgetting to renew my liability insurance.  Now I just put it in my calendar and keep the bill with my personal bills.  Trust Risk Management Services made renewel very easy this year letting me renew on line.   Since I incorporated this year and started a private practice I did have to make some changes but usually the renewal is straight forward. While I’ve never needed to use my liability insurance I have carried it most of my professional career.  Sorry here is my soap box…If you don’t carry liability you really should.  Schools, clinics and hospitals all carry insurance that will cover you but in this very litigious world you can be sued personally.  My fee for part time work was right around $125 which...

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Accommodations are they really that effective?...

Jan 1, 2018 by

Every once in awhile I read back through my blog and look at the relevance and passion of my posts.  I recently reread the post called     “Are accommodations taking the place of specialized instruction”    Looking at some recent IEPs I would think the answer is yes.  I know I still write a lot of accommodations.  My reasons are because I know I either don’t have the time to follow up on every thing during the limited weekly sessions or there are things I want to address (and do address) that just can’t be measured easily.   Now I know most of the accommodations are related to testing but I have to ask are those accommodations being followed every time a test is given.  With 20-30 kids in a classroom I seriously doubt it....

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The Speech Teacher’s Handbook: Book Review...

Dec 28, 2017 by

I recently came across this book on Amazon. It piqued my interest so I bought it. It is called “The Speech Teacher’s Handbook, A Parent’s Guide to Speech and Language” by Molly Dresner, MS SLP-CCC. I found the title to be a little awkward but the information in the book to be pretty good. First of all I know a lot of you out there will take exception to the use of “The Speech Teacher”, you all need to get past that. Face it we have a branding issue, which is certainly a topic for another time. I can understand why Ms. Dresner used the title “Speech Teacher” because in the world of early intervention that is how we are known. In the book she makes it clear that she is a “Speech Language...

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Visualizing and Verbalizing goals/objectives...

Oct 29, 2017 by

Several years ago I took the Visualizing and Verbalizing course. It must have been a 3 or 4-day course. I didn’t take it directly from Lindamood Bell but from a local agency that was approved by Lindamood-Bell and used Visualizing and Verbalizing in their practice. I was honestly very impressed with V and V. My initial impression was that it tapped into a lot of what I was trying to do with many of my students. Basically it presented me with a better-organized and sequential program that fit my needs at the time. At the completion of the course I wrote a reflection paper, which I feel is still relevant today. Now ironically, the V and V kit along with LIPS (then known as ADD) kit sat on my inherited shelves for years untouched....

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Trust Risk Management Services for SLP Liability Insurance...

Sep 15, 2017 by

I just want to say thank you to Trust Risk Management Services for your continued support of my blog The School Speech Therapist the past 3 years. Trust Risk Management Services provides liability insurance for SLPs with comprehensive coverage and reasonable rates. I hope if you are a practicing SLP you already carry some type of liability insurance. However, if you don’t have insurance please take a look at the policies offered by TRMS. If you have insurance, next time your policy is up for renewal I hope you will take the time to compare your policy to what TRMS offers. My own personal feeling is that personal professional liability insurance is a must. Protection offered by schools, hospitals and agencies is usually there to protect their interests not necessarily yours....

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I’m back and want your input on SLPs in schools...

Aug 20, 2017 by

Well it has been awhile since I seriously worked on my blog. In December I left my school position to start a private practice. In July I made it official forming my own LLC called TBS Speech Therapy. I did a little contracting work earlier this year and have firmed up my first consulting gig for the fall. My school year ended without the usual drama and the amount of time I spent on paperwork was significantly less and compensated. Right now work life is good.   If you follow my blog you know I’ve done a little bit of work on advocacy for SLPs in schools. Writing my book, The School Speech Therapist: An administrators guide to understanding the role of the SLP in schools along with strategies to aid staffing, workload management...

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SLPs, Contribute to your school newsletter...

Mar 6, 2017 by

In my state, teachers and all professional staff have to generate personal SMART goals. With all the work SLPs do, the last thing I wanted to do was have to keep complicated data on something I was doing. At that point I decided to do something very easy for me that would benefit all students not just those with language issues. My SMART goal was to write monthly articles focusing on language development. Initially, I found it wasn’t that easy to find universal themes that could be beneficial to all. However, knowing all we know about language and learning once I had a topic writing for parents was easy. I created articles about once or twice a month for that school year. The idea was well received by my principal. Basically it was free...

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Stopping the Stuttering Trajectory in the Preschool Years...

Feb 14, 2017 by

The School Speech Therapist would like to welcome guest blogger Mirla G. Raz. I first became acquainted with Ms. Raz when I was asked to review her most recent publication Preschool Stuttering: What Parents Can Do. I was duly impressed with the book (you can read my review here). As it turned out I was already very familiar with Ms. Raz’s work since I had been using her books from her Help Me Talk Right series for years. The Help Me Talk Right Books continue to be a staple in my therapy room. Ms. Raz has shared an excerpt taken from her newly developed course Stopping the Stuttering Trajectory in the Preschool Years available through Northern Speech Services.  The course is designed to teach SLPs how they can help parents navigate the emotional and...

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Progress Monitoring Made Easy with SLP Toolkit...

Feb 3, 2017 by

The School Speech Therapist would like to welcome guest bloggers Lisa Kathman, M.S. CCC-SLP & Sarah Bevier, M.S. CCC-SLP.   I met Lisa and Sarah at the 2016 ASHA convention. Sarah gave me a quick demonstration of their product, SLP Toolkit and every aspect of it made sense. My initial impression was that it really could help school based SLPs. The following day I attended their formal presentation and continued to be impressed. For school SLPs the biggest drag is the copious amount of paperwork and vast amount of data we are suppose to collect. SLP Tool Kit has programs set up to take care of everything from goal writing to progress reports. They’ve set up ways to keep/measure data and have it organized for progress report writing. I’ve seen many a program over the...

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Speech and Language Service Delivery, Be Proactive Parents...

Jan 24, 2017 by

This article was originally published by Teresa Sadowski M.A., CCC-SLP on the now defunct Examiner web site in February 2012. Speech and Language Service Delivery, Be Proactive Parents was written to help parents advocate for appropriate and effective speech and language services for their child. Once your child has been diagnosed with a language disorder or weakness, it’s important to be proactive about service delivery. Asking, “How often will my child be seen by the Speech Language Pathologist?” isn’t enough. The service delivery process begins with the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) making their recommendation at the team meeting based on testing, progress and your child’s specific needs. Unfortunately, recommendations may also be driven by the school’s schedule, the therapist’s caseload or the school’s philosophy. A typical recommendation might be 1-2 thirty minutes sessions a week...

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Adopting a growth mindset

Jan 18, 2017 by

Today The School Speech Therapist wants to introduce guest blogger Rochel Lieberman MA CCC-SLP who has recently written a children’s book called Pearla and her Unpredictably Perfect Day: A story about how a sprinkling of mistakes can be a recipe for success. Perla is written for children aged 4-12, particularly those who experience anxiety or developmental issues. It demonstrates that you can’t succeed unless you try and that it’s ok to make mistakes. Pearla’s strategies for solving her problems will help children to overcome their own hurdles. Read more about Pearla and the motivation behind this book below. Please consider sharing this book with the children in your life. Teresa There is a charity bake sale at school. Sara, juggling two jobs while raising her three children does not have the time nor energy...

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Workshop: Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom...

Jan 17, 2017 by

Back in mid-December I attended a one day workshop called “Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom: Tools to improve self-regulation, learning and classroom climate” Lisa Flynn, E-RYT, RCYT presented a program that she designed to help bring yoga and mindfulness into the classroom. Not only did she present the concrete parts of the program, Ms. Flynn also did a good job explaining how students could benefit both academically and behaviorally. My motivation for attending was to learn a little bit about mindfulness and incorporate some quick and simple techniques into my therapy sessions. I was actually planning for that to be my smart goal for the year. The initial sequence presented focused on activities that could easily fall under the SLPs scope of practice. One listening activity focused on auditory attention, some breathing and...

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Final thoughts on my ASHA convention experience...

Jan 9, 2017 by

Well it’s been over a month since I attended the ASHA Convention in Philly. I’ve been wanting to follow up my ASHA Convention Experience article series with a summary of my experience and thoughts on the whole thing. Overall my whole ASHA Convention experience gets a flexible B to B-. The Sessions There were two main reasons in my mind to go to ASHA. One was the amazing amount information I expected to be exposed to. ASHA gets a solid A for the quality of speakers. With 15,000 in attendance, ASHA presented a nice variety of sessions in terms of topics and length. There were always several sessions I wanted to attend that fell at the same time. Overflow was handled well when sessions were extremely popular. My Poster Session The second main reason...

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