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

Accommodations are they really that effective?

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

The Speech Teacher’s Handbook: Book Review

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

Visualizing and Verbalizing goals/objectives

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

Aug 20, 2017 by

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

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

SLPs, Contribute to your school newsletter

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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