Speech and Language Service Delivery, Be Proactive Parents

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

Jan 24, 2017 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

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...

Workshop: Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom...

Jan 17, 2017 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

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...

Ed Camps are a great resource for professional development...

Sep 26, 2016 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

A couple of days ago I attended my second Ed Camp in Lynnfield, MA. Once again I had a really nice time, had some great conversations and went home with a prize. I proposed 3 topics Auditory Processing (what difficulties might look like in the classroom and strategies that can be implemented), universal supports and importance of higher order language development. The auditory processing session went well. Many of the teachers asked some stellar questions. I like to talk about auditory processing because it is one of the most asked about topics in schools. I hope I was able explain how auditory processing difficulties present in the classroom, what it might look like at different ages, that it might look like other things/importance of differential diagnosis, when Central Auditory Processing Disorders can be diagnosis...

What are the biggest challenges SLPs face in schools...

Aug 21, 2016 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

About a week ago I asked school SLPs this question on Facebook, “What is the biggest challenge you face working in schools?” I received over 60 responses. With 30 years under my belt, I was pretty sure what the responses would be but I wanted to hear from others. Paperwork was the biggest challenge hands down. I know my paperwork requirements have increased significantly in 30 years. The advent of the computer just increased the amount of paperwork, but helped us to do it faster. That’s just a change in society that we can’t do anything about. Imagine how long it would take us to do all our paperwork tasks by hand these days. However, the time given to me to do paperwork within the school day has shrunk as my caseload numbers have...

TPT: Love it or hate it?

Aug 13, 2016 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

I came across this blog post written a few years back “I teach Kindergarten and I don’t like Teachers Pay Teachers” by Matt Gomez kindergarten teacher. The comments posted by others have taken off. I wanted to simply comment but I knew my comment would be very verbose so I figured I could turn it into a blog post (and have another reason to mention my material on TPT). Keep in mind that my view of TPT as a Speech Language Pathologist is going to be a little different. Also Mr. Gomez isn’t the only one who doesn’t like to use TPT….lots of similar blog posts out there. [Just noted a follow up blog post by Mr. Gomez, “Teachers Pay Teachers-the Sequal” again tons of comments. I wish I had his following!] Reading the...

SMART Goal Bank for SLPs-Share your SMART goals...

Jul 26, 2016 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

With the new school year on the horizon, I’m going to post once again about SMART goals. As SLPs we almost always have to figure things out on our own. With the development of professional SMART goals we’ve had to be more and more creative. I’ve seen SLPs make the process extremely complicated and SLPs who make the process a lot simpler. Coming up with new and interesting SMART goals that can relate to the SLP is just not that easy. As a group we need to start sharing our ideas. There is no reason for SLPs to be reinventing the wheel. What I would like to propose is creating a smart goal bank specifically for Speech Language Pathologists. I would have two categories one for SLPs who need individual SMART goals and one...