Bags! Bags! We love bags!

Feb 4, 2016 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Every so often the topic of “Which bag is best” come up on an SLP Facebook page. No matter what setting you’re in SLP’s need bags. I doubt many of us could function with out 2-3 or 10 good bags at our disposal. Having a bag that is functional and of course stylish is the main goal of any serious SLP. I personally can’t leave the house without at least 4 bags hanging across my body and both arms. Each morning when I load up the term “Pack Mule” comes to mind. So what bags do SLPs need? A big bag to shlep our daily materials from place to place. The younger the students the more physical materials we need, the bigger the bag. A bag to keep our files organized. We need...

Reading and understanding social context is key to good pragmatic skills...

Nov 27, 2015 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Today I am publishing a retread article I first wrote for examiner.com back in 2012. I thought about this article after presenting a paraprofessional training last week. The attendees asked if I could give them some specific examples of pragmatic difficulities in more typical students. While I was able to provide examples, my response wasn’t as organized as I would have liked. I think I will be sharing this article (or improving on the article) next time I present to paraprofessional or parents. As always suggestions and comments welcomed. Teresa Reading and understanding social context is key to good pragmatic skills When kids are taught “context” most classroom teachers are usually referring to the context of a story. Students, especially the ones who have non verbal learning disabilities, aspergers or even just lack social...

Scheduling Template

Aug 31, 2015 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Can anyone use this to work out their draft schedule (I mean schedules)? I know it doesn’t take long to create but we know every minute counts. It is a pages doc. Scheduling template 2015 Here is the PDF Scheduling template 2015...

The School SLP-book reviews

Aug 10, 2015 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Last April I introduced my first book The School Speech Language Pathologist, An administrators guide to understanding the role of the SLP in schools along with strategies to aid staffing, workload management and student success. It has been a lot of fun working on book promotion and I’ve received almost 100% positive feedback from other SLPs. Several SLPs have mentioned that they have good enough relationships with the administrators to share the book. Yeah! Two SLP’s reported that their administrators asked to peek at the book (double Yeah!). Two SLP bloggers have been kind enough to highlight my book on their blogs. I want to share their perspectives with you. Both of these blogs are very professional and interesting so take a peek around their sites while you’re there. The first review was written...

Speech Language Pathology Gifts?...

Jan 19, 2015 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Did you know that Amazon carries a variety of Speech Therapy gifts/Speech Language Pathology gifts. I guess if you went to ASHA you might have seen some of these odd little trinkets. Some are rather cute and some are a little freaky. I love my job but you would have to live a Speech Language Pathology lifestyle to use some of them. I could put links to over 229 items. I’m just going to pick out a few for fun. “What the he-double hockey sticks is it?” People will be afraid to ask A little creepy My tree felt empty without this This will leave the other guys asking, “Where can I get one?” If I want to keep the kids and my husband away from my car, I’ll put this on it Doesn’t...

Outside Evaluations-Are they really that specialized anymore?...

Dec 28, 2014 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

As a school speech language pathologist, I haven’t been impressed with outside speech and language evaluations for quite awhile. What I’ve noticed over the past several years, from the outside evaluations that have landed on my desk is that not one has been in-depth or used a variety of unique tests to aid differential diagnosis. The general format for these outside evaluations is now the CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals) and maybe the PPVT (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). The reality is that most school speech language pathologist probable give the CELF more often and are just as good at interpreting the results. Most of the time after reading an outside speech and language evaluation, I have more questions than concrete information. Very few outside evaluations go the extra mile these days. I usually...