From Me, To You
Hello, speech friends! Labor Day is behind us and the fall semester feels like it has started in earnest.
The big thing on my mind right now is flexibility. I feel lucky sometimes to be a Type B personality, but I know a lot of SLPs tend to be a bit Type A.
Does leaning into flexibilty give you a bit of anxiety? Even as a Type B, being flexible this time of year gives me a feeling od dread. Still, the ability to be flexible is one of our most tools.
As a new teleSLP, I find I’m having to exercise flexibility even more than usual. While starting the school year—reading IEPs, reviewing past progress notes, making data sheets, planning sessions—is always stressful, there’s one aspect that has been even harder as a teleSLP.
Scheduling.
Scheduling is always the worst. But working at a distance, across multiple time zones, via only email, with paraprofessionals, is a whole other adventure. The original plan in my distrct was to begin therapy last Monday, on the fourth day of the school year. After ten years working in schools, I knew the chances of that happening were slim, but I had to try.
Tuesday, on the ninth day of the year, I rolled out something vaguely resembling a schedule. Today (Thursday) I remade it from scratch. Tomorrow I’ll give the third of my full locations a whirl—we’ll see how many changes it needs!
With every day and evening spent remaking my schedule yet again, I remind myself that being flexible is the key to not breaking.
A Bit of Happiness
I’ve spent the week meeting as many students as possible, some more willing participants than others. As a middle and high school SLP, making connections with students is extra important and often extra difficult. This week it’s been bonding over Harry Potter (even if we’re Hufflepuffs and Slytherins) and being the eldest sister of brothers. Nothing makes me happier than wrapping up the first session with a student only to have them tell me they’re having fun talking and don’t want to leave.
From My Speech Room
The majority of my goals so far this year center on word relationships and reading comprehension. For a quick initial baseline, I’ve found these really helpful!
We used the annotate features to type the definitions into the blank spaces since we can’t cut and paste digitally. For my students, we matched the definitions then created sentences using each distinct meaning of the words. The words are very common multiple meaning words, so it’s good for baselining language processing and word relationships skills without taxing their lexicon.
These text units, as well as the non-fiction version, are wonderful addition to your toolkit for older students. While not on grade level, the texts are a good length for 10-15 minutes of a session. They’re also a good starting point to expand into other comprehension, vocabulary, and writing goals.
New From A Happy Learner
My language assessment is one of my most consistent bestsellers. So I made a Boom Card version! If you go to Boom you can buy each section individually, but it’s also available for $4.00 on my TpT store!
Link Love
Great questions to ask our learners!
Real photos are the best!
I watched a great webinar (Course: #10143) on executive functioning by Joseph Walsh and Victoria Brickenden from The Howard School. It’s available on www.speechpathology.com if you’re a member!
I hope you have a lovely weekend,
Christin ☕️