Can I make a confession? One of my least favorite things to work on in therapy is the dreaded /r/ sound! It's so hard to demonstrate to students what exactly you want them to do
Writing a good IEP and conducting a successful IEP meeting are two vital skills. Get 5 tips that are simple game changers for how to approach your next IEP.
Check out these easy to implement ideas for SLPs to address stuttering in preschoolers during their speech therapy sessions.
Apparently, I'm not the only SLP who struggles with the /r/ sound! In my last "Quick Articulation Tip," I shared how I started using dental floss picks to help students find the appropriate tongue placement for the
Can I make a confession? One of my least favorite things to work on in therapy is the dreaded /r/ sound! It's so hard to demonstrate to students what exactly you want them to do
This weekend, I had the opportunity to do mock interviews with women from the community. There was one from an adult hospital and one from a school. I knew it was just a mock interview, but I was nervous anyway! I have had other interviews in the past, but I didn't really know what to expect from an SLP interview. I wanted to share what I learned from that morning with all of you, in case you're interviewing soon or will be in the near future! 1. Know information about the place you're applying. They're going to ask you why you want to work in that specific place. Know your facts about the company/school/hospital. Know the potential caseload you could have. What makes that place special? 2. Know the research. I wasn't asked anything in the mock interview myself, but I know that my friends who have interviewed have been asked specific and general questions about research. They have been asked about the most recent research article they've read. Know the title, the gist of the article, and if possible, the authors (or at least the primary one). Demonstrate your knowledge about different techniques and how you address a specific disorder that you would see in that setting (e.g. right CVA in adults or stuttering in children). 3. Be yourself. We all want to look amazing in our interviews because we want the job and we want to stand out. Be honest about yourself. Let your personality shine through! 4. Be open. My interviewer this weekend told me that she looks for the nitty-gritty of who you are. She wants to know what life experiences you've had and what lessons you've learned from them. She said, "You can teach clinical skills, but you can't teach those life lessons." You don't have to give lots of details, but you should offer up at least one personal experience that has taught you valuable lessons that you can apply to your practice. 5. Know what types of questions the interviewers like to ask. I looked up a list of potential SLP interview questions just to be prepared. I'm really glad I did, because I expected most of the questions I was asked. It allowed me to prep them ahead of time. 6. Know your strengths. I was asked to name 3 of my strengths. It's hard for me to talk about myself like that, and it's hard for me to think of things on the spot. This was a question I knew was going to come up, so I had a few answers prepared. It will most likely come up in the interview, so go ahead and prep it ahead of time. Just don't make it sound rehearsed. 7. Have a "good" weakness answer ready. You want a "good" weakness. By that, I mean you want a weakness that isn't actually a weakness. These can be very difficult to come up with, especially on the spot. I spent a lot of time thinking about mine ahead of time. Mine is that I sometimes care TOO much about a case or family and let it burden me. It's a good thing that I care a lot, which makes it a "good" weakness, if you see what I mean. It's just bad because it ends up burdening me. You never want to say "I'm stubborn" or anything along those lines. 8. Stay calm. I know this is SO hard because you're nervous and you want to do well. If you stay calm, you'll feel more comfortable and will probably answer the questions better. Don't drink caffeine beforehand if it makes you even the slightest bit jittery. 9. Don't talk with your hands too much. This is a bad habit of mine. Just don't do it. I had to sit with my hands in my lap/under my legs to avoid it. Do what you have to do. 10. Dress well and not over the top. I've seen a wide variety of interview outfits. I've seen ones that are black, white, gray, or tan only. I've seen ones that are mainly those colors with a pop of one accent color. I've seen patterns and no patterns. I've seen dresses and pants. So what is the standard??? There isn't one. Look professional but be yourself. Don't dress like someone you're not. BUT don't be too over the top. No super loud colors. No leopard print. Another tip I heard recently was to dress up one level from whatever your interviewer will be wearing. For example, if your interviewer will be wearing jeans, you wear dress pants and a nice shirt. If your interview is wearing business casual, then you should probably wear a blazer or a "tv-anchor" type dress. Those are just a few things I pulled from my mock interview this weekend. Do you have any tips for interviewing? Please share them below!!
This product is a template to aid speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who complete Modified Barium Swallow Studies (MBSSs) in the medical setting. This template helps SLPs during the review of the study as well as with writing the report. General tips and reminders for the study are also included. T...
The obstinate, ornery R. Have you exhausted every R articulation therapy trick that you know? These articulation therapy for R tips and tricks are just what you need!
Are you studying for the SLP praxis exam? Check out some of my best tips for acing this important test! Keep up the hard work!
Can I make a confession? One of my least favorite things to work on in therapy is the dreaded /r/ sound! It's so hard to demonstrate to students what exactly you want them to do
I recently received a few questions from a parent of a little boy who has childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This wonderful mom was feeling a bit nervous
Interviewing for a new job is so stressful. Take the guesswork out of the process by practicing with these interview questions for SLPs
Learn how to take advantage of Google Sheets for SLPs! It's time to change to digital caseload management, data collection, and more!
Tackling paperwork in the schools can be super frustrating for educators. Here are my top paperwork tips for SLPs that make it manageable!
Across the country, there’s been a push to better measure teacher effectiveness. This has resulted in several new evaluation systems (including the Danielson model) being developed and implemented in states across the country. While SLPs
One of the things that we all focus on when heading back to school is the logistics. With a mountain of to-dos, what do we tackle first?
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My best tips for teaching /r/ in articulation therapy! Placement cues, product reviews and /r/ word lists to help your students succeed!
My cycles for phonology toolkit will give you everything you need to provide assessment, progress monitoring, and intervention!
Check out this ultimate list of over 200 free speech therapy materials for all of your needs! Save your money for what really matters!
These speech therapy parent newsletters give an entire school year of advice that applies to most speech and language disorders we encounter in the schools.
Echolalia in autism can be difficult. Find out about the types of echolalia and get practical tips to help your students with autism. Be sure to check out the links to free, important information and research to get therapy started on the right track!
There are lots of planners available, but not one like this: I present to you the Ultimate SLP Planner! Read all about my planner made just for SLPs!
Have you heard of Freddie the Fly Motormouth by Kimberly Delude? I got the chance to review this brand new book, and I really loved it for my speech therapy classroom! I love picture books in my speech classroom, and this one is no exception. Click through to see my honest review of the book, and how I use it!
Manage your middle schoolers during speech therapy with my 10 best strategies for behavior management to encourage and motivate!
Tons of ideas for how I use student work folders in speech and language therapy. Includes organization tips, storage examples, and tips and tricks.
Every year when I go shopping right after Christmas, it's always the same thing....stores like Walmart and Target pack the shelves with organizational totes and containers. I thought it was just ME, but apparently it's
Behavior management is something everyone in an educational role needs training and understanding in, so I'm sharing my five best tips for behavior control.
Explore a wide range of free worksheets for adults. Boost your memory, executive function attention skills and more! Easy to use and download!
Which tools are you using in your speech therapy room to make your job easier? Which tools do you still need? Check out this post to see my top 10 must-have therapy tools for SLPs.
Here are five more tips to have a great year as a preschool push-in SLP.
Free speech therapy printables! Cheatsheet handouts for SLPs and educators. Use as reference guides, parent handouts, and functional decor.
Echolalia in autism can be difficult. Find out about the types of echolalia and get practical tips to help your students with autism. Be sure to check out the links to free, important information and research to get therapy started on the right track!
Getting a school-based assignment at a new school can be overwhelming, especially if you're working with a new population. I think that a majority of SLPs fear working with high school students. And let's be honest, high school students can be intimidating. They seem big, opinionated, and mean. While they are pretty big, and they certainly have opinions, very few, if any are actually mean. In my humble opinion, high school students are great! I feel privileged to work with students during one of the most pivotal times of their lives. My students are getting their first jobs. getting their driver's licenses, falling in love for the first time, and planning their futures. Between sports, academics, and social pressures, high school students have A LOT of stress and expectations. They're often insecure, and the never-ending immersion into social media doesn't help their self-esteem. I think that the absolute worst part of working with high school students is that they are cool. They're better at technology than me, they know all the best songs and artists, and they know tons of slang words that I don't know. So despite being a semi-hip thirty-something professional, I am a dinosaur in their eyes. I've come to terms with my uncoolness, but I continue to be amazed by how much I love working in a high school. The bottom line is, high school students may seem intimidating, but once you get to know them, they are vulnerable and sweet kids who you'll fall in love with. Here are my top eight tips for working with high school students, but before we begin, a disclaimer. I work with students who have mild/moderate disabilities and have very little experience with students with profound disabilities. So while these tips absolutely apply for my caseload, they may not apply in every circumstance. 8. Be flexible when you can. Many of my students struggle with flexibility, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Most adults are incredibly inflexible too. I try to practice what I preach in the speech therapy room by being as flexible as possible. Some of my students prefer to complete a worksheet independently and some abhor writing. I might have a preference for how the task is completed, but at the end of the day, if I'm adequately targeting the goal, who cares if the task is completed written or verbally? I never hesitate to alter my plans if I feel it will benefit the student. For example, if I have a student who is anxious about homework he needs to complete or a test he needs to study for, I put my plans aside and find a way to make their schoolwork fit into a therapy goal. As long as students don't take advantage of me, I try to be as accommodating as possible. 7. Set clear expectations...for everyone. Yes, I'm flexible. Yes, I'll allow deviations from my plan based on student preferences, but there are some things that I won't accommodate. Most teenagers have an excellent "pushover radar", and they will test their limits. At the beginning of the year, my students sign a speech therapy contract. The contract lays out expectations for both the students and the speech therapist. The basic premise of the contract is that I will treat them like young adults as long as they act like young adults. Consequences (that I rarely have to employ) are also clearly stated. I have found the beginning of the year contract to be really effective to start the year on the right foot with the students. I also make sure my students understand why they have speech therapy on their IEP. If I feel it is attainable and appropriate, I also share with them the skills they need to demonstrate in order to "graduate" from speech therapy. I am upfront and honest about the thing we are working on and why the IEP team that those skills are vital to the student's academic and/or social development. 6. Be in the know. You're not going to be able to know every new musical artist of every genre or be hip to the ins and outs of the most popular video games, but it is helpful to know what's going on in teenage pop culture. Many of my kids love Star Wars and Marvel films and they love theorizing about what will happen next in the respective universes. If you don't know what one of your students is talking about, ask about it! I love pulling up an impromptu YouTube video during a therapy session so I can see my student's favorite viral video or a clip from their favorite TV show. I ask students to show me clips of their favorite video games, and I download apps that they are using. When students and teachers have connections with one another, mutual trust and respect are built which leads to improved educational outcomes. That's what I call a win-win! 5. Be interesting AND functional. A student's school day is filled with algebraic equations, history facts, science theories, and discussion of literary themes. Teachers try to make their content as interesting as possible, but they still have to adhere to the curriculum. In speech. we can learn about ANYTHING. I try to find topics that are interesting, unusual, or are of particular interest to high school students. Many of my Every Goal Units have been inspired by conversations with my students. Utilize things that are going on in their lives as therapy activities (studying for a driver's license test, filling out an application, solving a problem they're having at work, etc.). Providing support using real-world tasks has much better carryover than arbitrary and hypothetical tasks. I try to write goals and plan tasks that will serve the student academically AND in the real-world, because let's be honest, nobody cares if a student is able to meet a target in speech if they can't eventually carry it over to the real world. 4. Be there. High school students are juggling a lot of really tough issues - adolescence, social cliques, parental pressure, schoolwork, jobs, and post-secondary planning just to name a few. Sometimes they need to have someone they trust to talk to. Some of your students might need a safe space to get away from the pressures of their school day. Try to be a friendly haven for your students. A place where they can eat lunch if they need to. A room where they can use your phone to call their mom. A person who listens and will give advice (when it is asked for!). You don't need to be their best friend, but you do need to be an adult that they can trust. 3. Be involved in the school. It is very tempting to close your office door and type IEPs during a pep rally or to wear your business-as-usual clothes during spirit weeks, but being engaged in the culture of the school is important for student success. When you engage in the social culture of the school, you are modeling camaraderie and teamwork for your students. We are constantly asking our students to step out of their comfort zones and join in with others, and we need to model the same behavior for them! If you advise a club or coach a sport you will also get to know kids outside of the special-ed world. It is helpful to see how students without disabilities navigate the pressures and daily drama of high school so you are more in-tune to the social norms at your school. 2. Don't be an island. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Does your student have a vocabulary goal? Does your student have 50 vocabulary words they need to learn for their To Kill a Mockingbird test? What benefits your student most - learning 10 random words from you and attempting to independently learn 50 words for class OR using their To Kill A Mockingbird word list to learn vocabulary strategies during speech therapy sessions? Obviously the latter, right? It is important to have strong bonds with the general education teachers so you can incorporate their curriculum into your speech therapy tasks. I also really like delivering lessons in the classroom. It took me a couple of years to build rapport with teachers and to find classes that were appropriate for weekly speech therapy lessons, but now that I feel confident in my building and in my classroom instruction skills, I enjoy my time out of the speech room. 1. Have fun! Listen to music. Watch funny YouTube videos. Play games. Have a sense of humor. Throw parties. High school students hate things that make them different from the crowd, and they know that if they're still in speech in high school, they're different. Don't let speech therapy sessions be an awful experience for them. You can absolutely target speech therapy goals in a way that is fun and engaging for teens. When you relate to your students and build positive connections with them, they will work harder for you! I've hopefully made you feel better about your high school assignment by reassuring you that high school students are just insecure kids inside of adult bodies, but you're probably still wondering what in the world you will actually do with them to most effectively meet their speech and language targets. Next week, I'll be sharing with you some of my favorite materials and activities for high school students.