My kit

A few years ago, My school district sponsored Dr. Judy Montgomery to come and talk to all the SLP's that worked in our district.  One of the things that she really stressed was that we needed to follow a program in our therapy.  It didn't have to be one that you bought, but it needed to be something that was consistent and systematic.  She suggested that if you put all your items for your therapy sessions in a box or kit and you used the items every time, you had created your own program.

I have taken her advice to heart.  I don't use a box.  Instead I use a 3 ring binder with plastic bags, so that I can easily carry my materials from class to class.

It's blurry on purpose.  On the outside of the notebook, I keep my schedule.  It helps me both keep track of where I'm supposed to be when, but I can't tell you how many times people ask me about my schedule, and I honestly can't remember when I see who when.

I also keep my schedule on Microsoft outlook, which is nice for scheduling re occurring  appointments like therapy sessions. But that's also where  I  schedule things like IEP's, SAT meeting, and Parent teacher conferences.  I print out my weekly schedule to give me more detail on my availability at any given time.  In the pockets I keep my data sheets.

I got this idea from Pinterest.  I use ziploc type plastic bags.  I used duct tape at the bottom and punched holes so I could put the bag in the notebook.  They've held up pretty well.

In my notebook, I carry everything I need for my lesson:  A book, sentence strips, paper puppets, pictures for my song.  My lesson follows the same routine routine every single session:
1) book
2)Review of vocabulary /Direction following (using the paper puppets)
3) Song
4) Reread the book
5) practice sentences with targeted vocabulary using  a sentence strip

I adjust in complexity and requirements for each students based on each level.

Raindrops...

Two more work days until Thanksgiving break, and I'm looking forward to the time off.  The last two days mark the end of my unit on the book Raindrops by Sandy Gay. I bought the book at a library book sale, but you can find the book on Amazon as well.

My typical preschool language lesson runs a little like this:
1. Read a book.
2. Review  vocabulary/practice direction following.
3. Read the book again, but talk about events in the book/expand vocabulary concepts.
4. Sing  a song
5. Sentence strips.

The vocabulary I addressed was: house, window, hat,  flowers, dog, dad, umbrella and rain, as well as prepositions on top and under. To address the vocabulary I used puppets made from lessonpix.com. 

 Using these pictures, I can work on naming and identifying.  But, I also use them for following two-step directions: "Put the dog under the chair.  I use one of the cube chairs already in the classroom and my students get to practice listening for objects and prepositions.

I used the following song: (To the tune of "I'm a little teacup)

Pitter Patter Raindrops falling from the sky. (Wiggling fingers in a downward motion to make rain.)
Here is my umbrella to keep me safe and dry. (Hold the umbrella.)
When the rain is over, the sun begins to glow (Raise arms in a circle above your head to make the sun.)
Little flowers start to bud and grow grow grow.  (Bring hand down making bud raise them up for each grow.)

(Original author unknown)

I like this song because it talks about the function of an umbrella.  Many of our language delayed students may know  a vocabulary word when looking at the picture but lack the skills to describe the object or explain it's use. 


The last thing I do in this lesson is sentence strips.  Again, I used lessonpix.com  to create the pictures for our sentences.

 On one side I have the target sentence. For this book, the target sentence is "Raining on my _________."

On the back side I keep the extra vocabulary so that my students can quickly change out the word.
I find that students who struggle to formulate 3 to 5 word phrases are more successful with the visual and tactile cues of a sentence strip. Since I repeat the lesson over several week, my students have lots of opportunities to practice using longer sentences.  For some of my students, I've made it more challenging by adding a "It is..." to the beginning of the sentence. 
For my non-verbal students, I have them point to the picture as I say the word. Initially, I need to do hand over hand pointing, eventually I find they can point with out needing my help, and one of my "non-verbal students" is now attempting word approximations while pointing. 

In the desert, we don't get much rain, but we've had two rainy days since I started this lesson.  This makes me happy. 

#slpeeps flashmob

Welcome back to all our speechie friends who attended ASHA in Atlanta.  Have you seen the #slpeeps flashmob video?

Great fun!  I wish I had been there!

But I had a busy week anyway.  I saw students on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday all day and Thursday Morning, I attended a non violent crisis intervention workshop. Thursday and Friday were parent teacher conferences which kept me hopping.

Data Keeping

I have worked in variety settings as an SLP: Skilled Nursing, Long Term Care, Early Intervention, HomeHealth, and Schools.  I can safely say that no other setting has even close to the same amount of paperwork as the schools.  Medicaid, IEPs, SATs, Progress towards goals, Early Childhood Outcomes Data, Reports, REED's, etc.  And school SLP's have larger caseloads than  SLP's in other settings, so all of that paperwork is multiplied exponentially.  I am not complaining. The truth is I understand the need for most of it and do believe the bulk of it is for the benefit of the student.  A well written IEP protects my student and that makes it worth it for me.

But sometimes the paperwork can be a bit overwhelming, and it's easy to get behind.  I run at max efficiency, and still don't get everything done that I need to in my "duty day."  The hardest thing to keep up with is my daily logs.  As the name suggests, the best practice is to document daily.  But throw in three IEP's in a week (That never ever get started on time) and somehow my daily documentation time is out the window.    That might mean that I am documenting Tuesday kids on Friday.  Unfortunately, age has taken it's toll, and I have learned the hard way that I can't rely on memory. So I need clear ways of taking and keeping data.

This isn't as hard for my students that I see in the speech room.  It's usually a very small group and I can take data as I go.  The real challenge are our Developmental Preschool classrooms.  My school has 3 DD pre-schools classrooms, each with an AM and a PM class. The classes are typically 8 students  and I see them all at once.  So taking data as I go is a little difficult. 

That's why this weekend, I spent time working on this data sheet:

I haven't put it into use yet, but I'm hoping that with a few check marks, I will have a good picture of what each student did each day.  I haven't put it to use yet, but I think this will work better than using a notebook or sticky notes.  And if I get behind on notes, I won't have to rely on my memory to create documentation.

You can download this file for free at my Teacherspayteachers store.  If you do use it, be sure to let me know what you think. 

Why I am blogging...

Do you watch Parks and Recreation?  I am a late convert to the show, but after watching the last two seasons, I realized I am a Leslie Knope.  I am a little bit obsessive about being a speech therapist the way she is about politics and the parks and recreation department.  But the reality is, I love my job.  I love what I do and I feel like I make a difference in peoples lives.  I get a charge out of seeing my kids succeed.  And after 15 years, my head is exploding with ideas that I want to share.  I drive my poor office mates crazy with my ideas and thoughts, but thankfully they are patient with me.  So that is why I am blogging.  I want to share my thoughts and ideas about being an SLP in the school settings.