by Anne Page | Apr 5, 2016 | Inspiration, SLP Like a Boss, Uncategorized
How do you SLP like a boss? Someone who SLPs like a boss, is professional, compassionate, organized and inspirational. An SLP boss gets things done!
In this series I’m interviewing SLP boss women who work by day as speech language pathologists, but at night (and on weekends), they are business builders. I’m talking about running websites, writing blogs and creating therapy materials for their fellow SLPs and teachers. They not only serve as advocates for their clients (students); they are advocates for our profession. These are the strong, amazing women that I admire and who inspire others.
Today I am talking with SLP Boss-lady Felice Clark from the creative website The Dabbling Speechie. You know when you meet someone for the first time and you like them right away? That’s how I felt about Felice. Friendly, funny and smart; she personifies SLP Like A Boss. I met her last year in Las Vegas at the Teachers Pay Teachers Sellers conference and saw her again briefly at the ASHA convention in Denver. Her TPT store features over 165 products. My current favorite is “Help! I Need Social Skills Pack”. Felice is currently working as a school speech language pathologist. Let’s dive in.
Tell me about yourself in seven words: creative, caffeinated, innovative, mommy, story teller, wife, and witty.
Where did you go to grad school?: Sacramento State University
What are your top three SLP must haves?: This is tough! Youtube, dry erase plastic pouches, and my magnetic scenes
What do you love most about what you do?: I love planning engaging therapy. I feel like I hit a home run when one of my lessons really helped a student make progress toward one of their goals.
Tell me your advice for the newly minted SLP: Set healthy boundaries for yourself. It’s okay to say “no” to something that you can’t accomplish or finish in a timely manner. It will help you with managing your caseload and ultimately keep your stress down. When I over commit myself, I usually am more grumpy with my colleagues and speech students. If you are taking work home more than 3 days a week, you either don’t have an adequate workload or you aren’t setting limits with your work life.
Tell me about your blog: My website is for busy SLP’s that have limited time to plan and find resources for their students. I find and/or create engaging therapy ideas for those SLP’s that desire to keep a “sparkle” in their speech room.
Tell me about your TPT store: My store has lots of goodies in it! I have a wide variety of resources, but I would say my most popular resources are my social skills packs, grammar sets, no prep activities and my big time saver AAC starter kit for students who are non-verbal or limited verbal. For spring, you need to grab my Nature Walk FREE printable for some outside therapy fun!
What SLP-boss inspires you? That’s hard, there are so many. I always like Nicole Allison’s items and the way she approaches therapy. I admire that she is methodical and the way she takes data. And Natalie Snyder is also very knowledgeable in this area.
What is your favorite children’s book? At the moment, one of my favorite books of all time is Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.
What about picture books? I love using books in therapy! Some of my favorites for spring are In The Tall, Tall Grass, A Tiny Seed, The Gardener and The Hungry Little Caterpillar.
I really enjoyed catching up with Felice. There’s always something magical about talking to other SLPs, it’s like we’re all a secret society of smart women. To learn more about Felice, check out her website
The Dabbling Speechie.And in case you missed it, here is the article about
Kim Lewis, another SLP Like a Boss.
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How do you SLP Like a Boss?
Hearts and hashtags,
by Anne Page | Mar 29, 2016 | SLP Like a Boss, Therapy Ideas
(This photo is very tongue in cheek btw, just in case you don’t know me very well yet) [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]I learn new skills in layers. I bet you do too.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
First, I figure out the new vocabulary and jargon. Next, I figure out the general structure and maybe how other people have done it. Then I look at what the basic expectations are.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I spend some time practicing and with time build the skill. This applies to how I practice speech therapy, too.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
My SLP journey was first get a bachelor’s degree, then work as an SLPA and SLT to get hands-on experience. I really thought I knew a lot (I did but not as much as I thought I did).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Then many years later I got my master’s degree. That was the layer of theory, clinical practicums, and clinical fellowship. This came with a whole lot of stress and a really HUMONGOUS learning curve. That was just three years ago.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Now I find myself moving to another deeper layer.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I’m calling it metatherapy. Thinking about thinking about therapy.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Instead of doing therapy and evaluations just to get them done, I’m asking myself a lot of big picture questions. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Questions like: I know my students need to build their vocabulary but what is the one skill that is going to help them the most? Yes, they need to know synonyms, antonyms, and categorization. But they also need to be able to transfer these skills to all the new vocabulary they will be exposed to throughout their school years. Of course, I look at best practices. And I’m thinking beyond that too.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
How can I make them fall in love with words?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
How can I make them love descriptive terms and all the beautiful nuances?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
How can I make them excited that there are 16,000 different species of trees?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
How can I make sure that when I ask them to tell me about a tree, they won’t just say it’s green and it grows.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I want them to be able to tell me a tree gives us shade in the summer, that we can climb it, that it can be a home for squirrels. It can have pecans or peaches or pine cones. It can be covered in pink blossoms in the springtime or flaming red leaves in the fall. That the leaves make music when they rustle in the wind. That trees shelter us and give us wood for fires. That some trees can tower to over 360 feet. That trees can have a multitude of different leaf shapes and shades of delicious green. That their bark can be smooth and cool or rough and scratchy. That trees can gather together to create a sacred space.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I want to open that world for them, to help them see and form beautiful word pools in their little brains. Such a beautiful, sparkling goal.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
But of course, reality dictates that we have to write measurable, curriculum based goals. (And I do).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
But is that our ultimate therapy goal? [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Is it to have a student learn “x” number of new vocabulary words or is it to help him build a rich lexicon by inspiring him to read, ask questions and get excited about learning?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
When I read Donalyn Miller’s book “The Book Whisperer” and understood how she thought outside the box with her approach to reading, I wanted to take that approach to language and language therapy. (I’ll put a link at the end of this post if you want to know more about this book).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I will keep digging, experimenting and exploring this juicy approach to therapy because it feels so right.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
And of course I will share everything with you.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I do know that a good start is to share our love of words and language with our students.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
We can find what really fascinates them and help them expand the subject and learn more. We can do that by walking them through our thought process, so they can start building those neuronal pathways for themselves.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
This just makes me fall in love with speech language therapy all over again. I’m so meta (meta’s in the Urban Dictionary, check it out).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Meta Speech Language Therapy: it’s mindful, it’s looking at each child as an individual. It’s giving students a valuable gift not just applying a “speech band-aid”.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
So what do you think? Are you with me?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Leave a comment below.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Go think deep thoughts and SLP like a boss,[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
by Anne Page | Mar 22, 2016 | SLP Time Hacks, The Organized SLP
SLPTimeHacks
Last Spring at this time, I was REALLY frantically busy. So…I didn’t do my Medicaid billing until May. That’s three months worth; it took me two solid days of desk work, gave me sore neck and had me singing the blues! I would much rather have been spending time with my students. I knew there had to be a better way.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Do you have to do Medicaid billing?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Do you dread doing it and save it till the end of the month? Or even worse save it till the end of two months?[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
In my district we do Medicaid billing. So that means in addition to gathering data, we need to submit that information through a third party billing company. It can be tedious and feel redundant but that’s how the school funds part of our services.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
What I’ve done in the past (after my 3 month nightmare) is at the end of the month, panic, gather my notes and data and then spend a full day billing. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
A whole day…no! Not gonna happen anymore.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
So in January I tried a little experiment. Instead of saving up my Medicaid billing, I decided to bill immediately after a group when possible. If I have several back-to-back sessions, then bill at the end of the day.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I kept track of the time spent billing, which averages out to about 30 minutes a day. I made sure I scheduled that time for the rest of the month. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I noticed that once I got into the habit of billing daily, it was pretty doable.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I loved myself on that last working day of January. All I had to do was hit the “confirm all” button.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
As a result, I have done this for February and March. Never gonna look back.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
There is truth and value in “a stitch in time saves nine” and even in “how do you eat an elephant?” (one bite at a time, okay but I still think that’s gross).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
One other thing I did that has been a huge time-saver/blues reducer is I spent some time really getting to know the system. I learned several shortcuts about the calendar feature and the group notes feature. I also identified exactly what information was needed by Medicaid in our state. Combined, these shaved off several more minutes daily.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I know it’s frustrating to juggle so many demands. But by planning ahead to bill daily and taking time to fully learn your billing company’s system, you’ll be amazed at how much more manageable this chore can be.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Keep coming back to read about my continuous search to help you find ways to streamline and save time, so that you can stress less and spend time doing what really brings you fulfillment.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Did you like this post? If you did please sign up below to be on the email list so you’ll be the first to know about more time saving tips and fun, engaging therapy materials.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
For more time saving ideas read these posts:
SLP Time Hack: SLP Toolkit, Dream or Reality
SLP Time Hack: SLP Toolkit How to Stop Dreading Progress Reports
SLP Time Hack: Work Life Balance 7 Strategies
Keep doing what you do, you are making the world a better place,
by Anne Page | Mar 15, 2016 | Reviews, SLP Time Hacks, Technology, The Organized SLP
[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Last week in” SLP Time Hacks: Streamlining Progress Reports Dream or Reality?”, I talked about SLP Toolkit, a web based software program that was created by two speech language pathologists. Lisa Kathman and Sarah Bevier. In case you missed it,
click here. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You can use SLP Toolkit to screen, baseline test, progress monitor, and write goals for students. Last week I tested it out specifically for progress monitoring. I have to tell you, I love it![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
First I set up my caseload, which was really easy and didn’t take too long at all. Just input student’s name, IEP date, evaluation date, case manager, teacher and grade. A really helpful feature is the ability to sort by any of the fields. For example, I like to write my progress reports by grade level. I can just click on Grade and oila! my caseload is organized by grade level. This makes my list-building organized SLP heart very happy. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The progress monitoring feature has a speech sound production area which includes articulation (with all sounds) and a phonological process area. Other areas include subheadings of cognitive, social language, expressive receptive language, fluency, and voice/resonance.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Within each of these areas there is an extensive list to choose from. For example, I have a student that has a goal to compare and contrast grade level vocabulary. Here’s what I did:
Click expressive/receptive language
Click semantics
Click Compare and Contrast
Click Level 2
A screen comes up with a list of 10 word pairs, I ask student to tell me one way the words are alike and one that they are different.
I click thumbs up or flag.
When finished I click “record data” (which resets for the next time)
I am taken back to the progress monitoring screen where the score is shown.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The screen is user-friendly with a sidebar for the menu and features are easy to click.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Although I haven’t used the social language feature yet, it looks really interesting and there are many rubrics. What I like is that the rubrics are “clickable”. You click on the area that fits the student’s current level of competence and the score is placed in the bar at the bottom of the screen. Also the correct description is included with the score ready to be copied and pasted into your progress report. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The progress monitoring tool is leveled (which is awesome). The stimulus items chosen for each of the different levels were selected considering a combination of research, academic standards, grade band Tier 2 vocabulary, and developmental milestones. So important to me to know that all of these items were taken into consideration. The levels are: Level 0-preschool, Level 1-kindergarten, Level 2-grades one and two, Level 3-grades three through five, Level 4-grades six through eight and Level five-grades nine through 12. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I’m not going to walk you through this step-by-step because SLP Toolkit has several tutorials that do a great job of that. I’ll put a link at the end of this post for you.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I do want to highlight what I like most about using SLP Toolkit for my progress reports.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
1. It’s really easy. No shuffling papers and digging for data sheets. Everything I need is on my computer screen. (And it syncs across devices, so I can use my iPad too).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
2. It’s user-friendly and easy to navigate.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
3. I’m using new materials that the student isn’t used to, so I can see if the skill is carrying over across different materials and situations.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
4. I like that I can click on the student’s name, see the goals at a glance, select the progress monitoring tool I want and then go. It’s very time efficient. Depending on the number of goals a student has, the whole process is quick. I’d say 15-20 minutes per student.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
5. As I said earlier, I am really happy with the fact that it is leveled and that the leveling is based on research and standards.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
6. It’s affordable. $19 a month (or $180 annually) to not only keep myself organized and efficiently monitor progress but to write goals, keep a goal bank and baseline test is a bargain.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
7. When it is time to do the next round of progress reports, I will be able to compare them side by side with the progress monitoring I just completed to view progress across time. I love that feature.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The whole process was so smooth and stress free for me compared to my old way of doing things. I really am kind of looking forward to doing my progress reports next time, so I can compare them to the ones I just did. I’m also looking forward to having a goal bank at my fingertips and to using the present level assessments.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
My recommendation to you is to check it out.
Click on this link where you can get a free trial for up to five students. Do a little test drive, look at all the awesome features. I really think you will be as impressed as I am. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Disclaimer: I did receive a no-cost six month subscription of SLP Toolkit, so I could review it and give feedback. All of the opinions expressed are strictly my own.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Did you like this post? If you did please let me know in the comments below. Make sure to join my email list for more posts like this and for a monthly free therapy product.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
No more dreading progress reports!
P.S. Here is a link to the progress monitoring
tutorial.
by Anne Page | Mar 6, 2016 | Reviews, SLP Time Hacks, Technology, The Organized SLP, Uncategorized
Progress. Reports. Two words that strike the heart of every school SLP with dread and trepidation. They’re tedious and many times we feel like we don’t have enough information to give a clear picture of each student’s communication skills. We end up shuffling post-its and digging for data sheets. No wonder we procrastinate doing them. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Have you ever asked yourself why doesn’t someone create an accurate, effective way to report progress? [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Guess what? Somebody has. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Sarah Bevier MS, CCC-SLP and Lisa Kathman MS, CCC-SLP are two school-based SLPs that had a great idea and did something about it. They are passionate about streamlining SLP workloads so we can spend our time where it counts – with our students.The result is
SLP Toolkit, a web-based software program that might just be exactly what you and I have been looking for.
When Sarah and Lisa invited me to test SLP toolkit with a six-month subscription, I have to admit I was thrilled. When I realized we live in the same city, I knew we had to meet in person. We agreed on a time and place for lunch. Even though it was kind of like a blind date, we immediately recognized each other from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Sarah and Lisa are both lovely. So easy to talk to, they are extremely knowledgeable, professional and forward thinking. Last Saturday, sitting on a sunny patio, over salads and bruschetta we talked about how SLP Toolkit came to be.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Let’s back up to three years ago, Lisa and Sarah, both Arizona State University (ASU ) graduates, were working in the Mesa Public Schools program. They bonded over EET, (The Expanding Expression Tool) talking about how well it was packaged and how it fills a need. While meeting on weekends in Sarah’s craft room to create therapy products, talk soon turned to progress monitoring tools. The original idea was based on collecting data efficiently and accurately. Sarah says it grew from all the things they wished they had when they were starting their school SLP careers.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Lisa tells how they spent the next three years tirelessly researching vocabulary selection and standards as well as careful consideration of developmental milestones. The resulting SLP Toolkit is a comprehensive, leveled progress monitoring tool covering the areas of cognition, speech sound production, expressive/receptive language, voice/resonance, fluency and social language.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Fast forward to January 15, 2016… SLP Toolkit is launched. I asked Sarah and Lisa how they felt on the big day, here is their collective reply..[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
“Excited, anxious, overwhelmed, relieved, amazed, afraid, elated and proud. We had poured everything into this…and it has been an emotional journey. Prior to starting we had printed out several quotes to remind us to never to let doubt get in our way. Our favorite was ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’, yet we were still shocked that we had actually done it. It’s a terrifying experience but we genuinely believe in SLP Toolkit and the positive impact it can have for SLPs. We would do it all over again.”[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
“What would you say to a new or seasoned SLP who’s thinking about getting SLP Toolkit?” I asked. “You’re welcome” Sarah humorously replied with a laugh. “We did all this work for you. Go on there, explore, use it. There’s no limit to the free trial. You have access to all the tools for up to five students to get a good picture of how it works.”[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Lisa added “It’s about less paper, less anxiety…we created this for you, we are just sharing it.”[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Are you intrigued? I know I am.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The amount of research, knowledge and love that have gone into the creation of SLP Toolkit is impressive. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Lisa and Sarah; I love our SLP community. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
So here’s what’s next…
Click on this link to see for yourself what
SLP Toolkit is all about. This is where you can get your free trial for up to five students, kind of like driving a car before you buy it. . A full subscription is $19 a month or $180 annually. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
The
SLP Toolkit blog is also full of information and video tutorials, so go look into that as well.You’re going to be excited when you see what it can do. So far, I have created my caseload and used the goal bank, (which is so user-friendly). But I’ll talk more about that next week.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
In the second part of this series, I’ll report back to you all about my experience using SLP Toolkit to do this quarter’s progress reports. I’ll also be posting little videos on Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram so make sure to follow me by clicking on the links.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Did you like this post? Make sure to join my email list for more posts like this and for a monthly free therapy product. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Can’t wait to report back to you!
P.S. (Disclaimer: While Lisa and Sarah gave me a six month subscription at no cost, all of the opinions here are strictly my own).
Hey there I’m Anne Page. I help heart centered SLPs and educators put the fun in functional communication. 