by Anne Page | May 17, 2016 | Inspiration, SLP Like a Boss
So I have a confession to make…my Better Hearing and Speech Month poster and handout never got posted or handed out at my school this year.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
What?! I know… (big sigh)[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Here’s what I pictured. Laminated poster in the staff room, copy in all staff mailboxes with a cute saying and some candy. Then, everyone says, “wow, thanks Anne. That was really informative.” I post a nice pic of it on Instagram and feel like SuperSLP.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Here’s what really happened. I hit print for my handout and then walked to the staff room where the color printer is located (which is two buildings away) to get my copies. Got error message that printer needed toner cartridge. I checked with school secretary and she told me toner would arrive the next day.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I tried again the next day and my passcode no longer worked. I retried and walked to the staff room two more times. Meanwhile, I had all my year-end things to do.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Please note that our year end is May 22. The teachers are busy, tired and frazzled. I am busy, tired and frazzled. I know they are not going to ready my handout now. (There’s something to be said for timing).[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
So….I made an executive decision.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I told myself ( for the one billionth time) that I don’t need to be perfect. I thought about my teacher friends and what they needed at this time of year.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Donuts![spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I grabbed a few dozen Bosa Donuts ( soooo delicious) on my way to work last Friday, made a cute sign promoting Better Hearing and Speech Month, put them in the staff room and called it a day.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Once again, “done is better than perfect”.
Of course, I still want to give them the handout because it’s good stuff (that can be really helpful). But, I can do that in August when we’re all refreshed and ready to go. I’ll just rename the handout then.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
For your very own copy of my Better Speech and Hearing month poster/handout click here.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
I know many of you are winding down for the end of the year. It can be a crazy demanding time.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Remember you don’t have to do it perfectly.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
SLP Like a Boss (a real one, not a perfect one)
P. S. For more SLP True Confessions read this great article by my friend Sarah “Confessions of a School Based SLP”
by Anne Page | Apr 20, 2016 | Inspiration, SLP Like a Boss
Dear young school SLP,[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Congratulations on your graduation-you made it! I know it wasn’t easy. But you did it. You are the proud owner of a masters degree in speech language pathology. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Make sure you get a beautiful frame for your diploma-show it the respect it deserves. Celebrate and take a little time to relax. No more tests, finals or studying for the Praxis. No more research papers, at least not for a while.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You are starting an amazing journey. I’m sure you’ve had a taste of it through clinics and internships. Clinical fellowship is next. A time to jump in with both feet with a mentor who will have your back.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
This job will delight you and at times exhaust you, but should never bore you.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You are now life changer.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You will connect with parents during times of doubt and vulnerability. You will teach them ways they can help their child. You will laugh with them and most probably you will cry with them.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You’ll have some great triumphs. Like the first time a previously nonverbal child speaks. You’ll have some epic disappointments. Because you care, you’ll feel the highs and the lows and all the emotions in between. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You will try all kinds of therapy methods and you’ll keep trying until you find something that works.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You’ll get hugs and high-fives every day. You may be the one person that is a constant source of love for a neglected child. Your heart will be broken. I’m sorry but it will. Maybe by a story a child tells you about his home life or by having your favorite child move without saying goodbye. Or even worse, by having a student die. But you will keep coming back.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You’ll work with so many amazing teachers who inspire you and a few negative teachers who will draw you into their disappointment if you let them. Protect yourself from The Negative Ones.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You will have scheduling challenges and conflicts. At times you’ll be overwhelmed with progress reports and IEP’s. But you’ll figure it out.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Even though you learned so much in grad school, you’ll wonder about all the practical things they didn’t teach you. Remember, you don’t have to do it alone; you’ll find other SLP’s to support you and who’ll share their ideas.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
As the years go by, you will shape lives. Yes, you. You are helping children to communicate. You are giving them a voice for their thoughts. And sometimes you are giving them the building blocks to create new thoughts.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
You are helping them have rich conversations with friends and giving them strategies that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
It is with honor, laughter, knowledge and kindness that you will guide your students to experience success. You will love it.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Welcome. The world needs you my friend, wishing you all the success you deserve. [spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
With love,[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
P.S. Have you heard? We are having a huge SLP2Bgradgift giveaway and there’s still time to enter.
Click here to find out all the amazing details. The prize is worth over $500. Hurry! Giveaway ends on Friday, April 22.
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.
Did you like this post? If you did sign up for my email list, so you never miss another post.
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 | Feb 2, 2016 | Inspiration, SLP Like a Boss
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![spacer height=”default”]
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. [spacer height=”default”]
I am thrilled to kick off this series with the amazing Kim Lewis from the award winning blog
Activity Tailor. Just two short years ago, Kim was my introduction into the magical world of blogging and Teachers Pay Teachers. Her products are innovating, creative and kids love them. Kim consistently writes articles and posts that are thought-provoking, helpful and supportive of our SLP/teacher community. She inspires me to strive for the utmost professionalism, to write creatively and to be generous. So let’s dive right in to my interview. [spacer height=”default”]
Tell me about yourself in seven words: “Creative, passionate, determined, hard-working, big picture.”[spacer height=”default”]
Where did you go to grad school?: University of Virginia[spacer height=”default”]
What are your top three SLP must haves (other than your own amazing materials)?: “I use miniatures, little plastic animals and common objects all the time. Play-mobile Advent calendars and the bins at Party City are two of my resources. I use them with a big tupper-ware container full of magic sand. I do use the iPad a lot for articulation drill and for motivation. But I try to limit the screen time and not just use the iPad during the session.” Here are Kim’s most used TPT materials:
Listening Skills Resource Pack by Crazy Speech World,
Therapy Popcorn R Articulation by Speech Therapy 101,
Articulation for Reading and Conversation by Nicole Allison,
Articulation Menus by Speech Musings, and
Fluency Treatment Pack by Lauren LaCour.[spacer height=”default”]
What do you love most about what you do?“The kids that I see are all mildly to moderately impaired. I like tweaking what I’m doing with each child to fit their needs and interests. These are kids that really need to know how to advocate for themselves.”[spacer height=”default”]
Tell me your advice for the newly minted SLP: “Keep learning. Read. Attend a lot of CEUs. Keep asking questions.”[spacer height=”default”]
Tell me about your blog: “I get a lot of pleasure and relaxation in writing. I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of writing for the ASHA Leader. This is a fun, creative outlet…it’s a mix of musings and easy to implement activities.”[spacer height=”default”]
Tell me about your TPT store: “I focus on products that I need and use regularly. There’s not a lot of cutesy stuff, the kids I work with don’t want items they think are “babyish”. I try to avoid a lot of visual distractions because of my kids with attention difficulties. I like visually clean materials.”[spacer height=”default”]
What SLP-boss inspires you?: “Amy at
3DSLP. She is so passionate about what she’s doing. Her subscription boxes have great attention to detail. She’s a true entrepreneur. And what she’s doing is so different from what I do. She works with voice and even does endoscopies.”[spacer height=”default”]
What is your favorite children’s book?:“I can’t pick just one. I like a lot of the young adult books. Secret Garden. Charlotte’s Web; I read that till there were practically no pages left. Mandy is a book by Julie Edwards, who is THE Julie Andrews. I was trying to remember the book to recommend to my daughter and I loved it when she discovered it on her own.”[spacer height=”default”]
What about picture books? “Chrysanthemum and Lily’s Plastic Purse are some of my favorites.”[spacer height=”default”]
Inspirational right? Thank you so much to Kim for taking to time to chat with me and continuing to inspire me. I’m am looking forward to when our paths cross again. [spacer height=”default”]
Who inspires YOU to be your best? Leave a note below in the comments, I’d love to know.[spacer height=”default”]
SLP like a boss,[spacer height=”default”]
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Hey there I’m Anne Page. I help heart centered SLPs and educators put the fun in functional communication. 