What's your best advice for a brand new SLPA starting in the schools?
I just started my first school-based SLPA job. I completed my clinical placements in schools, but by the time I arrived everything was already set up. My supervisors already had the schedules, groups, and systems in place. I observed for a couple of days and then started running sessions. This is my first time starting at the beginning of the school year, and honestly I'm not sure what is typically expected of an SLPA the first week.
I'm assigned to 3 school sites and have been told to coordinate with the SLPs about which days I'll be at each site. I do wonder how much of the scheduling and organization I'm expected to create myself. Do SLPs usually make all the student groups and therapy schedules, or are SLPAs expected to help build those?
I remember an SLPA alumnus from my program who worked across multiple sites and had a huge binder with student lists, groups, goals, schedules, etc. Is that pretty standard? What systems do you use to stay organized?
I'm also realizing I don't have a lot of school materials yet. I've been working in a pediatric clinic since April where we do a lot of play-based, child-led therapy, so I'm pretty comfortable following a child's interests and targeting goals naturally. I'm not sure how well that translates to the school setting, especially with older students.
Some additional questions:
- What do you wish someone had told you during your first year as a school-based SLPA?
- How do you stay organized across multiple campuses?
- What materials/resources do you use most often?
- Any tips for push-in therapy? I've never really done classroom push-in services.
- Any advice for working with middle school and high school students? Most of my experience has been with younger kids.
I'd appreciate any advice, systems, mistakes to avoid, or things you wish you had known when you started.