r/slp

Instead of one elementary which was the original assignment, I’m now at two and it’s entirely a caseload of self contained classrooms. AU and ECI programs. Both campuses have another SLP. My concerns are not having a space that’s mine to do paperwork and pump (I’m three months post partum) and handling severe cases all day. I’m leaving private practice and I adore AAC, but handling severe kids all day after just leaving a place where I got hit on a daily basis, I’m disappointed. I’m going to miss language and artic therapy.

I’m worried they took all the hard cases at both campuses and gave them to me as the contractor to help their district employees. I’ve never done two campuses before at elementary because usually the caseloads are big enough for one or two SLPs.

Can anyone talk me out of worst case scenario thinking and that it’s not as bad as I’m worried about?

Should I give teachers a heads up on the proposed speech time I have for their students or just run my schedule as planned and hope for the best??

I have diligently looked over our Master Schedule to ensure I’m not taking students out of any essential time (recess, lunch, specials) or other IEP service conflicts.

I cannot remember what I did last year! I was thinking of sending an email??

How is your district handling HB 1279??

We’ve already had a few quit… any words of wisdom from your admin?? Also, so many FL SLPs are contractors—how are you handling things? Any guidance from your contract company? Especially for those who get no paid time off.

I’m brand new to speech and don’t think my first school placement is the right fit long term.

On Day 1, the dean asked me to get copies from the printer twice during our services team meeting because “you’re young.” I’m 35 😂 and there were people in the room who were clearly younger than me. I laughed it off, but it struck me as odd.

I also learned that I don’t have a desk/workspace, while OT and Psych do, even though they’re only onsite 10 hours/week and I’m there 25. Apparently the dean told them I’d work in the elevator entrance (it’s a dark, small space with no chairs or desk) and that the desk space was for them.

There’s no teachers’ lounge or shared workspace either, although there’s room for another desk in the OT/Psych space. I’m going to address it calmly and advocate for a workspace, but it’s odd to me.

Neither thing is necessarily a dealbreaker, but together it feels off. I’m with a healthcare agency, so I could potentially find another placement.

For those of you who have been in the field awhile, how long do you give a job that you already suspect isn’t a long-term fit? Have you switched placements and found a significantly better environment? If you’re with an agency, did you share your concerns with them?

I’m trying to figure out what’s normal first-job adjustment stuff versus actual red flags 😅

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Hello all,

The contract agency that I work for recently installed software to track everything that we do during the day. You literally have to track every meeting, documentation time, session, this software takes screenshots, records audio and video during video calls, it tracks keyboard use... everything! It is extremely invasive, IMO. The IT guy is tracking if we are all in the "right" task. This is making my anxiety so bad!

Any advice or validation is appreciated!

I worked in the schools for 5 years and switched to private practice a few months ago. I’m used to seeing parents 1–3 times a year to share a big update, provide some advice for home, and then send them on their way. Now I see parents weekly, and I feel like they expect a lot of new information and action items for home every single week. I’m starting to run out of things to share.

For example, let’s take a late-talking toddler. I suspect undiagnosed autism, but the parents are in denial and aren’t open to AAC yet. In four months, I’ve seen this child at least 16 times, and he hasn’t made much progress. I’ve educated the parents on selecting vocabulary for auditory bombardment during play, offering choices, floor-time strategies, the imitation hierarchy, manipulating the environment to support communication, and basically everything we’re doing in therapy each week.

At this point, we aren’t making much progress, but I don’t have anything new to share with the parents until AAC is on the table. Yet they still ask me every week what they should be doing at home.

Another example is a 7-year-old working on higher-level language skills. He has pragmatic goals for perspective-taking, sequencing and narrative language goals, and descriptive language/comparison goals. I’ve encouraged his parents to make games out of guessing what other people might like, talk about the events of the week at dinner to work on sequencing and narration, and use EET visuals for describing during meals. But they still ask for more, and I find myself explaining that the child needs repetitive practice with the same skills in order to master them. I get the sense that they want more diverse homework.

Honestly, I don’t feel like a good SLP or like I’m supporting these families enough. Even after 6 years as an SLP, I still don’t feel like I know how to provide “good” therapy. Once I’ve gone through my mental handbook of language strategies for a particular domain, it feels like therapy becomes creating opportunities for the child to practice the needed skill with appropriate cueing and support. I don’t have some magic new strategy to give parents every week. I have basic language-development strategies, and after 16 weeks, I’ve already shared most of them.

So, how do you all handle this? How do you balance giving families meaningful home recommendations with recognizing that repetition and consistency are often exactly what the child needs? Do you have strategies for communicating to parents that “we’re continuing to practice the same things because that’s what the child needs” without making them feel like they aren’t getting enough from therapy?

Any advice or perspective would be really appreciated!

Has anyone ever been asked to “help” a high needs autism class throughout the day in your “free time” for multiple weeks? Have you ever seen your schedule printed in your principal’s hand with the said “free time” highlighted? Is so, what did you do? How did you deal with it?

It feels like boarder line harassment and like I can’t even eat lunch in my office without being told I’m unhelpful.

HELP

I am new to a site and have a new SLPA this year. This SLPA has more years under their belt as a SLPA than I do as an SLP, and I am getting the impression they does not respect my input because of it.

My SLPA was used to being left alone in the past and I have been more involved with a reasonable amount of distance. I have tried to implement a streamlined way to keep communications and data between the SLPA and supervisor, but they keep making excuses and will not follow my request.

I am trying to be supportive, collaborative, and kind, but I’m getting really frustrated.

Any tips on how to navigate this apparent power struggle between me as the SLP and my SLPA?

Hi! Looking to see if any other school-based SLPs have suggestions for push-back from psychs. I’m in a small district, and the 2 main psychs always tie issues back to communication when I (the SLP) have more global concerns, like DD, ASD, etc. They’ll suggest to just qualify for speech then see how it goes, even when other domain scores are low. I’d love to have some type of chart/resource to share with them. Any suggestions?

So I’m leaving my current job (pediatric private practice; my only job since grad school) of 11 years in the next 2ish weeks. My employers aka the clinic owners told me I cannot inform my clients of my resignation until next Monday which will be 2 weeks before my last day. Mind you, I gave my resignation letter with a 30 day notice.

I understand the company policy but still feel it’s kind of cruel to wait that long to inform clients and their families. Of course many of my clients have come and gone over the years. I’ve watched several of them grow up and have established great rapport with their families. I’m concerned now that many of their families will be upset and think it was my doing to wait last minute (which is what this feels like to me) to inform them of my leave.

By the way, I looked on ASHA’s website and 2 weeks notice is considered fair.

Am I overthinking this situation? 😔

Do you ever tell (pediatric) clients you love them?

ETA: I was asking because I witnessed a coworker saying it a child who very much did not say it first (he uses one spoken word and a handful of words on his SGD), who she has known for less than a month. Thoughts on this?

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hi all! i'm currently an slp in a birth to three (EI) setting and my caseload just hit 100 kids... am i crazy to think that this is too many children? i try my best to see everyone according to their ifsp, but some months it's not feasible and then i'm left scrambling to complete service notes regarding why i couldn't see a child one month and when i have to make up that time. and some families are so particular with when they want me to come and so then of course audits happen and higher ups are like, "why didn't the slp see this child" etc etc and i feel like i'm going a little crazy. i know i'm a good slp, but to have this many kids feels ridiculous and i feel like i'm always in a game of catch up. i've tried to speak to my supervisors about how i can't take on any more children and i swear they're trying to guilt trip me for even suggesting that. i love this job, i love my families, and i love the flexibility when it comes to this setting, but the pressure is starting to get to me. does anyone in EI have a caseload cap of some kind or are we all drowning in a high caseload (regardless of the setting)? any advice or words of wisdom would be helpful. tyia!

So my husband got a new job that requires us to move from the Bay Area to LA, which is important to us because we a one year old baby and need to move to LA to be near family as we have no support system in the Bay Area. I missed the ed code resignation date by 2 weeks (I also didn’t know it existed), and my current district is holding me to my contract until the position is filled. It’s been a month and they have no candidates to interview yet. They also posted my position as “bilingual required” and I am not bilingual. I asked them to remove the requirement, and they did not respond.

I have another job lined up at a district in LA that is a great opportunity and somewhere I would want my child to go to school when she is old enough. They have now given me a deadline that I need to provide a release date for my current position.

I know that if I break my contract, they will report me to the CTC, and my credentials could be suspended. Has anybody been in this position and appealed to the CTC that you left with “just cause”? Or successfully negotiated out of the contract? Should I get a lawyer? I have already spoken to my union, and they are working on getting back to me, but I have this new deadline, so I need to get this figured out asap.

Hi! I’m starting my CFY with an ESD. My office is bare bones and I am starting from scratch. I’ve been given a budget of $500 for speech materials.

While I have several ideas of what I will likely put on the list based on what worked for my kiddos during my spring externship, I wanted to check in with the SLP squad for some advice.

What are your preschool SLP session materials/toy must-haves? Thank you in advance! 🫶

Wondering how others handle this. I am still new in the field and find myself still very much trying to people please and am a bit of a pushover. I have a few home health clients (early elementary age) who seem to expect me to bring something new and exciting each session and will refuse to play a game or do an activity they have done before. There’s not enough time in the day or space in my car to making everything individualized and new each time. I never bring the same activity game two sessions in a row unless specifically asked. I try and give the “well these are your options today, what do you want me to bring next time?” Approach but curious how others handle this when it occurs?

On another note, I have another client who spends 3 minutes on each game/activity and is over it and wants something else and literally has gone through my bag of stuff in 15 minutes. How do I approach this? I don’t want to be restrictive but at the same time it’s super frustrating when you have another 30 minutes of them not wanting to do that activity “again.” I try to encourage finishing the activity before starting a new one but they will just shut down and refuse to participate until they get a new activity that they want.

I realize these aren’t end all be all behaviours but just something that I’d like others perspectives on how they work around it.

I am a currently a CF in a public elementary school in Texas. My school constantly get MTSS (referrals) for sped services from parents and teachers. Sometimes they’re warranted and I accept the referral, but other times the concern is not appropriate due to developmental milestones. Whenever I attempt to explain that to parents/teachers they push back. What can I say to better explain why evaluating would not be appropriate?Should I have some sort of print out to give to them? Any help is appreciated.

So exactly what the title says lol. I know GLP isn’t super evidence-based at the moment, and honestly I’m less concerned about the label and more interested in the clinical relevance.

I have a new kindergarten student who uses scripts very functionally. For example, when he doesn’t want to do something, he’ll say “I’m scared” or “help me.” I know these scripts are meaningful communication and are serving a clear purpose for him, I’m not looking to extinguish or replace them.

My question is more about how you build upon that communication clinically. Do you break down the script and model slight variations so the child can eventually use similar language across different contexts? For example, if “I’m scared” is functioning as a way to protest or avoid something, would you model things like “I don’t want to,” “no thank you,” “I’m all done,” etc..

Basically, I’m wondering how you help a child like this move from a script that is already functional and meaningful toward a more flexible repertoire of ways to communicate the same or related functions, without treating the original script as something that needs to be fixed.

I work private practice peds and recently my company has been REALLY pushing AI use. I’m very anti-AI in every facet because:
-environmental factors
-social and mental health factors
-I went to college for 6 years if I can’t write an email by myself tf am I doing trying to treat language disorders

My coworkers know I’m very anti-AI. I used it as a joke way back in the day but once I learned how bad for everything it is, I stopped and I haven’t used it since. Most of my coworkers who are PTs and OTs use the AI systems. They’re also asking Chat and Gemini for mundane tasks. Honestly seems like more work than it’s worth to me, I don’t really struggle writing my notes or keeping up but I’ve come up with a system that works well for me.

I’ve reached out to the manager who keeps sending these emails stating as such. I don’t need the AI, therefore I don’t use it.

The tool is supposed to record our sessions and write up notes from what it records. I don’t…like that? It feels very surveillance-y to me. Also not very HIPPA-y compliant. But that’s me who’s very anti-surveillance anyway lmao.

Am I the crazy one?? I’m still not going to use it until they put it in writing we have to use it and I feel insane for even going this far.

Hi there! I'm curious about how SLPs in australia are finding their clients are developing literacy-wise with the new roll out of the school phonics programs over the last 2 years.

Particularly in Victoria as that's where I'm based. The teachers I've spoken to are supplementing the program with their own soundswrite programs, and these are daily lessons.

Are you having to provide the same or less phonics intervention in your own sessions?

I've definitely noticed more of an interest by my clients in phonics and reading.