Real Talk SLP Archives - Page 2 of 17

EP 97 Iconic Gestures Strategy for Coaching Teachers During Reading

by thedabblingspeechie | May 16, 2023 | Real Talk SLP

If you have students on your speech therapy caseload with language disorders, particularly with areas of need in vocabulary development, you can improve vocabulary skills by implementing a coaching model in the classroom setting. Oftentimes SLPs serve students in a pullout model to work on language goals. But, what if you did pullout sessions paired with a weekly or monthly coaching model to help teachers use iconic gestures while reading picture books to their class? In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast, I break down iconic gestures as an easy strategy to help students improve their vocabulary skills.

What You Will Learn About Iconic Gestures in This Episode:

What are iconic gestures?
Examples of different types of iconic gestures
Why pair iconic gestures with vocabulary words is such an easy and powerful strategy for vocabulary building
Discuss the importance of vocabulary development for academic success
Explain how iconic gestures can help reinforce vocabulary and comprehension
Tips for how you can implement a coaching model in the classroom

Coaching model Real Talk Episodes Mentioned:

Ep 67 Tips for Implementing a Coaching Model in Teletherapy

Ep 27 Tips for Parent Coaching

Ep 41 Collaborative Service Models

Ep 43 Parent Coaching During Daily Routines

Research Articles Mentioned:

Vogt, S., & Kauschke, C. (2017). Observing iconic gestures enhances word learning in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment. Journal of Child Language. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000916000647

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Ep 96 Easy Tips for Collecting Language Samples

by thedabblingspeechie | May 9, 2023 | Real Talk SLP, Uncategorized

Taking a language sample for your speech therapy assessments can feel daunting because you are on a time crunch to get all your assessments done. And, if your students aren’t the most chatty, it can be really difficult to get those 50-100 utterances. Even though informal language samples can feel like a pain, it is a great assessment tool that can give you valuable information about your student’s language development. Today on the Real Talk SLP podcast, I have Allison Fors on the podcast to share her best tips for collecting a language sample!

Language Sample Tips Discussed in This Episode:

Language samples are critical for assessing one’s speech and they allow us to gather a variety of data to look at a student’s syntax, morphology, semantics, comprehension and narrative language.
Tips for taking language samples
How to encourage student participation during a language sample
Tools and materials for collecting language samples

Need Support with Grammar Intervention for Your Prek-5th Grade Caseload?

If you have been struggling with where to begin with grammar intervention and how to embed evidence-based strategies into your therapy activities, come attend the LIVE webinar “Effective Grammar Strategies for Language Therapy” with Allison Fors and myself! You will get one hour of Clinical Maintainance Hours, resources and tools for where to start in therapy, and LOTS of therapy ideas you can implement tomorrow (we are giving you ready-to-go resources with your ticket.) Get on the waitlist for the webinar and receive a promo code for $5 off when ticket sales open up.

Blog Posts and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Tips for Taking Language Samples by Allison Fors

Grammar Development Handouts by Allison Fors

Picture Scenes for Speech Therapy Blog Post by Allison Fors

Picture Scenes for Speech Therapy Blog Post by Felice Clark

Bilingual Assessment Cheat Sheets Resource by Felice Clark

Audacity

How to Stay Connected with Allison Fors

Instagram

Website

Facebook

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SLP Inspirational Quote When Overwhelmed

by thedabblingspeechie | May 2, 2023 | Real Talk SLP, Uncategorized

As SLPs, we are juggling A LOT! Especially if we work in the school setting. Between the high caseloads, piles of paperwork, and trying to stay up-to-date with best practices, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the job. And, staying inspired about being an SLP when you feel ineffective with the giant workload given to you is real. In today’s episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast, I will break down an SLP inspirational quote by Arthur Ash that helped me push through when things were rough in my job.

I hope that this helps bring new inspiration in dealing with some very difficult work environments.

Here are some points I share in the episode:

Start where you are
1. It’s okay to be a beginner at something.
2. Working with staff on a new collaborative service model or trying to get them on board with trying a strategy takes time. It’s okay to start small.
Use what you have
1. Don’t go prepping tons of materials when you are overwhelmed. Use what you already have prepped. Then, use it over and over again. Join the Themed Therapy SLP membership if you need Prek-5th grade themed-based materials to help you plan with less stress.
2. Use your abilities to bring to life your sessions. Your students come to see you above all else.
Do what you can
1. When we serve high caseloads or heavy workloads with many different needs, it’s easy to think you aren’t doing enough for your students. Find small ways to make a difference in your students’ lives.
2. Sometimes we must think outside the box for creative ways to serve our students well.
3. Advocate for your students, your workload, your space, etc., but during the process of that, remember that small steps lead to big leaps. The change will happen if you keep moving forward, no matter how small the step is.

Do what you can

When we serve high caseloads or heavy workloads with many different needs, it’s easy to think you aren’t doing enough for your students. Find small ways to make a difference in your students’ lives.
Sometimes we must think outside the box for creative ways to serve our students well.
Advocate for your students, your workload, your space, etc., but during the process of that, remember that small steps lead to big leaps. The change will happen if you keep moving forward, no matter how small the step is.

Need Support with Grammar Intervention for Your Prek-5th Grade Caseload?

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Ep 94 Easy Speech Therapy Activities for Mixed Groups

by thedabblingspeechie | Apr 12, 2023 | Real Talk SLP, Uncategorized

Sometimes, all the caseload management tasks come to a head as a school-based SLP. At certain times of the year, everything is due at once for you. Increased assessments and IEP meetings, progress reports, new student transfers, and Medicaid billing due around the same time leave NO time for speech therapy planning. In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, I will share three easy speech therapy activities for your mixed groups to help you do effective therapy during those seasons of burnout.

Hopefully, you will walk away from listening to this episode with fresh, easy speech therapy activities that you can use with various ages and goals on your caseload.

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Easy Speech Therapy Activities Using YouTube Videos

When things are bananas, pulling up a wordless short video or science video to cover speech and language goals is a low-prep speech therapy activity that keeps kids engaged.

Check out the spring-themed YouTube videos for a free download or using spring Simon’s Cat videos.

Here are a few of my favorite videos to use during spring or any time of the school year:

Simon’s Cat Speech Therapy Cheat Sheets

spring-simons-cat-speech-therapy-cheat-sheet

Want to take the guess work out of using Simon’s Cat videos with your mixed speech and language groups? I got you covered! Use these Simon’s Cat speech therapy cheat sheets all school year long. There are 3-page lesson plan cheat sheets so you can cover a variety of language goals. Grab the year-long bundle HERE. If you want to learn more about how to use Simon’s cat videos in therapy, check out this blog post.

Books Help Plan Low-Prep Speech Therapy Activities

When you have mixed groups, you often target 3-4 goals in one group. That’s a LOT! And, it prep individual lessons or having flashcards for every goal can be expensive or time-consuming.

So, when you have to grab something and go into therapy, pick a book! You can use the pictures and text to cover many speech and language goals.

In this spring speech and language activities blog post, I share a LOT of spring books to use with preschool through 5th grade.

Ashley Rossi also has a cool feature on her website that you can search for books based on speech sounds, language goals, narratives, etc.

Themed Therapy SLP Membership

Need book cheat sheets that help you with pre-selected targets for speech and language goals for your themed units? Join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership, where we provide book cheat sheets for every theme and story maps too. Let someone else take lesson planning off your plate for your Prek-5th grade caseload.

Leave a Review of the Real Talk SLP Podcast

If you enjoy the Real Talk SLP podcast, leave a review wherever you get your podcasts! And, reach out @thedabblingspeechie or email me at feliceclark@thedabblingspeechie.com if you have requests for guests or topics you want to hear about on the show.

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Speech Therapy Schedule Tips For Staying Productive – EP 93

by thedabblingspeechie | Mar 15, 2023 | Real Talk SLP, Uncategorized

speech-therapy-schedule-real-talk-slp-FB

If you have ended your day as a school-based SLP and wondered, “What the heck did I do all day?” you are not alone. Between high caseloads, speech therapy referrals coming in every other day, and trying to see all your students on your speech therapy schedule, it feels like we have NO time left to do all the other caseload management tasks.

How To Use Your Speech Therapy Schedule To Stay Productive

I am sharing my speech therapy schedule hacks to help you stay focused and productive on the must-dos for the week.

By taking 20 minutes at the end or start of your week to plan out what you will do with your non-therapy time, you will find pockets of time available for important speech therapy tasks.

When you write down when you will do your Medicaid billing, IEPs, assessments, etc. you will stay more focused during the non-therapy time.

speech-therapy-schedule-caseload-management

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In this Real Talk SLP episode, I share the following:

You will learn tips for how to up your productivity during the work day so that when you leave, the important things on your to-do list will be done.

With this one small switch in how you view your work week, you won’t get distracted by emails, phone calls, or overbooking yourself and actually have time on your schedule to get stuff done!

How-to use Google Docs to create daily or weekly speech therapy schedules that you can duplicate to adjust your schedule.

Make your copy here of mine HERE. Use this Google Doc for each of your sites. If you are at one site or need a full weekly schedule view make a copy of this Google Sheet.

Print out your weekly speech therapy schedule after you edit it in Google Docs. I prefer to make a copy of my previous speech schedule and write a new weekly date for digital tracking.

Once I fill it out, I print out the weekly schedule and keep it on a clipboard to take notes when I go around the school. This way, if I didn’t have a computer on me while co-teaching, I could take attendance for Medicaid billing.

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EP 92 Who Knew My Students Would Love This!?

by thedabblingspeechie | Jun 23, 2022 | Real Talk SLP, Uncategorized

We can overcomplicate the process when finding engaging speech therapy materials for our sessions! This Real Talk SLP episode shares what kids LOVE, and it might be something you never thought to use.

Have you ever planned an on-the-fly speech therapy lesson, thinking it would be “boring,” only to discover that your students thought it was the BEST.THING.EVER!

Or, maybe you left a game or material on your table, and your next group of fourth-graders walk-in begging to play Candyland in your session?

How To Participate in Future SLP Questions

This episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast will be sharing materials or activities SLPs used that were a surprising hit in therapy.

Many of the ideas shared today were from submissions from other SLPs that commented on my Facebook page. Come follow along to get involved with some of the questions I post weekly.

Get on the Themed Therapy SLP Membership Waitlist

If you LOVE planning therapy with a themed-based approach but often don’t because you lost all your planning time catching up on paperwork, I want to let you know about the Themed Therapy SLP Membership for SLPs serving Prek-5th grade students. We take lesson planning off your plate by providing themed therapy units to cover your Prek-5th grade caseload. Between themed book cheat sheets, open-ended activities, Google Slides, No Print PDFs, themed speech sound word lists, printables, and monthly LIVE webinars to earn CMH units, you will have engaging sessions without the stress of planning on your own.

The membership opens in July 2022. We take purchase requests and group discounts, so let your employer know you need this for a successful school year! Sign up HERE.

In This Real Talk SLP Episode You Will Learn:

-How to look at your therapy materials in unconventional ways

-Encouragement to take chances in your therapy and explore what can work with our students in therapy

-Therapy ideas that are cost-effective and engaging with kids

-Think outside the box, what might work for younger students could be used with your older students and vice versa

-What tools or supplies could you incorporate with your worksheets or activities to increase engagement such as using smell markers or erasable pens

-How you can use a simple object and turn it into a hands-on activity

-Our junk drawers could be our most effective therapy tool

See the links below to go to blog posts or find materials mentioned in this episode

Blog Posts and Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Amazon affiliate links are included in this post for your convenience. This means I get a small commission when you use my link to purchase items at no additional cost to you.

“I Spy” sensory bin

Articulation Flipbooks – try the /l/ book for FREE

Use these ultra fine dry erase markers, your kids will love them.

Smelly Markers, Smelly Pens, Dot Markers, Erasable pens

Candyland and Don’t Break the Ice – If you need toy companion cheat sheets for using these games in therapy, check out this resource in my TPT store.

Lids N’ Lizards Blog Post – Free printables are on that blog post

Beach Day by Karen Roosa Blog Post with extension activity ideas

Make a random item sensory bin by colors. Check out the color-themed sensory bin resources in my TPT store.