The Way of the Unstressed Speechie: Speech Therapy without Tears

If you’re a speech-language pathologist, SLPA, SALT or some other alphabet soup doing speech therapy with kids…

And you’re stressed out…

And overwhelmed…

You are not alone!

There are so many kids right now that need support and not enough of us to go around.

So what’s an SLP to do?

Well don’t worry, I’m Carrie Clark and in this episode of the speech and language kids podcast, I’m going to show you the way to be UNSTRESSED (just like a shwa) and do speech therapy without tears.

And by that I mean your tears. Not the kids. I can’t guarantee the kids won’t cry.

The Way: An easier path for speech therapy

Working as a speech-language pathologist is hard.

And working in a school setting can feel even harder.

But I’ve spent the last 16 years of my career figuring out a better way.

The Way is my streamlined system that allows you to see more students in less time.

And it will help your students make faster progress, too!

Overview of The Way: (Listen to the Podcast)

The Speech and Language Kids Podcast is back!!

Listen to the full podcast episode below to get a full overview of The Way

How to Streamline Speech Therapy Using “The Way”:

No Prep Speech Therapy:
By using child-led therapy, we can practice speech/language skills with little to no prep time on our part.
Set Up Therapy Folders:
Drop no-prep activities into each student’s therapy folder. We can increase retention (with less prep time) by using the same material over and over and changing the fun activity.
Plan for a Full Month at Once:
Most of our students don’t make fast enough progress that they need a new plan each week. Plan once for a full month and use the same stimulus material (worksheet/flashcard/etc.) for the full month.
Make Group Sessions Easier:
Using the folder system, students can come in and practice their skill right away. Then continue to practice during a game, craft, or play activity.
Try 5-Minute Sessions:
Tired of group therapy? Instead of seeing 4 kids in a 30-minute group, try seeing each child individually for 5 minutes. You’ll use up the same amount of time in your schedule but students will make faster progress (more info on the research behind 5-minute sessions here)
Collect Full Data only Once Per Month:
You don’t need to collect data on every repetition a child makes! Collect full data only once per month. During the rest of the month, focus on therapy time and give each session a rating on a scale of 1-5.
Streamline Admin Tasks and Systematize Larger Tasks:
Spend less time on your paperwork and planning by eliminating unnecessary tasks, finding shortcuts, and using checklists for recurring tasks
Write Better Goals:
Learn how to write goals that are easy to measure and make the most impact for the student
Organize Your Stuff:
Declutter and pair down your things. Then, store things in a way that makes them easier to put away.