Oh my, it has been a while.  My last post was October 2019!  Well, we all know what happened shortly after that.  I have so much respect for those who were able to keep writing, create materials to share, etc.  I on the other hand, was in triage mode for a few months and then I just lost my motivation.  Being thrust into teletherapy overnight was one of the hardest things I ever did and yet, I remain grateful because I learned so much.  Yes, I was strapped to my computer 8-10 hours per day planning.  Yes, I live in a rural area and had TERRIBLE WiFi.  ..read more

Over the past nearly 40 years I've heard a lot of conversation around articulation therapy and "educational impact."  To this day the discussion continues to center around whether students who exhibit what may be considered mild speech sound disorders (SSD) like a lisp, are eligible for services because their difficulties don't impact academics. For instance, these children are not writing "thun" instead of "sun." Historically then, articulation therapy in the school setting may not be provided. The notion of not providing services because there is no "impact" on academics narrowly restricts ..read more

Image by Quinn Kampschroer from PixabayToday was my first day back to work after a wonderful summer. I love summer vacation, make no mistake, but I also like getting back into my routine. I enjoy fall, yet late summer is amazing! Tourists go home. My kayak isn't tossed about by the wake of the motor boats. I can hear the birds instead of blaring radios. It becomes cooler to hike and the bugs start to disappear. It's truly a great time of year. As I returned to work, the importance of what we do as SLPs (and educators) wasn't lost on me. We know communication is connection. We know the cost of ..read more

Next week I start my 36th year as an SLP. THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR! Somehow I thought it was 37, but I guess it just feels that way. :) I am fairly happy with where my journey has taken me. I've grown both professionally and personally, but haven't quite reached that point of complete satisfaction. I still compare myself to young SLPs with their cute Teachers Pay Teachers stores. I still compare myself to the seasoned ASHA SLPs with their positions and professional clout. I compare, I compare, I compare. ENOUGH! I am reading Brené Brown's Daring Greatly and she purports that much of society's proble ..read more

Well, here I am, a blast from the past!! It has been a while since my last post, hasn't it? That's okay! I'm being gentle with myself regarding my hiatus and am just going to jump right back into the blogosphere. In eleven days I will be back at work and although my years in the school system are winding down, I still get butterflies. My head is in a better space than in the past and I am even feeling excited to get back into my routine. I am looking at my future year and my future future. I have the beginnings of a plan and am itching to see how things pan out. To begin, I have been immer ..read more

Finding high quality and engaging materials can be a challenge for the pediatric SLP, or any SLP for that matter. These days we have access to so many products and materials, it's hard to flesh out what will be useful across targets and age ranges.  We also want to make sure there is a long term usefulness. I often ask myself, "If I pull this out again next month, will my students be as excited as the first time I introduced it?" I also realistically have to consider if the product/material engages me! I want to be just as excited about what happens at my speech table as my students. Since so ..read more

I have most definitely dropped the ball on my poor blog. I feel a little guilty, but I've been told guilt is only productive for about ten minutes. I should be over it by the time I'm finished writing. :) I was working with a student today whose profile is fairly complex. We were working on /r/ using the "ka-la" technique. While we had the "ka" piece down the "la" was proving more of a challenge. I think this is because we previously worked on /l/ and curling the tongue way back is counter intuitive, given all our work on tongue placement for /l/. We have tried play-dough, used a mirror, flas ..read more