I had a great summer. It was so wonderful spending each day with my little girl. It was lovely not to have to keep a certain daily schedule, but instead I got to schedule my own play dates with girlfriends, travel, and relax!
Now, it’s back to work and while it is sad for me to transition back to leaving my Gia Joy for a while, I always look forward to seeing the little cuties on my caseload! I was pleasantly surprised to hear one of my students exclaim when he saw me come to his classroom, “Hi, Mrs. G! I missed you! I missed you FOREVER!” Heart = melted.
So, here we go. Another school year has started and I wanted to let you know about what to look for this fall on Heather’s Speech Therapy (HST)!
Here is what I have been working on! I hope you will enjoy it! I’m very excited to share it with you. (Also, make sure you check out the Free Worksheets page for fall vocabulary words!)
COMING SOON!!
- Adorable speech room decor – my own creations to share with you! (because our speech space should be fun and welcoming (without looking like the inside of an arcade game).
- Guest blog posts!! With topics ranging from “How to Interview for SLP Jobs” to “Juggling life as an SLP, Mom, and Wife.” This series will be from one of my mentors in the field of speech pathology. I can’t wait to introduce her to you all! She is amazing. She has owned and operated one of the largest private practices in California!
- Free giveaways which will include a free promo code for Pyramid’s new PECS Phase III App…. and much more!
I hope you will all stay tuned and check back often!
How has your school year started? Please share!
Oh, and don’t forget to “Like” Heather’s Speech Therapy on Facebook to get information and updates on blog freebies and giveaways! And please feel free to grab my blog button! Thank you for sharing the HST love!
Heather
Mine went so wretched that after 15+ years and starting school year, I resigned. I wasnt able to manage my 100+ kid caseload plus all of my other duties nd maintain sanity much less provide the quality therapy I wanted to provide. Breaks my heart to have to leave….
Hi Debra,
I am so sorry to hear that. I know that it is a very sad reality in our profession these days. Caseloads are soaring to numbers which make doing effective therapy as well as case managing very difficult. Have you looked at approaching your teacher’s union with your concerns? I read a very helpful article about an SLP who was able to gain the support of the teacher’s union at her school in order to help her approach her district regarding her extremely high caseload. I’ll try to find that! I know ASHA recommends a caseload of 40 students and in some cases 25 students!
If anyone out there has some information on how to appeal to school districts, special education directors, teacher’s unions, etc. in order to bring reform to excessively high caseloads in the schools, please comment below and share what you have done or links to helpful articles. We need to advocate for our profession and do our best to maintain and provide high quality speech and language intervention to our students.
Thanks for being real with us, Debra.
Heather
Here is a great article from ASHA regarding “caseload” and “workload” for SLPs.
In the decade since ASHA recommended that school SLP caseloads not exceed 40 under any circumstances—with special populations and circumstances dictating a maximum caseload of 25 or less—(ASHA, 1984; 1993a), the average number of students on caseloads has remained significantly higher than these recommended caseload standards. Recent surveys indicate an average caseload size of 53; some members report caseloads as large as 110 (ASHA, 2000c).
In addition, recent data suggest that large caseloads have limited SLPs’ available service delivery options to providing almost exclusively direct intervention services to students (ASHA, 1991, 1995, 2000c, Chiang & Rylance, 2000). When the vast majority of the school day or week is filled with direct face-to-face services to students, many SLPs report that not enough time is left to adequately perform the many other activities and responsibilities required to meet the needs of students, implement best practices in school speech-language services, and be in compliance with federal, state, and local special education mandates. The impact of caseload size on student outcomes is one of the most important issues facing school-based SLPs, as administrators and decision makers attempt to balance the need for efficient use of staff resources with the desire to maximize student outcomes (ASHA, 2000b).
To read more go here http://www.asha.org/policy/GL2002-00066.htm