Dear shusher,

Thank you for your concern regarding the volume level of my group today.  However, despite your chastisement, we will not “be quiet” in the hallway.  I’m sure this is pretty surprising as this seems to be an area of passion for you.  I would like to take this opportunity to share with you why my hallway jaunts are less-than-silent in hopes that you come to better understand my role in our school and my resistance to your shushing.

First, let’s discuss my schedule.  You see, it’s like an angry tetris game up in there.  My schedule contains back-to-back sessions and meetings all day, every day.  It took me hours to create this (8th draft) of my schedule to accommodate each grade level’s schedule and all of the minutes and goals of my caseload.  So, this means that the moment I pick my students up, their session typically begins.  Considering they only see me a few times per week to increase their communication skills, those 2-5 minutes of walking are PRICELESS to me.

I should also tell you a little about the students I work with.  They have a really hard time communicating.  They struggle with answering questions, understanding pragmatics, holding a conversation, understanding vocabulary, saying their sounds correctly, and so much more.  My less-than-quiet time while I walk with them is a great opportunity to reinforce these skills.  So when you look down your nose at them and tell them to be quiet, you not only belittle them but you also impact their confidence with their communication.  Our hallway conversations allow us to put communication in context.  They help us to start our session out on a good foot.  They ARE communication and they ARE therapy!

Finally, these kids are SO important to me.  Their ability to communicate is the ENTIRE reason that I work at our school.  As much as you care about your subject area, I care about mine.  Because I respect our relationship, I can assure you that my students will only speak at a conversational level while walking in the hallway… there are no hooligans in speech.  I can also assure you that next time we are shushed, I will stand up for them and their need to practice their communication skills during our walks to and from speech.

Best regards,

Your School’s Communication Expert

I wanted to take a minute, or several, to reflect on my 5th Blogiversary which occurred this week!  There are so many parts to this post and to my reflections on blogging.  I was initially going to do this privately, reflecting and making goals for myself.  However, one goal I have for the year ahead is more transparency and connection with you.  So here it is, my blogiversary reflections, celebrations, goals, and… a gift from me to each of you!  Read on!

Reflections:

I began blogging in 2012.  So much has changed since then.  For one thing, my logo has had a few facelifts:

Another change has been me!  I began blogging during my second year of being an SLP.  I began blogging because I was adapting so many “ancient” materials while trying to engage my students and I wanted to share my ideas with anybody else who cared to see them.  Now, in my 7th year as an SLP, feeling more “seasoned” (or insert another less-negative word for being about 1/4 of my way to retirement) I have had so many more experiences as an SLP and as a blogger than I could have ever imagined.  I have worked at 11 school buildings and countless homes while working in Early Intervention.  I have had my own office, shared with others, and had an “office on wheels” when in EI and while working in Chicago between schools.  Each of these experiences have shaped my blogging and I hope you have enjoyed learning from each of them.

I’ve also learned that blogging is hard work if you’re going to do it well and consistently.  I can say that most years I have done both of these.  However, 2016 has been an exceptionally busy year for me with juggling 7 school sites in the spring as an itinerant SLP and then moving to Phoenix over the summer.  I have learned to give myself permission to take breaks when needed and focus on other areas of my life when needed.  It has led to fewer blog posts in 2016 which has, if we’re being transparent, given me so many feelings of guilt and failure.  I am a person who wants to give 100% to each area of my life and blogging has not received even close to that this year.

My last reflection involves reactions and transparency.  I try to be as “real” as I can through my blog posts and social media, letting you see me as I am.  Truthfully, it’s terrifying to put yourself out there for thousands of people to critique.  I’ve been so fortunate to meet so many supportive people through this blog.  I have met some of my best friends and fellow bloggers through networking and have met SLPs from all over the world through social media and conferences.  I have learned to have a thicker skin when errors are exploited and to be okay with failure as long as intentions were good.  I know how to keep moving, dig deep, and work hard.  Blogging is a great teacher!

Celebrations:

Since my last blogiversary I have celebrated so many great milestones and achievements including 8K Instagramers following @sublimespeech, 100th material posted on TpT, presenting at ASHA 2016, figuring out snapchat filters (hey, don’t laugh, you remember when you finally figured this out!), and more!  Each time I read feedback on TpT I see a small celebration in helping you to help the clients that you work with.  I have always wanted to be a traveling SLP and, in some way, I see that I have traveled all over the world through the materials I have created and that you have felt were beneficial to your clients.  Thank you for each of these celebrations, I hope for many more!

Goals:

2017 is a new year and I’m always so happy that my blogiversaries happen at this time of year when goal-making is fresh on my mind.  Over winter break I spent 20 HOURS driving to and from Kansas City.  Needless to say, many podcasts were finished and a lot of thinking occurred.  I have set some personal and blogging goals for this year and beyond.  One of them is to be 98% transparent with you.  No, not 100%.  I’m probably going to still re-record some videos, I’ll probably not take videos and pictures when I wake up on Saturday mornings looking like I got in a fight with my bed, and I’ll probably not tell you EXACTLY how I feel about everything.  But, I don’t think you’d want to see all of that anyway.  I’ll show you the good, the bad, and the “oh my heavens” of my SLP life.  I also have a goal to finish many of the materials that I have started.  We won’t go into details here (there’s a whole calendar shindig going on in my blogging planner right now) but just expect to see some new beauts making their debut very soon!  (Right after progress notes and medicaid billing, let’s be real here!)  And, finally, I will be blogging a whole lot more.  You should see my draft folder on my blog.  There are 25 draft posts in there, abandoned at varying points of completion.  My goal is to finish as many as possible as well as authoring new ones about how we are twisting up speech & language therapy this year.  We’ve gotten creative and I can’t wait to show you what sort of activities and techniques we’ve been using!

Gifts:

I promised a gift for each of you.  I wouldn’t let you down, no party host ever should.  First of all, I want to thank you.  Each of you.  It always humbles me to know people care what I have to say and share.  Thank you for your time, for your comments, for the laughs, for purchasing and downloading materials, and for sharing this crazy SLP life with me.  I truly appreciate you!  To say thank you and celebrate our 5 years together, please head over to this link to download a free resource to help assessments, IEPs, etc. go more smoothly.  Pass along the link to this blog post to any friends who may want to access the freebie as well, I’d love to meet some new people this year!

Have a great 2017, I’ll see you around!

~Danielle

Flexibility remains one of the most rewarding features of a career as an audiologist or speech-language pathologist. Working with various ages and populations as well as in diverse settings allows audiologists and SLPs to explore all areas of their profession and work around the world. However, along with excitement, changing specialties or even just jobs might bring uncertainty and questions.

Each round, you can enter to win a product from an SLP Blogger as well as a $50 Gift Card!  Plus, each round’s entry goes toward the Grand Prize drawing for one of three gift cards valued at up to $200 sponsored by YappGuru.  PLUS, if you refer a friend to participate, and they cite your e-mail in their entry, you will get an extra entry to both that round’s drawing as well as the grand prize drawing!  You can earn up to 25 extra referral entries per round – 150 total!  Voting closes at 11:59PM EST on the final day of each round’s games (in the “real” tournament) noted on the graphic below.

Here is the full bracket if you’d like to download/print (See below for updated PDF brackets)! If you’re ready for some fun and hilarity, follow this link to vote (Voting has ended for round 1-5 – vote for round 6 here)!

The 1st round is sponsored by me and voting ends at 11:59 PM EST on 3/18/16!  If your entry is drawn, you will win your choice of product from my TpT Store as well as $50 Gift Card to really get you through this week after DST… your choice of Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts!

Other March SLP Madness Sponsors include: YappGuru, Live Love Speech, Speech Room News, Allison’s Speech Peeps, Busy Bee Speech, Crazy Speech World, & Simply Speech!  Stop by their sites to enter each round!

Have Fun and thanks for stopping by!  Happy St. Patrick’s Day – I hope it’s a lucky day for you!

Round 2 PDF Bracket

Round 3 PDF Bracket

Round 4 PDF Bracket

Round 5 PDF Bracket

Round 6 PDF Bracket

Here are the products that each blogger is offering and links to their store and product:

Sublime Speech: Editable SLP Assessment Templates

Activity Tailor: Articulation and Language Therapy Joke Books: I’m Joking!

Allison’s Speech Peeps: Articulation Context Clue Cards Using Tier 2 Vocabulary

Busy Bee Speech: Interactive Articulation Binder for Speech Therapy

Consonantly Speaking: Playdough Mats for Articulation: S&Z Edition

Crazy Speech World: American Inventors Nonfiction Texts for Comprehension, Grammar & Vocabulary!

The Dabbling Speechie: NO PREP Build a Sentence Activities

Home Sweet Speech Room: Speech Farkle

Kristin Minden: Spring Speech Homework Bundle

Let’s Talk Speech Therapy: AAC and You–Handouts for Classroom Teachers

Let’s Talk with WhitneySLP: Spring-Related Sequences

Live Love Speech: Grab n’ Go Social Skills

Mrs.T SLP: Winning & Losing Games: Social Story Mini Books

Ms.Jocelyn Speech: Social Scripts: Tone of Voice

Peachie Speechie: Shamrock Listening Comprehension Sentences

Rock Chalk Speech Talk: “Woof!” A Dog-Themed Speech and Language Unit

Simply Speech: No Prep St. Patrick’s Day Articulation Homework

Speech Bubble SLP: Language Trifolds

 Speechy Musings: Speech and Language Therapy Centers for Articulation

Speech Time Fun: St. Patrick’s Day Yes No Questions

Speech to the Core: Everything You Need! Spring

Super Power Speech: Spring Up with Language (Level 2)

Queen’s Speech: The Voice Monsters {Voice Therapy Techniques}

Teach Speech 365: Get the Gold Reverse Interactive Book

Word Nerd Speech Teach: No Prep Spring Speech and Language Pack

Good Luck!

(You may enter via the form on this post or HERE)

More times than I would like to count, I have failed.  I have failed to be my best, failed to leave personal issues at my speech room door, failed to educate a family adequately, failed to engage my clients, failed to take adequate data, failed to complete paperwork on time, failed at many things.  If you are reading this, I hope you have failed too. (Spoiler Alert: You have failed!)  That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but I promise that it is not.

Failure is one of the most important learning tools you will ever encounter.

When I was in my CFY I expected that I should know everything and was extremely hard on myself when I made mistakes or didn’t know an answer.  What did all of those letters after my name mean if I didn’t know how to do everything perfectly?  Failure scared me and made me feel insecure.  Thankfully, as I have continued in this career, and in life, my outlook on mistakes and failure has changed drastically.  I found out that mistakes didn’t mean the end of the world.  Nothing exploded… or imploded.

I learned from my failures.

Every time I fail, I learn.  I learn new techniques, new approaches, new facts, new methods, and more.  And that makes me a better SLP.  Did you catch that?  Failure makes me better.  We are often so afraid of failure, of mistakes, of anything less-than-perfect that we don’t take risks.

I get it, we don’t like to look ridiculous or uninformed or unworthy of those 8 letters behind our name.  But, you must take risks, it’s an important part of our lives.  Nothing incredible can come without risks – even the tiniest of risks!

Risk a new technique.  Risk acting silly.  Risk becoming “too” invested.  Risk a different approach, a new activity, a parent phone call, and changing “how you’ve always done things”.  You might fail enormously.  Or you might succeed enormously.  Either way, you’ll learn an incredible amount about yourself and your strengths, weaknesses, and techniques.  You’ll be better prepared for the next situation and a better SLP.

We all have days that we count as failures.  Days like those are only a true failure if we refuse to learn from them.

So, what are the best failures teachers you have had?

I became an Expert App Reviewer at YappGuru almost a year ago and have loved watching more Experts join us!  So what is YappGuru and why should you care?  Well, YappGuru is a site that compiles expert reviews from trusted expert SLPs working with various populations across the world!  These reviews give you a detailed look at the app and if it is worth your hard-earned money.  Plus, you can vote up your personal favorites and in doing so, voice your opinion through the ranking system!  

The site is also great for discovering apps that would be a good addition to your tablet!  You can find apps by using a Keyword Search or by browsing categories that make sense to therapists (unlike the general “Special Ed” list provided by iTunes).  You can explore articulation apps, general reinforcers, and even OT apps for co-treatment!  It’s limitless and awesome!

 Here are the current YappGuru experts… I’m sure that you’ll recognize a few of your favorites in the group of trust-worthy reviewers!

So head over to YappGuru and register for free for the site so that you can vote up your favorite apps and take advantage of the ever-growing library of expert reviews!

So this month, YappGuru is challenging us to add new reviews during a March Madness competition. Competition is my middle name so I’m totally in!  Check out my progress and reviews by clicking the basketball!

Are there any apps that you’re curious about and would like a review for?  Comment below!

Almost nothing!

Now before I get to the best part (an insanely awesome giveaway from some of my favorite SLP bloggers) I wanted to tell you a few ways that you COULD use the Oscars to your advantage after this weekend’s big show:

• Host a “Speechies Awards” in your room:  You can give away awards for whatever you’d like.  This would be a great way for children to practice nominating peers and justifying their nomination.  Be creative!
• Acceptance Speeches: These don’t have to actually be acceptance speeches but could be fluency or articulation passages that are said like acceptance speeches.  Have the students get up, accept their “award”, and say their speech.  Don’t forget to thank mom and dad!
• Perspective-taking: If you can find some clips from the Oscars past/present on YouTube you can do a great perspective-taking activity or social skills activity talking about how the winners/losers feel, what they should say to their fellow nominees, why they think they were nominated, why the clip you show is funny/sad/etc.  There are several good clips… just make sure to pre-watch them for content!

Many of your students will probably hear about or watch part of the Oscars this weekend.  They start pretty late so they may only catch the red carpet and first few awards but it could be a fun activity to integrate into your speech rooms!

Now…. for the winner in the category of “Best Giveaway in a Leading Blog Role” goes to…

Click on the graphic above to head to the form to submit your predictions for 16 award categories.  One winner from the most accurate entries will be drawn to win a prize bundle from 18 SLP Bloggers!!!  So awesome!  1 entry per person and all entries must be entered by 7:30P CST on 2/22/15 to be valid (I will disallow entries at 7:31 on the dot so don’t be late!)

Enjoy!

]]> http://sublimespeech.com/2015/02/red-carpet-slps-oscars-contest.html/feed 0 http://sublimespeech.com/2015/02/chicken-soup-for-the-slp-soul-blog-hop.html http://sublimespeech.com/2015/02/chicken-soup-for-the-slp-soul-blog-hop.html#comments Sun, 15 Feb 2015 11:00:18 +0000 http://sublimespeech.com/?p=2124

Being an SLP is hard work.  It’s paperwork, meetings, tough clients, data, evaluations, therapy, materials, parents, teachers, therapists, and more paperwork.  It’s easy to get bogged down by the copious negatives.  Sometimes your SLP Soul needs a little pick-me-up… a little “Chicken Soup”!  This blog hop is the perfect place to be reminded of the amazing occupation we are in and all of the wonderful and funny things that happen in therapy.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

First Words

For most children, first words are uttered around 12 months of age.  It’s an exciting time for families.  However, for many other children, first words don’t come until much later or in an unexpected way.  I have been very lucky to witness first words with a few of my clients and it has been an incredible experience each time.

First, you should know that I didn’t decide to become a Speech-Language Pathologist to rid the world of articulation delays or because I had once needed Speech Therapy.  I originally wanted to teach Gifted Education and was on the path to doing just that when a High School assignment changed my life.  I decided to become a Speech-Language Pathologist after observing a child with Cerebral Palsy utilize an AAC device in her speech session.  I was immediately hooked.  I thought that it was incredible that a child, who if born only 30-40 years earlier may have been placed in segregated schooling or living placement and thought to be “feeble-minded”, was using this device to articulate her incredibly clear thoughts to her SLP during their session.  I have had a love of AAC since that day.

For the first few years of my career, I worked with children with severe delays and disorders including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Autism, and other genetic disorders within the school setting.  Many of my students had yet to say their first “meaningful” word.  (Though, as many SLPs and families who know children with these delays/disorders can attest, they communicate in many other meaningful ways.)  I had a particular student whose parents feared that he may never be able to communicate in a way that was understandable by others.  They had very limited resources and were unsure of the best path to pursue for their child’s communication.  We tried several lower tech devices for this child and he was able to utilize them to request basic needs but seemed uninterested in the devices on most occasions as he was fairly independent and able to use gestures or other means to get his needs met the majority of the time.  Because we suspected that his cognition was at a high enough level, we discussed utilizing a higher tech AAC device for the student.  We were able to secure a trial device through the state’s program and I took it home with me to program it with the basic starters for the next day.

When I arrived to work the next day, device in tow, I couldn’t wait for my session.  Though I was uncertain of how much we would accomplish, I was so excited to see what this student could do and what he had to say.  As we entered my office for his session, the student walked over to the device (powered off) and sat immediately.  He looked at it, searched for the power button, and then turned the device on.  Immediately he began exploring the symbols and moving through pages and pages of words simply pressing them to hear what they said.  Some of the symbols must have caught his attention because he would press them multiple times before moving on.  Finally, after we had gone through the majority of the pages with our exploration, we returned to the home page and cleared the sentence (which was of course an enormous run-on of nearly every word that was programmed on the device).  I paused and looked at my student who was sitting fairly quietly at the table.  It looked like he was just processing the mini computer that sat in front of him.  Then, he slowly lifted his finger up to the device and in only a few seconds used it to say “Hi, water go yes” before stopping to reach back to touch the door handle of my office.  We stood up and walked to the water fountain, got a drink, and returned.  It was his first request using more than one symbol and was so incredibly meaningful.  And it was just the beginning for him.

I would love to say that all AAC trials go like this.  They rarely do – there are many tossed iPads and rarely used devices placed in closets until “needed”.  But this student was different.  For him, the device was a way to unlock “our” language for his use.  He was quickly able to map his device that was purchased for him and could move through the device with incredible speed and use multiple word sentences within a matter of months after receiving it.  He still utilizes AAC to communicate as he has never “spoken” with his physical voice.  However, he has become very successful in communicating with his device, now an iPad, and I often think about his “first words” in my office that day.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

We’re so excited that you’ve joined our hop!  In addition to getting some Chicken Soup for your SLP Soul, we’ve gathered a few prizes for those who check out each post.  Below are the prizes that will be raffled.  You will also want to jot down the number below – you’ll need it on the final post to enter the raffle.

If you’re just beginning the hop, feel free to head back to the “First Blog” by following the link below.  If you’re ready to head to the “Next Blog”, simply click on that image and enjoy the next stop!  Thanks for stopping by!

File folders piled on the edge of your tiny desk, a group of 5 articulation students due into your room in 6 minutes, an inbox full of unanswered e-mails, and that annoying blinking light incessantly alerting you to those voicemails that await you.  You’re beginning to wonder if SLP stands for Stressed-Language Pathologist!  Taking time for yourself can be difficult but here are a few ways to de-stress in 5 minutes or less and are easy to accomplish at your desk, in your car, etc.

• Green Tea: Sipping on herbal Green Tea (a source of L-Theanine) can help relieve anger!  Perfect for post-IEP meetings or that tough group!  Keep a stash at work and grab a cup of tea when you need it!
• Stress Ball: I’m sure you’ve grabbed a stress ball/object at a conference or the like.  Keep one nearby and squeeze when you’re feeling a tiny bit violent
• Chocolate: You heard me, chocolate!  Dark chocolate can help to regulate your cortisol (stress hormone) levels!  You just need a nibble (1-1.5 oz) so keep a bit of delicious dark goodness in your drawer and nosh on it when you’re feeling a bit stressed!
• Jaw: Release tension in your jaw – where many of us carry stress without knowing!  An easy way to do this is to open your mouth wide for about 30 seconds, breathing normally, and then gently release it back to a closed position.
• Smells: Smelling citrus fruits can increase norepinephrine, a stress-related hormone, and help decrease your stress!   Also, a nose full of coffee aroma helps reduce stress hormones! (you don’t actually have to eat/drink these… just a sniff!)
• Cold Water on your Wrist: Do you have access to water?  Great!  Dab a bit on your wrists and even behind your earlobe.  Major arteries run through those areas and cooling these can help calm your entire body!
• Gum: Now, in full disclosure, I detest gum (misophonia is real!)!  But, a few quick minutes of chewing gum can also lower cortisol!  So, go for it…
• Breathe!: It’s that simple.  Take time for some slow and deep breaths.  This helps to lower heart rate and blood pressure and is easy to do anywhere!  Closing your eyes while you do this helps too! (just don’t close your eyes while driving)
• Take a walk: Get outside, grab some sun, be alone and quiet, and walk.  Just a quick walk around a track or the block can help.  If you can’t take a walk, just stand in the sun or look out the window at the nature around you.  Any of these can help you to de-stress!
• Music: Listening to one of your favorite songs can help you to de-stress!  If needing to relax, try some classical music.  Needing a pick-me-up, try a fun new pop song.  Whatever lifts you up and makes you feel great!
• Laugh: Laughing lowers cortisol as well!  It also boosts endorphins which lighten your mood!  Tons of great funny video clips are easy to find on YouTube.  You can also peruse comic strips, ecards, memes, etc. for a pick me up!
• Clear the Clutter: Organize those piles.  Remove unnecessary bits from view and get everything looking neat.  Keep only the most pressing docs on your desk and move the rest to a drawer or folder.  This can also apply to desktop on your computer if it is overrun with documents and to-dos.
• Shoes: Taking off your shoes and even doing a quick foot massage, stretch, or rolling your foot over a golf ball can help reduce stress.  Plus, if you’re wearing uncomfortable shoes, a break from those will automatically make you feel better!
• Look Up: Take a look at the ceiling and count backwards from 60.  Looking up stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and lowers blood pressure and rate of breath.
• Support/Lift up Another Person!: Focusing on others and spending a few minutes to support them or write a quick note to a colleague helps you to focus on something besides your stressors.  Plus, you’ll probably help them to de-stress too!

 So, take a few minutes to de-stress.  Not only will you feel better, but you will be better at your job.  An important job that can impact lives!  Get de-stressed and enjoy your day at work!

Sources for this post: 40 Ways to Relax in 5 Minutes or Less by Greatist, How to Reduce Stress: 10 Relaxation Techniques that Zap Stress Fast by WebMD, and 20 Ways to Relax & Unwind by PsychCentral