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

M.S., CCC-SLP

M.A., CCC-SLP

Whichever way you sign it, those 8 letters represent so much.  They represent tuition paid (or still paying).  They represent hours spent studying instead of partying.  They represent clinical hours and SOAP notes and notecards for tests and so much more.  They represent your education.  And I’m sure you went to the best university that had the best program for Speech-Language Pathology.  I know that I did.

But, your university did NOT teach you everything… 

And that’s just fine.

Here’s the thing, it’s nearly impossible to learn about speech, language, fluency, voice, swallowing, cognition, etc. to the extent that you need to know it to be a competent clinician in that area.  Universities are diverse and they have diverse professors who are nerdy about diverse areas of Speech-Language Pathology.  I can still name the professors at my university who were the “phono prof” or the “cluttering prof”.  We all have an area of Speech-Language Pathology that drew us to the field and professors are the same way.  Mine is definitely NOT articulation… It’s AAC and pediatrics.  Your area might be swallowing or aphasia.  I know that I would not be completely competent in all areas of Speech-Language Pathology.  It’s been a few years since graduation and slowly some of that information is being lost or overtaken by new research in our field.

What is important to know, as a clinician, is not only the areas that you are a strong and completely competent (borderline nerdtastic) SLP… but the areas that you are not currently equipped to treat clients in.   Maybe you just have a tricky client who presents with a dx that you aren’t incredibly familiar with.  Maybe your university didn’t spend as much time on a particular area.  Or maybe you weren’t as interested in it at the time.  Regardless, you should not step into a treatment room with a client who presents with that diagnosis/area if you are not completely competent.  “Fake it ’til you make it” DOES NOT apply here!  I’m not saying that you can’t become competent.  That’s one of the BEST things about this profession.  You can move around and continue to learn for the entire time that you practice.  You can eat CEUs for breakfast and sleep with a pediatric swallowing textbook under your pillow at night.  You CAN BECOME competent in any area with enough research and practice.

If your university didn’t teach you everything or if you have forgotten a few things, here are some places to start:

ASHA: Of course.  A very good place to start!  Search, check out journals, etc.  Get your research on!

Blogs: School SLPs aren’t the only ones blogging y’all!  There are medical SLPs out there blogging up a storm too!  Like Gray Matter Therapy for example!  Read up on therapy ideas, ask questions, reach out.  SLPs are friendly!

Social Media: Hop on some of the Facebook groups for SLPs or hang out on Twitter.  Send a question out there, get honest feedback, learn, & then do!  I love my network of SLPs from all over the world.  They have helped me work through those tricky things that come up as a clinician.

Phone a Friend (Or e-mail/text/pigeon): You weren’t the only graduate of your program in the year you received that hood, were you?  No?  Good!  So you have contacts to reach out to.  In my program there were SLPs that went into EVERY type of setting you could imagine.  So ask them!  Plus, you should know by now that after you survive grad school, you have a magical bond with those people and they will surely help you out if you have a question.  Many of the professors you had would also be happy to exchange some nerdy SLP e-mails with you as well!

CEUs: Go to a conference or attend a workshop devoted to the area that you are interested in and/or needing additional information in.  And don’t just be there… BE THERE!  Interact.  Speak up.  Ask questions.  Take notes.  Stay after and introduce yourself to the speaker and get their contact information.  They might be a new person to contact with questions or to get additional information from!

Whatever you do, make sure that you feel confident and competent with your clients.  It’s best practice and in our Code of Ethics!

And just remember, your university didn’t teach you EVERYthing… & that is just fine!

(Now go sing your school’s fight song or something!)

The site isn’t the ONLY new thing…

So much is changing in my world!  As of about 2 months ago I was determined that Seattle was going to be my new home.  I traveled out to visit over Spring Break with my dear friend.  We had a blast in Portland and Seattle and while I did, most certainly, enjoy Seattle… something was a little off.  Could I justify living about 23 hours of driving time from my “home” in Kansas City?  No.  So, I immediately opened myself up to the possibility of returning to a very special city…

CHICAGO!

I’m so very excited to share with you that I will be relocating back to Chicago this summer!  On top of that, I have a new career opportunity in Early Intervention.  I’m very excited to try my hand with the wee ones again.  Though I’m incredibly sad to leave my friends and family and my beloved city of Kansas City behind, the joy and excitement of this new adventure outweigh that right now.  So, if you’re in the Chicago area we should organize a Speechie hangout soon!

So… those are the new changes.  New site, new job, new city… new twist!  Adventures abound!  Get acquainted with the new site and poke around a bit.  Oh… but before you leave… enter this amazing giveaway!  You won’t regret it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dear CF,
    Thank you so much for my letter.  It could not have come at a better time.  Because of your thoughtful and encouraging letter, I thought it only fair that I return the favor.  You see, I know what it’s like to be in your shoes because I was (literally, and those are some awesome kicks!).  You’ve accepted and started your first “big kid” job after grad school and it’s, honestly, absolutely terrifying.  It’s sort of supposed to be.  In our field, our awesome field, of speech-language pathology, people take years upon YEARS to become experts in their particular corner of the field.  Even then, they continue to ask questions and learn.  There’s just way too much information about communication, cognition, feeding, etc. to know it after 6 or so years in school.  Sure, you graduated, passed the praxis, and got a job… but you aren’t finished learning yet.  This year is the first year of many for you in this job so get cozy…

When I think back on my CFY, I think about how overwhelming it all was.  What I want to tell you is to take a breath, relax, and know that you will be so much more confident in a year!  Although grad school does a lot to prepare your brain for this job, I would urge you to put that on the back burner and be open to learning on the job.  You know more than you think you do and you don’t need a book to do it.  Sure, consult a book here and there for answers that you need but don’t rely solely on them.

Then there is the actual therapy session… don’t let it scare you!  Quit spending every “free” moment you have scripting out your day so thoroughly.  No matter how much you plan, your client will probably throw off your plan in the first five minutes of your session.  Calm down a little and accept that not everything will go perfectly.  Sometimes a general plan with a few therapy ideas will work out better than a step-by-step roadmap of a session.  Be creative in therapy and in your preparation.  You don’t have to buy fancy new materials to be successful in therapy.  Creating custom materials and using the things that are already around you can be some of the most beneficial and rich sessions that you will have.  Plus, you’ll learn more from your students than they will learn from you.  Soak it in!

There is also so much to learn from your coworkers and the trials and successes that come with the non-therapy portion of your job.  We should just get one thing out of the way: You should know that no matter which setting you work in, you will not only be an SLP.  You will also be a teacher, counselor, behaviorist, paperwork specialist, team member, and so much more.  Also, please don’t be afraid to ask questions.   However, you should write down every question you ask and every answer you get because you don’t want to ask the same thing twice.  Ask a mentor, a coworker, an administrator… just make sure you ask!  Oh, I should also probably mention that your “mentor” doesn’t have to be the person assigned to you.  Just make sure you have one that is knowledgable, accessible, caring, and AWESOME!  There will be so many changes during your career.  Be flexible and ready to embrace change.  (There’s no avoiding it!)  You will change too.  Never rule out a certain population or setting because you will probably end up there at some point… and you’ll probably love it!

This “job” will be so much more than that.  It will be a challenge and a huge success.  It will push you to continue learning and to strive for more every day.  It will rock your world.  You will be overwhelmed and then on top of the world.  You’ll be crushed and then you’ll be celebrating.  You’ll have absolutely no idea and then you’ll be an expert.  You’ll turn down jobs and accept others.  You will be the CF and then you’ll be supervising CFs!  It will be such a ride!

Get excited and hold on tight.  This year may be tough and you may be overwhelmed now but before you know it you’ll be doing incredible things… we’ve done incredible things!

Love,
Your Future SLP Self

Dear SLP,
     It’s a little crazy in your world right now, isn’t it?  I see you with file folders stacked high, post-it notes adorning your computer screen, and a to-do list a mile long.  You have more clients and meetings than you have hours in the day.  You’re taking work home with you and staying up late.  Needless to say, your tank is running a little empty these days.  It’s easy to see why.

     I know that you’ve been second-guessing your career choice lately.  Well, at least your current position.  You’re wondering if it’s all worth it and why you do it for such little pay.  “Isn’t there a career out there that pays more for so much less worry and work?”, you ask regularly.  It is really hard to watch you questioning your passion like this.  So, I wanted to write you this little note.

     I wanted to remind you of the reason you decided to pursue this degree.  Remember that moment when you decided that becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist was what you were meant to do?  That felt amazing!  You knew that you would be helping people for a living.  You knew that lives would be changed and enhanced because you were involved.  Your friends seemed to be wandering around aimlessly but you had chosen an interesting path and were so excited.  You eagerly attended classes and soaked up each word that came your way.  You furiously jotted down notes and studied until the wee hours of the morning.  Volunteering and learning as much as possible readied you for this career.

     Do you remember your first official “client”?  Do you remember the nervous hours spent preparing for that first session and how amazing it felt to finally be DOING what you had studied so long to do?  It was awesome.  It was REALLY awesome!  I bet you can still remember each of your first clients’ names and diagnoses!  Each client brought a new challenge and new learning.  All on top of classes and research and more!  It was a lot but you did it!

     How about that first practicum experience?  You were moving up in the world and you were so close to graduation that you could taste it!  Practicums were so exciting, weren’t they?  You rocked those practicums!  Don’t get me wrong, they were tough and you learned so much.  But, you TOTALLY rocked them!  It was exciting and fulfilling.  Yes, it was overwhelming… in that completely-overwhelmed-but-loving-every-minute-of-it sort of overwhelming.  The weeks flew by and then they were over and you moved on, secretly wishing that you could stay and work there forever!

     Before you knew it, you had graduated and accepted your first position and were over the moon!  You had made it!  See, that’s where I am now… I’m your CFY self.  I’m loving my first year as an official SLP!  It’s been tough, a lot to learn.  But, I’m making a difference… you made a difference.  I’m so in awe of you and all you’ve learned.  I’m terrified that I won’t figure it out but seeing you comforts me.  You’re a total rockstar SLP.  Your clients love you, your staff respects you, and you totally know your stuff!

     I know that this job isn’t easy.  I also know that it’s completely worth it!  To each client, you are worth it!  You change and enhance lives with your expertise.  I can’t wait to grow into who you are now.  That must be awesome and so completely rewarding!  You see, from my perspective, you are incredible!  I know that in the eyes of many others, you are as well.  Keep up the amazing work.  When it all gets to be a little too much, read this letter from me again.  Remember why you decided on this career and the journey that you’ve been on… then get back to work!

You’ll do incredible things… we’ll do incredible things!

Love,
Your CFY Self

If you were to ask me what the main reason was that I decided to change from wanting to be a Gifted Education teacher to wanting to major in Speech-Language Pathology, the answer would be a simple one: AAC.  When I was in High School I was interning with an amazing gifted ed teacher (that I actually work with now… how funny?!?) and had the opportunity to observe another educator.  At the hinting of my SpEd teacher mother, I observed an SLP.  He worked with a student with cerebral palsy who utilized an AAC device to communicate.  I fell in LOVE!  How amazing is it that children who would otherwise not have a “voice” are heard via a device?  Anyway, I digress…

I add a photo or drawing of “Speech Therapy” then record the voice saying it.  If you want to have another peer say the word it may help with it not sounding differently as an adult voice would.

In the newest release of the app, a great new feature was added.  “Pruning” allows you to trim words from the word trees to limit words available, correct a tree that was accidentally added to, etc.  Above you see that to utilize the pruning, you select the scissors icon on the right, select the word(s) that you want to delete from a tree, and then select the scissors again to confirm the deletion.  The words can always be added back but this great addition was a most-requested feature that is now available!  We will be pruning some word trees this week for sure!

Overall, this is a wonderful and relatively inexpensive AAC app!  There are constant improvements being made to the app as they develop it and hear feedback.  Here is my quick pros/improvements list:

Pros:

• It’s a new approach to AAC and the interface is gorgeous.
• Good symbols – easy to understand and fun.
• Real children were recorded for this app – gives the child a “real” voice.
• Promotes language learning in-app.
• “Learns” to anticipate what a child may be wanting to say.
• Designed for children specifically which is a pro if you work with children.
• Editing is “locked” by swiping or a pin.
• Every word is customizable at any time.  Using drawings, photos, recordings of words, and placement in categories.
• Words can be disabled if need be or added back into the library.
• Search bar included when adding words to the tree.
• Included “favorites” page creates easy access to frequently used sentences.
• Shortcuts remain on the screen at all times to have easy access to those needed frequently.
• Unlimited users/profiles.
• Students who have struggled with grid-based systems may benefit from this setup.
• “Connector” words are a huge part of this app and encourage full sentences (eg. “I want to eat apple” instead of “want apple”)
• “Pruning” allows you/the user to cut words from a word tree temporarily/permanently.
• aacorn staff is available to help users if difficulties arise.  They can even skype with you.
• It is cheaper than many current AAC app options.  It is $189.99 with a 50% discount on volume orders from education institutions and 15% donated to further research about children’s health issues.

Improvements:

• It’s a new approach to AAC and there is no research regarding it at this time.
• The included library is fairly small compared to some other apps.  I’m hopeful that they will add more words in future updates.  (for example, common words such as “shoe” is not included which seemed odd)
• I wish the speech bubble was a bit closer to either the word tree or the sentence bar.  Though, you can touch the first word in the sentence bar at any time to activate the sentence as well.
• The voices are quite young.  I would say using this for students that are teenagers or above at this time may be strange.  However, all words can be re-recorded so it is possible to use with any age if words are re-recorded.
• Students who are used to grid-based systems may experience difficulty.
• The editing tools and robot can be distracting – we utilize “guided access” to avoid this when needed.  The robot will be lock-able in future updates though.

Overall a great app that I have enjoyed using with several students.  As always, please consult a Speech-Language Pathologist or other qualified individual when considering AAC options for a child.  It is currently available for $189.99 in the app store:

Chicago in November… there’s nothing quite like it!  I definitely loved living there after grad school and definitely miss living there now!  ASHA 2013 did not disappoint this year and the growing attendance and quality of sessions and exhibit hall have really encouraged me to attend in the future.  I really enjoyed meeting so many of you as well!  Here’s a quick recap and… a GIVEAWAY further down!  Don’t miss out!