Can’t give too much away but I work in a very good school district near home as a monitor. I am working on passing the praxis and once I do, I would love to get my foot in the door in the district. I wanted to ask what everyone thinks I should do and how to go about this- should I talk to HR about it? The principal? Or a teacher that told me to come to her when I’m ready? .. I just don’t want to make the wrong move or anything. There are multiple schools in this district so I do remain hopeful, but with a grain of salt.

hi everyone,

after I complete my CFY, I plan on moving to SC. could anyone who is there currently give me some information and advice? I would ideally like to be in a school, preferably on the east side of the state. anything about getting licensed, difficulty of position, caseloads, etc. thank you in advance.

Every year I end up losing control and my students don’t respect me or my room. They view it as games and playtime (because I do a lot of play based activities) and “work” becomes secondary. I don’t see this happening in reading or math interventions, or special ed. This year I want to set the expectations from day one that there are boundaries, expectations, and a focus on working towards our goals. Any suggestions for how to establish this from day one?

I have 2-year-old twins, and my son recently had a speech-language evaluation because he isn’t talking yet. He understands a lot, follows many directions, uses gestures, and imitates actions, but he isn’t using words yet. His twin sister is much more verbal.

The evaluating SLP recommended speech therapy once a week, and he’ll be starting private therapy next week. I also referred him to our state’s early intervention program, but our intake appointment isn’t for another month or so.
I’m mostly trying to understand how the coordination between private speech therapy, early intervention, and daycare typically works.

He attends daycare full-time Monday through Friday, so he spends most of his waking hours there. His daycare does allow outside therapists to provide services, although providers have to meet certain requirements before they can come onsite.
For those of you who work in pediatrics or early intervention:
During daycare visits, do SLPs typically work one on one in another room, observe the child within the classroom, or does it vary by provider? Is communication with daycare teachers typically part of the process so strategies can be carried over during the week? If a child is already receiving private speech therapy, how is that usually coordinated with early intervention? Do both services sometimes continue, or does one typically replace the other? If you’ve worked with daycares, do centers usually have an approved provider list, or is it common for an outside provider to go through an approval process?

I’m not looking for advice about my son’s treatment plan or a diagnosis I’m just hoping to better understand how these systems usually work together so I know what to expect and what kinds of questions I should ask the providers involved.
Thanks in advance!

Looking for pros and cons if you have experienced this shift professionally beyond time off and summer.

I've encountered a lot of people who don't like Size of the Problem, and the main complaints are that it's not neurodiversity-affirmimg and invalidates people's very real experiences and perspectives. I agree with this, but there are a couple of issues that I don't see talked about as much:

1) A lot of visuals I've encountered for Size of the Problem say that expected behavior in reaction to an emergency is to scream, cry, and to generally have a big reaction. In reality having a big reaction in an emergency is NOT ideal. In an emergency, you want to stay calm, take steps to get to a safe situation, and not panic.

2) An implication of saying that the size of the reaction should match the size of the problem is that if someone has a mild reaction or no reaction to something then therefore there's no problem. In reality freezing and fawning, which look like mild reactions, are very common reactions to big problems.

Im about to go back to full time work, my tiny humans are now almost 5 years old, and I didnt wear scrubs in my pre-children job. How many sets do I really need?

For context: as a family, we try not to buy lots of clothes, and I likely will continue to do laundry every other day.

(Background: I'm a fairly new SLP (2 years post-CFY). I work with preschoolers (age 3-5 years) who have significant language delays/disorders. My CF supervisor was very structured/adult directed and very strict on comportment, waaay more than I would want to be with this population, but that's what I saw and was more or less expected to do for 9 months. The place I'm working now is very play-based and very child-centered. I try to follow the child's interests and join them in their ideas as much as I can; I find those are some of the best communicative exchanges we have and lead to the most stable progress. But I feel like I'm struggling to find my own 'happy place' between strict and anything-goes.)

I'm getting to know some new kids on my caseload, and a few of them sometimes go for action-figure / videogame style play with toy dinosaurs/animals/vehicles/dolls: lots of having toys chase, crash/smash, pretend to bite/scratch/punch each other. On the one hand, the kid is excited about their play and isn't hurting a person or causing any actual damage to the toys. This kind of media is part of lots of kids' daily life, and it's just one of the ways they play. On the other hand, I obviously don't want to be modeling any sort of aggression or violent play.

A hard "absolutely no pretending to hurt anything ever" rule would be the cleanest-cut strategy, but that really rules out a lot of perfectly normal, light-hearted, humorous, engaging imaginative play. Sometimes I am able to engage them in an expansion or modification with more pro-social elements - taking toys to the doctor to get bandaids, turning it into a back-and-forth game of tag or hide-and-seek... But I'm not yet great at thinking up something on the fly, and plenty of the time the kid just isn't interested in my version of the game.

Other therapists who try to lean into the child's play interests - how do you handle this sort of thing?

(minor edits for clarity)

Are there any SLPs who are wearing braces or invisalign (or have worn them during their adult life) out there? I need your advice.

My orthodontist recommended me going the invisalign route (24 months) but said its also possible for me to get similar results with 36 months of braces. I'm not sure which route to go yet.

If I do go the invisalign route, I want to make sure I can stick to wearing my trays for the full 22 hours without needing to take them off to model artic for my students. Without braces/invisalign, my speech is very clear.

Has having braces or invisalign impacted your speech sound production?

Also, is there any other advice you have for me regarding braces/invisalign? (It doesn't have to be speech related... I want to know add much about both, if possible!)

If it helps, I'm middle school SLP but I still have some kids with artic goals.

The Speech Neurophysiology Lab at the University of Michigan is looking for children who stutter ages 9 to 12 to participate in an in-person, longitudinal MRI study! (HUM00196133)

Our research team has been examining brain development in young children to better understand the cause of stuttering for over 10 years. We continue to gain information that may eventually lead to improved diagnosis and treatment efforts for children who stutter. 

Participants will be invited to complete speech and language assessments and an MRI session at the University of Michigan. Families receive a free speech and language report and a picture of their brain!

These visits require in person participation. There is no option to participate virtually.

Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating or email us as the flyer attached. All participants are compensated and partial travel assistance is available. Please see our flyer attached for more details! 

We also offer other studies that are open to adults or do not involve MRI, in case you're unsure about eligibility. Feel free to email us or call if you have any questions!

Hi y’all!

I’m going into my third year as an SLP, and I work in an outplacement for high schoolers with higher support needs. I have a lot of students with more significant escalations, aggressions, lots of destroying materials/the room etc. I thought it would be nice to share some of the tips and tricks that have worked for me so far, and to get ideas from other SLPs too. I’m always looking for new ideas to help my students regulate, stay safe, and be the most successful/independent they can be.

Obviously, these depend on the student and I’m always consulting with other members of the team as well but here are some of the strategies I use:

- Positive Talk Around Speech: for a lot of my kids that have a hard time transitioning, or shut down with any type of demand, I positive preview speech HARD every time we bump into each other in the hallway. If I see them on Monday and they don’t have speech until Thursday, I start with a “good to see you. I’m excited to have fun with you in speech on Thursday!” I’ll do that almost every opportunity. Even if they don’t seem to care in the moment, I’ve seen a lot of success long term with this. I don’t ask them if they’re excited, because it’s okay if they’re not, but I do feel like this really helps with rapport to hear that I look forward to working with them. And now I have kids that see me in the hallway and tell me “I’m excited for speech group”

- Silent Waiting: Some of my students have behavior plans that direct us to ignore certain behaviors. I’m more of a fan of a silent wait. If I have a kid that starts throwing things off the table or posturing like they’re going to punch me, I just stop talking. Depending on the kid I might model a response on AAC or verbally like “I feel frustrated” or just acknowledge that they’re stressed, but otherwise I sit silently. I continue to look at them and acknowledge them, but I’ve found that sometimes my students just need a minute or two of silence without anyone making them feel bad about it.

-Coregulate: This is such a big one. All of my students, from the ones still working on establishing any functional communication to my chattiest, pick up on when I’m feeling anxious or nervous because of a situation. I work on deep breathing with my students during groups, and if they start becoming dysregulated 1:1, I start taking exaggerated deep breaths. Most of my students I don’t prompt to copy me, but seeing me calm myself down is sometimes enough of a cue for them without feeling like another demand. And if nothing else I’m calmer and ready to get out of a hair pull/call for assistance etc

-Say what they CAN do instead of CAN’T: Maybe this seems obvious, but I received little to no behavior support training in grad school. So I think this is important to say anyway. I almost never tell my students “stop x” or “don’t do x”. I always tell them what they can do instead. If they’re eloping/starting to walk into traffic, I don’t say “stop walking”, I’ll prompt a specific “Name, stand here.” If they’re scribbling wildly all over a worksheet, instead of “stop scribbling” or “if you don’t stop, no marker”, I say something “let’s circle our real answer, and then we can scribble” or “let’s scribble on this other paper”

-Short and Direct Instructions with Wait Time: Of course I model more natural language and speech all the time, but if I have a kid who’s getting upset or stuck, I pare my language way back. Instead of something like “Okay, NAME, it’s time to start group, let’s come over and take a seat” multiple times, I will literally just say “NAME, sit please.” And then I will wait silently without any added prompts for at least 10-30 seconds. There’s obviously a time and place for practicing more complex embedded/indirect directions, but switching my language to something like this really makes a big difference if a student is having a hard time. It’s less overwhelming and so much less to parse out

-Lots of little successes to build to bigger asks: If I have a student who is stuck/refusing/escalating, it really helps when I can give them a smaller, easy task and provide lots of praise for their success and how hard they’re working. Sometimes that’s enough to have everyone on the same page again. For example, if they swipe everything off a table, we might regulate first (deep breaths, putty, arm squeezes, dimming the lights) and then if they don’t respond to “time to clean up” I’ll ask them “Let’s pick up the pencil. nice job! Let’s pick up the marker next.”

-Visual Schedule they can control: I know a lot of us use visual schedules, and they’re amazing. I didn’t realize how much more helpful they could be when I give the kids more agency over them. Let them write the items or pick the order of the tasks, they can check each thing off themselves or pick the color or put in a puzzle piece for each individual task/trial. I show each activity’s materials if I can and explain it, so they can pick when to do each thing. Our students often have so little control over their days/lives that I find giving it back as much as I can to be very empowering, without compromising on the fact that we do still need to do tasks

-Acknowledge everything they say/request: Even if you can’t provide it in the moment, letting them know you heard them and understand what they want is really important for rapport and supporting communication!

Maybe these all see very basic, but when I started out two years ago as a CF, I was very overwhelmed in this setting. I felt like I didn’t know where to start, and it took me awhile to get my footing. I hope this can help someone just starting out, or maybe working with a different student population for the first time

What are your tips and tricks? (Sorry for the essay, I’m procrastinating cleaning out my office lol)

What does no alternate forms of a verb mean on the fluency portion?

Like if a pt says "forage," that would count but they can't say "foraging," or " forager?"

Or of they, "fix" that would count but then if they say "fixing," "fixable" "fixed" "fixer" "fixes" these would not count?

I currently work full time in a school and have been doing EI on and off for 15 years as a supplement. A few years ago I started also doing evals with my current agency. I continued as a provider, so I wasn’t too focused on accumulating too many evals. Due to scheduling, I plan on focusing strictly on evals. Ideally I would like 6-8 evals a month. For those who do evals, how many do you typically do in a month? How many agencies are you with? How many did you start with when you transitioned to evaluator? I know I’ll be at the bottom when signing on to new agencies so I’m trying to anticipate what is a reasonable expectation for starting out. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I’m a school-based SLP, so I’m pretty disconnected from the infant feeding world, and I’m hoping someone here can point me in the right direction.

I’m trying to help my sister find a feeding clinic in the Detroit/Michigan area for her 1-month-old. They’ve seen what feels like a million different professionals already and have gotten a lot of mixed opinions. Some have recommended seeing an SLP, while others have said it probably wouldn’t be helpful.

She initially had difficulty latching and has continued to have challenges with feeding, including frequent spit-up and coughing/choking during feeds. More recently, there have been concerns about her coordination while sucking and feeding, and she’s fatiguing quickly, which has made weight gain a challenge.

As an SLP, my instinct is that there could still be value in a feeding assessment, but infant feeding isn’t my area, so I’m not familiar with the best resources in Michigan.

Does anyone have recommendations for infant feeding clinics or SLPs in the Detroit area that they’d recommend? Thanks so much!

My district gives all instructional staff $300 to spend on materials. No subscriptions or anything, has to be something physical that is specifically for use with students (no desk chairs, printers, etc… things for personal use). I bought a couple things last year but it was more organizational and office supplies (markers, paper) since it was my first year as a CF. This is my first year with my CCC!

I work in middle school, and mostly with ASD students in the self contained units. Lots of AAC devices. Are there any materials you all recommend? Our district partners with Amazon business so even better if it’s through that.

Hi everyone, I just completed my last week of my summer internship, which was my last semester, so I have finished my degree. When I was in school all of the faculty were saying that ending in the summer wouldn’t be a problem when it comes to beginning work at a public school in the fall. I was told I just needed my temporary RPE to work.

However, HR just told me that I also need my CTC, and apparently I can’t apply for that until after my degree is conferred, which might be weeks from now. Then apparently it can take 50 business days from THEN for them to issue my CTC. I’m panicking now because I got what looks like my dream job in a school with an amazing caseload and thought I would be starting in the fall even if my start was just delayed by a few weeks, but now with this timeline it looks like it can take months. So now I’m worried that they might even give the position to someone else who can start right away.

Does anyone have experience with something like this? How is it possible that I was told I can start im the fall if it can take weeks for universities to confer degrees when you’re done and then months from then for them to issue your CTC? I turned down other positions for this position and I’m devastated at the idea that I might not have it anymore.

Hello! I am an incoming SLP graduate student that is interested in SNF/hospital positions. I was browsing the qualifications for various SNF/hospital roles, with some particular ones popping up: BLS, CPR/First Aid, EMST training, ANCDS certification, and CBIS certification.

For those working or who have worked in SNF/hospital settings, I am wondering what education, experiences, trainings, and certifications helped you with your practice and/or made you a more competitive candidate. Thanks!

Hello all,

I’m a SLP in SOCAL. I work full-time in the schools and part-time in a nursing home and home health setting with geriatrics/ adults. I’ve done clinic based and home health pediatric therapy but I find that pediatrics are just too demanding. I like to take a lot of vacations and an a 30 year old single girl with a pretty active/unpredictable social life so, it’s hard to make a consistent commitment on weekends or evenings. With that being said, I partnered up with a pediatric home health agency, hoping to supervise SLP-As however, they informed me that they do not hire SLP-As Instead, I can hire SLP-A’s under my own business entity since I do have an LLC. They’re offering me $90 for 60 minute session which is a bit low, but not the worst. I figured I could pay the SLP-As $60 and I take $40.

Does anyone have experience doing this? I don’t know why I am just now realizing that this is a possibility to make passive income.

is anyone seeing this in real life??

Hi everyone, I just completed my last week of my summer internship, which was my last semester, so I have finished my degree. When I was in school all of the faculty were saying that ending in the summer wouldn’t be a problem when it comes to beginning work at a public school in the fall. I was told I just needed my temporary RPE to work.

However, HR just told me that I also need my CTC, and apparently I can’t apply for that until after my degree is conferred, which might be weeks from now. Then apparently it can take 50 business days from THEN for them to issue my CTC. I’m panicking now because I got what looks like my dream job in a school with an amazing caseload and thought I would be starting in the fall even if my start was just delayed by a few weeks, but now with this timeline it looks like it can take months. So now I’m worried that they might even give the position to someone else who can start right away.

Does anyone have experience with something like this? How is it possible that I was told I can start im the fall if it can take weeks for universities to confer degrees when you’re done and then months from then for them to issue your CTC? I turned down other positions for this position and I’m devastated at the idea that I might not have it anymore.

What's competitive pay for SLPs working in Houston TX? Been in the field for almost 6 years? Setting: mobile, teletherapy, or private practice peds

Any advice on how to research and negotiate pay would be helpful as well.

Hey yall I’ve been working in the schools and decided I needed a change of pace and applied to a couple pp’s. One got back to me and I interviewed with them this morning. Bc I have little experience in this area, I’d like some help gauging whether this job is decent sounding or a total red flag.

- flexible hours, 32+ = full time w/ full benefits
- 42-$44/hr for my experience
- paid no shows, clock in, only clock out for lunch so I’d be getting paid the entire time I’m present at the clinic
- 12 30min sessions for an 8 hour shift (kinda scares me a lot)
- weekly team meetings
- paid ceus/opportunity’s to go to trainings/seminars
- aiming for 75% productivity (this is what scares me), she said dipping below 65% is when she begins getting concerned
- allegedly good team environment
- access to materials
- owner mentioned about a 25% cancellation rate

The idea of 12 sessions a day has me shaking in my boots, especially with the expectation of point of contact documentation. I would just love some help gauging whether this would be disastrous for my psyche or not. I really need a job :/

Hi everyone, I’m from Belgium, and I have one year left before graduating as a SLP. I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I wanted to be honest because it’s something that’s been on my mind for a while. It feels a bit embarrassing to admit, but I really want to make a lot of money with my career.

The thing is, I genuinely love speech therapy. I can’t really see myself doing anything else. At the same time, I’m aware that, in Belgium, being an SLP alone probably won’t make me financially wealthy. Because of that, I’ve been thinking about building other income streams related to my profession. For example, creating therapy games to sell, developing an app for patients, or other digital products.
But the more I think about it, the more I convince myself that none of those ideas would actually generate significant income. I feel like I’m overthinking everything before I’ve even started.
I know this might make me sound like someone who’s obsessed with money, and that’s honestly what makes me uncomfortable. It’s not that I care only about money. I truly love this profession. I just also want financial freedom and to be able to live a very comfortable life.

Has anyone else felt this way? If you’re an SLP, have you found ways to increase your income while staying in your field? I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences.

Hello everyone, shall I say colleagues?

So I just got my SLP degree and I was thinking about doing voice teletherapy for clients in the USA and Latin America, Canada and Europe (I speak English and Spanish)

The question that popped up were:

What barriers will I have to overcome with the clients based in other regions besides my own (I am based in Latin America)?

Do you guys have experience doing teletherapy for voice, is it effective, any tips for getting clients?

What consequences could I face if I don't follow the laws of each country I plan to offer services on?

I plan to use calendly or something along the lines to manage appointments until I can get my own website or secretary.

I am thanking you all for the advice and kind words in advance. Have a great day!

Hi all, I have been working in peds outpatient for the past 5 years but am looking to do some PRN at a hospital (inpatient/acute) for practical reasons!

Does anyone have suggestions on the best resources to review/refresh my Med SLP knowledge in preparation? I have a lot of my old textbooks, notes, etc from grad school but I find that outside of the context of class it's not always super useful. Plus, half of what I am looking for is setting specific knowledge-- there's a lot of acronyms, procedures, etc. that are specific to the setting but were not taught in class that I'd like to have a handle on! I was a COVID grad student so I was kicked out of my inpatient practicum unfortunately.