I can be flexible, really I can.

6 Oct
October 6, 2012 Cindy 0

I am sorry that I haven’t been able to do my usual posting.  The year has been a bit unpredictable.   I am thinking I need to add a few more statements to Murphy’s Laws for SLPs.  You just don’t know what will be coming your way next.

I had just finished my scheduling for my students and stuck their schedule clocks into the teacher’s mailboxes. Speech Therapy would start the following week, so I thought.  I always feel better when that task is done.  I shouldn’t have felt so smug.  I just sat down when  I received a phone call from the special education director.  He said they were reorganizing SLP placements to balance out the caseloads. This was a bit scary to hear as I wondered where I would end up next.  It turned out they were reassigning me back to the school I was at previously.  At least I was familiar with the students, parents and staff.  So I said goodbye to the new staff and hello to the old staff.  At least they seemed happy to see me.  A few students and parents seemed confused but it was nice to be back in familiar territory sorta.  I say sorta because the room was transformed a bit.  Furniture was switched and items in cabinets and shelves had been reshuffled.  The things we do to make it our own when we move into new territory.   By this time I had actually moved my boxes 5 times;  the strike, back to finish the year, home, to new school and back to original school.  I managed to lose a box.  I am not sure exactly what was in it, only that I seem to be missing things to include my vocabulary building cards and my Superflex capes.  This has left me feeling like I am loosing my mind trying to figure out where it might be.   I am glad I made this site so I can rebuild  most of it.

There are some good things coming on the horizon.  I am team teaching a social pragmatic group for life skills students this year.   I will post activities as we do them this year.  I will also be attending the “Social Thinking” conference in a few weeks.  Michelle Winner has come out with new materials and I am eager to see them.

I always enjoy hearing from followers out there.  I hope your year has started out a bit more stable.   Has anyone had as unpredictable of a  time as I have?

Welcome to a New School Year.

9 Sep
September 9, 2012 Cindy 0

I am sorry you haven’t heard from me for a while.  I thought I should make a post  so that I don’t make the inactive list  after  making the list for top  SLP sites.   I was not expectingIt  to be recognized for  my efforts and it was a pleasant surprise.   I am amazed at how many new SLP sites/blogs are out there since I began 2 yrs ago.  We are certainly a creative bunch of individuals.  You should definitely check the sites out on the list.   All of this sharing is making it much easier to plan therapy and learn new things.  It is also makes it much harder to come up with original ideas.

At this time I don’t have much new to offer.  I have been preoccupied with adjusting to a new building and staff.  So far the staff has been welcoming and helpful.  The secretaries and janitor are not running from me when they see me  so I haven’t worn out my welcome yet.  I have moved to a room that is 1/3 or less the size of my previous room.  This has forced me to make priorities of what I keep at home and at school.   It is a good way to clean out things you really don’t need.  I have a window to the outside which I haven’t had for the last 7 yrs.

It does seem like a better working situation.  I have an elementary school with K-5th grade population and a few students at a close by charter school.  There is still a poverty and english learner population which means we have pressure to meet testing requirements which seem more out of reach each year.  I will  not supervise  a SLPA this year which should make the paperwork considerably less.  The district has decided that claiming reimbursement for Medicaid is no longer cost-effective and have discontinued the practice.  That will also cut down on paperwork and data taking.  If you read posts from last year you know we spent most of the year without a contract and had a strike looming for most of the year.  It was definitely a stressful year.

I have hopes for a better year.  I know other places are still fighting rough times.  Does anyone care to check in from else where?  Is your year looking better?   I want to assure the teachers in Chicago that you have support even on the West Coast.   We have learned here there is power in numbers and sometimes that is what it takes.

A Possible Data Collection System

5 Aug
August 5, 2012 Cindy 0

Summer is a great time to look at new options for the next year.  I have trouble changing course when the year has already begun.  However, changing to a new caseload gives me opportunities to start afresh and technology presents new options.

Up until now  I have used the typical paper and pencil data collection system, but I would like to change to something that doesn’t require as much paper shuffling.    A site called classdojo.com intrigued me so I  put it on my list for exploration this summer.  I added it to my blog roll on the right if you want to look at it also.   I just got around to playing  with it and I think it has good potential for record keeping.

I can’t claim the idea of using it for  speech therapy as mine.  In my meandering across speech sites (Speaking of Speech possibly) someone mentioned it.  I no longer remember the person with the great idea.  If you are out there please step forward and say who you are so you can be acknowledged properly.

The  premiss of the program is to track behaviors in a classroom and give immediate feedback.   The behaviors can easily be setup for therapy goals also.   You can set up a number of classes so each group of students you work with  can form a class.  At the end of a session, a percentage score can be obtained for each student.   This score can actually be emailed to parents if you like.  There is flexibility in  recording degrees of correctness such as correct, correct with prompt, or incorrect, depending on how you set it up initially.  I have always hated the idea of minus and plus as the only options because it doesn’t indicate when a cue  has occurred.   I think that is valuable information for the child and me.

If you are like me and are lucky to have one iPad to use, you are reluctant to use it for data collection because  this prevents you from  using the other apps for actual therapy.  There is another  good feature.  You can access the program on a smart phone and record responses there as well.   I am eager to see if this will work  for me.

It is time for the Olympics

29 Jul
July 29, 2012 Cindy 0

The Olympics makes me think of sports and a great time to use sport related vocabulary.  I have been organizing some of my materials and came across some of the cards I use for a sports theme.  I thought some of you may be able to use them when talking about the Olympics.   There are two sets.   Word Association (Sports) cards in the Vocabulary section and 3 Words Make a Sentence (Sports) in the Expressive Language section.

No more pencils, no more books, no more….

26 Jun
June 26, 2012 Cindy 0

Wait a minute, I don’t like the ending to that.   I tried to hold off on the dirty looks.    I have to say I was really happy to see this last school year come to a close.  Of all the years I’ve worked this one was probably the hardest.   As the  saying goes, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”  It was a stressful year of failed contract negotiations, high caseload in two buildings, high parent expectations with dwindling resources.   The last two weeks of school were  stressful as  missed meetings required rescheduling   within the busy end of year schedule.   It really makes a person reach for new ways of dealing with the paperwork and scheduling challenges.  This is a goal I have made for myself.  I know many of you  faced similar challenges or maybe even worse situations.   I would love to hear your survival stories.  Will you be back another school year?

As I was  getting ready for the summer departure and contemplating what my next year would  bring,  I found I would have a new assignment.  I  decided this is a good thing, because I really needed to sort through my materials and make adjustments.  I have brought all my materials home to get ready for a move to another building.   This is good news for you, because I’ve found a few things that were not posted yet.   If you care to look through the materials you may find them as the summer moves a long.