The Learning Curve

In Class Speech Work

2013-03-27T09:28:00.001-06:00

One of the most fulfilling changes to my therapy format this year has been creating an in-class speech program for most of my students as a supplement to our direct therapy. While my unique school environment made it easier for me to begin this program, I think it could be introduced in a more traditional school environment. What is an in-class speech program? An opportunity for the student to

My New School

2013-03-20T09:57:00.000-06:00

In my new career ventures I have the opportunity of owning and operating my own business, but I still get the pleasure of working with students in their school environments. It's a perfect combination for me. Seriously, sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Fortunately, because I was offered positions at a number of locations, I was able to hand pick the environment that

Lower Prices on TPT store

2013-03-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends, I am lowering the prices at my TPT store. I have finally made back the money I had to pay to be part of the TPT store. So in celebration, I'll be lowering all my prices. Almost everything is $1.00 or less. Happy Thursday! Annie Here's the LINK!

Now Available: Handout for Teachers Explaining the Role of SLPs in the Schools

2013-02-27T16:06:00.004-07:00

Friends. I wrote this post a few months ago about an inservice I provided at my school explaining the role of SLPs in the schools. I have had many requests for this handout to be made available. I made some improvements on it and have now made it available in my teachers pay teachers store. It is editable in case you wanted to add or delete anything. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Wednesday! Click

If you don't like your fate, change it!

2013-02-18T15:00:00.001-07:00

I know I've told some of you about this but I thought I'd share it again. Just 6 months ago, I made a big change in my career path as a speech/language pathologist. For 4 years I had been working for the largest school district in my state. I can sincerely say that my experience there, as a brand-spankin-new SLP, was invaluable. I owe so much to the many SLPs who taught me the ropes. Yes, at

Superbowl Sunday Sale

2013-02-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, I just barely figured out how to make a "sale" happen in my TPT shop. Everything there is 15% off today! Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Annie

Do You Want My Data Forms?

2013-01-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends, I apologize for my absence. This year has just been a whirlwind working two jobs, chasing my little 1 year old around and attempting to keep my house in order has been crazy, fun and chaotic. I'm embarrassed to admit that my inbox is regularly over 200 unread emails because I can never find the time to get it down. And then when I get 50 of those emails taken care of the mystical

Language Worksheets Website

2012-11-06T11:19:00.003-07:00

Okay just a quick post. I have 3 minutes until my next group starts but I had to share. During my prep time here at work I was trying to find some worksheets for possessives and I found this awesome website! It has lots of free language worksheets and you can download them as editable documents or as pdfs. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the person who made this site! Check it out! http://

Telling Teachers What SLPs Do

2012-10-26T12:50:00.001-06:00

Does this sound familiar to any of you?.... "What do you do?" "I am a speech-language pathologist." "Oh so you help kids who can't say their Rs and stuff" "Yep, and a lot more than that." "Really? Like what?" Come on, I know you have all had this conversation! It's typical for people to understand that we work with articulation disorders but it's not as apparent that we also work with language

Update on Life

2012-10-21T10:42:00.000-06:00

Warning: This post doesn't have any good SLP tips. I just wanted to share a little about myself for my friends out there who've been reading my blog. Sometimes it's fun to get to know a little more about our blogging friends. Life is crazy and so fun right now. Here's a little picture of what my world revolves around. Love my boys! New Job: Having the summer off with my baby boy was so fun.

Lesson Planning

2012-08-18T14:48:00.001-06:00

Let's be honest, we've all had sessions that may or may not have been a bust! Those rough sessions usually happen in circumstances where there just wasn't enough time to think through the lesson plan. As SLPs this happens more frequently than we'd like as our caseloads get bigger and the paperwork piles up. I know I'm not only one who has occasionally whipped up a language lesson out of thin

Super Sorry

2012-08-17T13:21:00.001-06:00

Wow I'm so sorry everyone. Here is the RIGHT link to the facebook page. SLP Learning Curve Facebook Page NOW you can go find it for real! We are currently talking about the ASHA convention. Are any of you going? I want to go so badly but I'm not sure the finances will work out. Come join the conversation.

A Little Collaboration? Yes, please!

2012-08-16T12:32:00.002-06:00

Dear Friends, I've decided it'd be awesome to have more good quality discussion with all of you fantastic SLPs out there. I've added a facebook account for the Learning Curve. Please, please join me. I love me a good speech discussion. Click here to see the page SLP Learning Curve Facebook Page Now go find it!

New School Year...New Goals

2012-08-14T14:22:00.000-06:00

The new school year is coming up and I can't suppress the excitement. There's just something about the first day of school that gets me all giddy inside. Nerd-alert! Am I the only lame-o that feels that way? Last year, I missed out on that feeling because I was on maternity leave at the beginning of the school year. When I finally did go back to work I just wasn't feeling the love for the job. I

Keeping it real

2012-07-30T16:30:00.000-06:00

I was recently offered some opportunities to make money with this little space on the web. It wasn't anything that would let me quit my job anytime soon, but it was enticing. After some thought, I've decided it wasn't the route I wanted to take right now. I want to keep this little blog as a space where I can share ideas that I think are useful. I don't want to feel like I have to write every

Back!

2012-07-30T10:16:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone! Super sorry about the lengthy neglect of my blog. This summer was solely dedicated to this little guy! This little man and I were busy having the best summer ever! Back to school is fresh on the mind and I'm hoping to do some changing up this year. Posts to come. Have a great one and see you soon. Annie

Rethinking Language Therapy

2012-05-29T11:22:00.003-06:00

Dear Speech Friends, If you haven't noticed I've been Missing In Action lately. The past few months I have been questioning my techniques for language therapy and instruction. You probably could have guessed since I'm doing this whole language disorders review. I'm just not convinced of the validity of some of the techniques I've seen. It feels like language therapy is similar to trying to

Oh dear!

2012-04-26T12:03:00.003-06:00

Oh dear, I'm a little behind! Never fear, our review of chapter 3 is coming soon. If you are on the ball, you will have already read it and are well on your way through chapter 4. If, by chance, you went on a vacation and have been working on your professional portfolio in order to upgrade your educators license, then you are probably behind. Okay, I know that it's just me. Please forgive me for

Service Delivery Models

2012-04-06T10:01:00.000-06:00

I just read a great article called Different Service Delivery Models for Different Communication Disorders. It can be found in the most recent issue of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools Vol.43 117-120 April 2012. It is a really well written article from the editor that discusses the need to individualize our service delivery models for each child. She discusses the fact that a

Chapter 2 Review Quiz Now Available

2012-04-02T14:55:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends, It's time to discuss what we learned when we read over Chapter 2: Evaluation and Assessment. Here are my notes that I jotted down while reading this chapter. Please click the link to take the short quiz and share what you learned or re-learned. Even if you didn't read the chapter, you can take the quiz and help us get a feel for how SLPs out there are doing their evaluations and

Chapter 1 Review Results: Models of Child Language Disorders

2012-03-28T11:59:00.002-06:00

Wow, thank you to everyone who participated! I am very inspired by all of your support and participation in this review of language disorders. Let's keep up the great work. Without further ado, here is our brief review of Chapter 1. Chapter 1: Models of Child Language Disorders After sifting through the surveys there were 3 important questions that arose after reading this chapter. 1. How

progress reports just might kill me

2012-03-22T12:20:00.001-06:00

Is it just me, or do those terms go by much faster than I can handle. Progress reports are due tomorrow and I am in a panic. My baby was sick at the beginning of the term and I had a substitute for a number of days. My lesson plans were simple and I didn't have my substitute fill out our normal progress charts. My caseload is so high and I only have 30 minutes prep/planning each week so I never

Language Disorders Challenge Schedule

2012-03-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in our chapter one review. We'd like to invite everyone to join us in our review challenge. Most people who filled out the survey said that realistically we need to take 2 weeks for each chapter. So let's plan on doing a chapter every 2 weeks or so. At the end of the two weeks I will post a survey for each person to fill out with what they found was most

How Did Your Reviewing Go?

2012-03-02T11:24:00.002-07:00

Dear Amazing SLPs, Did you get a chance to review chapter one of your language disorders textbook? If you did, you are SO AWESOME! I know it's going to help us all be better speech-LANGUAGE patholgosits! :) If you didn't have time, no worries. You can still join us any time. Just pull out your old text books and notes. Once you've done that, please share your experience with us by taking this

Want to Join our Language Disorders Review?

2012-02-20T11:16:00.004-07:00

A couple friends from graduate school and I have made a goal to review our old textbooks and notes. Right now my life does not allow for constant study, but I figure I can give 10 or 15 minutes a day to review my notes. I did pay a pretty penny for graduate school so I think it's well worth it to maintain that investment. And it's good for my career, particularly good for my clients. We are