Most of the time when parents get a phone call in the middle of the day from their child's school, it is usually bad news. Either the student's grades aren't as strong as they should be, the student is sick and needs to be picked up, or maybe even the student got into a little scuffle out on the playground. I have noticed tons of educators constantly making negative phone calls, but what about POSITIVE phone calls? I think we all need to change this up! Attention school-based speech-language pathologists: I am proposing that we take a few minutes out of our busy schedules to make one POSITIVE phone call a day to the parents of one of our speech students. Check this video out to get a better idea of what I am talking about and why I feel it is so important. Stay awesome and I look forward to hearing from you!

Making decisions is a very important part of life. That is why I always make the THE DECISION to push my students to MAKE DECISIONS! Here is what I mean . . . I often ask my kiddos, "Hey guys, out of these two speech therapy activities, which one would you like to do first?" And they usually respond with a very lethargic "meh, I don't care" or the dreaded "whatever." That doesn't fly in MY speech therapy sessions. If Mr. Raj is asking you to make a choice, you're going to make a choice because that is effective communication at its finest. Know what I mean? Seriously though, I have found that when I encourage my speech students to actually make a choice, they truly start to appreciate it! Give this video a watch to see how I do it. Like what you see? Hit me up and let me know because I would love to hear from you. You're fantastic (but you already knew that)!

Do me a favor. Next time you head over to work, ask the speech students on your caseload if they can tell you why they come to speech class. Your articulation kiddos might be able to tell you, but I guarantee you that your language friends most likely will have some trouble. (At least that was the case with my students). I believe that it is absolutely vital that all students understand exactly WHY they come to speech class. I have found that when I take a few extra seconds at the beginning of the speech therapy session to "quiz" them on why they come to speech, it totally helped them to remember why and that ultimately makes them more successful. Knowledge is power, right? By helping your students to become completely aware of their goals and objectives, they are able to reach them at a much faster rate. Please give this video a view and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you. Stay awesome!

Can you think of anything cooler than a secret handshake? I sure can't! And that is exactly why I always try to introduce a secret handshake within my speech therapy sessions. Teaching speech students numerous fun and tricky hand gestures helps a great deal with solidifying their ability to follow multi-step directions. Check this video out to see if secret handshakes are right for you and your caseload. As always, hit me up with any questions or comments you might have. You're the best. I look forward to hearing from you!

There is nothing that I enjoy more than when I see my older speech clients help out the younger students during a group therapy session. Peer to peer modeling is truly second to none. Are you taking advantage of how amazingly a student can teach a classmate during the speech therapy session? I invite you to give this video a view. You might learn a thing or two about how my "Junior Speech-Language Pathologists" really know how to get the job done. I am so proud of my little kiddos! Let me know what you think about this video and as always, hit me with any comments or questions.  Stay cool, friends!

I love doing things that encourage my speech students to use their articulation strategies in a spontaneous conversation. I have had a great deal of success with my /SH/ students when they see me wearing TWO DIFFERENT PAIRS OF SHOES. I know that might sound crazy, but trust me, it works! Give this video a view so you can find out exactly what I am talking about. As always, if you ever have a question, HIT ME UP. I got your back. YOU ROCK!

P.S. A good friend of mine named Deb just sent me this amazing email: "The other thing that wearing 2 different shoes emphasizes which I notice with my kiddos, is that they have issues with /s/ and /z/ as well--- my students who work on their /s/ tend to devoice the /z/. Noticing shoes will help them say this as well!!"

Deb really brings up a fantastic point! She is an awesome SLP!

If you are looking for a fun speech therapy idea that can help your students practice their articulation, expressive/receptive language, auditory memory, pragmatics, and so much more, this idea is right up your alley. Turning your speech therapy room into a comedy club is easy as pie! You and your students will be laughing your heads off once you give this idea try. As always, let me know how it goes. Have a great session with your kiddos! :-)

We are always so quick to ask our students about their weekends, but we very rarely tell them about our weekends. Weird. Why do we forget to actually talk about ourselves in the speech therapy setting? We need to start doing this and I am going to tell you why in this video blog post. Give this a view and let me know what you think. Have a really great day and keep smiling!

We all make mistakes within the speech therapy setting, but are you remembering to truly learn from those mistakes? Learning from them will make you the best clinician out there. Trust me. Check out with video where I spill my guts out to you in the name of the profession that I love. I hope you learn a thing or two from this video blog post. As always, hit me up with any questions/comments that you might have. Stay awesome!

Are you a speech-language pathologist like me? If you answered yes, then you are also a chameleon lizard, too! Are you wondering what I mean when I call you chameleon lizard? Well, give this video blog post a view to find out some inspirational knowledge that is sure to bring a smile to your face. Remember, you are awesome and I look forward to hearing from you!

Let me ask you a question . . . do you find yourself constantly saying, "good job" to your students over and over again? I know I say that WAY TOO OFTEN. We need to vary our positive reinforcement to ensure that are students do not fall asleep during speech therapy. Give this video a view to figure out some other fun things that you can say to all your awesome speech therapy students. Let me know how it goes. You rock!

Sometimes the /L/ sound can be super tricky for students. I know it and you know it! That is why I threw this video together where I am specifically talking about the fun way that I like to teach my students who are struggling with the /L/ sound. Do you think that this articulation strategy could help you out? Give this a shot and let me know how it goes. Keep up the great work!

Howdy friends! My name is Erik X. Raj, M.S., CCC-SLP, and I am a speech-language pathologist (just like you). It is awesome to meet you! Above you will find a little intro video that let's you in on exactly what I am trying to accomplish with this video portion of the my site. I hope that you enjoy your time checking out my video blog posts. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to hit me up. Have a beautiful day!