Thank You

The student clinic is winding down this week. The semester ends on Friday, and our summer session doesn't start until June. We generally switch clients every semester so students can experience with lots of different kids. And I wanted to say thank you to parents who bring their kids to student clinics and put up with crazy schedules and long breaks from therapy during summer and Christmas, nervous students with sweaty palms who are getting graded on how well they work with your child, supervisors coming in and out, a new nervous student with sweaty palms every four months, and all the awkward moments that must happen to students so they can grow. Thank you for trusting us with your child, and being willing to trade off therapists like hot potatoes. I will tell you that we spend hours preparing for your child's session, and writing up the progress note afterwords. We talk to each other about ideas for therapy so we can always keep activities fresh and creative. We talk about how we think your kid is cute and how much you and your kid teach us. We celebrate their triumphs with you. We are jealous of our friends who get to work with our favorite clients. Thank you for trusting us with your child.

So close...

Next Thursday my semester ends and I can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Then I get a week off before the first session of summer clinic starts. I am actually looking forward to summer clinic; I will continue doing Wednesday mornings in my public school placement, so I don't have to adjust to something completely new. I feel like I am just starting to get comfortable with that placement, so I'm glad to continue there.
In other news, May is Better Speech, Hearing, and Language Month! Woot!

IEPs and PLOPs and AYP, oh my!

I'm currently making up an IEP for a hypothetical student as a class assignment, and it's taking me forever! Granted, some of that is because I am having to make up details about a made-up child as I go, but some of it is because I don't have much experience with IEPs...yet. ;) I am wishing that some of the parents whose blogs I read were here to help me write this thing, which amuses me because it's a bit of role-reversal from what people typically think. I think that usually the SLP or the special education teacher writes the IEP and the parent agrees or disagrees. Now that I think about it, however, maybe the other way around is better. Maybe the parent should write the IEP and the SLP or special education teacher or whomever should agree or disagree. Maybe everyone could come with a draft IEP and compare. Anyone want to make a draft IEP for my hypothetical child named Ivy League? ;)
Incidentally, if you live in Virginia, here is a link to a sample IEP form: www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/sped/iep_form.doc If you live in another state, poke around on your state education website and see if you can find a draft IEP form there. I had to use the search engine on mine, but I eventually hunted it down.

Lackluster week

I gave my first articulation therapy session on Wednesday. I don't know how I went so long without having an articulation client, but there you are. I went a little overboard and wrote this long story with the kiddos' target sounds. I read the long sentences in the long story and expected the kiddos to say the sentences back to me. I was setting the poor dears up for a hard time, but they tried their best for me, and I am grateful for their patience as I learn with them.
A friend of mine has a client who uses sign language. The client is not hearing-impaired, but was not communicating verbally. Apparently he has now started talking all on his own. They didn't teach him to talk or encourage him to talk. They just encouraged him to sign. I think that is the coolest thing I've heard all week. :)
I am behind in working my student aide hours and my hair is still sopping wet and twisted up in a towel. Perhaps I should work on this. Yesh. I have night class tonight and it's a grey day outside, but I shall soldier on!