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!

So proud of my advocate future husband!

My advocate future husband (AFH) was substitute-teaching today and overheard some kids using the word "retarded." The entire class was promptly lectured about how the word "retarded" is ugly and hurtful. He said he did it because of me, and therefore because of you, my blogging community. You really opened my eyes to that word, and I shared what I learned with AFH. It really made an impression on both of us, and when he heard those kids using the word, it really rubbed him the wrong way. So I am very proud of him for speaking up and hopefully planting some seeds of tolerance!

Blowing dust off of my poor blog

I realized today that I've been silent for a good month. I've still been keeping up with all of my blogs, reading daily and commenting occasionally. However, I just haven't had much energy to write. School has been exhausting this semester. I've been having a tough time keeping up with the frantic, breakneck pace. I feel like I don't have a lot to contribute to this blogging community that gives me so much; I don't have children, I don't have a degree, and the insights I do have I am reluctant to share.
Recently I did a poster at a conference about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and autism. I did not conduct an actual research study, but I proposed one in which two groups of children would be taught to use the same electronic AAC device in the same fashion. The only difference would be that one group's devices would have the speech output function turned on, and one group's devices would have the speech output function turned off. I want to isolate that component to see if speech output makes a difference in AAC intervention, and possibly even to see if it encourages children to start using natural speech. I had a lot of professionals tell me that my idea was a good one, and to share various experiences they had with AAC. This was somewhat gratifying because the first time I had ever touched an actual AAC device was the day before I presented the poster. Sometimes my lack of experience and knowledge overwhelms me...but I find that when I don't let it incapacitate me, I get through whatever situation I'm facing and I do okay. To my knowledge, I have not yet scarred anyone for life, at least. ;) So I'll try to come up with some more content soon.
P.S. CC, I didn't win. Thanks for offering the videos, but I might save my pennies and try to get the DVDs so I can get to certain spots faster and play them on my laptop for kids.

I wanna WIN!

So, Rhett's mom over at The Bird Flock is having a Signing Time giveaway. I need to blog about why I want a Signing Time DVD in order to win. So here goes!
First of all, I have no kids. I do not plan to have kids anytime soon. However, I think the title of my blog is a good clue about how I would put this DVD to use if I got it! I'm in graduate school to be a speech-language pathologist. This means that I am A) broke and B) in need of materials to use when I get out into the real world! I would use this DVD with many children who might not otherwise get exposed to sign language. I would combine the DVD with the skills I will surely one day have to get these children communicating! Although learning sign language can be beneficial to kids who don't need speech services, it can be crucial for those who do, and I'm not just talking about children with hearing impairment. Sometimes children have so many speech problems that it is difficult for even their parents to understand them. For these children, sign language can be a way to communicate and connect with people until their speech becomes more intelligible. Sometimes children with autism are non-verbal for whatever reason, and do not/cannot use speech. Sign language can be a lifeline to these children.
Now, I would not just pop in the DVD during my sessions and let Rachel do all of the work for me! I would watch a short clip with the children and then reinforce the signs they just saw with different activities and games that would have them interacting with me AND each other. I would show the DVD to parents and tell them that Signing Time is an easy way to reinforce what the children are learning in speech. I would use it in classrooms to give other children a way to connect with their friend who communicates a little differently.
In short, I would use Signing Time as a tool in my SLP toolbox to help as many children as possible become better communicators!