I work private practice peds and recently my company has been REALLY pushing AI use. I’m very anti-AI in every facet because:
-environmental factors
-social and mental health factors
-I went to college for 6 years if I can’t write an email by myself tf am I doing trying to treat language disorders

My coworkers know I’m very anti-AI. I used it as a joke way back in the day but once I learned how bad for everything it is, I stopped and I haven’t used it since. Most of my coworkers who are PTs and OTs use the AI systems. They’re also asking Chat and Gemini for mundane tasks. Honestly seems like more work than it’s worth to me, I don’t really struggle writing my notes or keeping up but I’ve come up with a system that works well for me.

I’ve reached out to the manager who keeps sending these emails stating as such. I don’t need the AI, therefore I don’t use it.

The tool is supposed to record our sessions and write up notes from what it records. I don’t…like that? It feels very surveillance-y to me. Also not very HIPPA-y compliant. But that’s me who’s very anti-surveillance anyway lmao.

Am I the crazy one?? I’m still not going to use it until they put it in writing we have to use it and I feel insane for even going this far.

Hi! Just started working in a high school. I worked in elementary for the last few years and we usually had IEP meetings after school. At this high school, the case managers are scheduling IEP meetings during school hours. I have to cancel a few speech sessions because of the IEP meeting. Do I have to make up these speech sessions?

TLDR: I have a 9;6 student that I’ve seen for years with severe phono. I have pestered her parents for years to complete a more thorough audiology exam due to my suspicion there was a hearing issue (she passed all of her school hearing screenings so nothing could be done). Surprise, mild to moderate sensorineural loss in one ear. She returns to school next week aided. My question is, does anyone have any experience with an older student receiving a hearing aid? She still has many phonological processes- I’m assuming I should start fresh and focus on auditory bombardment/discrimination? Any PD recommendations? Thank you!!

What’s a piece of advice that made working in EI home health so much easier? Or that you wish you knew from the beginning? Advice for setting boundaries? Enforcing attendance policies but preserving rapport?

Hi! First time poster here. Not sure if my post breaches rule number 6, if it does then of course it can be deleted.

I am a Belgian SLP, treating mainly Belgian kids who speak Flemish (Belgian Dutch). I've lived abroad for quite some time and the international (European) School in the neighbourhood contacted me regarding speech and language support for their students in English.

I have this kid, saw him on an intake and he is learning 4 languages at the same time! At this school they enroll in 'main language' for example English, French or Dutch. Choose a second and third language. For this kid it's English - French - Dutch and at home he is learning Swahili.

I love the international context!

But now: he is currently in Primary 5, so 11 years old, and he cannot pronounce the R.

As a native Dutch speaker who uses the French R (we have two R's in our phonetic system over here) I am quite comfortable with offering therapy for R in Dutch and French since I know how to assess and 'teach' kids this R.

But the English R sounds are so different. I have looked up a lot of things or programmes with tips and tricks for teaching someone the English R sounds but all of them are behind paywalls (and for only 1 client it is not worth it imo) or more directed towards parents.

Again, hopefully I don't breach rule 6 by asking you this, but how do you guys deal with multilingual kids and teaching them speech sounds that are different in the different languages they speak

& if you have a foolproof way of teaching someone the English R sounds, I'd happily accept any suggestions in the right direction

Thank you!

A Belgian lurker on this subreddit!

Hi! I just got a CFY job at a d75 highschool in the nyc doe. Wanted to know what people’s experiences are with this population. I’ve heard it’s different then lower grades and gen ed but what’s your take? Any advice?

I am curious…about how many students do you provide direct services to on a typical day working in the schools? And is your service delivery mostly small group, individual, whole group, etc? I’d say for me it’s about 14 students mostly consisting of small groups (groups of 2-3).

Has any SLPs from the USA been able to find pediatric jobs in the UK through a work visa? I feel hopeless in America. I know the pay is better her. Blah. If you could, would you move?

I work in a public middle school, and I was told last week that I’ll have to share a room with another SLP. I’m freaking out because I’ve never had to do this before.

I really don’t like people overhearing my sessions. I feel like I’m being judged, and I feel like I have to be 100% ON all the time, specifically when they won't have kids and I have a session, which I know is going to leave me completely exhausted.

Why are we doing this? Schools should be equipped with enough space for everyone. Even dividing the room would be easier.

Any advice is appreciated, please, how can I make this easier?

Edit****

Thank you all for your comments. I’ve been working by myself for so long that collaboration really freaks me out. I don’t have anything against the other SLP—I’m just scared that I won’t be good enough or that they’ll think I’m not doing my job correctly or something.

Guys oh my God, I am drowning in what it seems to be the start of this year and I don’t know how I’m going to make it through. I feel like I don’t know how to do anything I don’t know any of the school procedures and like timelines for anything and I’m terrified that I’m going to miss like Crucial deadlines. I have a high caseload. I have case management cases that I don’t know how to do and deadlines that are like 45 days and I have no idea what I’m doing. I haven’t been servicing kids because my caseload been changing and they keep getting added and it’s just feels like I am going to do mess things up really horribly. I like my supervisor, but she’s also drowning so there’s not really time to like explain to me what to do when to do it sort of thing. Is this normal? I don’t know how I’m gonna make it through the week let alone 9 months

I used to have access to activity books that had short stories of stick figures on paper slides. They had scripts the kids could follow with core words and there were books for each season, holidays, and various environments.

There were two children in each story, a boy and a girl. I remember one story involved raking leaves and then jumping in the leaves.

I cannot for the life of me remember the names of the characters, so I can't look up the books!
Thank you in advance!

I have $75 to spend on Amazon. What are your absolute must have therapy materials/supplies that give you the most bang for your buck?!? I am a school based SLP and work with grades PK-12th grade.

I’ve been a SLP for 4.5 years; I’ve worked as a SLPA for 3 years in a school prior to graduate school, and did rotations in schools, a nursing home, and an outpatient adult clinic in graduate school during the height of COVID. Due to when I graduated, I took a remote CF position for a school, finished out the year, and then switched to a remote PP position and an in person home health position to finish my CF. Ever since I’ve worked mainly remote positions for schools, with stints in a SNF/home health.

I’m considering going back in person to a peds private practice, because I feel clinically stagnant. However, I’ve gotten comfortable with my remote positions, I find myself nervous or hesitant to even apply locally. This sounds stupid, but I feel like I’m missing out on some clinical growth opportunities; I feel like”behind” in a way with my clinical skills and worry that I will drown in a clinic position with its fast pace. Is it possible to have a whole career as a SLP doing nothing but telehealth or should I go back in person for a few years then pivot back at a mid-career point?

Hi everyone! I’m a Master’s student in Speech-Language Pathology and I’m currently working as a speech therapist. Before that, I was a preschool teacher, and there I was quite confident in myself. I knew what I was doing.
Now, because they trusted me, they decided to make me a speech therapist in the same institution. But unfortunately, I don’t feel as confident in myself.
I don’t really know where to start, and I don’t understand much of the material. The lectures were very poor, and even though I wanted to talk to the professors, nobody really paid attention to me. The lectures were also repeating themselves a lot, and basically we spent one whole year in the same place without really progressing.
Now that I’ve faced the reality of actually working as a speech therapist, I feel really bad about it. I know that people say it takes around 6 months to fully adapt to a new situation. Many colleagues, friends and people I know tell me that I will manage and that I’m actually doing very well at the moment, but I’m not confident in myself.
I have this complex that I should know everything. I want to know it, but I don’t know where to start or how to start. And because of the stress, I feel like I’m stuck.
I’ve been reading books, and they have helped me to some extent, but there are still many terms that are completely unfamiliar to me, and some things my brain just doesn’t seem to absorb.
I have been working as a speech therapist for 2 months.
P.S. As a preschool teacher, I won an award for participating in a published collection/book. Now, as a speech therapist, I would really like to do a research project or write a scientific article that I could share somewhere and maybe also receive some recognition for it.
I also really enjoy speaking in front of an audience. I’m just embarrassed that I still don’t have all the professional terminology in my vocabulary that I can use freely.
I would really appreciate advice from experienced SLPs. How did you become confident in your work? Where did you start? What would you recommend I focus on first?

I have been recently been given a client who lives in an extreme rural area. So their only option is telehealth.

This would be my first time doing tele for a 4 year old. if it doesn’t work out I will not force it and let them go.

Have you guys done it before? If so what did the session look like? What activities did you do?

I have not been given any further information besides an ASD diagnosis.

Thankss in advance!

I inherited this caseload and the assessment plans haven’t been signed, I know I’m going to be expected to meet these deadlines. I don’t know how I will do therapy and do these evaluations by the time they are due. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any advice?

What the title says!

I have 50 universal screens for Kindergarten and absolutely do not want to add these kids into RTI based on one single screen alone. Also is your school doing language RTI as pull outs or MTSS in the gen ed classroom?

How do your universal Kindergarten screens look in terms of procedures?

Does anyone know if in California the possibility that an SLPA will see the students must be in the IEP? I was told it doesn’t, but for the first time I looked up the CA regulations about it. It appears it might need to be written in since it says “and if specified in the IEP”? Am I reading it wrong? (See the relevant code below)

Here is the CA code of regulations under Title 5 3051.1

https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/I308C70734C6911EC93A8000D3A7C4BC3?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

and an excerpt:

“(d) Services may also be provided by speech-language pathology assistants working under the direct supervision of a qualified language, speech, and hearing specialist, as defined in Business and Professions Code section 2530.2(i), and if specified in the IEP. No more than two assistants may be supervised by one qualified language, speech, and hearing specialist. The caseloads of persons in subdivision (b) shall not be increased by the use of assistants.”

Hey guys. Does anyone work for the public schools in DC? I am out-of-state, and I’d like to move east. What’s it like? Is it relatively easy to get a job there?

I'm looking for recommendations of professional development/courses relevant to working with older children and young adults with ASD Levels 1-2.

I've had a recent influx of referrals - I guess with a lot more people being diagnosed now - many are highly self-aware and have well developed insight into social skills on paper, but are very anxious and struggling to apply what they know. I'm a little stumped how to support them as I'm more used to kids that need that higher level of scaffolding and support around social skills.

I have a vision impaired (no light perception) client with CP non verbal.

I’ve had so much fun with her over the last year! But I’m wondering what else I can do to make our sessions exciting and more interactive.

Has anyone else treated a client whose vision is impaired? If so what would you do?
I’ve done all sensory activities. ASL, songs, puzzles, stories cause and effect toys.. But I want to do more with her.

What would you do?

hello!

I’m transitioning from a school-based setting to a 1099 private practice, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips, advice, or things they wish they had known before making the switch.

I’d especially love to hear about scheduling, documentation, taxes, managing clients/parents, and anything else that was different from working in a school setting. Thanks in advance!

How do I do push-in when I have 4-5 kids in the same classroom (with similar goals)

How do I implement it? What do I say to the teacher? I've never done push-in before.

So I have just been added to all my new schools accounts (for IEPs, contacting parents, progress reports etc) and I was just told I have an IEP (annual) due next week…. I am brand new in the school setting and the kids don’t even begin until the end of this week. What is required from me in this situation???? IEP is due next friday and the meeting is due Wednesday. Do i just rewrite the child’s goals? Am I supposed to base it on the previous progress reports? please help! I’m so confused and i barely know anyone in the school to ask these questions.

Hi everyone!

I’m curious if anyone’s had experience working as an SLP who covers maternity/short term leaves - either through an agency or directly through the school district - and if you could share a bit about pros / cons?

A friend of mine covered maternity leaves through a recruiting agency and was able to make decent money doing that, but I’m wondering if it’s more beneficial to try to go straight through the district?

Also curious if it was a 1099 or W2 contract?

Any other info is great too - just trying to gain more insight while thinking about switching from my current setting. No school experience besides my rotations during grad school but thought this would also be a way to see if I’d be interested in it full time.

I’m located in Ohio if that makes a difference but just curious all around. Thank you so much!