The Speech Therapy Blog
This speech therapy blog is your go-to location for parent support, speech therapy materials, assessment knowledge, and CEU opportunities. We have summarized research into digestible, usable bullets.
As we share our stories, we want you to be a part of the conversation. Speech-language pathology can be overwhelming at times. There is an intensity to serving children with needs and managing high administrative demands. And yet we love what we do. This blog, like many speech therapy blogs for SLPs is a respite from the hectic nature of our lives.
We are part of your village. SLPs, you change the world—one session at a time. Let’s get to work.
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7 Steps for a Positive Mindset for SLPs
As a speech-language pathologist who has worked across many settings all over the United States, and as a longtime integrative health coach, I think a lot about positive mindset. Our work as speech-language pathologists and educators can be overwhelming, and we have...
The 6 Most Productive Receptive Language Activities
Okay, so receptive language activities are one of my favorite things to do in therapy. I really don’t think it gets enough attention especially when you consider how impactful it is not only on receptive language skills but also on expressive...
Considerations for African American English Dialect and Speech Language Therapy
Considerations for African American English Dialect in Speech-Language Therapy help us correctly diagnose and choose accurate goals.
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Expert Advice on Incorporating Science into Speech Therapy – 4 Videos, 7 minutes
There is a sweet spot where SLPs can cover goals and simultaneously prepare our students for up-and-coming academic projects and tests. Using science gives us an immediate way to problem solve, infer, describe, learn new vocabulary, and be spot-on with what is needed...
Embracing Linguistic Diversity and Amplifying Bilingual Education: 6 Takeaways from NABE Conference
I had the honor and privilege of attending and presenting at the National Association of Bilingual Education’s (NABE) 54th Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia last week. It was a heartfelt and emotional conference. I love the power of educators. They are...
Top 10 Amazing Speech Therapy Science Experiments
We got so excited after our talks with Dr. Lindsey Hiebert of Northern Arizona University about how fun and relevant speech therapy science experiments are that we decided to poll SLPs and find their best-of and most exciting speech therapy science experiments that...
3 Language Sample Resources to Maximize Their Power in Speech Evaluations
Language samples are an invaluable tool in speech-language evaluations, providing a more authentic assessment of a child’s linguistic abilities compared to standardized tests. However, many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) find language samples time-consuming and...
Expert Advice on Supporting Language Comprehension – 3 Videos, 6 minutes
Language comprehension is often a forgotten part of language intervention, yet it is so important for success in the classroom, in social interactions, and in reading. The good news is that there are already established assessment and intervention strategies tailored...
Reducing Unnecessary Speech Referrals Part 4: Getting Quality Information from Parents
This is the fourth article in our series on reducing unnecessary speech referrals. Unnecessary referrals not only require significant time from SLPs, but they also place a financial strain on school districts and disrupt students’ academic schedules. As members of an...
Expert Advice on Translanguaging – 3 Videos, 5 1/2 minutes
As our learning about language acquisition continues to evolve, new frameworks like translanguaging help us understand how children employ different skills to communicate and demonstrate what they know in the classroom. Translanguaging allows multilingual children to...
Expert Advice on Language Sampling – 3 Videos, 9 minutes
We have at our fingertips a cheap-if-not-free way to get immediate non-standardized information on each of the main areas of communication. One activity results in an intelligibility rating, a fluency count, a demonstration of narrative abilities, and a way to probe...
Expert Advice on Leveraging Re-Evaluations – 3 Videos, 9 1/2 minutes
In my opinion, re-evaluations get a bad rap! They are often seen as inevitable work that is continually coming our way that are meant to fit into all of the other work we have to do. In reality, my life improved when I developed a new relationship with these frequent...
Expert Advice on Supporting the Literacy Needs of Our Diverse Students – 3 Videos, 3 1/2 minutes
There's a lot of research out there that talks about how bilingual students lag behind their monolingual peers in literacy acquisition. And it makes sense, right? These students are learning one language at home. Then, they start school and are introduced to another...
Reducing Unnecessary Speech Referrals Part 3: Helping Teachers Understand Language Differences
Welcome back to our series on reducing those tricky, time-consuming unnecessary speech referrals! We’re three articles in now, and today’s topic is one that can make a big difference on the campuses you work at - helping teachers get a handle on understanding language...
A Meaningful Conversation with an SLP about Bilingualism
I had a really meaningful exchange with an SLP Impact Member in California asking some really spot-on questions about bilingualism and its influence on speech, speech sounds, general vs. special education focuses and requirements, and much more. I want to share the...
The Perils and Payoffs of Using Universal Screening and Academic Assessments – 4 videos, 4 expert answers, 8 minutes
There is some attractiveness to the idea that we could universally screen kids for all potential difficulties and it would ensure that everyone gets the help they need and no one falls through the cracks. Certainly there is merit to this idea because it works in...
Reducing Unnecessary Speech Referrals Part 2: Sharing Information
When it comes to unnecessary speech referrals, we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the source of most of our referrals – the teachers. And we’re here to say that if teachers are not making great referrals, it probably isn’t their fault and there is a lot we can...
Reducing Unnecessary Speech Referrals by Helping Teachers Collect Good Data
As speech-language pathologists report that the demands on their time are increasing, it is critical that we eliminate unnecessary work. One of the biggest contributors to the increase in SLP workloads is speech referrals for students from diverse background who do...
Introducing SLPs to the Concept of Language Brokering
In a recent coincidence, I found myself in a fascinating conversation with a researcher whose work also focuses on young children, language, and bilingualism. Dr. Su Yeong Kim from the University of Texas is studying the positive and negative impact of serving as a...
Improving the Referrals You Get for Evaluations – 4 videos, 4 expert answers, 4 minutes.
One of the biggest issues facing us in our field today is over-representation of students from diverse backgrounds in special education programs. And, it all starts with over-referrals for evaluations. So frequently, children who speak another language other than...
4 Tips to Experience the Benefits of a Family Centered Approach in Early Intervention
We have all heard the term family centered approach. At the surface I believe that most professionals ascribe to the idea of putting the family first and working on the things that interest them most. However, the definition of “family centered” has evolved over the...
Freedom from the Anchoring Effect: When Numbers Work Against Us
Almost without exception, speech language pathologists are constantly looking for more numerical and better data. We want ways to measure aspects of our job and balance it against what is typical. We want to know how many kids we should be working with and how long it...
Embracing Loss Aversion – Balancing Risk and Reward in Speech Pathology
I had a campus once that I hung onto year-after-year because, I reasoned, I liked the staff and the kids. Truthfully? It was a huge commute to a hugely problematic, huge caseload. I was even given the option to change each year, which I declined! A contract change led...
Understanding the Impact of Language Proficiency on Testing: 4 Expert Answers in 4 Videos – 5-1/2 Minutes
When speech language pathologists are tasked with evaluating bilingual students, language proficiency information usually shows up in our referral packets. Maybe a Woodcock-Munoz was administered and we get a score of a two in one language and a three in another...
Why Most Information on Language Proficiency Levels Has Been Untrustworthy (Until Now)
Trying to use measures of language proficiency levels to figure out how bilingual a child is can be really problematic. Worse yet, it has some pretty huge implications for our speech evaluations or targets we choose in therapy. If we confidently know how much a child...
Defining the Term Culturally Responsive in Concrete Terms and Actions: 3 Videos – 7 Minutes
Speech language pathologists are being asked to hone their skills in providing culturally responsive assessments and effective interventions for our students from diverse backgrounds. Here's the question, though. Have we been given a clear explanation of what it means...
Expert Advice for Collaborating with Educational Professionals: 4 Videos – 7 1/2 Minutes
The complexity of working with students from diverse backgrounds with diverse language learning needs makes collaboration essential. While we know this, we’ve all experienced challenges when attempting to collaborate with others on a child’s team. Whether it’s due to...
Dr. Barry Prizant shares tips for working with neurodiverse students–4 clips and 6 minutes that you do not want to miss.
When it comes to understanding how autism has evolved over the past half century, there are few more adept, invested, and knowledgeable than Dr. Barry Prizant. His work and research began decades ago and he is now recognized as among the world’s leading scholars on...
Expert Advice on Successful AAC Implementation in the Schools – 3 Videos, 7 minutes
Have you ever worked with a student who uses an AAC device and felt like the system they were using just didn't allow them the vocabulary that they needed to communicate across their different environments? It is certainly a challenge that many of us have faced....
The Overconfidence Effect – Misperceptions About Amount of SLP Work and How Long it Takes
How many of you have completely misjudged the amount of time it will take to finish something such as writing up an eval, testing a child, or completing your progress notes? For me, I chronically suffer from such optimism but after all these years can I really be this...
Veteran SLP Author and Researcher Offering Advice on Working with Interpreters: 9 Minutes – 4 Videos
Henriette W. Langdon, Ed.D., H-CCC-SLP, BCS-CL wrote the book on how SLPs can effectively and harmoniously work with interpreters. We don't mean that figuratively! Working with Interpreters and Translators was required reading for many of our grad programs. In...
Deciphering the Conjunction Fallacy – Overlap or Isolation of Disorders?
How often have we sat in meetings with other professionals such as OTs, PTs, reading specialists, and diagnosticians, nodding our heads along with their descriptions of the goals that our shared clients and students are working on. Yes, we “share” children. To think...
Understanding Availability Bias: Challenging Perceptions During Evaluations
I think that many speech language pathologists have had the experience where you are around your nieces and nephews or typically developing kids at a party, and are just blown away by how brilliant they are. Their language, their words, or how they navigate a social...
Framing Effect: Shaping Perspectives with Words
Imagine standing at a crossroads, faced with two seemingly identical options. One path gleams with promises of success and prosperity, while the other looms with warnings of failure and despair. How do you decide? Welcome to the world of the framing effect, where the...
Navigating Fairness Bias in Our Role as SLPs
Have you ever been here? You are staring down your caseload size or the amount of work you have and a sense of injustice starts to creep. Sometimes work levels or compensation seem tolerable, but then you go to a conference or hear about another SLP and their...
12 Reasons Why All SLPs Need Feeding Therapy Basics
Ever started a hobby and were instantly good at it? Maybe a foreign language in a new country came easily, or some new dance steps fell right under your feet. Chances are that past experiences like hearing different languages in the neighborhood or playing a high...
Celebrating Daniel Kahneman (3/5/1934 – 3/27/2024) and His Enormous Impact on Bias and Our Work
We want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Daniel Kahneman; psychologist, author, economist, and winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. For those of you not familiar with his work, he dedicated his life’s research to understanding...
50+ Amazing Speech Therapy Compare and Contrast Targets
I was reading an article on critical thinking skills and the author kept circling back to Venn diagrams and the power of comparisons to correctly communicate. He wasn’t taking about speech therapy. A few weeks later, in a talk about vocabulary acquisition of older...
Announcing a New Chronological Age Calculator: Tongue-in-Cheek Guide for SLPs
We are excited to announce our newest creation and in this essay we are going to dive headfirst into the intriguing world of chronological age calculators. I know, I know, just the words "chronological age calculator" sound about as exciting as watching paint dry, but...
4 Things Every Speech Therapy Supervisor Should Focus on to Grow an Incredible Professional
The experience of being a supervisor for speech language pathology can be one of the most rewarding experiences in our careers. It is an amazing way to give back to a field that has done so much for us and to welcome new colleagues into the field. For some of us, we...
Finally! A World Language Library for Speech Language Pathologists
For far too long, speech language pathologists have not had the information they need to diagnose and treat children speaking the many beautiful and amazing languages we see throughout the world. For most of us, a bilingual child shows up on our caseload or needs to...
16 Bilingual Parent Questionnaires to Improve Your Bilingual Speech-Language Evaluations
We often talk about the increasing diversity of our caseloads. It is a reality that we have caseloads with individuals from many different countries who speak many different languages. That’s why we worked with speech-language pathologists all over the country to...
Confidently Assess AAC and AT with the Communication Matrix
Few evaluations can feel more daunting than assessing a child who is not speaking and may be in need of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) or Assistive Technology (AT) such as an iPad or a picture-symbol system. An assessment tool that I rely on...
16 Myths About Stuttering We Need to Dispel to Support People Who Stutter
There are many persistent myths about stuttering and the causes of stuttering that continue to be presented as truths. They are harmful to people who stutter.
Leaning on Public Policy to Improve our IEP Meetings: 3 Videos – 4 Expert Minutes
Have you ever been stuck in a sticky situation where you are advocating for what you believe to be right for a child (and all children) but the opinion of the campus or the district might not be caught up to what best practices would indicate? Without knowing what...
Is it okay to target cross-linguistic influence patterns in speech therapy?
When I do workshops for school districts that focus on conducting speech-language evaluations for bilingual students, one of the questions I get a lot is, “Is it okay to target cross-linguistic influence patterns (also called native language influence patterns) in...
How SLPs can Incorporate Structured Literacy Intervention for All Students
Structured Literacy Intervention for ALL Students Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan’s gave a workshop on how SLPs can incorporate structured literacy components into their intervention to support all students—especially those from diverse backgrounds who speak English as an...
Expert Advice That Will Change How You View Stuttering: 11 Minutes – 6 Videos
Wow. That’s all I can say. After 20+ years as an SLP, my stuttering therapy and evaluating have completely changed after time spent with stuttering expert, professor, and President of Stuttering Therapy Resources, Scott Yaruss. Watching these short videos below. And,...
The Importance of Having Children’s Books About Diversity
I recently sat down with fellow speech-language pathologist, Kari Lavelle, to talk about her experiences as an author who places a high importance on books on diversity. Kari has written three non-fiction children’s books about diversity that incorporate experiences...
How do I determine which language to test in? There’s a better question.
Two readers recently reached out to me to ask about how to determine which language to use with their students. In this post, I am combining the questions and scenarios shared with me by these two readers. One asked about testing and the other asked about...
Expert Advice on Teaching Vocabulary and Storybook Use: 4 Videos – 9 Minutes
Anyone familiar with Dr. Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin knows that her work stands out because she is prolific with her publications and research, while at the same time continuing to work with children. Her lectures and materials are on point for those of us working in...
Expert Advice on Using Narratives as a Bilingual Tool: 5 Videos – 9 Minutes
You would think that behavior, bilingual intervention, the referral process, vulnerable populations, and narrative development are all separate issues. In a conversation with Dr. Trina Spencer from the University of Kansas, she wove these topics together in a very...
The SLP’s Role in Supporting Dyslexia and Literacy Referrals: 4 Videos – 6 Minutes
We had an amazing conversation with Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan leading up to her presentation for the January SLP Virtual Conference. We discussed our role is as SLPs with things related to referrals that include dyslexia and reading, addressing culture in our therapy,...
Expert Advice for SLPs About Literacy: 4 Videos – 6 Minutes
Dr. Melanie Schuele directs the Child Language and Literacy Lab at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine. If that’s not enough, she retains secondary appointments in Special Education and Psychology and Human Development in Peabody College at Vanderbilt. So who...
ASHA Convention 2024 – Our Picks on What to See
The ASHA Convention 2024 is right around the corner and lots of people (us included) are really looking forward to reconnecting with many people we haven't seen in person since before the pandemic, learning tons, and finding out what is in the future for speech...
25 Wordless Picture Books for Speech-Language Assessments
Wordless picture books are awesome tools for speech and language assessments because they provide structure to elicit language samples AND it doesn’t matter what language the child speaks. What's more, the beauty is that children have the opportunity to create their...
3 Modern Ideas on How to Treat Stuttering in 7 Expert Minutes
Terminology in our field is always changing and the neurodiversity movement has led us to reconsider some of the terms that we've used with regard to people who stutter. We wanted to understand what the most recent view is on this so we sat down with Nina Reeves, M.S....
5 Powerful Accessibility Apps for Individuals with Mobility Issues
One of our SLP colleagues, Alyson Hendry, recently shared a new app, Roll Mobility, with us that helps people with mobility issues find accessible spaces. The app is developed by a growing Denver-based group and it has a global reach. For people in...
Things Have Changed in the Field of Stuttering Assessment
I recently sat down with Dr. Scott Yaruss and had a delightful conversation about some of the changes that have happened in stuttering assessment and intervention. There have been a lot of changes but I want to focus on one in particular here, and that is what a...
10 Ways to Build Vocabulary Like a Real SLP
Have you ever thought about the difference between special education and general education when it comes to teaching vocabulary? It might seem subtle, but the difference not only defines who we are as “special” educators but also influences how fast a child will learn...
One Word Vocabulary Tests – 6 Reasons They Are Not Your Best Choice
There is continual and needed debate in the field of speech language pathology about which language tests to use, in which situation, when to include standard scores, and in which testing circumstances should standardized tests be avoided. Yay speech pathologists for...
Let’s Not Forget What Typical Vocabulary Development Looks Like
After a couple of years of being an SLP, I was blown away by the sheer intelligence being demonstrated on a daily basis in my daughter’s daycare center. Wow! These kids were geniuses!! Just learning and speaking without any help from adults… It dawned on me that by...
Expert Advice to Raise the Bar on Your AAC Skills! 4 Videos – 5 Minutes
Dr. Kris Brock from Idaho State University sat down to talk with us about the current state of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). It was a fascinating conversation about how grad school needs to change, technology changes that will improve how we work...
A Breakdown of Vocabulary Research as it Pertains to SLPS
One aspect of how developed a person’s language is, relates to how successfully they access and use vocabulary. This usually develops with age and it serves as a tool throughout life and throughout education. It’s also a big measure of how well a child is doing in the...
Practical, Affordable, Time-Saving Approaches to VPI Assessment
Dr. Ann Kummer spoke to the SLP Impact community and shared some amazing tips for SLPs evaluating velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). When we talk about VPI assessments here, we’re not talking about video fluoroscopy or nasopharyngoscopy or any of the fancy medical...
The Current State of RtI and Dynamic Assessment: 3 Videos – 4 1/2 minutes with Dr. Doug Petersen
One thing that you learn pretty quickly when talking to Dr. Doug Petersen from the University of Wyoming is that he is very committed to improving things for those of us who work in the schools and very candid about the current state of the referral process,...
Including Cultural Humility and Cultural Competence in Your Testing: 3 Videos – 3 1/2 Minutes
We sat down to talk with Dr. Kyomi Gregory-Martin, Associate Professor at Pace University, about culture, cultural competence, responsiveness, and cultural capability, the conversation was too good and we had to capture some of the high points to share. Take 3 1/2...
3 Videos from a Pioneer in Testing Diverse Children – Dr. Cate Crowley – 4 minutes!
We had the chance to ask Dr. Cate Crowley some of the intriguing back stories of many of the materials she pioneered and has made available on Columbia University's Leaders Project Website. In just four minutes she talks about language sampling, tons of free...
Expert Answers to 3 Great Questions about VPI in 4 Minutes
When talking about leading experts in VPI and Cleft Palate it is hard to beat Dr. Ann Kummer who worked at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center for over 40 years and retired as their Senior Director of Speech-Language Pathology. She continues to teach at the...
What Will the Future Bring? Futures Planning for Children with Special Needs
As a parents of a child with disabilities, this is a question we have asked many, many times. What will the future bring? You wish you had a crystal ball. You hope for great kindness in humanity. Looking Back at the Supports Involved in Raising a Child with Special...
Lessons Learned from Human Trafficking Courses for the Speech Language Pathology CEU Requirement
If you are like us, you may have gone to renew your state license recently and found that your state is now requiring continuing education on human trafficking for speech language pathologists. This has been in place for states like Texas since 2020 and more states...
9 Movies about Individuals with Disabilities
May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. It’s also the month before many of us start summer vacation and have more time on our hands to watch movies. We’ve compiled a list of 9 great movies about individuals with disabilities. Happy watching! The Speed Cubers Speed...
9 Reasons to Initiate a Speech Reevaluation Because a Student is On a Caseload and Shouldn’t Be
As we travel around to different districts to help out with testing, there are often times when we go to do a language or speech reevaluation and the DNQ (does not qualify) comes so quickly and is so obvious that it makes you wonder why the student wasn’t dismissed...
5 Ways to Improve Parent and Professional Interactions with Successful IEP Meetings
The beginning of the school year and heading into the end of a school year leads us to tons of fun, interactive meetings with parents and teachers. I mean that sincerely! I love that the system gives us an opportunity to pause and meet the people we have been serving...
An Amazing Explanation of Auditory Processing
Auditory processing overlaps with so many of the difficulties that we are treating and diagnosing in speech pathology. Does a child have a receptive language disorder or is he having difficulty processing what he is hearing? Is a bilingual child so new to learning...
How Much Time Does It Take to Remove a Student from Your Caseload?
A recent essay: Are All of the Greatest Problems in Education Related? caused quite a bit of thinking on the parts of SLPs all over the country when we were talking about reducing our caseload. Most people are on board with the idea but an interesting problem arose:...
Are All of the Greatest Problems in Education Related?
You can ask any educator at any level what they think are the greatest problems in education and they will have an immediate answer for you. Whether it’s the teachers and speech language pathologists in the schools, the speech leads and principals we work under, or...
International Speech Developmental Norms – 3 Questions, 3 Expert Answers, 60 Seconds Or Less
Some recent research that was shared in our conference on speech sound disorders absolutely blew us away. Dr. Sharynne McLeod walked us through combined speech developmental norms that were collected on over two dozen languages. And do you know what? We all develop...
Addressing Articulation and Phonology Concerns in Bilingual Children – 4 Questions, 4 Expert Answers, 60 Seconds Or Less
Our recent conference on speech sound disorders united some of the greatest current thinking around how to improve intelligibility. We wanted to make sure that the insights that transformed how we practice were permanently accessible. We edited down some of the best,...
4 Questions about Equity in Testing and Avoiding Misdiagnosis, 4 Expert Answers, 60 Seconds Or Less
We are wrapping up our conference on speech sound disorders and the conversations and insights were just TOO GOOD to not capture. We boiled some of the best, most inspiring, and most impactful ideas into short clips. In these four videos, Dr. Leah Fabiano-Smith talks...
The 3 Things to Rule Out When Testing Speech Sound Disorders for Bilingual Children
What influences sound development when a child is learning two languages? Huge question, right? Well I am happy to tell you that there are just three things that we need to take into consideration when we are trying to separate typical development from speech sound...
A Summary of Current Speech Acquisition Data Across 27 Languages
The word "landmark" is an Olde English word originally used to describe the expansion of the boundaries of a kingdom. Nowadays, this word is typically reserved to describe changes in legislation which will have a massive impact on our lives. I think it's fair to use...
How to Ditch Standardized Scores for Some Evaluations and Be Okay with It
There are certain testing situations where we cannot use the scores from the beautiful tests that have been made for us and it can be super frustrating. In these cases, there isn’t a test that matches our needs. For example, the child doesn’t speak English or the...
4 Bilingual Articulation Evaluation Case Studies Without Standardized Test Scores
Roll up your sleeves! This essay is heavy on visuals and short on words. We are going to show the testing behind four fundamentally different bilingual articulation evaluations that we wrote up without using standardized scores. We have lots and lots of case studies...
The 3 Prevailing Speech Sound Disorders Research Models
Have you ever thought about how unbalanced our understanding of language disorders is compared to speech sound disorders? On the language side we are really comfortable with some very technical words like morphology, syntax, and pragmatic use. But what has speech...
Duplication of Services for Speech Dismissals – How to Determine and Write it Up
Have you ever picked up a student from a reading specialist or special education classroom and what they are working on looks exactly like what is taking place in speech therapy? Or maybe you are at an annual meeting and the special education teacher’s goals sound...
Total Communication – How to Include Signing, Visual Cues, and AAC Devices
What do we do when disorders like Apraxia and Down Syndrome severely limit what a child is able to tell us? It is so frustrating for them because there is still so much that they want to get across but motor constraints and/or intellectual limitations have a negative...
The New CEU for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity – International Speech Therapy Trips
We did something new, and, man, was it impactful! Bilinguistics has been offering ASHA CEUs with a focus on cultural and linguistic diversity for over 20 years now. We’ve offered live courses at conventions, in school districts, and at education service centers. We’ve...
Easily Translate Your Speech and Language Information into ANY Language for Parents, Clients, or Teachers
I get emails all the time asking for translations of different types of speech and language information into multiple languages. We’re talking speech goals, portions of reports, statements for IEP meetings, explanations about disorders, anything! To make matters more...
Culturally Sensitive Communication – Tips for SLPs
Is your parent interview form culturally sensitive? Does it ask any questions that make assumptions? Does it ask any questions that are none of your business and don’t have an impact on speech and language skills? We set out to create a parent interview form that...
Building Relationships with Families to Maximize Clinical Outcomes
Parent Involvement in Speech Therapy Yes, we all know that parent and family involvement in speech therapy has been shown to improve therapeutic outcomes. Accomplishing successful family involvement in therapy can be challenging though. We’ll share some ideas in this...
4 Lessons Learned About Our Global Role as SLPs
On our professional development trip to Belize we were in a country and environment that couldn't have been more different from the lives we lead and the places we work back home. The people, languages, climate, culture, resources, and educational system were all...
Achieving Highly Engaged Speech Therapy for Older Students
I have to admit, I LOVE working in elementary schools. This became crystal clear to me when I was offered the chance to do testing and cover a maternity leave at a middle and high school. You’ve seen the front office of elementary schools. Lots of smiles, primary...
High Speech Therapy Caseloads and Workloads are Forcing SLPs to Leave the Field
I received an email from one of our SLP Impact members about speech therapy caseloads and a heavy workload in the school setting, and decided to put together a post to answer her question. I know her concern is shared by many SLPs in our profession. She wrote: I am...
2 Common Questions About Articulation Errors in Bilingual Children
There are a few questions that top the list of "most asked" when SLPs are inquiring about which articulation errors in bilingual children they should be treating. When focusing on articulation errors in bilingual children, we have to consider intelligibility, their...
Typical Patterns of Bilingual Speech Development in Spanish-English Bilinguals
Have you ever evaluated a student who is exposed to two languages and wondered whether their speech patterns were due to a speech disorder or cross-linguistic influence? If so, you are not alone. And, sadly, many of these students get referred for speech therapy when...
7 Fantastic Tips for Speech and Language Therapy Planning
We had an amazing conversation with members of our SLP Impact Community where veteran SLPs shared speech and language therapy techniques they use to continue to have great results even as their caseloads and workloads are increasing. These are not suggestions to...
Three Ways to Reduce Unnecessary Evaluations for Special Education Services
School districts across the country are facing unprecedented numbers of special education evaluations. Springtime is always heavy evaluation season and this spring is particularly intense because of the impact of COVID. It’s critical that we take action so that we can...
The 6 Primary Down Syndrome Characteristics that Impact Communication
Children with Down Syndrome are truly unique in the way they communicate and interact. Speech therapy can often be difficult because Down Syndrome characteristics involve so many different developmental domains. For example, there are anatomical and physical...
4 Important Considerations Conducting Bilingual Language Evaluations
What do we have to think about when we are conducting bilingual language evaluations to determine whether a child has Developmental Language Disability? Dr. Elizabeth Peña of the University of California, Irvine shares her thoughts. The process of evaluating bilingual...
What is an SLP? The Not-College-Brochure Answer
Many undergraduates happily stumble upon the field of speech-language pathology through required science courses, like Language and the Brain. They may not realize right away what a speech-language pathologist (SLP) does and what education is required to get...
7 Ways to Improve Speech Therapy Outcomes
I was in a conversation with a group of speech pathologists who have been working in the schools for several years. Everyone was sharing how they knock out intelligibility goals and improve speech therapy outcomes and it dawned on me that no one was actually talking...
7 Steps for a Positive Mindset for SLPs
As a speech-language pathologist who has worked across many settings all over the United States, and as a longtime integrative health coach, I think a lot about positive mindset. Our work as speech-language pathologists and educators can be overwhelming, and we have...
The 6 Most Productive Receptive Language Activities
Okay, so receptive language activities are one of my favorite things to do in therapy. I really don’t think it gets enough attention especially when you consider how impactful it is not only on receptive language skills but also on expressive...
Considerations for African American English Dialect and Speech Language Therapy
Considerations for African American English Dialect in Speech-Language Therapy help us correctly diagnose and choose accurate goals.
7 Tough Evaluation Questions – 7 60-Second Expert Answers
We have had so many incredible conversations with three of this field's experts on evaluations. 60 seconds each. Take your pick. What are the key things practitioners can do to avoid, reduce, or eliminate disproportionality? What do we have to think about when we are...
Dynamic Assessment Examples
Doing a speech-language assessment is a time-intensive process and I know that adding dynamic assessment to your assessment line-up can seem like you are adding lots of time to your evaluations, but that doesn’t have to be the case. While many of the studies on...
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence Made Easy – Understanding Our Diagnostician’s Work
Have you ever been in an IEP meeting or sitting with a parent and listened to a diagnostician explain their testing? WOW! They have to write some monster reports. And what diagnosticians and LSSPs (Licensed Specialist in School Psychology) have to do to qualify a...
Putting Order to Mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorder Treatment
Some research that I have uncovered and revisited lately has made me question how I have been planning my speech therapy for children with mixed receptive expressive language disorder. In looking into the specifics of receptive vs expressive language and...
Can We Use English Standardized Tests For Assessing Students From Diverse Backgrounds?
Assessing students from diverse backgrounds is something that every speech-language pathologist needs to be able to do well. There is not a single speech-language pathologist who only tests those whose cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds match their own....
Diagnostic Accuracy of Speech-Language Tests
Interpreting Sensitivity and Specificity As speech-language pathologists we often use speech and language tests as diagnostic indicators for whether someone has a speech or language disorder, and we need to consider is the diagnostic accuracy of these tools. In other...
Receptive Language Goals That Pack A Punch
Have you ever thought about why we test for a receptive and expressive language disorder pretty evenly but favor expressive language in our therapy? And how about our goals? Even when a child has a mixed receptive expressive language disorder, why do we focus so...
7 Steps for Doing a Speech-Language Evaluation with an Interpreter
1: Get Detailed Language History The first step in doing a speech-language evaluation with an interpreter for a student or client who speaks a language you don’t speak is to gather as much information as you can about the language they speak. You want to know: Where...
Why Should We Care About Reliability and Validity of Speech-Language Tests?
As speech-language pathologists, we use tests to help us make decisions about whether or not individuals have speech and/or language disorders. Sometimes we use standardized tests to help us make those decisions. How do we pick the tests? Well, we need to make sure a...
10 Questions about Equity and Diversity, 10 Expert Answers, in 60 Seconds Or Less
We have had incredible conversations with the speakers for our Diversity Conference on changes in the field and some really important current considerations related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Take 10 minutes and hear the answers to these 10 questions! 1....
African American English Articulation Differences and Language Characteristics
Central to the learning of any SLP who wants to provide more equitable services is an understanding of African American English articulation differences and language characteristics in comparison to Standardized American English...
Norm-Referenced vs Criterion-Referenced Tests for Speech-Language Evaluations
When we set out to test students and clients to determine whether or not they have a speech-language impairment, we have a lot of choices in how we go about doing a speech-language assessment. It is best practice to use a combination of formal measures, informal...
When Formal Testing is Within Normal Limits but Informal Testing Indicates a Disorder
We know that standardized tests are not perfect. They explore a sample of behaviors within a given domain. Sometimes our students and clients do well on a portion of the items and poorly on other items within the domain. That can lead to an average score that is...
5 Ways to do Faster Speech and Language Evaluations
The process of planning, executing, and writing an evaluation is one of the most challenging elements of the job for many speech-language pathologists. Yet, evaluations are a critical part of our job--the part where we make a decision about whether a person has a...
How Hearing Loss Affects Speech – Grad School Rewind
A great deal of research focuses on how hearing loss affects speech. We wanted to create a quick summary so we can identify what’s important during the speech evaluation process and see how hearing loss affects speech in the academic setting. So let’s roll...
How Hearing Loss Symptoms Get Confused with Communication Disorders
Let’s face it. Obtaining a correct hearing screening before completing an evaluation is often a hassle. Not to mention that 99% of the time a child’s hearing is within normal limits. However, each year we hear about evaluations that were disasters at...
“Hears” How We are Celebrating Better Hearing and Speech Month
We got this email a while back that didn’t make us feel too good. “Thank you for everything you do! Considering that you serve hearing-impaired kids, would you include closed-captioning on your courses and videos?” An SLP was pointing out that Bilinguistics...
Should parents speak the home language to their child if he has an impairment?
Confusion continues over the question of whether a bilingual child with an impairment should continue to speak the home language. In our clinic during the initial parent interview we often hear this: My doctor told us not to speak our home language to our...
ASHA Ethics CEU Courses That Will Surprise You
ASHA ethics CEU requirements are becoming a part of the licensing process in many states. It seems strange at first when you think about it because SLPs are a pretty ethical bunch. Secondly, when you think about our limited time and all of the other...
Authors, Books, and Resources to Promote Diversity and Inclusion on Your Caseload
In our series highlighting the work of clinicians researching AAE and advocating for our Black clients, we will introduce you to a few SLPs who are on a mission to increase diversity and inclusion for minority groups in therapy. How often do we tie learning new...
Sequencing Goals in Speech Therapy that Truly Generalize
We have all set sequencing goals in speech therapy. Maybe like me, you have boxes of sequencing cards in your therapy room passed down from generations of speech therapists. Neat, coaster-sized squares rubber-banded together in sets of 4, 6, and...
A New Approach for Receptive Language Disorder Strategies
SLPs have long since relied on tired-and-true receptive language disorder strategies to help students increase attention, increase retention, and enable a child to demonstrate learning to a teacher. But what if they don’t work like in this case? I have students who...
Celebrating our Black SLP Colleagues – Great Resources for Diverse Caseloads
Dear SLP, Where do you get your information to support your Black students? Who do you turn to with tricky questions about African American English vs Standardized American English, and other dialectal and cultural differences? How do you navigate...
Sentiments from a Parent of a Child with Autism
I love the sentiments everyone shares during Autism Awareness month. As a speech-language pathologist, it highlights my love for our field. As a mother of a child with autism, it fills my heart. This year my awareness of autism was greater than ever. I had the...
Perfecting the Speech Teletherapy Home Office (for free)
We have all romanticized how working from home would be and what our teletherapy home office would look like. It might be time spent scrolling through Pottery Barn, Ikea, or something more chic...lunches with our partner or roommate... Then, most of us got the...
Using Bias Free Language in Your Speech-Language Reports
A group of us at Bilinguistics recently reviewed our speech-language evaluation report template to evaluate the language and wording to ensure that we are using bias free language. Language changes over time and it’s important for us as practitioners to be mindful of...
Why Students From Diverse Backgrounds are Over-Referred for Special Education Services
A quick Google Scholar search on disproportionality illustrates the fact that we have a BIG problem in our education system and it’s not new. We’ve been facing the problem of students from diverse backgrounds being over-referred for special education for years. Here...
Fluency Home Program Activities to Improve Self-Assessment
Self-assessment is arguably one of the most important aspects of fluency therapy. We cut to the chase and share fluency home program activities that are ready-to-go for you to send home.
How to Obtain Powerful Fluency Rating Scale Information
How are you using fluency self-rating scale information? This sample speech therapy session will transform your client relationship, data, and goals.
Bilingualism and Executive Function – 4 Ways They Overlap
Bilingualism and executive function overlap in: Focus, Working Memory, Self-Regulation, and Flexibility. Easily support bilingual students.
Code-Switching and Code-Mixing – What You Need to Know
Code-Switching and Code-Mixing are TYPICAL processes when speaking more than one language or dialect that are not indicative of a disorder.
Modifying Speech Therapy for Children with Multiple Disabilities
There is an aspect of planning speech therapy for children with multiple disabilities that feels like a huge game of tug o’ war. It’s difficult enough right? We have students who have difficulties communicating and on top of that they have: Visual...
How Busy Speech Pathologists Can Avoid SLP Burnout
Concerns about SLP Burnout are at an all-time high and have not been helped by the global health pandemic. That’s why we wanted to get this essay out to you before we head into an increasingly stressful time of year. And you will see by the end of this...
3 Ways Master SLPs Save Time
When I fantasize about my perfect SLP day, so much about it comes down to how I and other SLPs save time. I want enough time to plan therapy so I can have great sessions because the therapy is what I love most about this job. I want to arrive at a perfect diagnosis...
6 Strategies to Build Equity in Special Education
Our national conversation is intensely focused on anti-racism and equity in special education and general education. These conversations have opened the eyes of many to the fact that our colleagues and students of color have endured hardships, fear, injustices, and...
Helping When Children with Executive Function Difficulties Have Additional Diagnoses
Executive functions are a set of mental skills that allow us to have flexible thinking, remember, self-regulate, and demonstrate self-control. Students need these skills to be able to work, learn, work, and participate. We definitely want our students to possess these...
The Benefits of Bilingualism and How They Relate to Speech Therapy
The benefits of bilingualism are largely accepted. However, it still gets confusing when we are trying to make decision about speech therapy.
English and Spanish Stuttering Therapy Techniques
Easily share fluency shaping and modification explanations? We consolidated lists of English and Spanish stuttering therapy techniques
The Truth About the Confidence of Speech-Language Pathologists and How to Expand Yours!
How is it that speech-language pathologists have years of undergraduate and graduate work, hundreds of clinical practicum hours, a full year with supervision, and we can still be years into our career feeling a lack of confidence about what we do? Now with the...
Executive Functions of the Brain – Understand This and Understand Your Students
Reduce frustration and increase student success by becoming familiar with the executive functions of the brain and development across time.
Dismissal from Speech Therapy: How to Make the Call
Learn how to get buy-in and everyone in agreement when you are working towards dismissal from speech therapy.
Cleft Palate Speech Therapy Techniques: CLP Team Tips
These cleft palate speech therapy techniques and iep goals make my client’s progress faster.
New Immigrant Speech and Language Evaluations – What to Know Beforehand
Know these 4 key components of immigrant speech and language evaluations that we need to consider to make a good diagnosis.
Use Books about Immigration in Speech Therapy
Add fun, meaning, and excitement to your speech sessions by choosing books about immigration. Here’s how to do it and our 5 favorite!
7 Ways Bilingual SLPs are Increasing Their Income and Serving More Children
Find out how you as a bilingual slp can increase your income while serving more children! Your time and talents can impact your salary
How to Describe Speech Disorders in Spanish
Use these lists to easily describe speech disorders in Spanish to parents and teachers.
Using Document Cameras for Speech-Language Evaluations
Using document cameras for speech-language evaluations has been a process of trial and error for speech-language pathologists.
Strategies for Conversational Skills in Speech Therapy
How to address conversational skills in speech therapy is a very hot topic that we address in our ASHA CEU course: Considerations for Autism for Speech-Language Pathology. Based on my work (SLP, ABA therapist, autism specialist), here are the skills I address (in...
Speech and Language Therapy During a Pandemic
Speech and language therapy during a pandemic is not the same as Teletherapy! Here’s what’s different and how to add equity into the equation.
Tips for Teletherapy Receptive Language Items
There are a number of different ways to choose teletherapy receptive language items. This essay shows how to test receptive language effectively.
Why Students Are Not Motivated and How To Help
Motivating students is not always as easy as it seems. Luckily, by applying these ideas from executive functions we can move them in the right direction.
Dr. Valarie B. Fleming on Race, Privilege and Power in CSD
Dr. Valarie B. Fleming challenges speech-language pathologists to go beyond statements of condemnation of racism, and be a part of the solution.
Honor Diversity
We live in this melting pot with people of different cultures and backgrounds living side by side. There is strength in the way you honor diversity.
Black Lives Matter in Speech-Language Pathology
We stand against systematic racism, discounted inequities and savage treatment of our Black communities. Let’s talk about #blacklivesmatter as SLPs.
Managing Challenging Behaviors in Therapy and at Home
Managing challenging behaviors can be tough in therapy and for parents to manage at home. I share some of my favorite positive behavior tips.
Easily Making SLP Videos to Share with SLPs and Families
Making SLP Videos is a great way to show your parents and the world of speech language pathology everything that we have been up to. In our office we have been: Sharing slp videos with each other to help out with therapySending quick updates to parents about...
Telepractice Language Therapy
For many of us who have begun to do teletherapy, it has been hard to wrap our minds around how to do telepractice language therapy and it feels like we are staring across a big gap. On one side, are all the therapy techniques that have been proven to work either due...
Teletherapy Using AAC
AAC Angst I'll be honest. I was bathing in a tub of scalding anxiety when I found out I needed to shift my 13-year-old client, who uses a dynamic communication device, to teletherapy. I appreciated the ease of my face-to-face sessions with Gian--his requesting an icy...
Motivational Interviewing Will Change a Student’s Behavior
We all have been there. We think we have the perfect therapy materials together for the perfect goals. Maybe, usually, we had a lot of fun putting the therapy materials together. Then the student comes in… and the therapy session goes sideways pretty fast....
How to Use Zoom for SLPs – DOs and Crucial DON’Ts
Zoom for SLPs is really practical. We just have to adapt it a bit to be successful using it for speech therapy and evaluations.
Bright Spots: Meaningful Contributions from the Community
See how speech-language pathologists are connecting with their students and how companies are helping them do it.
How Kids Are Feeling During Coronavirus
Home There have been a lot of tears in my house this week. My daughter turned 9 on Monday. Methinks her at-home birthday celebration was finally the event that made this global pandemic real. For weeks, she's been okay. Then, on the eve of her birthday, her eyes began...
Teletherapy with Young Children : Great Resources
For most of us, this whole idea of teletherapy is a new thing. We can wrap our minds around how to intervene with an older child pretty quickly. Even a bilingual older child makes sense, well, for 1: they talk! and for 2: which we can't take for granted, they can use...
A Day in the Life of an SLP Amid COVID-19
The COVID-19 Reality These last few weeks have been abrupt, anxiety-inducing and mind-boggling. As we find our footing for our new normal alongside COVID-19, there are BIG feelings within our homes and SLP communities. I want take some time to acknowledge the...
Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak
Hello SLP community, As I write this, we are winding our office down to begin a period of working remotely. Never before have any of us seen something with this breadth and depth of impact on our world. Restaurants and bars are closing or reducing services, grocery...
Supporting the Grief of our Families: 3 Strategies for SLPs
This post is dedicated to my parents. To the mothers, fathers, grandparents, foster parents, family members and caretakers who care so very much. Thank you for letting us into your lives. It is truly an honor to serve in this capacity. Woes of the...
The Value of the English Language
What If They Don't Learn English I had just spent the morning talking about Difference versus Disorder. Is the child still learning his second language of English or is there a true disorder? It was time for lunch, and I found myself sitting in a car alongside five...
Hopping into Spring Speech-Language Therapy Activities
The winter holidays are long gone, and the warmth of spring is (hopefully) on the horizon. Today we want to share with you some of our favorite themes for this season of growth. Spring Speech and Language Therapy Activities The following speech-language sites...
The Tale of One Speech-Language Pathologist
The following post is written by Chelsea Cornejo, a Bilinguistics team member. We share her sentiments with gratitude for the narrative she brings to our professional and human community. Latinx Perspective I am Mexican-American. Spanish was my first language, and I...
What Do Parents Want in a Speech-Language Pathologist?
Let's Talk, Parents Recently, I reached out to the families I have supported in my professional career over the last two decades. I spoke to Anne. I met her son, John, in 2002 when I was in graduate school. I spoke to the families I serve now,...
Faster Report Writing Tip #10: Track Every Move
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about tracking every move in the assessment process. Check out our first post in this series on setting up a report template and work your way through the series. There are many steps involved...
Bilingual Education Models
For those of us who work in the schools we hear the term Bilingual Education and it is often accompanied with other descriptors, such as two-way, early exit, transitional, and so on. Today, we’re going to break these bilingual education models down for you. Last year...
Faster Report Writing Tip #9: Fluency Assessment Tables
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about fluency assessment tables that autocalculate. Check out our first post in the series on setting up a report template. Let’s face it. Fluency assessments take some time. We need multiple...
Why do we have new ethics requirements?
Why have ethics? Why has our field decided that you need to sit here and study about ethics? Why weren't the requirements here last year? What has changed if anything? In 2002, the United States ranked #20 in most ethical countries. Behind countries like Denmark, New...
6 Helpful Ways to Get Past Report Writing Procrastination
SLP Report Writing - A clinical observation You're sitting there. Actually you have been for more than 45 minutes. Nothing more is coming in your email to save you. Two trips to the candy jar. Check! You give a pleading look to your coworker saying...
Faster Report Writing Tip #8: Pre-Written Goals
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about pre-written goals. Check out our first post in this series on setting up a report template. You’ve finished the main part of your report and now it’s time to write some...
Easy & Fun Winter Speech Therapy Activities, Actually.
Enjoy this consolidated list of winter speech therapy activities to finish the year off right. It's go time. Just a few days left of school and it would also be nice to have therapy pre-planned for when we get back in January. Here...
Speech-Language Pathology: A 16-Year Case Study
SLP Past Yesterday afternoon, I was gifted the highest honor in speech-language pathology—to witness the humanly outcomes of our work. After 16 years, I was in the same space as my John and my Anne. While in graduate school, I would spend several hours a...
Mental Health of SLPs: Let’s Talk About It
The following content is a collaboration between Dr. Amanda Johnson, psychologist, and Phuong Lien Palafox, speech-language pathologist, on the topic of the mental health of speech-language pathologists. Why Should We Talk About the Mental Health of Speech-Language...
Faster Report Writing Tip #7: Dynamic Assessment
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about incorporating information about dynamic assessment procedures in your report. If you are new to the Report Writing Tip series, check out our first post in the series on setting up a...
Faster Report Writing Tip #6: Pre-Written Paragraphs
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about using and tweaking pre-written paragraphs in your report. Check out our first post on setting up a report template. While we don’t have exactly the same paragraphs from one student to...
Successful Individualized Education Program Meetings
For those of us who work with students in special education, we have the opportunity to participate in IEP meetings at least once per year. Sometimes IEP meetings are very positive and productive experiences. Other times they are not. When they are really...
Faster Report Writing Tip #5: Pre-Filled Charts and Tables
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about using pre-filled charts and tables to expedite your report writing. If you are new to the series on Tips for Faster Report Writing, check out our first post on setting up...
Faster Report Writing Tip #4: Organizing Assessment Results
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about how to organize your assessment results. If you are just jumping in, check out our first Evaluation Report Writing Tip post on setting up a report template and work your way through the...
Fall Speech Therapy Activities
The summer sun is yielding, and pumpkins have begun their descent into all foods, beverages and entryway decor. Fall is upon us. Each year we reach out to friends and colleagues to find favorite fall speech therapy activities. We decided to start this...
Faster Report Writing #3: Organizing Background Information
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about when to write your report. Check out our first post on setting up a report template. Faster Report Writing Tip #3: Have a good system for organizing your background information. When we...
SLP Advocacy – Change Needs to Happen
SLP Voices Do you hear that, SLPs? It's the crescendo of voices coming together, voices increasing in volume and voices speaking in cadence to a valuable message. These are the voices of speech-language pathologists. "We work hard. Our...
Faster Report Writing #2: Writing After Testing
Welcome back to our series on report writing. Today, we are going to talk about when to write your report. Check out our first post on setting up a report template. Faster Report Writing Tip #2: Don’t wait! Write your report immediately after testing The sooner you...
Faster Report Writing #1: Build a Great Report Template
Hey fellow SLPs! One of our biggest pain points is report writing. Talk to any SLP and they’ll tell you the report writing process bogs them down and takes longer than it should. Over the next few months, I am going to share 10 tips that I use to speed...
Stellar Speech-Language Therapy: Start with Your Story
SLP + Human Please cue the Beastie Boys, SLPs. "Now, here's a li-ttle story I've got to tellllll 'bout an SLP you kind-a know well. It started way back in '78 with a man. and a war. and magical whale." The first session, for me, always brings forth a...
Serving our Diverse Populations in Therapy
We the (Immigrant) People “It’s ‘we the people’, Má,” I said. “Cai Constitution bắt đầu với/the Constitution begins with ‘we the people.” Our naturalization appointment was coming up soon, and I was helping my má study. It was 1986, and I was in first grade. In class...
It’s Hard Being a Speech-Language Pathologist.
The Hope in Being a Speech-Language Pathologist Here I am smiling despite the impending Wisconsin winter. In this picture, I was a first year graduate student at UW-Madison. My excitement for becoming a speech-language pathologist was sizable. This 22-year-old grin...
Your Best School Year Yet, SLPs. It’s time.
Let Another School Year Begin The sun is showing off, and the school bells are starting to ring. SLPs, another start to the school year is beginning. There is always an air of excitement and newness as we decorate our new space, buy new supplies and find...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #9
Beliefs about Health is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment Beliefs about healthIllness and disabilities are viewed differently across cultures. In many cultures, someone with a disability may...
Significance of Work : Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #8
Significance of Work is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment Significance of work refers to the importance of work in a culture and how it is defined by the members of the culture. For example,...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #7
Cultural Rituals is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment What are Cultural Rituals? Rituals or ceremonies are conventional ways of commemorating significant historical events or life changes and...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #6
Home Language Use is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment What is Home Language Use as it Relates to Culture? Home Language Use involves the influence pragmatics of a language have on...
Cultural Values : Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #5
Cultural Values is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment What are Cultural Values? A cultural group’s values are manifested in its view of the relationship of man to nature and of human beings to...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #4
Concepts of Class and Status is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment What determines an individual’s societal position and place of respect varies across cultures (Tomoeda & Bayles, 2002)....
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #3
Roles of Men and Women is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment Gender roles vary across cultures and influence many areas, including education, ownership, choice of profession, and...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #2
Views of Time and Space is part of a 10-essay series. New? Start here: Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment Views of Time and Space is a cultural parameter that refers to how strictly a culture adheres to a schedule. Some cultures...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy #1
A culture is termed individualistic when great value is placed on individuals and their rights and decisions. Members of individualistic societies may tend to rely less on their relationships. More often than not, they pride themselves on individual traits and...
Why Understanding Cultural Parameters is Important to SLPs
Cultural Parameters and SLPs: Speech language pathologists self report that they do not feel confident serving English language learners. In this data taken from the ASHA schools survey, we see that the trend is continual across the last half decade. ...
Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy and Assessment
Every good debate starts with a better disclaimer, so here it goes: When you talk about cultural differences or cultural parameters you risk stereotyping whole groups and individuals. So why risk it? Why take up your time writing about it? Why risk angering people who...
Dynamic Assessment with an Interpreter
In our multicultural world, we often have to rely on interpreters to help us communicate with others. Last month I talked about how we can work with our interpreters to analyze language samples during a speech-language evaluation. This month, we’ll...
SLP – Internship Year with an Anxiety Disorder
The Situation Going in, I knew my Internship year was going to be hard- like graduate school, but with more real-world consequences. Having an anxiety disorder, my brain raced through thousands of worst-case scenarios. What it did not imagine was a 60+ caseload across...
Summer Speech Therapy Homework for Spanish-Speaking Parents
We all know how difficult it is to communicate with parents when they speak another language. Conversely, we know how beneficial it is to provide parents with summer speech therapy materials to keep their child improving across the summer. What to do? We...
Using interpreters for speech-language evaluations
I had a call from a speech-language pathologist in a school district in Virginia that has students who speak many different languages. They use interpreters in their evaluations with these students and the SLP had some questions about HOW to utilize the services...
School-Based Speech-Language Pathology Must Change
The Confession Dear School-Based SLP, I need to apologize to each of you. I often find myself standing in front of you and telling you all that it is going to be okay. You will be okay, SLP, and your efforts are always worth it. You come up to me after...
Case Study: The Dreaded S Sound Meets Bilingualism.
So the S Sound stinks. Let’s just admit it. Whose idea was it to take one of the most difficult sounds to produce and add high linguistic value to it. Sorry Charlie, if you can’t add the S Sound to a word, you are only going to get one piece of candy for...
Korean-Influenced English
I wanted to share a question that came in from one of our SLP-Impact members about Korean-influenced English. Not sure if you have anyone familiar with Korean-influenced English on staff, but I figured it was worth a shot. To find an answer to my question below, I...
Case Study: Artic Sounds to Focus On With A Bilingual Child
Hey everyone! Ever received a child who speaks two or more languages, people can’t understand him, and you have to decide which artic sounds to focus on? Choose the right artic sounds, and the child becomes more intelligible. Choose the wrong goals, and you become an...
Thinking About Switching to an a School based Setting?
Thinking about switching to an SLP school based setting? If you answered yes to that question, then you might be in for an experience similar to the one I had this past August of 2018. I came to work at Bilinguistics after completing my clinical fellowship in a...
9 Ways Executive Function Affects Learning
This is Part 3 of a 5-Part Series on Executive Function. Links at the bottom. To describe many of the ways executive function affects learning, we are going to lean heavily on Rebecca Branstetter’s book: The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children with Executive...
Building Student Executive Functioning Skills
This is Part 1 of a 5-Part Series on Executive Function. Links at the bottom. Testing and reporting on student executive functioning skills is still in its infancy. A study of all available research cited in Executive Function in Education, 2007 found 5 articles on...
A Mom’s Perspective on Family-Centered Practice
Today I write as the mother of Thomas, who has an awesome speech-language pathologist named Phuong Palafox. Phuong has been Thomas’s speech-language pathologist for the past five years and in those five years he’s made tremendous progress. Phuong is presenting at the...
Executive Function in Speech Therapy – What is Our Role as SLPs?
This is Part 1 of a 5-Part Series on Executive Function. Links at the bottom. More and more these days we are hearing about Executive Functions in speech therapy, in the literature, in our schools, and in the news related to autism, head injury, and post traumatic...
What does the Recalling Sentences subtest tell us?
We recently had a question from one of our SLP-Impact members about the Recalling Sentences Subtest on the CELF-5 that I wanted to share. Our member wrote, I have always hated the recalling sentences sub-test of the CELF-5. I have always believed that is much...
Family-Centered Practice for Speech-Language Therapy
I met Anne during a Wisconsin winter in 2002. She opened the door and welcomed me into her home. It was my first day as a Behavioral Treatment Technician for the Wisconsin Early Autism Project. I assumed that this part-time job during my...
I am a Speech-Language Pathologist, and I Am Changed
I just got off the phone with John, a student from the University of Virginia taking an introductory course in Communicative Disorders. He asked questions about being a speech-language pathologist, and I answered them. His final question addressed the one lesson...
Cluttering or Stuttering ? An Evaluation Case Study
I received an evaluation folder for a child with articulation concerns. When I was testing him it was immediately apparent that there was a lot of language stuff going on. Did I bring the right tests with me? You know the answer to that! Back...
Hey Educators—What you say REALLY matters.
Self-esteem drives school performance I want to share a story of how the role of self-esteem was so apparent when I went out to a rural district recently to evaluate a bilingual pre-Kindergarten student. He spent a solid 100 minutes with me working hard and doing...
A Thousand Thanks from an SLP
TED Teaches I was listening to AJ Jacob’s TED Talk this morning on my drive into work. He began by talking about how the brain is wired to focus on the negative. It’s a strategy for self-preservation. This skill definitely came in handy during the caveman days. “Oh...
Spanish Nonword Repetition Tasks
After last week’s post on nonword repetition tasks, there were a lot of questions about nonword repetition tasks for Spanish speakers, as well as scoring procedures and interpretation guidelines. Here’s a quick follow-up briefly summarizing some resources. ...
Use Non-Word Repetition to Find Language Issues
With the incredibly diverse populations we work with, it's important we have a toolkit full of ways to help us differentiate language differences from language disorders. Non-word repetition tasks have been found to be good tools. Children with language...
Working WITH families, not against them.
I’ll be honest, I was supposed to write about using Non-Word Repetition tasks in the assessment process for today’s blog but something I read in the ASHA Leader this past week riled me up so I had to switch to talking about working with families. There was an...
5 Tips for an Effective IEP Meeting
IEP Woes I had my first IEP meeting in the winter of 2003. My teacher was running late, my administrator could not be found and the parent, an attorney, pulled out books to refute her child's ineligibility for speech services. Since my inaugural meeting, I...
Can I call myself a bilingual speech-language pathologist?
I have worked as a bilingual speech-language pathologist for more than 20 years now. I started learning Spanish when I was 21 years old—a junior in college. I loved it. I ended up adding a major in Spanish literature. When I finished my program, I could talk about...
Ethnic Diversity in Speech-Language Therapy
The Concern A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about Representation--finding and supporting speech-language pathologists who represent the demographics of the diverse students and clients we serve. The words were personal for me. As someone who grew up outside of...
Finding Bilingual Speech Language Pathologists
Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologists Unite How do we find bilingual speech language pathologists? Years ago, as a district lead, I sat in front of a group of bilingual SLPs. It was our first official meeting, and I was pumped. We had always had our monthly...
Telling Parents their Child has an Impairment (Spanish)
It's hard enough explaining communication disorders to a parent in your native language when their child is diagnosed with an impairment, let alone when they speak another language. Questions about how to communicate this delicate information with Spanish-speaking...
Diversity in Speech-Language Pathology
I realized last night that I have never had a teacher who looked like me. With 19.5 years of education, there was not one single teacher with eyes and dark hair like mine. Did this impact my academic performance? I don’t know. Did it contribute to my narrative?...
Addressing Challenging Behaviors During Intervention
I don’t know about all of you, but I came out of my master’s program in speech pathology with ZERO skills to address challenging behaviors. I don’t remember having a single classroom discussion about challenging behaviors. Maybe I was lucky that the clients I saw at...
Speech Therapy Rewards that Don’t Include Food
I was invited into a behavioral observation of a child with ADHD and autism who was having difficulty completing his work. True enough, we tried working with the child using available behavioral techniques and he was not playing along! When the Life Skills...
What is the Purpose of the CALP Score?
Earlier this week I did a webinar for a school district, and one of the things we talked about was the importance of testing bilingual students in both of their languages. This brought up the topic of the purpose of the CALP score. One of the SLPs in the...
The Key to Better Speech-Language Therapy
What's missing? I think have figured out the secret to better speech-language therapy, and I learned it 15 years into my career. A year ago, I sat in an audience and listened to Stacey Chang, the Executive Director of the Design Institute for Health, a...
Quick Feel Good Message for World Down Syndrome Day
I thought I would share what I did with my students this year for World Down Syndrome Day A huge reason why I am in this field is because of my passion of working with individuals with Down Syndrome. So, I decided to do a lesson on Down...
Do I Need to Test Bilingual Children in Both Languages?
This is a question I have heard a lot lately. Is there a certain point at which it is acceptable not to test bilingual children in both languages? Take a look at the following table that comes from a workshop we do on evaluating bilinguals. The Need to Test...
Be A Speech-Language Pathologist.
What's it like to be a speech-language pathologist? Well, it's the month of May. For some, it's merely the fifth month of the year. For us as SLPs, we are in the thick of it. Evaluations and reports are amping up, timelines are getting much too...
6 Common Linguistic Errors that Lead to Misdiagnosis for Language Therapy
With speech-language pathologists facing increased caseloads and increased diversity, it is becoming more and more critical that we are able to tell the difference between children who are making typical errors associated with learning a second language from those who...
Stuttering and Bilingual Students – Explanation and Resources
When combining stuttering and bilingual development there is overlap we need to sort out to keep our goals focused on communication.
Should I Stop Speaking my Native Language with my Children?
Should I stop speaking my native language with my child? In my 20+ years as a bilingual speech-language pathologist, this is the question I have heard more than any other, "Should I stop speaking my native language with my child?" I heard it 20 years ago, and I just...
Has Language Failed Us?
Good or Bad? I spent most of my day in the backyard. The kids played, and I shuffled between my motherly duties of laundering/cleaning/sitting idly. At one point, the three-year-old thoughtfully placed blooms into a container. Language used to...
Effective Language Therapy Materials : Board Games!
Now that we have learned a bit about why games support our academic needs, let's talk about the best ways to turn games into valuable language therapy materials. Yes, games come in boxes and line our shelves but we need to reach back into the memories of our childhood...
Justifying Language Therapy Games with Literacy
"Speech Therapists Just Play Games!" Have you heard this? Maybe it was uttered by another educator as they passed through our therapy room. Maybe it was shared by a parent who was watching our session in the home or clinic. The onlookers were aware of the fun being...
Can you define bilingual education for me?
I recently received a letter from a trainer of clinical providers at a large insurance company asking me to educate them on what bilingual education is in public schools near border towns. Here's the letter I received. I am reaching out to see if you have any...
Addressing Difficult Behavior in Speech Therapy
We have all had the experience where our intervention is less productive because of difficult behaviors in speech therapy. Here is a behavior system that I have found to be successful in group settings. If you laminate the chart at the bottom, you can use it across...
Making Life Better in the Schools
As our workload increases, we need to find better practices. The 3:1 service delivery model might be the answer. The ASHA Schools Survey 2014 reports that caseload size over the last couple of years has remained the same (47). However, the responsibilities of...
Creative Fluency Therapy to Boost Self-Confidence
This week Maria Mitidieri shares her creative approach to fluency therapy that has helped her increase self-confidence in students who stutter. I recently had the unique opportunity to have two students with moderate-to-severe stuttering admitted onto my caseload...
Case Study: Walking through a bilingual language sample
This is a follow up to last week's post: Verb Errors of Spanish Speakers. Let's follow this conversation as we walk through what to do with a language sample. An SLP watched this post: How to do a Language Sample, and came up with these great questions....
Best practice for evaluating bilingual children
Evaluating bilingual children is difficult enough as it is. Sometimes the process is made worse when we work for what we believe to be a proper evaluation and we are denied access to interpreters, bilingual personnel, and are asked to come to a conclusion...
Do more with less, SLPs. Let’s get creative.
My colleagues and I are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with incredible speech-language pathologists all over the United States. It is an awesome profession we have, and we love our work. BUT…there is a resounding theme that we keep hearing from all of...
A Letter to My Younger SLP-Self: 5 SLP Lessons
Dear Phuong, You just walked out of your first graduate school class, and you’re on your own in Badger country. You are 22, and I, on the other hand, exist 16 years later as the 39-year-old version of you. You are about to dive into your chosen profession as a...
Dynamic Assessment: What we need to know
We all have finished a formal evaluation, found that a child qualifies, and you... don’t really believe the results and wonder if culture, exposure, attention span or something else is making the results wonky.know the child qualifies but don’t have a clue how to...
What are the intended purposes of language proficiency tests?
Do we use language proficiency testing to determine which language we should use for speech-language testing? NOOOOOOOOO! Did I say that loudly enough? This is a question we hear a lot. “How do I determine the language of dominance so I know which language to use when...
Staffing Considerations for SLPs
There are more than 75,000 school-based SLPs in the United States, and we are working too hard. I identify as a glass-three-quarters-full person, and I can find the positives, the bright side and the out-of-the-box thinking. I thrive on this...
Why Accounting for Discourse in Speech Therapy Matters
I have two questions related to how we treat discourse in speech therapy : What level of discourse is the focus of our formal evaluations? Most prompts on all of our formal testing instruments require single word or single sentence responses. What is a child expected...
Verb Errors of Spanish Speakers
Here is a topic that we get emailed about all the time - Verb Errors of Spanish Speakers. Let's follow this conversation with a speech pathologist in North Carolina to see how to sort this out. "I am trying to increase my knowledge of errors ESL students make to...
Evidence-Based Practices for SLPs
Can I do this? During my college days, I spent time thinking about my team's football schedule, listened to the woes of Matchbox 20 and heard the adamant cries of using evidence-based practices (EBP) from my professors. Somewhere along the way, this sole task made me...
Great Language Therapy Using Rhyme Stories
Using rhyme stories for speech and language therapy is like driving your car on cruise control. The rhyme takes over the cadence, intonation, and length so we can focus on the content. Communication requires expectation. Someone says something, and...
Speech Therapy Inclusion
Less than 30% of speech pathologists do speech therapy inclusion. Yet, classroom based therapy gives us the opportunity to: Improve our relationships with teachersHave our therapy directly map onto academic goalsReduce our therapy planning by using the content and...
Here’s how to gather a Bilingual Speech and Language Evaluation Sample
This article contains the step-by-step process you can follow just like I did when you need a bilingual speech and language evaluation sample for your report. Truly, it is the best, fastest, and most accurate way to diagnose a bilingual child. I have a...
Great Speech Session: Win the Heart to Win the Head
I’ve spent approximately 9,720 hours doing speech-language therapy, and I’ve discovered the secret to a great speech therapy session. Evidence-based practices are essential to our success. However, to me, there is something else that supersedes the...
Spanish Cleft Palate and VPI Resources
Cleft Palate and VPI resources are hard to come by as it is, let alone information in Spanish. Even if you are a non-Spanish-speaking SLP who works with diverse populations, it would still be nice to have something to show parents and caretakers. Highlighting...
Speech Referrals: Great Interactions with Teachers!
The Speech Referral Process has a huge impact on the work we do. It influences how many children we see, how big our caseloads are, and how enjoyable our interactions are with teachers and other campus professionals. We have had a huge surge in the number of...
What’s in a Name? Everthing, SLPs.
Say My Name Beyoncé and I have so much in common: our love for Texas, mutual respect for Sir Jay-Z and difficult-to-pronounce names. Now, I admit that Queen Bey (with 17.2+ million albums sold) might now be a household name. However, I’m confident that 8-year-old...
Speech Therapy for Down Syndrome
Speech Therapy for Down Syndrome is quite Unique Children with Down Syndrome are truly unique in the way that they communicate and interact. Treating these children can often be difficult because this syndrome involves so many different developmental domains,...
Articulation testing: Why don’t the percentiles line up with the standard scores the way they are supposed to?
As one of the authors of the Bilingual Articulation and Phonology Assessment app, I get to field questions from all of the great SLPs who use this amazing tool. One of the questions I get a lot is about the standard scores and percentiles. They don’t look like they do...
Planning for Speech Therapy
Back-to-school quick tips for planning for speech therapy When I pack up my stuff each May I write notes to myself in the third person telling myself what to do in the fall. It has become a routine that makes me laugh hysterically because May is typically so crazy...
Communication and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Infection
Hey Everyone! Every so often you get a kid on your caseload or open their evaluation intake form and see a word that you never new existed. So what do you do? You Google it, only to find out there is precious little information on how this...
How to Be a Successful Speech-Language Pathologist in 5 Steps
Where: ASHA Connect I just returned from ASHA Connect 2017 in New Orleans, and I am floored. I now know the secret of how to be a successful speech-language pathologist. So, here's what happened. I, along with 5 fellow SLPs, were given the task...
Prevent Over Identification – Bilingual Speech Students
How Phonology in Bilingualism Contributes to Over Identification: A Case Study We have all seen comparisons of Spanish to English that help us work with children across languages. But what do we focus on in our English-only therapy with children who speak Spanish in...
Best Books for Babies
My youngest child just turned two in April, and I cannot help but think of how quickly my three children have grown up. I've blinked, and the oldest is reading chapter books, the kindergartener self-wrote an apology note and the baby is beginning to tell stories...
How Speech Pathologists Change Lives
I knew Katherine Johnson when her Spanish was just at college level. Then I watched as she independently left for Guatemala and came back, able to serve as a bilingual speech pathologist. I knew Katherine when she did really good therapy. Then I watched...
Keep Yourself Healthy During End-of-School Year Scramble
For whatever reason, the job of the school-based speech-language pathologist is always busier in the spring semester than the fall semester. We have loads of evaluations that we need to complete, meetings to review and revise our students’ Individualized Education...
School-Based SLP – An Ode to YOU
Recently released from the throngs of graduate school, I sprinted straight toward the public sector to gleefully earn my second-rate salary. Within days, I swallowed my mother’s accurate prophecy — my job as a school-based speech-language pathologist was hard. It’s...
Easily show how your Speech Therapy and Reading Goals are Connected
Our speech therapy is drenched with reading comprehension and decoding support. We just need the right information to validate what we are already doing. This post is a follow-up to last week's essay: Where Speech Therapy and Literacy Meet: Let everyone...
Where Speech Therapy and Literacy Meet
In our jobs, it is the expectation that we address the greatest needs of the classroom. That is what special education is for right? To support and enable academic growth. We spend a lot of time looking for ways to further support our little guys....
Speech Therapy and Alignment of Curriculum Standards
I love alliteration. Speech-Language Pathologists speak soundly! Communication can conquer! However, for some reason, the words Common Core brings forth fear SLPs. For those who live in my state of Texas, this refers to the Texas Essential...
5 Tips to Reduce Speech Therapy Planning Time
In this video I share 5 tips on how to use the classroom curriculum to reduce speech therapy planning time, improve relationships with teachers, and increase how fast your students move through their goals. Watch above or here is a quick recap. Click above for...
Speech Therapy Data Collection – 3 tips to make it easier
Speech therapy data collection makes me nervous. Sure, I know it’s good for me, but I question it every step of the way. Then, I start adding kids to my groups, and SLP-perspiration ensues. As I step over my buckets of sweat to grab a pen and scrap piece...
Best Speech Therapy Toys for 2017 – Back to the Basics
Speech Therapy is About the People As I attempted to put away my holiday décor this weekend, I turned on Minimalism, a Netflix movie. The film follows Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, known as “The Minimalists,” and talks about how to live more meaningful...
Best Speech Therapy Blog by Area of Interest
We all have our areas that we geek out on, and we also have areas that we know very little about and need information fast! We polled SLPs to find out which speech therapy blog they adored or flew to in times of crisis and updated them for the current year. Best...
How to do Group Speech Therapy
Benefits of Group Therapy It was 2002, and I watched as Julie, my practicum supervisor, sat down with two first graders to read Mouse Paint. I watched as she saw not one but two students at the same time. My young SLP mind was blown, and I relished in...
Speech Therapy and Work-Life Balance
Speech Therapy and Work-Life Balance What’s the number one question I get from the readers of our speech-language pathology blog? How do you maintain a job doing speech therapy and work-life balance? I admit that there is an abundance of questions related to speech...
Video Modeling in Speech Therapy in 7 Easy Steps
What is Video Modeling? Jessie is a fifth grader who is working on conversational skills in speech. The only thing is that Jessie continues to need cuing and prompting. This is where Video Modeling, an evidence-based practice, comes in handy. What is Video Modeling?...
Bridging Research and Clinical Practice
Does anyone else feel a disconnect between research and clinical practice in the field of speech-language pathology? Do you ever get to the end of a research article and think, "Now, how do I apply that clinically?" I know I am not alone in this. So many people...
What can I Focus on to Improve Social Skills?
The topic of “Social Skills” has grown to encompass all aspects of a student’s day. Students with these difficulties have benefited tremendously from all the attention to detail. However, when we receive a student who has social skills goals, what do we...
Have Speech Pathologists lost the ability to cry Mercy?
In an age when we are supposed to be experts at everything, have we grown to the point where we are doing ourselves and our clients a disservice? When I was young, my brother and I had a game called pet store. One of us would have our arm pinned down while the...
Accepting Criticism and Praise
For those of you who don’t know me well, I have to admit that I am a bit of a tortured soul. I love working with clients and making gains in therapy. When I see ways in which our field can improve, I feel a real compulsion to act. Here is where the torture comes in....
Bilingual Student: Qualify for Speech Therapy?
In our last post, we introduced you to a case study. The SLP wanted to know if the bilingual 4-year-old would qualify for speech therapy. Many, many questions arise when we are serving our diverse populations, and we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with...
Does My Bilingual Student Qualify? – Part 1
We field a lot of questions about whether or not a student will qualify for speech therapy. We are happy to do it because everyone learns a lot by watching someone else go through the process. I received this email last week, and I asked if I could share...
Becoming a Speech Language Pathologist
Dear SLP-to-be and SLPs, Hey, you. I am talking to you—the one thinking about applying to graduate school and becoming a speech language pathologist, the one who was just told that you should quit your program by your clinical supervisor, the one...
Speech Therapy for Individuals Who Are Non-Verbal
Core Vocabulary is the Key Today I want for all of us to start thinking about our students and clients who are non-verbal. How do we do speech therapy for individuals who are non-verbal? I will be the first to say that the letters AAC (augmentative and...
5 Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Activities
A few weeks ago, I talked about 5 tips for working with those with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). After conferring with fellow SLPs with more expertise on this subject matter, I revamped my speech sessions with my preschool-aged client. After five...
Essential Materials for Early Intervention to Get up and Running
SLPs who provide home-based early intervention services are always looking for a way to streamline the amount of stuff that has slowly been filling their trunk. Here is a curated list of early intervention speech therapy materials that you can easily keep...
5 Tips for Working with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a mother of a two-year-old working on expressive language needs. She comes with her child twice a week for speech-language therapy. This, really, was not something particularly different from my day-to-day as an...
The Case for Learning Another Language
My husband and I celebrated our 20th anniversary recently with two of the things we love most—great food and travel. We shared dinner at a community table one night with two other couples in southern France. It was a table full of polyglots—well except for us. As we...
How to Rapidly Improve Severely Low Speech Intelligibility
I got a new student, skimmed through his articulation goals, and ran and picked him up for speech therapy. Never knowing how accurate old goals are, I asked him to tell me the story from his favorite book – Clifford. I then stood up, walked over to my desk, took a...
Successfully Working with English Language Learners
At the end of April I shared my dream graph about SLPs working with English Language Learners to those who attended my short course at the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s annual convention in Anaheim, California. I call it my dream graph because I...
I am an SLP
The SLP-Life can feel overwhelming--IEP meetings, evaluations, report writing, trainings, making materials, programming devices. At times, we sometimes find ourselves losing sight of why we are in this profession. We are keeping it light this week with a poem by...
Phonological Processes – English & Spanish Differences
There are 4 things that we need to know about treating and diagnosing phonological processes in children who are bilingual. Phonological processes are quite possibly more important than articulation (Ohhh! the controversy!!). The types of phonological processes are...
Can a speech impairment occur in only 1 language of a bilingual person?
Can a child demonstrate a speech impairment in one language but not the other? My immediate response to this is, “No.” That said, let me tell you about a student I tested last week. Meet Miguel. Miguel is a 7-year, 3-month-old child whose native language is Spanish....
5 Communication Tips for Parents
During my time as a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I’ve had the pleasure of working with fantastic families. I’ve often marveled at how parents and caregivers give so much of their time and resources to support their children’s communication. For...
Get the Most out of your Speech Therapy Sessions
My next Thursday morning session with a first grader will be our last. She has mastered her r-sound. Here’s the crazy part. We have only had three speech therapy sessions. To be honest, I am shocked. Typically, it takes a few months to see such progress. I will...
More Meaningful & Better Speech-language Therapy
My First Speech Therapy Session While in graduate school, I learned about the Neural Mechanisms of Speech, Language and Hearing. I don’t want to brag, but I also studied Acquired Language & Cognitive-Communication in Adults. I would soon find out that this didn't...
What is Speech Pathology?
It was not until my sophomore year of college that I realized that I needed to go to graduate school to become a speech-language pathologist? What?! Two more years of school? No one told me about this part of the plan. A few years later, I started working in a school,...
Maximizing the Impact of the 3:1 Service Delivery Model for Students with Communication Disorders
The Goals of the 3:1 Service Delivery Model Many of the school districts we work with have shifted to a 3:1 service delivery model in which there are three weeks of direct services and one week of indirect services. Research on this model suggests that it makes for...
Increasing Vocabulary Retention for Diverse Students
You have heard it from teachers: "He doesn't remember anything I teach him." or "We have covered the same words in spelling lists, writing, in class, and she doesn't come back the next day with anything. Teachers have really great strategies for increasing...
Improve Vocabulary Retention with Multicultural Students
Working to improve vocabulary retention is extremely important in the academic setting. If a child uses, remembers, or lists new vocabulary, then general education teachers have data to show that a child is learning. Many of their formal tests, quizzes,...
Speech Therapy in the Home Can Happen All Day Long
Parents can easily do speech therapy activities in the home while going about their daily routines. At Bilinguistics we work across many different settings, and there are aspects of each of them that I love. I have a soft spot in my heart for Early Childhood...
5 Fears All SLPs Have–What it’s like being an SLP.
I have a confession. On the outside, I appear to be a (somewhat) competent SLP. Once you get past the exterior, folks, I am a big ball of worry. And, you know what? My biggest fears have to do with what I have done for 40-50 hours a week for...
A Guide to AAC and AT
I Have No Idea What I’m Doing I promise I’m an SLP. There are two diplomas tucked away in my garage to prove it. I know the answers to questions. Sometimes. I can talk about language, social skills and articulation for days. ...
Selective Mutism Evaluation Report Text
What if I still have to do a selective mutism evaluation? Many others have covered this topic well and we would like to send you in their direction: The Selective Mutism Center The Selective Mutism Group Selective Mutism by the American Speech-Language Hearing...
Selective Mutism Classroom Action Plan – 6 Great Ideas
When we receive a child with selective mutism on our caseload we are often at a loss for what to do first. Here are 6 ways to get the communication rolling and some resources for us and the parents at the bottom. This generally describes a student with Selective...
7 Tough Questions (and Answers!) from a New Bilingual SLP
As our demographics change, the need for bilingual SLPs is evident. What does it look like to be a bilingual SLP? Let's listen in on an interview with a speech-language pathologist working with English Language Learners. As an English-only SLP, you may be surprised...
SLP #5: Stay in the Field
After a decade and a half of working in the field of speech language pathology, I finally discovered the key to SLP happiness. This is our final, and most important, installment of our five-part series: How to Happily be an SLP. We have talked about...
How to Happily be an SLP #4: Interact with Teachers
In our fourth installment of this series, I want to share a secret I have for making my SLP-life easier. I interact with teachers! Sure, I gabbed with teachers when I was a school-based SLP. You know what? I still talk to teachers as a clinic-based SLP. Sometimes,...
SLP #3: Save Time and Money Speech Language Therapy Materials
In our last two posts, we talked how to be a more effective, efficient and happier SLP by making your efforts more cumulative and doing intensive speech therapy. Today, let’s talk about where we can get great speech therapy materials. Here’s the...
SLP #2: Articulation Activities for Dismissals
In our last post, we talked how making your SLP-efforts cumulative helps you be a more effective, efficient, and happier SLP. Today, we are going to talk about how one articulation method can: 1. Get students to generalize their sounds and graduate from speech therapy...
SLP #1: Cumulative Speech Therapy Planning
As a former school-based SLP, I have lived and reveled in the life of working in the schools. As a former district and regional lead, I have supported many (happy and unhappy) SLPs. And, now, I currently serve clients through our clinic. I would like to share my...
Speech Therapy Video Tip: Story Grammar Rap
We hope our last speech therapy tip about goals was fun and helpful. This week we would love to share one of our most effective, short videos about working on story grammar. SLPs have used this strategy, and we are thrilled with the feedback. "It was...
Rock your Therapy with Scaffolding Strategies
Two types of people should read this essay: 1. If you are new(er) to speech pathology you can implement the following strategies in any therapy session and enjoy a level of success that only experience normally allows. 2. If you are experienced you probably...
Increase Intervention with the Same Planning Time
We are great at speech therapy planning but what if we could magically triple our therapy time for the same amount of effort? I feel like this should be an infomercial but read on, it's really true! We spend a great deal of time planning for our therapy and as...
Welcome Back! Part 2: 30-minute speech therapy sessions
I can't believe it is fall already but I have accepted that it is here. Here are some quick tips for effectively running your speech therapy sessions. 30 minutes can be the fastest time interval if you have planned for it or the slowest if you didn't have time to put...
Welcome Back! Quick Pre- Lesson Planning for Speech Therapy
Are you kidding me! It’s fall? Quick tips for planning for speech therapy When I pack up my stuff each May I write notes to myself in the third person telling myself what to do in the fall. It has become a routine that makes me laugh hysterically because...
Top 10 Speech Therapy Resources
We wanted to share with you our Top 10 List of Speech Therapy Resources that have been downloaded from our SPEECH THERAPY MATERIALS PAGE over 10,000 times in the last year. We are sharing these valuable materials with our blog community for free! Are you...
Research on the Benefits of Shared Reading
This essay goes out to the nerds among us who demand proof for intervention strategies before implementing them (kudos). We are huge advocates of literacy-based intervention and are frequently asked: Why do you use storybooks in intervention? Storybooks have...
Quickly Improve Speech Therapy Following Directions Data
The internet abounds with tips and tricks for speech therapy following directions ideas. Fun-fun activities can be downloaded from sites like Pinterest to focus on how to improve the way a student follows directions. From a speech pathology perspective we...
Benefits of reading to children in their in native language
Keep reading, parents! We often write about the great results we see when using storybooks in intervention. I just stumbled across a great study that I wanted to share about how beneficial it is for parents to read to their kids in their native language. Huennekens...
Articulation Norms for Spanish and English
On the average week, we get contacted for articulation norms in Spanish and English more than any other request. We decided to include our favorite documents in a single post so that they could be easily bookmarked and referenced. Developmental Articulation Norms for...
The Monolingual Bilingual SLP
I’m a bilingual SLP, but when it comes to evaluating students who speak Kenyarwanda, Pashto, Tosk, and Thai, I am just as monolingual as the 95 percent of our field who self-report themselves as monolingual. Unlike many of the SLPs I talk to about this topic, I...
Modifying Intervention for the Life Skills Classroom
How to Modifying Intervention Planning ahead is essential when working with children with profound disabilities. In order to access the curriculum, activities may need to be modified to take into account physical, emotional, or communication impairments. The...
Efficient and Effective Life Skills Intervention
For those of us who have had the opportunity to work in a life skills classroom we know that it can be the most rewarding and most challenging experience. The problem is that this situation is almost always heavily weighted toward the challenging end of the...
Best 3 Resources for Literature-based Intervention Books
Choosing the right book is crucial for engaging the students The clock is ticking on the end of the school year and we need to find therapy materials fast. The general criteria for choosing a book are that it must: Be age-appropriateBe interesting to...
Increase teacher and parent involvement
When therapeutic goals are addressed in the home and classroom, the need for services can be reduce and academic outcomes can be improved. It is not uncommon for a speech-language pathologist to see a student in individual or group settings using therapy materials...
Who are these speech pathologists and what do they need?
Do you want to improve the field by creating great products for fellow speech pathologists? Demographic information on speech pathology and its professionals is crucial to helping you get there. We share demographic information below that highlights how many...
Articulation Therapy
As a speech-language pathologist working in the schools, articulation is my middle name. I’m always looking for new and engaging articulation therapy materials for speech sessions. Especially when the school year is winding down or I have been working with a child for...
Futures Planning for Children with Multiple Disabilities
Years ago, I recall sitting in an Admission, Review, Dismissal (ARD) meeting for one of my students. Members around the table included parents, service providers (SLP, OT, Adaptive PE), teachers, district leads and adminstrators. The child was in the fourth grade,...
Should I become an SLP? Speech Pathology Careers
Here is an honest look as to why you might want or not want to become a speech pathologist. Do you want to get a speech pathologist talking? Ask them why they like their job. The reasons abound as to why becoming a speech pathologist is a great idea and we...
People Skills at Work- Communication Styles: Analyticals
Competent about Communication Styles? All about those Analyticals! In the previous posts, we've discussed improving our people skills by adapting our way of communicating to coincide with others' communication styles. In the first post about communication styles,...
People Skills at Work-Communication Styles: Expressives
Competent about Communication Styles? (All about those Expressives!) In the previous posts, we discussed the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of 4 communication styles from the Boltons' People Styles at Work and Beyond, 2nd Edition: Drivers,...
People Skills at Work- Communication Styles: Amiables
Competent about Communication Styles? All about those Amiables! In the previous post, we continued to work on our people skills. We focused on Analyticals and how they can communicate more effectively with Drivers, Expressives, and Amiables. If you haven’t yet...
Confessions of a Speech-Language Pathologist – I’m Sorry, Parents
Twelve years ago, I was ready to dive into the world of speech-language pathology with enthusiasm, fervor and a toolkit of assessment and therapy materials. I had worked hard in the cold and snowy deciduous forests of Madison, Wisconsin to earn my degree. ...
Graduate School Programs for Speech-Language Pathology
A few weeks ago, we talked about graduate school programs for speech-language pathologists. This week, let's get a bit more personal. Below is honest, valuable and personalized feedback about a few graduate programs across the nation. All of our experiences were...
Home-Based Speech Language Therapy: Eat Your Therapy!
Part of my job as a speech-language pathologist is to provide home-based speech language therapy. On paper, this is merely a location. In reality, I consider this an honor and privilege. Regardless of size, cleanliness and number of occupants, a home is a place of...
Parent Involvement in Speech Therapy
As speech-language pathologists, we know that parent involvement helps students make better gains and quicker progress. ASHA has various articles discussing the importance of family-centered therapy (including the family in the therapeutic process) and inclusion of...
People Skills at Work- Communication Styles: Drivers
Competent about Communication Styles? (All about those Drivers!) In the previous post, we highlighted the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of 4 communication styles from the Boltons' People Styles at Work and Beyond, 2nd Edition: Drivers, Expressives,...
Drama: Effectively Consolidate Therapy Groups
There are times when we have had to be flexible and mix therapy groups with different ages for various reasons, including when we get really busy and need to catch up on make-up therapy. As school holidays and breaks approach, consolidating groups helps us to manage a...
One of Favorite Publishers for Intervention: Barefoot Books
If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you’ll see that we are passionate about literacy-based intervention (using books for speech therapy). Why? Using books in therapy is functional, multiple speech therapy goals can be addressed, it ties into the core...
Is Speech-Language Pathology Right For You? Take Two.
Today we are continuing our dialogue on the field of speech-language pathology. Is speech-language pathology right for you? For those of you considering this awesome profession, we want to provide real, honest feedback on what we do and how we feel as...
Series: People Skills at Work-Communication Styles
Competent about Communication Styles? As speech-language pathologists, WE ARE the communication experts. We’re trained to hone in on our clients’ communication strengths and weaknesses to determine if there is a delay/disorder. We’re trained to support our clients’...
Is Speech-Language Pathology Right For Me? Take One.
Making a decision to become something is hard. I made a choice to become a speech-language pathologist almost two decades ago as a junior in high school. Though my daily SLP-shenanigans could not exist without my educational journey, I forget all of the thoughts,...
DOD: Understand Your English Language Learners
We did it! After years and years of gathering information about different languages in the course of our jobs as bilingual speech-language pathologists, we finally turned it all into a book. Difference or Disorder? Understanding Speech and Language Patterns in...
Speech Therapy Resources for Parents: Connect Parents and Professionals
One of the most important parts of our jobs as speech-language pathologists is to be there for our parents and our families. We serve children, and this is the core of our job. Nonetheless, a child’s communication needs impact all aspects of a family’s...
Feeding Difficulties – Facts and Developmental Milestones
Freaked out about feeding difficulties? Here's some food for thought: Here are some Feeding Difficulty Facts… FACT: In the U.S., over 40,000 infants are born extremely pre-term (less than 28 weeks) FACT: Over 50% of former pre-term babies present with feeding...
I Just Graduated as an SLP! Now what!?
Congratulations on your recent graduation! You have studied, read research papers and seen clients. You are ready to tackle the best profession on earth. Likely, you are looking for a job that suits your SLP mind and heart needs. Regardless of your placement...
Synonyms and Antonyms: Vocabulary and Literacy Development
We Make Teaching Synonyms and Antonyms a Cinch! Our students may experience a myriad of emotions when they can and can’t express themselves effectively, ranging from feelings of accomplishment and equality with their peers to a sense of frustration and anxiety when...
What did you say? Can Accent Modification help?
Who are accent modification programs for? I love accents. They are a part of one’s identity and culture. Everyone has some type of an accent and most of the time accents do not disrupt communication. Sometimes, though, accents can make it difficult for people to...
Easily show articulatory placement.
When explaining articulatory placement to students, a profile drawing like this one I drew was a common visual aid in therapy. After several years of practice and a background of a few middle school art lessons in drawing the human profile, this is the closest many of...
Wh-Question Resources for Speech Therapy
‘Wh’ Questions and Speech Therapy “Why is the sky blue?” “Why can’t I fly?” “Why does it get hot in the summer?” Short of launching into a complex science lesson, parents may find it difficult to answer the numerous ‘why’ questions children ask at around 3-4...
3 speech therapy strategies to use in the hallways
If the profession of speech-language pathology no longer existed, I would choose to be a timekeeper. For the last decade, I have thought about speech sounds, literacy-based interventions and theory of mind activities. Regardless of my setting and caseload, I...
Repetition of Phrase Books for Speech Therapy
Next in our series of Predictable Books for Speech Therapy: Repetition of Phrase! A Phrase Repetition Story is a story in which the word order in a phrase or sentence is repeated. (Example: Bear on a Bike/Oso en Bicicleta, Goodnight Moon/Buenas Noches Luna)....
Bilinguistics supports educators in Mexico
A whirlwind trip to Monterrey, Mexico In their 3 days in Mexico, Dr. Ellen Kester and Scott Prath: provided training for teachers, language specialists, and special educators from various parts of northern Mexico conducted a workshop about communication...
Keep in Mind: Brain-Based Learning Facts & Strategies
Brain-based Learning Strategies Brain-based learning strategies are about teaching in the way the brain learns. Continue reading for Tips, Facts, & Strategies about how to incorporate Brain Based Strategies into your next therapy session and watch videos...
Why I became a Speech Language Pathologist
Why I became a Speech Language Pathologist. I got into this profession because of my junior class prom date. He was and still is a person who stutters. My closest friend during my teenage years, I observed his daily challenges. Ordering at a restaurant was...
Story Sequencing: A Fairy Tale of Triumph
Working Story Sequencing into your Day Once upon a time, in a school district not so far away, a sharp, efficient, and effective Speech-Language Pathologist (insert your name here) worked magic with a caseload of students, many of whom had sequencing pictures or short...
Series: People Skills at Work – Living the SLP Life
You’re a communication expert. Why is it often so challenging to communicate productively with colleagues and parents? Because you’re human, and effective communication, like any other acquired skill, must be explicitly learned. As speech-language pathologists we:...
A Case for Caring about Categorization in Speech Therapy
Why is it REALLY good to bother with categorization when it comes to bilingual children? A broader measure of language knowledge not only enhances our understanding of a particular student’s language abilities; it is also more appropriate when evaluating diverse...
The Grown-up Version of our Students and Clients
I have been thinking a great deal about the students and clients we serve. Specifically, I am giving some heart-thought to the grown-up versions of our students and clients. Recently, I was asked to come to a fifth grade graduation where one of my former...
WH Question Stories for Speech Therapy
Next in our series of Predictable Books: Question and Answer! In WH Question Stories, the same or similar questions are repeated throughout the story (Example: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?/ ¿Oso pardo, Oso pardo, qué ves ahi? WH Question stories are...
Songs for Speech Therapy to use with Storybooks
Next in our series of Predictable Books: Song Stories! This week’s predictable book theme is Songs for speech therapy. Song stories can be a wonderful addition to our therapy as they are an extremely motivating tool and provide greater opportunity for...
Speech-Language Wars: Intensive Service Delivery Models
A long time ago, in a setting not too, too far away… After graduate school, I knew I would be a school-based speech-language pathologist. With the letters M.S. after my name, a bag filled with speech and language therapy goodness and a firm grasp on the...
Accounting for Poverty in Speech Therapy
Implications of Poverty in Speech Therapy This blog post is a summary of a presentation (Implications of Poverty in Texas and Effective Strategies for Children) to be given at the Texas (TSHA) Convention on February 28, 2014 As I got ready for this presentation on...
Word Retrieval Resources for Language Therapy
WORD RETRIEVAL… Where is that word anyway?! Finding all of the books on the floor is what a child who has word retrieval deficits experiences. They have difficulty finding a word that they know and understand and have used before. They must become detectives and...
Speech Development in Spanish and English: What the differences mean to SLPs
Today we are going to talk about speech development in Spanish and English. We will break down this seemingly daunting topic so that you walk away feeling ready to answer any speech sound question that comes your way. You’ll learn about the acquisition of speech...
Teaching Idioms: More Bang for Your Buck
That’s the way the cookie crumbles!... I put my foot in my mouth… When pigs fly… You are what you eat! … Idioms have varied and sometimes unknown origins; however, due to the punch they deliver when we use them, they cleverly pepper our language to this day. ...
Pattern Stories for Speech Therapy
Next in our series of Predictable Books is Pattern Stories! This week’s predictable book theme is Patterns – we are looking forward to sharing our favorite books that follow a pattern and why they can be so helpful and easy to integrate into our current therapy!...
Bumpy Speech Road: Therapy for Stuttering
The bumpy speech road… It is the road less traveled. According to the National Stuttering Foundation, approximately 1% of the population stutters. For many, this road may also include embarrassment, frustration, and isolation. “If you find...
Dealing with End-of-Year Stress for SLPs
As of last month, I had a caseload of 60 students across two districts, three campuses and a presentation to complete. All was controllable until 10 evaluations and a few new students were added to my serving-platter-sized-plate. Welcome to end-of-year stress. I...
Best Speech Therapy Resources for Social Skills
We have all received that email from a colleague saying "Does anyone have information on X? I just received a new student." Or maybe you sent it. And you think: "Yes! I attended that conference last fall and the handouts are in? Uh oh."...
Caps for Sale is Awful (Awfully Good!)
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Caps for Sale. One could say that this blog post would merely provide great ideas for using books for speech therapy. I must now come clean and admit that I knew the problems this would cause in our office. ...
SLP Demographics: Why We Do What We Do
In this post, I want to explore why some of us choose to be SLPs and why we are choosing to continue to be SLPs. WHAT WE THINK WE WILL DO I’m sure many of you are familiar with the popular ‘What people think I do/What I really do’ meme that went on not too long ago...
Being Bilingual: More Than Just Talk
I can speak two languages. People have told me how lucky I am for being bilingual. I learned my first language of Vietnamese the old-fashioned way....
Books, Apps, Music, Goals, and Referral Documents
Have you ever said: Where did I put that? Or how about those emails we get from our colleagues requesting help with information we know that we have just seen (somewhere). Or, or, have you every saved a beautiful therapy idea only to find it the week after you...
Articulation, Fluency, and Language with One Book
I love using books in speech therapy, and I use them for all of my groups: language (of course!), articulation and fluency. You name the speech impairment, and I’ve got a book (or 10) for it. Twice a week, I see 4 kindergarteners for an...
Best Apps for Speech Therapy
Go to Best Apps for Speech Therapy Page Our SLPs at Bilinguistics have been using iPads in therapy for a while now, and we've all encountered both the benefits of the technology and the challenges of using it well. Benefits: iPads are FUN! They are LIGHTWEIGHT! There...
Great Books for Speech Therapy that use Cumulative Stories
Our Favorite Cumulative Stories for Speech Therapy Here is a list of some of our other favorite Cumulative Stories. Some can only be found in English at this time, but are books that we commonly translate into Spanish and have basic enough vocabulary that...
Cumulative Stories in Speech Therapy
Next in our series of Predictable Books: Cumulative Stories! A Cumulative Story is a story that builds on a pattern. It starts with one person, place, thing, or event. Each time a new person, place, thing, or event is shown, all the previous ones are repeated...
Cultural Influences in Children’s Narratives
The way a child organizes his stories, the content he includes, and the meaning projected all vary as a result of cultural and linguistic influences. The way children use narrative elements is culturally specific. Organization, content, and meaning create a narrative...
How to do a Language Sample – 4 Tips for Easily Getting a Language Sample
Language samples are BIG BANG for your time-buck, and we will show you how to do a language sample. And, let’s be honest, we think that we do not have enough time. However, language sampling can be easy and pulls together all aspects of language...
A Client’s Perspective – 3 Tips for Effective Speech Therapy
As an undergraduate SLP student, I was given the opportunity to work with a child fluency client at the University of Texas Speech and Hearing Center. This chance was especially exciting for me because I am a PWS myself (or “Person Who Stutters” for those of you...
Chain or Circular Stories for Speech Therapy
We are excited to continue on this literacy journey with y'all! To follow up on last week’s post, we are going to have a series of blog posts about the different types of Predictable Books. We are starting this week with Chain/Circular Stories. A Circular...
What Makes Great Books for Speech Therapy?
Many SLPs love books and we tend to gravitate to our same favorite books year after year. If it is not obvious by our numerous essays on narration, we are big fans of literacy-based intervention and use storybooks as tools for evaluation and treatment. But why...
9 Lessons-Learned During My Clinical Fellowship
By:Farinam M. Pletka I just started my clinical fellowship in August and man has it been quite the experience! Even though I am only 3 months into my CF, I can already say that I have learned tons and I want to share that knowledge with you. This blog isn’t about how...
Best Winter Speech and Language Books for Therapy
(Speech) sleigh bells ring, are you listenin’? Off the shelves, books are openin’ A beautiful sight We're happy alright Readin' in speech, language wonderland! Let’s be honest, the temperature isn’t the only thing that decreases towards the end of December. Timelines...
Articulation errors and second-language learners
If a child is having difficulty producing a sound, is it a true error or is it due to influence from his first language? Let’s begin with a quick look at the following Venn Diagram and then take a stroll through the research. Positive Transfer If two languages share...
What story-telling elements do all cultures share?
What story-telling elements do all cultures share? The narrative styles of children from English-speaking and Spanish-speaking homes vary from culture to culture. How a child tells a story, includes details, and conveys meaning is influenced by language,...
Falling into Fabulously Fun Speech and Language Activities
When we are tempted to try something new, we must stretch ourselves, wobble on a precarious, yet irresistible cliff, and jump off… Often we become invigorated by the whistling wind… and eventually regain our footing on new, but welcome ground. Inevitably, learning is...
How to be a Speech-Language Pathologist: A Day in the Life
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Literacy-Based Intervention for Speech-Language Therapy
I am a book hoarder. It started out innocently enough. I would purchase a book, relish in each page and place the prized possession on a shelf. The spines of the books, with the titles perfectly exhibited, served as my trophy display. ...
Free Yourself from Challenges in Life Skills Classrooms
For those of us who have or have had the opportunity to work in a Life Skills classroom we know that it is the most rewarding and most challenging experience. The problem is that this situation is almost always heavily weighted towards the challenging end of the...
Autism, Wretches & Jabberers, oh my!
How timely, that at the beginning of the school year, I was reminded of why I choose to work as a speech-language pathologist. My reminder arrived just a few days ago in a simple and beautiful way while I worked with a child with autism and his family. I was able to...
2 Languages, Many Voices: Latinos In The U.S.
During the month of October, NPR ran a special series called "2 Languages, Many Voices: Latinos In The U.S." Guests included well-known authors and performers, including Rita Moreno and John Leguizamo. The program offers a variety of perspectives on...
Ah, the month of MAY!!
With IEP meetings, last minute evaluations, holidays, fieldtrips, and statewide testing, great therapy planning often gets pushed to the lower rung of importance. Rather than lament over the difficulty to provide services, EMBRACE THE CHAOS! The month of May...
Surviving your clinical fellowship year in the schools
For many SLPs, the CF year can be a rough one. After surviving my first few months as a CF in the schools, I thought it might be helpful to share some of my observations and experiences. Things I wish I had known: Save your materials from graduate school! The...
Benefits of Visual Schedules for Children on the Spectrum
Why are visual schedules important for children on the spectrum? Here's a quick answer to a more complex question. Visual schedules are important for many reasons for children on the spectrum. Most children on the spectrum have difficulties with transition. In...
Bilingual Education: Students with Special Needs
Question: We have a Life Skills class at in one of our elementary schools with both English and Spanish speakers (6-7 to 2 ratio). We have several parents of English speakers who are upset because their kids will be exposed to two languages and...
Bilingual Questions Regarding The Woodcock-Munoz
The WMLS manual on page 5 states that the WMLS is a test of the aspects of language that are acquired in formal schooling. In the WMLS manual, it seems to me that the English WMLS is standardized on monolingual English speakers and can be used to identify gifted...
Why use story books in therapy intervention?
Here is a pretty neat list of reasons why literacy-based intervention is a great way to go when working with children with speech and language impairments. Storybooks – provide structure for addressing goals – can be used with all ages and cultures – can be used to...
Bilingual Speech Therapists Can Be an Island
At Bilinguistics, we work with Spanish speaking children almost exclusively. Having said that however, bilingual speech pathologists make up only 3% of the field with the rest being monolingual English. We’re on this bilingual island but have important information...
Thank You for Making Us One of Best Speech Therapy Blogs for SLPs!
The best speech therapy blogs out there (which we are proud to count ourselves among!) do a few things very well.
The Best Speech Therapy Blogs Listen
In your over 1800 comments you have told us what you need, what is going wrong, and when we gave you resources or information that hit home. When we see patterns in what is being commented on and read, we know what to research next to improve our lives collectively.
They Challenge Ideas and Produce Results
The best speech therapy blog essays call it like it is but then give examples, ideas, materials, and products that are real solutions that will work for anyone serving in a real environment. Caseloads, paperwork, and budget cuts anyone? The popularity of our 650+ essays is a testament to the fact that SLPs are not afraid to speak their minds and that we want the same change you do.
They Connect Humans
You have been our shoulder to cry on with tears of happiness and dismay when this unique experience we call speech language pathology moves us. So many connections and collaborations have come out of the interactions between the 40,000+ subscribers who have found kindred spirits who share the same passion.
Wow, I love this post! Thank you for illuminating the special nature of being able to enter a person’s home to work with their child.
Sarah
This was such a concrete explanation of how important language specific constraints are…I’m grateful for this excellent resource, and will be sharing it with my grad school peers.
Jamey
Thank you for this thought provoking read! As someone who has been an SLP for over 40 years, I have to agree with the majority of what you reported. I look forward to reviewing the supporting studies in the future!
Cynthia
We have faithfully committed to publishing at least one speech therapy blog essay every Thursday. This isn’t always easy with report deadlines and kids to see.
YOU have made us one of the best speech therapy blogs and the change we can effect when everyone works together motivates us to keep researching, collaborating, and sharing out great work.
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