Popper Toys

You guys. How have I gone so long without popper toys in therapy?!  I am in love with the pig and penguin poppers I got for Christmas, and so are my students. We had to set some ground rules at first-- you know, things like "We don't aim the ball at teachers or our friends" and discussions of, "No, the animals are not "farting" or "pooping" but are just blowing out of their mouth." (Sigh.. little boys and their early obsessions with bodily functions.. ha ha).  Once the ground rules were set, though, the poppers have been a HUGE hit in therapy over the last few weeks!

Initially, I just thought they'd be fun as a reinforcer.  Turns out, they're good for a lot more than that! Below, I'll share some different ways I've used the poppers!

1.  Articulation
If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw this recent post:

One of the first activities I did with the popper was put some artic cards up on my door and have kids aim the popper at a card of their choosing.  For mixed groups, I designated each student a color and they had to aim for their color when it was their turn.  My particular poppers also work great for /p, b/-- ball, pop, penguin, and pig! You can use a carrier phrase like "Hit the ___" or "Pop the ___" when you aim at cards, too.  Carrier phrases are a great strategy to use with apraxic kids or your artic kids working at the phrase level.

(PS- Lisette from Speech Sprouts had an AWESOME idea to practice the /p/ sound with her poppers- check it out on Instagram!)

2.  Pronouns
I've stuck pronoun cards on the door, too, to work on "he," "she," and "they."  BUT, I've also worked on that pesky "I" (If you gave me a dollar for every time I heard "my" or "me" instead of "I" in preschool... Well, I'd have enough to buy myself a couple Starbucks beverages on a daily basis ;-)).  You can have students aim at cards on the door, or, depending on the room setup, you can aim at different objects around the room- posters, the door, cabinets, a chair, etc.... and have them say "I'm aiming at ___"

OR, you can decide to designate your popper animal as a female or male, and practice using he/she.  For instance, "He hit the ___"  This would be an easy way to work on pronouns in a mixed group with artic students without having to get out extra materials (because, in the words of Sweet Brown.. "Ain't nobody got time for that!")

3.  Increasing MLU
There are so many short 2-3 word phrases that you can incorporate while using the poppers with your late-talkers that may only be using single words...
"My turn" / "Your turn"
"Ball please" "Pig (or whatever your popper is) please"
"Ball in" "Put ball in" "Pop out" "Pop ball out"
"Green ball" "Black ball" (or whatever color balls come with your popper)
"Pop pig" "Pop penguin" "Pop ball"
"Hit ___"

4.  AAC- Core vocabulary
You may have seen this idea on my Instagram, too-- I used the poppers in conjunction with AAC with one of my nonverbal kids, and oh man, did he LOVE it! We targeted "in" to put the ball in the mouth, but you could also target core words such as: out, my/my turn, want/want turn, go, put/put in, more, and play.  My one little guy kept verbally saying "ooooh!" and "whoah!" when we played-- it was the most verbal I had heard him all school year!

5.  AAC- PECS
I've also used the poppers with students using PECS.  They had to exchange a picture of the ball in order to get one to place in the popper's mouth.  It's a highly motivating activity, trust me!

Which one is your favorite popper animal? Have you used them any other ways besides the ones I've listed? Let me know in the comments below!

**
PS- An exclusive, behind-the-scenes shot (I know- you're really hitting the jackpot with this one- ha!) of trying to take a photo of the poppers at home, with Bruce, one of my dogs, who just wants to play with them SO badly but was already told "no."  Hilarious!  #puppylife #rufflife

PPS- A couple days after I had to tell my dog not to play with them, my husband came upstairs with one of them and shot it at me while I was working on this post-- Popper toys are fun for both dogs and humans...kids and adults.. a multi-faceted toy anyone can enjoy! ;-)

Gobble Up Holiday Goodies

Can you believe it's the LAST WEEK of November?! This Fall has FLOWN by, and I can't believe it's almost time for Thanksgiving! Thankfully, I have plenty of goodies for you to gobble up, along with many of the other ladies that are a part of The Frenzied SLPs!

First off, if you have to work a portion of this week leading up to Thanksgiving and still need some turkey-themed activities, here are a couple of ideas for you:

1.  Articulation chef hats

These were so cute on the kids! Our 4 year old classrooms are doing food units and learning about bakers/chefs, different kinds of foods, and different tools you may use to cook and bake.  The chef hats were a perfect tie-in!

If you have short sessions like I do (15 minutes) and want these done in one session, then I'd recommend cutting up artic pictures ahead of time in addition to having the strips already cut and ready to go (If you have one of those industrial paper slicers in your building, that makes it way easy!).  However, you could easily stretch this into two sessions and have them color the pictures while they practice during one session, and then during the next session,  have them glue the pictures on while practicing.

2.  Dough and Dot:  Fall Edition

Fun fact #1:  Little kids love dot markers.  Especially the "extra juicy" ones that give out a lot of paint without a lot of pressure.  I mean, I guess if I were in preschool and could make a lot of mess with very little effort, I'd probably be happy, too.  Fun fact #2:  Little kids don't ever get tired of playdough. Ever.  EVER!  This packet includes dot marker pages for Fall/Thanksgiving WH questions and basic concepts, and playdough pages for -ing verbs/pronouns/'be' verbs, vocabulary, and open-ended pages.  I stick the playdough pages into 3 ring page protectors so I don't have any prep work involved!

However, if you are off the whole week, or have your Thanksgiving lesson plans already set and are gearing up for winter, I have some ideas for that, too!

1.  Christmas cookie craft

When I look back at this picture, it always makes me chuckle :) I've typically used this activity during our Give A Mouse A Cookie unit, but this would be great leading up to Christmas (if you celebrate and are allowed to incorporate it into your lessons at school) to pretend to decorate Christmas cookies!  It's a fun sensory experience that usually gets my littles talking, and we can work on simple sequencing of steps, too. I can hit some /sp/ blends with this too-- if we use a "spoon" to "spread" the shaving cream and use glitter as the "sprinkles!"  Find more cookie activities in this blog post.

2.  TpT Products & A Freebie

Grab some language activities for your younger students, and get your kids up and moving with the phonology games! Winter Wonderland of PreK/K Language, Decorate the Tree Phonology, Build a Snowman Phonology-full version, Build a Snowman Phonology-freebie /f/ version

Also, over 70 SLPs contributed to this year's Gifts of Gab ebook-- download it for free to see hundreds of both paid and free TpT products for your holiday/winter season!

What are some fun holiday activities you do with your kids? We'd love for you to link up and share your ideas with us, too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thankful and Grateful- A reflection on the last 2.5 years (and giveaways!)

Hi, guys! I'm teaming up with the rest of the ladies from The Frenzied SLPs to bring you a "thankful and grateful" blog hop with the chance to win some great prizes! After reading, you will want to collect the letter at the end of my post, and make sure to hit "next blog" to continue along the hop. When you put all of the letters in order, starting from the first blog, it will spell out a message that you'll enter into the drawing for some great prizes!

I can't even believe it's been almost TWO AND A HALF YEARS since I started this blogging journey.  I started in July of 2013, after several months of talking myself out of it, convinced that I couldn't do it.  As I sit here reflecting on the last couple years, there are so many people and opportunities I am thankful for, so bear with me-- this may get a little long.  And, maybe a little sappy... #allthefeels

I am beyond thankful for every single one of you reading this right now.  Every single instance where you have taken the time out of your busy days to pop over to my blog and read a post, every time you have "liked," commented on, or shared something of mine on social media, every time you spend your hard-earned money in my TpT store-- every single instance encourages me to keep going.  I'm just one little fish in a sea of many incredibly creative and talented SLPs, and to know that my ideas are inspiring others and being used all over the country (the world?) is inspiring to ME! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all of your support, no matter how large or how small of a gesture!

Source

I wouldn't have started this journey without my husband.  He has been 100% supportive and believed in me every single step of the way, even when I didn't believe in myself. He was the one who, ever so slightly, kept nudging me towards stepping outside my comfort zone and going for it.  He refuted every argument I had until I had no more, and convinced me that what I had to contribute to the SLP world was worthwhile.  He is and always has been my #1 fan!  Words would never do justice to the gratitude I have for him being my personal cheerleader and always pushing me to do more, even when I think I can't!  Both of our families have been super supportive, too, and my little sister tells every SLP-to-be she meets at college about my blog, for which I am also very grateful! :)

Right around the time I was almost/kinda/pretty sure I maybe wanted to start a blog, the School-Based SLP Facebook page was started, and in the thread for introductions, I said I had a TpT store (I had started about 6 months prior to that), and that I was contemplating blogging.  Mia from Putting Words in your Mouth, said she found me on TpT and was following me <insert excited squeal and total fangirl moment> and encouraged me to start a blog if I was already thinking about it.  I loved Mia's blog already, so her encouragement helped nudge me in the right direction.  Rachel from Queen's Speech, whose blog I also had already been following, was really supportive in that thread, too, and gave me advice on starting a Facebook page for TpT/blogging (I was probably just fan-girling all night throughout that thread, talking to all of those "big-timers" I had followed for a while!)  I'm sure Mia and Rachel have no idea that I still think about their encouragement from that thread from time to time... but I do!

"A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships"

If you happened to watch the Lucky Little Learners/Schroeder's Shenanigans in Second periscopes from TpT Vegas this past summer, they used this quote several times to talk about the importance of supporting others. Helping other fellow bloggers/TpTers be their best in turn helps you be your best.  Keeping in line with this, I have to give shoutouts to some other SLP bloggers that have helped me along in the journey, whether they realized it or not!

1.  Jenn from Crazy Speech World:  My very first blog post was participating in her "Show me the Data" link up.  She was so sweet responding to my post, saying she felt lucky that I linked up with her for my first post, related to my being chronically messy, and welcomed me to the blogging world! Having another one of my favorite bloggers take the time to read through my post and acknowledge various things I said in there was SO COOL! (I was ecstatic when she commented on my post... another fan girl moment. Don't judge.)  It was another little nudge in the right direction-- this time, to keep going, rather than just beginning.

2.  Jenna at Speech Room News:  About 4-5 months after I started blogging, Jenna messaged me on Facebook to tell me she'd nominated me for "Best New Blog" in the Edublog awards! (I simultaneously celebrated and, you guessed it-- fan-girled out again at the same time.  Are you noticing a trend here?) I was ecstatic and so honored that a well-established blogger with thousands of followers took notice of my blog! That was probably a major turning point for me, when I thought, "Hey! I really CAN do this!"  Words would not do justice to the amount of gratitude I have for giving me that moment. THANK YOU, Jenna!

Jenn & Jenna are also two people whose "voice" and personalities really come through in their writing through blog posts and posts to Facebook/Instagram--something I am always striving to do more of! I really admire their ability to do this with such ease.

3. The ladies that are a part of the Frenzied SLPs: I was genuinely honored to be asked to join your group of other great bloggers over the summer! I've been struggling to keep a balance this school year, trying to juggle my workload + TpT + blogging + social media for blogging + keeping the non-SLP parts of my life alive, and I probably would not be as motivated to keep blogging as consistently without the topic ideas and support from all of you! <3 You are all wonderful, talented women and I have so much respect and admiration for what each of you do!

4.  Everyone who has asked me to guest post, join their blog/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook hop, or join their giveaway... Manda & Shanda at Twin Speech, Felice from Thedabblingspeechie, Danielle from Sublime Speech, Elizabeth from The Speech Owl, Lyndsey from Speech to the Core, Jessica from Figuratively Speeching, and Maria from Communication Station.  There are hundreds of other bloggers you could have asked instead of me, so I have always been grateful for the opportunity to join in the fun!  I've had the opportunity to get to know Felice and Danielle a bit more, too, and they are both hilarious-- grateful for the SLP friendships this blog has opened up for me!

Starting a blog/TpT store was a risk--a risk in the sense that I was putting myself out there to be judged and was making myself vulnerable.  Heck, it still is a risk!  Every time I create something new or write a new post, or am about to share a therapy idea on social media, that little voice of insecurity comes back to rear its ugly head.  As we all know, though, without risk, there is no reward, so I'm much better now at silencing that voice than I was when I first began.  And speaking of rewards....

One of my Instagram posts was featured in the August issue of the ASHA Leader a couple months ago!!  THE ASHA LEADER that is sent out to over 150,000 SLPs every month!! (#nobigdeal #famous)  I decided last January that making it into the ASHA Leader via my blog would be one of my goals for 2015. #REALTALK:  Honestly-- I was way too scared to put it in writing in my 2015 SLP Resolutions blog post because I thought it was maybe too far of a stretch or that other people reading would think that was a dumb, unrealistic idea.  But, referencing Lucky Little Learners' Periscope sessions from the summer again... "If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough."  Despite that inner voice of insecurity, I continually put myself out there over and over via this blog, and the rewards have been greater than I could have imagined! One of my coworkers is good friends with someone on our school board, so she passed on the article link to the Board member, and it then made its way to my superintendent, director of special education, and principal.  I mean, really, how cool is that?! And it's all because I have had support from my husband, all of you readers, various bloggers, and other friends/family!

In closing... Blogging has made me a better therapist. It pushes me to try to think outside the box and be more creative with my students in order to have material to blog about or share on social media, which benefits all parties involved! Blogging has also allowed me to connect with others who are passionate about what they do, and I am inspired by them every single day.  I am SO thankful for this avenue and for every opportunity I've had to connect with other SLPs, both bloggers and non-bloggers alike.

If you're still with me (I know, I'm sorry this was long.. I just have a lot to be thankful for!), thank you.  Thank you for all of your support over the last two and a half years.  I wouldn't be here without you! xoxo.


Here is my letter for you to collect along the hop:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Peasy Playdough Monsters for Language Therapy

Halloween is just around the corner, so it’s all talk of costumes, monsters, and creepy crawlies around here! The kids get SO excited in the days leading up to Halloween that it can be hard to keep their attention, so I needed some fun, new activities to keep them working and focused during our time together… Cue: Playdough monsters!

I collected some fruit loops from the preschool snack closet, grabbed beads, straws, and googly eyes from my arts/crafts drawer, and cut some bamboo skewers I randomly happened to have because I couldn’t find the pipe cleaners over lunch (and broke my scissors in the cutting process... womp womp.  At least I got enough cut for the activity, though!).

I took these materials, along with playdough, into the preschool rooms for my in-class small group language lessons, and they were a huge hit!  It kept them engaged the entire time (which isn’t an easy task!) and kept their little hands busy, as well.  We used these to target basic concepts and following directions.  They were given directions like…

-Put 2 googly eyes on your monster

-Find the long stick and put it above the eyes

-Find the short stick and put it next to the long stick

-Put 1 red fruit loop on the short stick

-Put 2 green fruit loops on the long stick

-Take 2 straws and give your monster two noses (and talked about whether our noses are above or below our eyes)

-Find another googly eye and put it below the monster’s noses

-Stack 3 purple fruit loops on top of the green ones

-Add 2 yellow fruit loops to the short stick

-Take 5 beads and make a mouth below the nose and eye

...and so on and so forth!

 

We hit on spatial concepts by using words like “above” “below” “under” “on top of” and “next to,” and hit size concepts by discriminating between the long stick and the short stick to stack the fruit loops.  This activity was great for working on colors, counting, and even some fine motor skills, too, which are all areas of need for many of my students!

Check out other fun Halloween-themed language treats from The Frenzied SLPs below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Organizational tips!

This post is all about functional, easy, time-saving tips to help you GET and STAY organized. These tips are coming from a non-Type A SLP so I promise these are totally doable! I implemented these ideas at the start of the school year and they have continued to work wonders for me thus far, a full 9 weeks in, so I wanted to share them all with you! I'm quickly approaching 60 preschool students and counting, so I HAVE to be extra organized in order to make it through this year alive!

You may have seen some of these tips and tricks on my Instagram over the last couple months, but some of these tips will be new ideas! I hope these tips are helpful for you guys, because we all know... #speechinainteasy #neitherisorganization ;-)

1. Organizing books by theme:

Mayyybe you don't know this about me yet, but I love themes. As in, I love themes in every aspect of my life-- themed therapy, themed parties, etc...(check out the "Saying Goodbye to the Roaring 20s" party I recently threw for my husband and several friends' 30th birthdays!).

Since I plan my therapy by themes, I keep my books organized by theme/time of year, too. Now that I'm using cardboard magazine holders from IKEA, it's SO easy each week to grab a box and pick books to use, and it's really easy to put books back in their spot.  I don’t have any wall cabinets and have limited shelving, so I love that I can store them above filing cabinets and my bookshelf.  BONUS: They're only $1.99 for a 5pk!

2.  Organizing artic card decks by initial/medial/final position for each phoneme

Guys.  This has been LIFE-CHANGING!! Life. Changing.  I cringe to think about all the time wasted sifting through card deck tins to pull out the specific phoneme position I needed for each kid.  I can switch out sounds and specific positions so quickly now!  I bought french fry boxes from Hobby Lobby for cheap and stuck magnets on the back, inner portion of the box to hold it to my filing cabinet.  I've had to tape the sides of some of the boxes that have come slightly undone, but overall they have held up well.

3.  Using 3 ring page protectors for play dough mats

Using the page protectors cuts down on lamination (and subsequent cutting) time, which is a win-win for me! I can swap themed play dough mats in and out quickly, and I can save on the number of page protector sheets I need if I can swap in and out, as well.  

For example, If I know I'm only going to be using the "All About Me" or "Apple" pages during those units, then I can swap them out for another set of mats I know I'll only be using for another specific unit.  For more general ones that I might be using year round, I put each individual page in a protector with copies behind the originals, so I can add those to the empty page protectors if I need multiple copies of the same page in a group. I keep them all stored in a 3 ring binder, either in a page protector or in pockets/pocket folders within the binder.

4.  Keeping Memory games/puzzle pieces in pencil cases from the $1 store

I love that these are clear so I can see what's inside.  This method prevents you from losing puzzle pieces that might otherwise fall out when you try to store the puzzle, and it also saves space when you don't have to keep the whole box for games like Memory!

5.  Keeping all testing manuals together in one spot for easy access

When I didn't have a designated spot for the manuals, they might have ended up on two different bookshelves, or in the testing material bag, or who knows where, and I'd have to waste time looking for them.  No more! This year, I have a magazine holder specifically for testing manuals.  I have easy access to all of them when I'm ready to score an eval, and I always put them back in their designated holder now! (Why did it take me so long to come up with this idea?!)

6.  Having an assessment tub

This has worked SO well for me since last Spring.  I have folders that hold my play-based assessment forms, and all the other informal assessment forms/stimulus items I might need for evals or annual IEPs (check out Busy Bee Speech's free Preschool Quick Probes and Speech Room News' evaluation forms!).  I keep my WH question card tins and object function rings from The Speech Summit in here, too.  The tub keeps everything together and I can just pick up and go when I am needing to do more informal or play-based assessments in the classroom or in the preschool pod!

7.  Grab & Go activities by sound/language target

 

As much as I try to plan therapy activities by the thematic units being used in the classroom, sometimes, it just isn't going to happen. I have print and go activities from various SLP bloggers/TpT sellers divided up by sound or language target (ie "categories" or "grammar"), so on days when I need to grab something quickly, I just pull something out of these folders! I have things like artic puzzles, do-a-dot pages, roll and cover/roll and color pages, etc... in the folders. These activities also double as easy homework pages to send home for parents! I also keep other general items like blank data sheets, parent handouts, etc.. in these, too.

PS- how stinkin' CUTE are the front two folders?! I snagged these at Home Goods in August during Back to School and I couldn't possibly adore them any more than I already do!

Well, what do you think? Which one of these tips was your favorite? What easy organizational tips do YOU have for ME?! Leave a comment below and share your ideas with me!

The Frenzied SLPs bring you... Screening Tools!

Today, The Frenzied SLPs are bringing you a series of blog posts on.... drumroll, please....

Speech and Language screening tools!  

As you all probably know, I'm an early childhood therapist.  In my district, we hold screenings one Friday a month, where parents in the community can sign their child up for a screening in all developmental areas: fine motor, gross motor, social skills, cognitive skills, and speech/language skills.  Our ECSE teachers and therapists all participate in the screenings.  We used to use our own forms that we created, but to make it more streamlined, we're now using the DIAL-4 screening tool for all developmental areas.  Truthfully, it's not my favorite (like, at all), but it was the best tool out of the ones we looked at, as far as what was covered in the speech/language portions.  In a nutshell, I just don't feel like it has a high enough sensitivity, especially since it combines articulation and language, so if a kid has great articulation skills but poor language skills, he may still come out average because the artic portion inflated his score. 

You're not here, though, for my opinion of the DIAL-4-- you're here because hopefully I'll have a freebie screening tool of sorts that you can utilize yourself, right?.  Good news: I'm going to share with you the informal screener I used during my first 3 years in preschool!

 

 

It includes stimulus pictures for labeling actions, objects, and object functions, as well as for identifying/explaining associations.  Also included are WH questions, where you can laminate the page if so desired, and have them stamp the circle, color in the circle, place a chip in the circle, etc... after they answer the question.  Depending on how your screening is set up, you may not have time for them to color in a circle, or depending on the kiddo, they might need that extrinsic motivator to get through it! ;-)  

You can grab the screener HERE off Dropbox

I don't use all of the stimulus pictures for every kid-- it just depends on their age.  For example, for expressive language with a new 3 year old, I may just do labeling of objects/actions/functions, and do the "what" and "where" questions, and leave out the associations and the rest of the /who, when, why/ WH questions.  Sometimes you can get what you need from just playing and taking a language sample, and you may not even need the stimulus pictures!

At the time I was using this screener, the PreK teachers checked basic concepts with their screening tool (and still do with the DIAL, as concepts are included in the cognitive portion that I don't administer), so that's why I don't have it included in mine.  However, another awesome FREE resource that does include basic concepts is Busy Bee Speech's "Preschool Quick Probes."  I use these all the time for informal assessment for IEPs! 

How do you do PreK screenings?  Do you have a monthly date set up with the whole team, or do you just set up appointments as you get requests from parents in the community? It's done very differently in my district here in Kansas than it was in my district in Ohio when I was in grad school doing my school practicum, so I'm always curious to hear how other places are performing preschool screenings.  Drop me a line and let me know! 

Be sure to check out the other SLPs below who are sharing what they use for speech/language screeners, as well!

An InLinkz Link-up

Surviving your first week!

It's back to school for me... TODAY!   Summer got away from me and it seriously feels like I just wrapped up my last IEP a week ago, not 12 weeks ago.  Regardless of whether or not I'm ready for the start of the new school year, though, it's coming, and I need to be prepared! I want to help YOU be prepared, too, so I'm joining The Frenzied SLPs again to give you some tips!

Tip #1:  Expect the Unexpected (#amiright "Big Brother" fans?!)
Be prepared to have at least one unexpected thing thrown your way.   You will probably get emails about new move-in students throughout that first week, so your caseload will be fluctuating a bit.  You may be asked to provide assistance for something that's not normally part of your work duty.

A couple years ago, one of my dear teacher friends had a funeral to go to and missed the first day of school.  She was new that year, and had brand new paras and a sub with a class full of special needs 3 year olds.  It. Was. Crazy Town.  My principal came to my room and asked if I could go down and help manage the classroom, so I did.  I didn't have her morning kiddos on my caseload because of how the SLPs split the prek load that year, but that first week is all about jumping in and helping each other survive, so I helped anyway!

Really, just know that one or two things will probably be thrown your way.  Problem solve/go with the flow as best you can!

Tip #2:  Be extra nice to your secretaries and custodial staff!
Bring them cookies or brownies or some other little treat! They are going to be crazy busy the first week, too.  Secretaries will have class lists and the Master Schedule, as well as info on transfer students.  Custodians may help you move a piece of furniture in your office or procure an extra bookshelf for your space, etc...  and if you're nice to these people at the beginning of the year, they'll be willing to help you out throughout the year!  They might be two of the most underappreciated positions in the building, so show them some love!

Tip #3:  If you're new (to the school, to the district, to being an SLP.. whatever!), find someone who can help show you the ropes!
This is pretty self explanatory, but find someone that can help explain building-specific procedures, building politics if there are any (which, let's be honest, there almost always is), IEP paperwork, the procedure for setting up meetings, etc...  This may be another SLP, another therapist, or maybe another SPED teacher!

Tip #4:  Get a caseload list from your SPED secretary, and make a few spreadsheets:
Your SPED secretary (or equivalent person) will have a list of students on your caseload.  Get that list, and if you're a veteran and see new/unfamiliar students on that list, ask for a copy of move in IEP paperwork if it hasn't been given to you already.

Once I get my caseload list, I input everyone into Excel spreadsheets with the following information:
-Name, DOB, IEP date, # of days/minutes per week of therapy (or however yours are set up-- weekly/monthly/etc), related services, brief summary of goals, and classroom teacher.

You can sort the lists in Excel in whatever ways you find helpful, but I find the following helpful for me:
-Alphabetically:  I have one spreadsheet of students sorted alphabetically.  If I need to look up a piece of info like DOB or IEP date for a specific student at a glance, I can accomplish this quickly.
-By IEP date:  This lets me see at a glance how many IEPs I have due in a particular month, or if there is a cluster around the same time, so I know to try to plan ahead.
-By # of days per week they get therapy:  This helps me when I'm ready to start making my schedule!

By putting the info in an Excel spreadsheet and sorting it, I can add new students throughout the year and just re-sort it without having to create entirely new lists.

Tip #5:  Make a spreadsheet to track evaluations throughout the year
A spreadsheet with students' names, ages, eval/IEP dates, amount of time spent on testing, reason for referral, and whether or not the students qualified will be helpful to track an aspect of your caseload that can't always be seen just by tracking caseload numbers.  If you need to go to administration about needing help, having various types of data other than caseload numbers can help your cause.  If you track this info from year to year, you can show trending data, as well, over time!


Tip #6:  Plan an EASY activity that can be used with almost EVERYONE for your first therapy sessions:
You probably won't see kids the first few days of school as you get teacher's classroom schedules and get your caseload sorted out, but once you DO start seeing some kids, plan an activity that can be used across all of your students.  The first week is crazy with all of the administrative things going on, so make this one easy! I work with preschoolers, so with 99% of them, I can ask them draw a picture of what they did over the summer and then I have them tell me about it.  You can get a little bit of info for areas like vocab, MLU, articulation, and grammar with this activity and it takes zero time to prep except by getting some paper and crayons!


Were these tips helpful for you? I hope so! What are some things you do during your first week?

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