"Clinic Supply Box"

Since beginning undergrad I have accumulated items for my clinic box. It has now overtaken more than 1 box, but is more of a clinic closet. I think as an SLP, regardless of where you work, it is important to start creating your own "supply" closet. You never know what materials your job sites will have, if any at all.

I am not advocating spending tons of money, as most of my materials were free or very cheap. (Garage sales and Dollar stores are fantastic!) But having your own materials can save you if you need to plan a session quickly.  I am not going to list everything in my materials box, but the things I have found most helpful.

- Books: Most of these I found at garage sales, or free-to-good-home tables. I tired to find some that could be used year-round and a few for specific seasons. It is easy to pull a book last minute and target a variety of language and articulation goals.

- Rainbow extendable ball: I don't know what it is about this toy, but kids love it! It can be used to model a wider/more open mouth, or just as a reward. My classmates and I have used it with all ages of children, and clients with Autism have enjoyed it too. (Ollie likes it too!)

- Big foam dice: I got these from the dollar store, and have used these countless times. The easiest way to use these is as part of a basic game. The amount you roll is how many productions of the target needs to be done. I have also taped different things over the numbers to incorporate other activities. Kids love to roll the dice, and the best part is because they are foam, they won't hurt if a child throws them around.
- Bubbles: Everyone loves these. Plus they are a great stress reliever if you ever need a break!
- Coloring Stuff: Crayons, markers, color pencils, chalk, etc.
- Extra Toys/Fidgets: You never know what a child is going to like. If a random toy works as a motivator just go with it!

- Box of Articulation Cards: During the course of my education I have made articulation cards for every phoneme in each position. This has been helpful in school clinic where everyone is sharing materials. Having these cards means I don't have to rely on my school, and don't have to panic is someone else is using the same phoneme.
- Laminator: This is not really a clinic material, but for me has been a lifesaver! It was my "splurge" item for myself when I started grad school. I purchased one of the cheapest available, and while it has shortcomings, laminates materials well enough.
- TeachersPayTeachers: While this is not in my clinic box, I have begun to count this as an invaluable resource when trying to plan sessions quickly, or to get new ideas.

If you have any other items that should be in a "clinic supply box" please comment below!

Lisa

Drink of the Day: Lemon Tea with honey. Perfect for cold fall mornings/afternoons.

Applying to Graduate School

Applying to graduate school was one of the most stressful things I have ever done, not necessarily because of what went into applying to schools, but having to do that on top of classes and extracurriculars during my senior year. I tried to make my process of applying to schools as easy as possible, and hope that it helps any of you applying to school in the future.

- I made a binder to store every thing related to graduate school applications: any paper applications, printed off online applications, information from school visits, copies of my resume, and any correspondence from schools I applied to.

- I treated applying to graduate school like homework or a class project. I would schedule time during my week to work on them, and tried to do a little each night.

- I used deadlines to keep myself on track:
   - Summer before applying: write general personal statement, take the Praxis, and finalize list of schools you are applying to.
   - September: finalize letters of recommendation and begin all applications.
   - November: finish all applications
   - December: make sure all applications have been received, and that they are complete
- My goal was to be done in December so I didn't have to worry about finishing applications during Winter break. Plus, many schools begin to have deadlines in December or early January.
- Once applications are completed, take a nice break. If you do not hear from schools by the decision deadline I would suggest contacting the program.

- When I began my applications I created a checklist for each school which I used as dividers in my binder. Not only did they separate one school from another, but they made it very easy to see what the next step was in my application process.
- I would try to knock out something on the checklist every day, even if it was to only send one GRE score, it was progress.
- After each application was completed I would give myself a reward. Since I love chocolate, I used Lindt truffles as my reward.
- When I had finished every application I gave myself a larger reward. For me it was a mani/pedi day with my friends.

- As hard as it is to do so, the best thing is to not freak out about getting these applications completed.
- Even harder is to not freak out while you are waiting to hear from schools.
- As you start to hear from schools you have to remember to keep calm and deal with the decisions in a good way. My roommate and I were both applying to grad schools at the same time, and would post all our rejection/acceptance/wait list letters on our hallway walls. After we both had decided where we were going to attend we had a bonfire with all the decision letters. It was therapeutic to burn all of the bad news we had received over the months.

I hope this gives some helpful advice about applying for graduate school. If you have other tips please leave a comment.

Good Luck Applying!

Lisa

Coffee of the Day: Vanilla Coffee with cream and sugar. A sweet treat for a Friday!

Gone Fishing

Goals I Targeted:
- Initial /f/

Other Goals To Target:
- Antonyms
- Synonyms
- Vocabulary
- Sentence Formation
- Any other articulation target

This is one of the first activities I created as a student clinician. I used it to target articulation goals, but it could be used for others as well. That is why I think it is a great activity to have for when you need something quickly. I used it for a preschool client, but it could work for a variety of ages. This activity would work wonderfully as part of a larger theme, such as ocean or beach. It can work for an individual session, or for a group. In a group they can take turns and compete to see who can collect the most fish.

All you need to make the fishing pole is a dowel rod, some string, tape, and a magnet. For the "fish" I took articulation cards I had made previously and put paper clips on each card I wanted to use. I also created some extra cards to make the game more interesting, such as "lose a turn" or "put a fish back." The picture of these extra game cards is below. (Pictures found on http://bestclipartblog.com)

During the session I simply spread the "fish" on the floor, sat in chairs, and then would fling the string of the pole to the fish. At the end see who has the most fish, or just play until all the fish are "caught." It is truly the easiest game.

Happy Fishing!

Lisa

Drink of the Day: Dark Roast coffee with cream. Nice and Simple.

Fall Fun- Language Plan

Goals I Targeted:
- Using Adjectives/State visual characteristic
- Synonyms
- Adjectives
- Answering "what could you do" questions
- "wh" questions (I used when & why)

Other Goals it Could Target:
- Vocabulary Labeling
- Categories

This past week I based my lesson plans around the poem Fall Fun by Mariah Deitrick. I found this poem and some accompanying activities at www.superteacherworksheets.com. I did not use any of the accompanying activities as they were too complex for my students.

As I was planning I went through the poem and marked up a copy for myself. I highlighted words that could target synonyms in yellow, words to target antonyms in blue, and words that could target both in green. I then selected objects from the poem to print pictures of and use to target describing. For the questions goals I came up with about ten questions for each goal that related back to the poem.

At the beginning of each group we would read the poem. Based on each student's reading level we would either read the poem together or they would read individually. After we read through the poem each student would have a turn for a question. Once they answered the question for their goal they were allowed to roll the die to move their piece on the fall game board. The game board shown below was found here from Amberlyn Scott on Teachers Pay Teachers (If you have not looked on this site you seriously need to!).

While this may not be the most sophisticated lesson plan, as my one of my first I used during my clinical practicum, it worked out well. The students love the game board, and the use of the poem made every lesson cohesive. Plus, it was super easy to change from group to group during the day since each group had the same basic plan!

Let me know if this provides any inspiration for your therapy!

Lisa

Coffee of the Day: Black Caramel flavored coffee- Nice and simple for a Monday morning.  

In Two Worlds: School & Practicum

On this beautiful Sunday morning I was sipping my pumpkin spice flavored coffee with agave (for a little sweetness) and decided to post something!

This semester is interesting for me because I take classes two days a week, and then have clinical practicum two days a week. I am beginning to feel like I am living in two worlds: the school world and the adult-work world. Needless to say I enjoy the adult-work world much more!

My practicum is at two public schools, an elementary school (Kindergarten-4th grade) and an intermediate school (grades 5-7). All of the students I see come from self-contained classrooms and are in 1st-6th grade. I really enjoy working with this population of students because you get to see a much wider variety of goals than you may otherwise. I hope to work with this population in the future.

One thing I have used more in the "real world" than I thought I was going to are themes. Each day at the schools I see about 20 students. It would be impossible to plan for each student like I did in the university clinic. In order to make planning easier, I pick a theme for that day or week. For example, last week I used a fall book as the theme. (I will make a specific post about this later) In each group we read the book, then used it to target each student's goal for the session. It could be used for all types of language goals and complexity levels.

By using this book as a central idea I was able to plan one lesson, then tailor it to each groups needs. Much easier than picking different activities for each student!

Lisa

Hello!

Hello!
My name is Lisa, and I am a second year speech-language pathology graduate student. I wanted to begin this blog in order for me to share all my experiences as a student speech language pathologist, and hopefully soon as a clinical fellow.

I think speech-language pathology is one of the best jobs in the world. It allows one to be creative and work with people to improve their communication skills, which I think is one of the most vital skills we can possess. Plus, there are so many options for job settings boredom is hard to come by!

As an undergraduate student I was lucky enough to gain clinical hours in my college's speech, language, and hearing clinic. This allowed me to get over the nerves that accompany clinic before graduate school. In graduate school many of my classmates were freaking out before their first sessions. They didn't know how to plan therapy, interact with a client, or how to deal with session notes. As a class we tried to help each other, and I want to use this blog to help other speech-language pathologists as well.

I hope this blog can give good advice about school and therapy, as well as some crazy stories from both. I also hope to provide inspiration and ideas for therapy, because we all need a few new ideas from time to time.

As you read, if you have ideas too please share them. Either through comments or emails to me. As speech- language pathologists we make up an extended family, and we should all help one another.

Thank you for reading!
Lisa

P.S. Because I like coffee so much I made it the theme of my blog, I figured I would share my favorite coffee drinks as I post. Today's post is brought to you by a Pumpkin-Chai Latte; it finally feels like fall in the South and I wanted to Celebrate!