Hi,

I work in a southern California school district. Recently, this year, SLPs have been split or moved to different sites to help support others if their caseload at one site is under 55. I understand the meaning behind this but wouldn't this just make SLPs artificially keep their caseload at 55 and maybe not even exit kids who need it just so they won't be split between sites?? I am at about 48. I am not afraid to exit my kids especially when it's appropriate while I have other SLPs who are in the 60s and 70s and some even say they qualify everyone and then just try to exit them before they go to middle school. Like, I feel like I'm doing the most ethical thing but now with the way the district is running things, it's almost forcing me to not be ethical with my caseload numbers lol if that makes sense.

I have a student that uses his device to type out song lyrics/titles of songs he likes. He’ll use it to answer wh questions sometimes but he takes a lot of prompting to attend to a task when he has his device. The teacher doesn’t want the device in the classroom because he’s concerned the student will just perseverate on it and that it could cause behavioral issues. I’m trying to tell the teacher that the student will basically never learn to use his device functionally if he only has it when I see him once a week for 30 minutes. How do I support the teacher to implement it in class without adding to his workload?

For extra context it’s a special education school and most of his students have aggressive behaviors. There are TAs in the room as well but again, most of their day is spent managing aggression. I’m considering having the teacher hold it and model on it during 1:1 activities but I’m not sure if that’s effective. Any advice??

I want to tell my boss that I can't service specific clients because I had a traumatic experience with that population which led me to leaving my last job- just don't know how to say it. Helppp

I’m seeing more and more online about SLP’s not wanting to really delve into the techniques with clients and are a lot more focused on just acceptance? Why is this?

I have a very long commute, I work in district 75, and I suffer from multiple chronic illnesses. I have officially hit my breaking point and I know that leaves are an option, but I was on one in the past and to be honest to feel embarrassed to take one again. Being on a leave is also very stressful and its own way. Seeking any advice or success stories.

Im not talking “ready…set…go!” (Though this is a classic)

What are the ones that have really engaged your littles from the start?

Trying to build my inventory!

Edit: you guys are all so creative and AMAZING! I love a good think tank and you all delivered. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 🤗💜

Can anyone get into SLP Toolkit?! All morning I have been getting a message stating the website address is not accessible. I have tried WiFi, cellular, other devices and everything says the website doesn’t exist. What is going on?! I have 3 meetings today that I needed to pull notes for and I can’t access anything.

The school I work at has a mild/mod self-contained autism class. My district also offers mod/severe autism classes, at different schools. Technically, students in mild/mid are supposed to be diploma track, accessing grade level curriculum with supports, whereas the mod/severe is focused more on life skills, certificate of completion track, and has a higher ratio of staff per student.

It seems like over the last few years the percentage of students in the mild/mod who should be in a mod/severe has increased significantly. There are kids age 7+ not toilet trained with minimal joint attention who are not engaging in basically any academics. The classes at my school can’t retain a teacher and the inappropriate placements are a reason every teacher has given for quitting.

It’s frustrating for me! We have had the change of placement conversation with several families but it usually goes poorly, or the parents agree to tour a mod/severe class and decide against it. I understand that they are wishing for their kid to be mild/mod, or wanting to avoid them picking up extreme behaviors exhibited by some kids in a mod/severe. I really feel for them. It sucks though because then kids end up staying in a totally inappropriate placement and there’s nothing we can do about it, and the true mild/mod kids in the class are not learning or getting academic instruction because the paras are dealing with extreme behaviors of their classmates. It’s hard to see.

Does anyone else’s district have a way of handling this differently? Like where parents have to accept the placement offer? Or tips for having these conversations with parents?

I’ve been an SLP for almost seven years and don’t really care for the career. I’ve tried to leave the field and have changed settings multiple times but haven’t really found any success yet. It’s got me thinking about what I don’t like about SLP and what I can look for in the future to try and make this career work for me.

One of the main things I’ve taken away from my reflection is the caseload burnout of it all. Ive been at my newest job for six months and I feel the burnout creeping in again despite liking many of the other aspects of my job.

I feel like after about six months I’ve sort of exhausted my therapy inventory for like any child. I’ve gone through every strategy I know, I’ve used all the toys and games and resources I own, and now we’re just going through the motions.

Obviously there’s been some progress and changes in preference for my kids but largely from week to week they’re the same. Most of my kids are gonna be in therapy for years if not their entire life. I’m bored after six months together.

I feel the urge to quit my job just so I can have a fresh set of kids to see, but I won’t lol.

Just curious if anyone else feels this way and if any one has tips on how to functionally make this happen in my professional life. I’ve looked into travel contracts which seem ideal in every way, but I live in a major metro area without a lot of need for travel therapists.

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just hate the quality of the voice and was wondering if I should seek out a speech therapist.

I've always hated my voice, but I feel like objectively it is bad. It has a very nasal quality (probably because I take on a more kid-like role around my parents, and fulfill that role sometimes by still speaking like my kid version did, with a heavy focus on the nose without a lot of space in the throat). I also mumble a lot, and I find it difficult to enunciate words sometimes (where I just kind of glaze over consonants instead of articulating them). I've attached a video where I'm talking (it's regarding my dating help account lol, but otherwise, ignore it). Here's another video where I'm speaking for a long time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMGWjhji68&t=327s

https://reddit.com/link/1xhxy4i/video/ujfpluthe9yh1/player

Hi everyone,

I am in the early stages of planning a career transition. I am weighing Speech-Language Pathology versus Occupational Therapy before committing to prerequisite coursework.

I want an honest, grounded picture of the day-to-day realities. I'm having a hard time finding clinicians to shadow right now because I live abroad while my husband is stationed overseas. I have a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field and plan to start a master's program when we return to the US. While abroad, my focus is completing prerequisites online.

For practicing SLPs:

• How "on" and animated do you have to be throughout the day? For those who find constant conversational performance or heavy masking draining, which settings or populations (e.g., adult neuro, telepractice, AAC, older school-age) allow for a calmer, more structured rhythm?
• What does the realistic split between direct treatment and paperwork look like in your setting? Can you hit productivity quotas or finish IEP/evaluation reports without taking work home or working off-the-clock? Is that more employer- or setting-dependent?
• What does a typical day or week actually look like for you in your setting?
• What does collaboration with family, carers, or interdisciplinary teams look like? Do you mostly work directly with clients one-on-one, or is there a heavy caregiver-coaching component?
• What is your favorite setting you’ve worked in and why?
• Knowing the administrative, emotional, and systemic realities, would you choose SLP over OT?

Hi everyone! I’m a 2nd-year SLP graduate student looking for an ADULT clinical placement for spring 2027, and I’m starting to panic because my clinical supervisor still hasn’t secured one.

I’m located near Cumming, GA, and would love recommendations for hospitals, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation centers, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, or other adult settings that accept SLP graduate students. I’m especially interested in locations around Cumming, Dawsonville, Gainesville, and Canton, but I’m also open to places around Alpharetta, Johns Creek, and nearby areas. Please no locations toward or past ATL.

My program has reached out to several sites, but we haven't received responses from many. I’m trying to find additional places to look into or people to contact because the spring semester is getting closer.

If you’ve completed a placement in this area, know of a site that takes students, or have any recommendations, I would be SO grateful for your help!! Even a name or a point of contact would be amazing. Thank you so much! ❤️

Do you have any experience with quiet repetition of sentences? After saying something, child repeats the exact same thing in a whisper. I have only seen this in the TV show 'The Middle', where the youngest son, Brick, does the same thing.

He was going to speech therapy to practice pronouncing certain sounds. I asked the speech therapist about this, but they didn't know what it could be.

I found the term 'palilalia' online, which perfectly matches this condition. What should be done in the case of palilalia? Should I try to make the child aware of it?

Hi everyone, I'm a home health slp about to be integrated into Optum and im curious about their pay structure. If anyone is active there and doesn't mind DM'ing or commenting here, that would be awesome.

I've been on a ppv model for the last year and theyre giving about 150 slp's who work with me the runaround on if we're gonna be able to maintain our ppv pay or take pay cuts to do all the same work for lower salaries.

Any current or former employee perspective welcome.

Currently a CF and I feel like I’m screwing everything up. I’m all about ND-affirming therapy and put regulation before everything, try to follow their lead with preferred activities, and choose connection over perfection. However, they still have goals to address, and often they involve wh questions or following directions. I try to embed it in games and fun things, but they often pick the same games with limited vocabulary and push me away when i try to participate. I feel like even with clear expectations set they run roughshod over me and i just feel so demoralized. Any advice? I don’t want to just say “we’re doing this.” Because it’s like pushing against a brick wall, if that brick wall was the will of a child who will either turn away or punch you or both lol

HI OH MY GOSH. the day i thought would never come is finally swiftly approaching. all my paperwork was already sent to ASHA, so the turnaround to get my Cs in the off-season will hopefully be fast. i survived the crippling self doubt, stress, impostor syndrome, and sleepless nights at the start of my CF and now i truly feel like i’ve become a competent, skilled clinician. i work in outpatient peds (clinic) and my families and kids love me. thank God i survived this insane experience bc lowkey i wanted to quit the field bc of how much i doubted myself.

that being said, what big professional milestone do you recommend seeking next? i plan to specialize in aac in the future. i also want to get my PhD someday, but i want to get more boots-on-the-ground clinical experience first. i’m planning on getting my DIR Floortime certification and my Speak Out! cert after I get my Cs. but what else can i do?

what did you all do after getting your Cs?

i plan on staying at my job (i LOVEEEE where i work) so dipping post Cs is out of the question for me. any and all advice appreciated!! <3

What's one thing you try to do (can be an activity or ritual, weekly or otherwise) to connect with your students? Does not have to be speech related. I am looking for ways to create more moments of connection and gratitude in my own life and in theirs and wanted to see if anyone else does the same.

I'd already missed these kids last week due to multiple IEP meetings so I couldn't nit see them twice ib a row but I pulled them during a discussion in ELECTIONS a week before ELECTION DAY. Now obviously they can't vote, but the point is the relevance of their daily lives and what's happening around them, and I have to pull them for "following directions" goals (I did not write thesr IEPs I inherited them) and vocabulary goals.

I'm sorry, in this case, their IEP goals are significantly less important than staying in class.

I can't wait for their meetings to move them all to consult.

I am mostly just complaining about how useless I feel for most of these kids. They don't need specialized instruction from me. They need to be in class.

Child needs AAC device and insurance will not cover it due to deductible not being met. It is a very high deductible. Family will not purchase the app and put it on their own device. Child needs AAC to participate in therapy. What would you do? Child is not making much progress without a device. Should I stop services until device can be obtained?

EDIT TO ADD: Thanks for all of the feedback and suggested resources! I appreciate it! I’m curious, for those of you who are spending time reaching out to nonprofits, state organizations, or making no-tech versions of these apps….are you getting paid for that time? I am only paid for the visit, so any of this paperwork or research I’d had to do outside of the session to apply for funding, I’m not paid for. Is this reasonable? How does your clinic handle these situations to ensure you’re compensated for your time?

For language goals like describing, or comparing contrasting, categorizing etc.. how do you know when a student has actually mastered the goal since there are endless things to describe, compare, categorize etc..?

Do you just pick a list of “age appropriate” items, words, information or whatever at the end of the IEP year and assess on those?

I wish it was as simple as, “do they know the letters? 24/26, letter sounds? 30/44”!!

Long story short I've started job hunting recently because where I'm at now is not sustainable. I want to start trying for a baby next year and working 8-6:30pm with 18 kids per DAY is not conducive to a low-stress life to try for a baby😂

The things making it hard to leave are
1) I have a 3 minute commute
2) I'm salaried
3) We have completely unlimited PTO that rolls over, etc. Another therapist currently has 500+ hours saved up

Every job posting I look at is hourly pay and has limited PTO. As the breadwinner I don't see how anyone can confidently base their living off whether your patient's parent feels like bringing them to speech that day lol. Plus, with the burnout in this field I want to be able to take time off as often and for as long as I want.

I feel trapped because I'm fed up with the long days and high caseload but don't want to lose the perks of where I'm at now. Help!

Hello! I’d like to ask lang sana if may chance pa bang matutong magsalita nang mas maayos ang auntie ko.

She’s a almost 50 y/o with BPD, and ever since she was born, hindi na siya nakakapagsalita nang normal. She can produce sounds, though, and she understands what people say to her. Nakakasunod din siya sa mga instructions ng nanay niya. Laking hirap lang po family namin, but we want to try this time medyo nakakaluwag na kami in terms of finances.

We want to explore the possibility of improving her communication skills, kahit paunti-unti. May mga recommended doctors or SLPs ba kayo na may experience sa ganitong cases?

We’d also appreciate any advice or recommendations kung saan magandang magpa-assess, preferably around Metro Manila.

Thank you so much sa mga sasagot! ❤️