Let's just start by saying I don't usually cook at all.  I love to eat and I graze all day long, but as for cooking, it has never been my thing.  So, what's a girl to do when The Frenzied SLPs are hosting a Quick and Easy Recipes for Frenzied SLPs link up?  Do my best to stretch the topic.

I'm not currently prepping my meals (I do hope to jump on the bandwagon again.), but I joined the 5 Dinners 1 Hour yearly plan about 2 years ago for a year (I found a huge discount code that saved about 40% off the fee).  Although that site and arrangement have been updated, I received weekly menus each month, at the time. (I have no affiliation with this company.  These are just my opinions and experiences.) I printed and placed each month in a sheet protector and into a binder (in true SLP fashion).  Here is where my binder sits currently.

I would cart the whole binder to the store or just the page protected menu and follow the grocery list.  The weekly menu had options for meals that could be frozen for use later, as well.  I bought everything fresh, prepped my 5 meals in 1 hour (seriously), and then went back to my daily preferred activities.

Here is an old picture of a time when I prepped meals for a friend.

Each day/evening, I pulled out the prepped contents and tackled dinner in no time flat.  I even made this cute menu planner which still hangs on my wall.

This post is definitely giving me the itch to start up my meal planning again!

Before we both jump to another post to actually obtain a quick and easy recipe, I'm also sharing my lunch organization bins.  These are perfect for the frenzied SLP and also increase child independence!  Win!  Win!  Each Sunday evening, I fill these bins with lunch choices and pop them back into the fridge.  Every morning, my kids grab and pack their desired choices.  That's right, I don't make my kids' lunches and I'm totally okay with letting that go!

So now that you had a peek into my meal planning organization, go check out some quick and easy recipes for frenzied SLPs below or share your recipe in the comments!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Sparklle SLP

Embrace change, step outside of your comfort zone, push speech therapy services into classrooms.   It is possible.

I made a commitment to push into classrooms regularly this year.  One week per month, I drop the lesson plans and materials organization in exchange for providing services in classrooms.  The result. I love it! I carry a clipboard with data sheets, a pen, and some comfy clothes to jump right into the mix or onto the floor.  My goals are simple.

Observe

Support

Promote Carryover

Collect

Observing students in their general education classrooms offers much more than I could have expected. Seeing my students as either active or passive participants and gaining a baseline of typical student performance offers ongoing assessment of student growth and needs.

Supporting both students and teachers is another goal. Just last month I pushed into a 3rd grade classroom while the teacher was prepping for state tests. While I like to think I can keep up with all the curriculum happenings and state mandated assessments, it's just not possible. Joining this classroom, I was able to play an active role in the discussion during the practice assessment. Earlier this year, I sat on the carpet with a student vying for teacher attention. While I am able to give students attention within my small groups within the speech room, the classroom teacher is spread so thin.  That day, I listened to reading, while sneaking in some vocabulary practice along the way.

Linking skills and strategies taught within the speech room to classroom tasks promotes carryover.  I had the opportunity to join a 2nd grade classroom practicing word reading fluency drills using an interactive SmartBoard activity. The word list contained consonant clusters (skr, st, bl, gr).  Among several students within that classroom, one student was working on /s/ blends within speech sessions. While she read fluently, she didn't attend to any of the blends. Guess what I grabbed on my way out...a copy of that word reading fluency list! Don't you know we worked on producing those words during our next pull-out session.

Which brings me to collecting. I collected that fluency list.  I jotted down Tier 2 words from a vocabulary discussion.  I took notes about strategies and skills that were important to the teacher/curriculum.  Of course I gathered data for those student objectives targeted and observed during my time.

Does every opportunity hit the jackpot? No. Neither does every pull-out group session. Yes, I said it! So, embrace change, step outside of your comfort zone, push into classrooms.  It is possible. It is beneficial.

If you haven't yet grabbed this Push In To Classroom Data Collection FREE resource head on over to my store, make yourself a set and attach to your clipboard. Exchange pull-out therapy for push-in once a month and let me know your thoughts!

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Sparklle SLP

I might be a little biased on this topic.  In my opinion, co-treating is top-notch!  I work with students that are in general education classrooms.  I also work with students that receive occupational therapy services in addition to speech-language therapy as well as other educational supports.  Meeting student needs, especially for those students that have varied and unique offerings calls for a non-traditional approach.

Co-treatment sessions are when two therapists from different disciplines work together to maximize therapeutic goals and progress.  When the therapists share similar goals this type of treatment can be very appropriate.  In my experience, co-treating with the occupational therapist (OT) can ben extremely beneficial for students with social-pragmatic as well as sensory needs.  The need to explicitly instruct these students regarding strategies to aid progress within the general education setting is far more effective when coming from two therapeutic angles in the same session.

This year, I have once again been afforded the opportunity to co-treat with our school OT.  This venture was not an overnight idea.  It took hours of collaborating on the possibility alone and many more figuring out potential students as well as scheduling needs.  A little flexibility, a strong desire to make it work, and a plan developed at the beginning of the school year led us to the reality of co-treating.

A semester has come and gone.  Our OT/Speech groups are more successful than I could have imagined.  I'm not only talking about the student benefits which are plentiful, but the therapist benefits as well.  My new OT colleague/friend and I are as different as they come, which often makes us chuckle before and after sessions.  However, the knowledge I have gained from her and the ways in which I approach therapy during those sessions is not only as an SLP, but also as an advocate for occupational therapy supports.

When you are faced with a challenging set of student abilities and the student receives occupational therapy services in addition to your SLP expertise, take a chance at co-treating.  This top-notch service delivery has benefits far beyond expectations.

I hope to share more reasons as well as details about my co-treating experiences.  Do you co-treat? I'd love to hear your opinion.

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Sparklle SLP

Let's just start by saying I love to organize!  The bug hits me often.  Too often at the wrong times. Like when I have a list of evaluations, I may reorganize my entire speech room or tweak a form to make it more visually appealing.  At home when I'm wondering what to make for dinner I start organizing the pantry.  No big deal, right?!  Actually, I'm not convinced that I'm very good at organizing.  Why else would I keep reorganizing everything?  Nonetheless, I do have some an excessive amount of tips for SLP organization.  Yes, I know it says 3, so I apologize already.

This linky party is brought to you by The Frenzied SLPs and hosted by Speech 2U, Speech Sprouts, and Old School Speech!  Make sure to check out all the link ups below for an abundance of organizational tips for SLPs!

Herein lies my short list.  First, my disclaimer.

I was not organized enough to have snapped pictures in time for the linky, so I may add some to this post after it publishes.  I snagged what I could from my camera roll. Maybe someone else will have blogger organizing tips:)

Group Folders for Therapy
I've tried a big binder (or two) and group folders over the years and I always go back to the folders. These 3-prong plastic purple folders have been around for about 5 years and are holding up pretty well.  I keep data/lesson plan sheets on the left side, the IEP at a glance in the rings, and any homework or group worksheets on the right side.  I can also clip visuals specific to a student to the pocket.  Each groups gets a number, which is written right on my schedule.  It makes it super easy to grab the correct materials for data collection and therapy for each group.  I store the folders in some sort of file storage bin.  This is my current set up.

Bins/Baskets for Materials

I use white dish tubs or dollar store baskets for corralling materials.  I use these within my cabinets to store like binders/books or therapy materials.  I also use them for day to day grab and go either for push-in or special groups.

 

Zippered Bags or Laminated Brown Kraft Clasp Envelopes for Created Materials
I was a tried-and-true brown kraft clasp envelope user until our school stopped supplying them and our laminator broke (years ago).  Since then, I have converted to using gallon size zippered bags.  I like that you can see through them sometimes, but I do miss my brown envelopes.

Magnetic Hooks, S-Hooks, and Metal Rings
Besides laminate and clear page protectors, my Amazon cart often contains magnetic hooks, S-hooks, and metal rings.  From hanging materials stored in clear page protectors to hanging buckets and clipboards to using metal rings for my created therapy cards these staples are a must for an organized SLP!

Workload Forms
I love creating handy checklists and sheets for workload responsibilities.  Many of these are FREEBIES in my TPT Store.  Just search "workload forms" in the search bar when in my store.

I'll stop now because I need to write 2 evaluations yet tonight!  I seriously cannot wait to read all the other posts.  It will undoubtedly send me into a frenzied state of reorganizing using all my new tips. This will make my organizing heart happy and consequently my TO DO list longer.  Bring it on!  What is your favorite SLP organizing tip?

An InLinkz Link-up

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Sparklle SLP

I might have mentioned a time or two that I love using books in therapy.  It's seriously my favorite therapy activity.  Engaged students, rich vocabulary, plentiful and varied sentence structure, and articulation words galore.  You've got therapy!

This month I'm bringing you a sweet story about a pengiun, written by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman, the same authors of the Bear books (Bear Snores On).  Where is Home Little Pip? follows the adventure of a penguin who gets lost while following a blowing feather.  While he tries to find his home, he meets a few animal friends along the way.  This story is not only great for speech and language therapy, but also for learning about polar region animal habitats.  Science connection!

With the help of adorable graphics from Educlips, I created a book companion sure to help you through winter.  You can find it HERE in my TPT store.

I like to plan my book companions to last anywhere from 2-4 therapy sessions, depending on the group and therapy targets.  I take most of one session to read the book.  I often stop along the way to highlight target skills central to the group.  Articulation groups are listening for target words and copying targets onto the open-ended articulation sheet.  I may use the story map during reading to offer support for the retell, chunking each part of the story.  The story map also helps with predicting. If I'm targeting grammar structures, I will emphasize these targets within the story.  I usually encourage students to echo the target when we find an example.  This also holds true for Tier 2 vocabulary words.  When we come across a target word, we may act it out, say it, or try to think of another word we could use (synonyms).

During subsequent sessions I will use the materials more than the book.  The book is used for reference for some activities requiring a look back.  Students may complete a visualizing activity (like that shown below) to work on recall or a Venn Diagram if the target skill is same/different. Comprehension questions, inferencing, and describing using defining features are also activities included, among others. 

If you have never used books in therapy, choose a book and give it a try.  If your students are engaged, try adding a book companion to enhance your therapy.  I love using books in therapy because I can target articulation, receptive language, expressive language, vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatic language with one story.  Any story.  My students often forget my drill activities, but I haven't found a student that has neglected to remember my story activities.

What winter books do you use with your students?  I would love to add your favorite to my list.

What a surprise for this SLP!  I was featured in 25 Speech & Language Products You Can't Live Without!  Winter Edition.  This ebook was hosted by The Speech Space and Speech Therapy Fun.  Go check it out for 25 winter products you just might need for your therapy room!

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Sparklle SLP