follow your bliss

SLP Shadowing — Lesson Learned #1

So sorry for the lack of posts!!  I’ve been super busy with my new position & I’ve been meaning to write a post about my experience thus far, but I haven’t found the time!

I’ve been working at two different elementary schools for a little more than a week and I’ve sit in about 3 different SST meetings, 2 IEP meetings, and 2 assessments in addition to the dozens of therapy sessions.  It’s been a little bit of an information overload, but I’m enjoying the ride and just taking in as much as possible.  The kids are starting to get to know me more & feel more comfortable and hopefully I’ll be able to take on and run more sessions during the rest of this week!

Instead of listing all the therapy techniques I’ve witnessed/learned & describing each session, I decided that a good way to document this experience is to end each week with the most prominent thing that I’ve learned.

Even with only observing two different SLPs, I’ve learned each therapist has her own unique way of conducting therapy sessions.  This may be a “duh” point, but I never realized that while this is true, it is amazing to see how effective either one is despite how different they are.  One of my SLPs completely takes advantage of her iPad and has a different app for each therapy session.  She has a reward system and gives each student Skittles when they leave Speech.  The other SLPs works entirely on worksheets and uses the same ones for each group, but utilizes it in a completely different way.  The students know that this is a place to work and don’t expect games or prizes. Though both SLPs conduct their speech sessions in completely different ways, I see progress in both caseloads. 

I’ve learned that one of the best things about SLPs is that you have the ability to learn what therapy technique works best for you.  Ultimately that is what gives you results.  While you may see your mentor/professor conduct therapy in a certain way, that does not mean that it will work out for you.  Finding out what you enjoy will help you find your niche in the SLP world.  I’m so fortunate to have this time to kind of pave my way towards becoming a more successful SLP in the future.