235: SLPs Think They Need More Stuff… Here is What They Really Need…
Show Notes:
In this episode of the SLP Coffee Talk, Hallie shares her journey from being a resource-hoarding speech-language pathologist (SLP) to becoming an organized and efficient professional. Ever felt overwhelmed by clutter and endless planning? Well, Hallie offers actionable strategies to streamline your approach and make your sessions more focused and productive, whether you’re managing large caseloads or working with older students.. Discover versatile tools like the Colossal Questions YouTube channel to streamline your speech sessions and achieve multiple goals with minimal planning. Tune in to learn how to reclaim your time, leave work on time and truly enjoy your impactful work as an SLP.
Here's what we learned:
- Utilizing multipurpose resources like the Colossal Questions YouTube channel to cover various goals such as WH questions, vocabulary, and articulation through engaging videos.
- Strategies to reduce over-planning and overthinking by using fewer resources more effectively, which leads to feeling more prepared and confident.
- Examples of using a single article or task card game to address multiple goals and needs, minimizing the need for numerous materials.
- Introduction to SLP Elevate, a membership program that provides resources and strategies to help SLPs manage large caseloads and complex needs efficiently.
RESOURCES
Why Do We Fart? | COLOSSAL QUESTIONS
Learn more about Hallie Sherman and SLP Elevate:
🎧 Check out the Secondary Secret Podcast here!
JOKE OF THE WEEK:
Q: What musical instrument is found in the bathroom?
A: A tuba toothpaste.
Where We Can Connect:
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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Hallie: Hey there SLP, working with grades 4 through 12. New school year, new you. Let's not go into this school year feeling overwhelmed and behind on paperwork. Let's not worry about students asking why they are coming to speech. Let's not have students shrugging their shoulders and looking at you saying, why am I here? I don't wanna be here. Let's instead have your students excited to come to speech, ready to take on the challenges you provide and make massive progress towards their goals.
00:00:31 Hallie: If you are ready to make this school year, the year that you leave work promptly at the end of the day, plan in an hour or less a week, and go into every session confident that your students will grasp the session objectives, then SLP Elevate is just what you need to make this school year a successful one. Either go to slplevate.com or send me a DM on Instagram with the word CLUB, C-L-U-B. And we can discuss if SLP Elevate is right for you and your students. Now is the time to get your time back. And now is the time to get your students excited to come to speech. SLP Elevate is perfect for you.
00:01:15 Hallie: Welcome to SLP Coffee Talk, the podcast designed exclusively for speech language pathologists who work with older students, grades 4 through 12. I am your host, Hallie Sherman, your SLP behind Speech Time Fun, the Speech Retreat Conference, and the SLP Elevate membership. And I'm thrilled to bring you conversations, strategies, and insights that will give you the jolt of inspiration that you need. Whether you're tuning in during your morning commute, on a break in between sessions, or even during a well deserved relaxation time. I am here for you each and every week. Let's do this, SLPs.
00:01:55 Hallie: Alright, this episode is for my SLP hoarders. If you find yourself always trying to find a new idea or resource, this episode is for you. As SLPs, we are often hoarders. We gather, many materials and resources as possible in case we need it. And trust me, I have been there. Guilty. Guilty here. I have saved so many materials I've made from graduate school just in case a need comes up. And my tiny office was always overflowing, but I was afraid to let anything go. Why do we do this to ourselves?
00:02:34 Hallie: Well, for one, we spend so much time finding stuff that we are afraid of letting it go. We have such large caseloads with wide needs that we may have that need again, and that fear of feeling unprepared can result in us hoarding or collecting stuff. The problem with having too much stuff is that we end up feeling disorganized. We have too many ideas to juggle in one day. And when we are super busy with high demands, we need to be as organized as possible.
00:03:06 Hallie: And this is coming from a type B SLP. You don't wanna even see my desk right now, and all the time. We worry about all the goals of our caseload and we find ourselves overthinking, over planning and still feeling unprepared. We walk into our sessions feeling frazzled and not at our best that our students deserve and need.
00:03:31 Hallie: Over the years, I have found, and again, type B SLP here, guilty of hoarding, that having less stuff, I can pull off feeling more prepared and successful, even when I'm stressed and got a lot going on. I found that you can take one resource and use it with as many
groups and goals as possible. And this will require less planning and less stuff to juggle.
00:03:57 Hallie: So I'm going to give you a few examples of how you can be successful with less stuff in this episode. Number one, you can use Colossal Questions. It's a YouTube channel, such as the video, Why Do We Fart? And I'll put a link in the show notes to this video. You can take any video off of this YouTube channel or any YouTube channel, but I like this one because you can work on WH questions, work on vocabulary, you can work on note taking, you can work on summarizing, and of course, you can work on the R sound, because the amount of time your students are gonna say fart, you're gonna achieve a lot of the trials in that session.
00:04:31 Hallie: You can compare and contrast farts. You can debate on which fart is the grossest one. You can even tell fart jokes afterwards. There are so many goals and follow-up activities that you can do with this one video that is free and click and go. Seriously. All right, so that's example number one, how you can take one activity and use it with as many groups and goals as possible.
00:04:55 Hallie: Number two, you can use an article, whether it is from a free site like using ReadWorks or using SLP Elevate, you can take the article and use it for working on WH questions, vocabulary, summarizing, inferencing, and more. Just pair it with a graphic organizer to teach how to listen for specific details or how to answer the specific questions. And done. It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. Actually, inside of SLP Elevate, I provide you with all the follow-up activities, with the articles, so you really can just print and go and not have to think.
00:05:33 Hallie: All right, number three. You can use any task card game or activity differently than how it was intended. Let's just say you find a free main idea game on a site like Baamboozle, which is free. You can just ask a different question. And now it's for a different goal. It might've been intended for main idea, but ask the students to summarize. Ask an inferential question. Ask a WH question.
00:05:57 Hallie: In contrast, if you're using a task card game from, like inside of SLP Elevate, such as, like predicting jeopardy or our summarizing card game, you can just ask a different question and work on something else. Whether this is with mixed groups and you're asking different questions for different students working on different things, or just using the task card game with multiple groups working on different things.
00:06:21 Hallie: It allows you to use one thing with many groups and many students for different purposes. So imagine using just one task card game all day long. Isn't there a lot less stuff than needing 10 different task card games? I think so.
00:06:38 Hallie: Okay, so I gave you an example of using a video, using a text space, and using something at the paragraph of a game-based activity. Okay, as you can see here, in this short, quick episode, you can do more with less stuff. It is true. You can still be successful, you can still be fun, and you can still provide adequate, relevant speech therapy that your students are motivated by, excited to come to speech with, and make tons and tons of progress.
00:07:11 Hallie: It is possible with less stuff because you're going to feel less overwhelmed. You're going to feel less frazzled. You're going to have more ability to be focused on the students in front of you so you can just change your questioning and be a lot of fun.
00:07:23 Hallie: All right, I have a joke for you like always. What musical instrument is found in the bathroom? A tuba toothpaste. All right everyone, until next week stay out of trouble.
00:07:42 Hallie: Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of SLP Coffee Talk. It means the world to me that you're tuning in each and every week and getting the jolt of inspiration you need. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at my website, speechtimefun.com. Don't forget to follow the show so you don't miss any future episodes.
00:08:07 Hallie: And while you're there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. See you next week with another episode full of fun and inspiration from one SLP to another. Have fun, guys!
