312: Let’s Chat Working with High Schoolers

Show Notes:

In this episode of SLP Coffee Talk, Hallie sits down with Tricia Detig, creator of Thoughtful Talk and a high school SLP working with resource and life skills students. Tricia shares her journey from middle school to high school, getting real about the differences. She talks about building rapport with older students, ditching lectures for hands-on activities, and making therapy meaningful through real-world experiences like running a coffee cart and back-to-back drawing challenges. Plus, she dives into push-in services, student buy-in, and why working with secondary students is a “hidden gem.” If you're in the high school world or thinking about it, this one's packed with practical tips and real talk.

Here's what we learned:

  • High schoolers aren't hard—they just need you to meet them where they are.
  • Hands-on beats worksheets every time (especially for carryover).
  • Functional skills like coffee carts teach more than homework help ever will.
  • Progress looks different with older students—focus on life skills, not just data.
  • Students in their IEP meetings changes everything (even if they just listen).
  • Secondary isn't scary—it's a hidden gem once you adjust.
  • Ask questions and lean on your team—secondary SLPs stay forever for a reason.

RESOURCES

📘✨ Grab your copy of The Secondary SLP Roadmap here! https://www.speechtimefunpd.com/stf-book 

Learn more about Tricia Detig: 

Learn more about Hallie Sherman  and SLP Elevate: 

JOKE OF THE WEEK:

Q: How do you prepare for a party in outer space?

A: You planet.

Where We Can Connect: 

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TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Hallie: Hey there SLP friends. It is Hallie here, popping in with the best news ever. My new book, Secondary SLP Roadmap is officially available. If you've ever wished for a clear, practical guide for working with middle and high school students, this is it. It is packed with real stories, ready to use strategies and tools you can use right away. Grab your copy now, check the link in the show notes or search Secondary SLP Roadmap on Amazon. And then of course, please do me a favor. When you are reading it, snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @speechtimefun. I love seeing where you're diving in. The speech room, the couch, waiting in a doctor's waiting room, all the places. All right, ready? Go grab your copy and let's make secondary speech feel doable and fun.

00:00:57 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.

00:01:37 Hallie: Hey, hey, and welcome to another episode of SLP Coffee Talk. I know my high school SLPs are gonna love this conversation I'm having today with Tricia Detig. Welcome to the show.

00:01:50 Tricia: Hi, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

00:01:53 Hallie: Tell everyone listening a little bit about yourself and your SLP journey to what you are doing now.

00:01:57 Tricia: Sure, I was previously in the junior high setting for seven years. And I absolutely loved middle school, but I've been working with the high school population for… this is my third year now. And I'm split between working with like resource students and also with life skills students, all at the high school level. I've been creating resources for older students since 2016, I believe. I took a little break when I went through my fertility journey and had my twin boys, but I'm back. I'm feeling inspired again. I had a moment, a long moment of time where I was absent or not really present with creating resources, but I'm excited to start sharing again and collaborating with other speech therapists.

00:02:50 Hallie: I love it. So what would you say is the biggest difference when you went from middle school to high school?

00:02:57 Tricia: I would say like the level of excitement to come see you changes. They still enjoy it, but it's a different type of energy. Like at the middle school level, they sought me out a lot. Like they were always popping by my office, just really excited about speech. And now it's kind of like, all right, like let's do it. Or it just takes a lot longer to break that shell because they're kind of like, especially the upperclassmen. They're a little too cool for school in high school compared to the middle school level. So my first year, I remember being like, man, I really miss my middle schoolers. But now that I'm in it and I'm used to it, I really do like it too.

00:03:47 Hallie: You know, every age group, I feel like, you know, could be fearful in the beginning. And like they all have the different challenges like the babies, the babies, you know, the older ones, bigger kids, bigger problems, but also just different goals and different impact.

00:04:04 Tricia: Totally. Yeah. And most of them have been receiving speech since elementary school. So they're kind of like, really, I have to keep doing this. And like, they're almost starting over again, because they had that rapport with their elementary and junior high speech path. And now they're starting over with someone new. And they're like, I've already done this for years. And I'm kind of over it. So it's a different kind of support and a different type of relationship that they're having to build.

00:04:32 Hallie: So how do you get them on board and get their buy-in at this age level?

00:04:37 Tricia: It's tough. I practice a lot of what you preach, like building that rapport and just finding that connection, buying into their interests. So just knowing that I'm a safe person and that can take a little bit longer at the junior high level and also their services look different too. So a lot of them, they're seeing me in the classroom. I'm doing like a large group lesson where I only have a handful where I'm pulling them out individually or in a smaller group.

00:05:10 Tricia: So just knowing like I'm their advocate and we review like their grades every week. And then I'm always asking about their extracurriculars or their family. And then I'm throwing in themes and hands-on activities just to try to keep it interesting and relevant for them. So I think it really depends on the student. I eventually get them to crack and enjoy spending time with me, but it does take a lot longer than it did with the junior high students, I would say.

00:05:46 Hallie: Is this something that you decide or is it like the building level or district level that decides who is getting like pulled out versus pushing in? How do you make that decision which is appropriate?

00:05:56 Tricia: I think it really just depends on their schedule and the programming at both of the buildings I'm at. The special ed team kind of just told me like, these are the classes we would like you to push into. And then if those students don't fall within those classes, then I tend to pull them from… we have like a supported study hall. It's called strategies for learning. So I pull my individual or small group students from those class periods, but it really all comes down… I feel like every building does things so differently. I'm in a pretty large district and I feel like all 12 of us or however many speech paths there are, we all do things a little bit differently, just depending on the building.

00:06:44 Hallie: Do you have any tips for making push in… working with this age group? Like, do you have common planning time with the teachers? Do you just know what they're working on? Like, what do you do going in there? Do you have a game plan? How do you do it?

00:06:59 Tricia: No, that's a good question. I feel like a lot of the times I just try to pick like a language rich activity or a theme. Sometimes we'll watch like an engaging video or we'll pick like a food theme, because that's always very popular. So I try to just target whatever class I'm going into, whether it's language arts, we'll focus more on the vocab and comprehension strategies. Whereas I go into a lot of social communication classes. We have a study hall that's just focused on social communication, which is really nice.

00:07:37 Tricia: So we'll either run a lesson relevant to that or the psychologist and I, we will do more of like a hands-on activity. We're really into like team building right now. So I've shared on my Instagram, I think the latest one I shared was we did back to back drawing. So one student had an image and their partner just had a blank piece of paper and they had to describe how to draw the image. And afterwards we talked about like, where was the breakdown in communication? What would you do differently? And how do these skills carry over to the workplace?

00:08:17 Tricia: Like this is us working here at school with other people, like how would this translate to the workplace? So we found that like doing more hands-on functional things like that have been really, I would say more effective. Cause I feel like when you're lecturing all the time, they're just like, especially with high schoolers, they're so checked out when you're standing up there talking at them. They're just like, there's no buy-in whatsoever. So everyday speech has been great and also just like incorporating the hands on activities like that have been really useful.

00:08:50 Hallie: That's another way to get their buy in is showing them how it's relevant to their world and especially like that job readiness piece is so actually goes in high school like you're their last stop like to the outside world. So incorporating that as much as possible. Do you have any other things that you like to do that?

00:09:08 Tricia: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've had the opportunity this year to work with our life skills population. So we have a program in our district. We have a coffee cart. It's actually, I don't know why we call it a coffee cart because it's actually like a structure now. It's like they gave us a concession stand. They sell drinks. It used to be a cart, but we still call it a cart for some reason. But I've had the opportunity to like work with students while they are serving coffee and taking money from actual students and staff members, which has been really cool because we're able to translate those skills while we're at school, but it's also skills they'll need later on as well. So that's been really fun.

00:09:54 Tricia: And I know a lot of speech paths in my district do a lot with like our career work training program. So they'll create like micro businesses in their buildings and it's just a functional way to work on communication. Like just sitting there doing worksheets or helping with homework, those skills don't always translate. And I feel like working on these more functional skills, it's just so much more useful. And you actually feel like you're doing something meaningful because I know with older students, it's hard to see that progress. But when you are working on some of those life skills, it's you actually feel like you're making a difference and you're setting them up for success for later on, which has been cool to see this year.

00:10:42 Hallie: So helpful. That's so cool. Do you include your students in the IEP creation process or like the IEP meetings?

00:10:48 Tricia: Yeah, our students sit in on every meeting. Some are more involved than others. Some will facilitate the meeting with like a Google slideshow, where others will kind of just sit and answer questions that come their way. I think it just depends on like the case manager and what they feel the student is ready for, but they are there for every meeting that we have for them.

00:11:15 Hallie: And I find it makes it helpful for them to understand like a very recommending speech. They should be there to hear what you have to say and what they're going to be working on. So it's not like, I don't know. No, you were there. You should know.

00:11:29 Tricia: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Those meetings are overwhelming, but it is a really good experience for them.

00:11:36 Hallie: Do you have a favorite response when your students ask, why am I here?

00:11:40 Tricia: I actually haven't gotten one of those in a while. I'm surprised. I'm trying to think of one. I don't know. Why are you here? I probably have said–

00:11:51 Hallie: I used have on my wall, like, speech is, and I would list vocabulary and all the different things. like, which one you think is hard for you? That's why you're here.

00:11:58 Tricia: Right. Yes, totally. Yeah, we do go back to that a lot.

00:12:02 Hallie: I'm like, can you say your sounds? That's not the reason. Like, okay, do we have worked on that? No. Moving on.

00:12:09 Tricia: Yeah. Yeah. I feel like at this level, they're kind of like, okay, like this is what… [inaudible]. Yeah, I know I have to be here. I don't want to be here, but I am. So I don't really have those conversations anymore, I feel. But that is a really good point. I also don't have an office. I wish I did to like show some visuals, but I really don't even have a space to do that.

00:12:35 Hallie: That's also like, I don't know why I'm here either. I'm in the hall and I'm going around.

00:12:39 Tricia: They just keep bringing me back here. But…

00:12:43 Hallie: I love it. Any last bit of advice for someone who is maybe new to the high school setting or is considering it? Maybe they were… suggested maybe for next school year, that might be a place you might want to consider, or someone who's just maybe a new grad who has no idea where they want to go. What would you say to someone who is uncertain about this age group?

00:13:04 Tricia: I would say I feel like older students are a hidden gem. I always say that middle school is like the best place ever. And I know it's intimidating, but it really is a special place. You don't have to be over the top engaging them all the time, but you still get to have fun with them and they enjoy coming to see you. I don't know. I feel like it's worth a shot. And ask as many questions as possible. I feel like it's better to ask questions than to just try to fly by and figure it out on your own. There's people who've been doing this forever, especially your team members at the middle school and high school level. I feel like they've been there for so long. I feel like people who work in with secondary students stay there forever.

00:13:55 Tricia: I don't know if you feel that same way, but I feel like they just know, they love working with older students and they just ride out their whole career working with that population. So don't be afraid to ask questions. And also don't be afraid of the students. I feel like they need you. Like at this age, especially they need that safe person to feel comfortable with. There's so much unknown and uncertainty going on. So just like having that comfortable person where they can be theirself during the school day, given all the demands coming their way. And I know that was like a million different responses to your question.

00:14:33 Hallie: And they're just big kids. Like they might be taller than – I mean, I'm five foot and a half. Things like they might be taller than me. That's why I wore heels. [inaudible]

00:14:43 Tricia: Yeah. They might make fun of you, but it's funny. You just have to laugh.

00:14:48 Hallie: Like… if you can't beat them, join them. I joined them. I joined them. I'm like, yes, I am short. You're… great, you got language. You described here like…

00:14:56 Tricia: Yeah, I think it's funny. I don't know. I find them entertaining, working with older students. I love the honesty.

00:15:04 Hallie: I love it. Well, thank you so much. We're going to everyone learn more about you and everything you have to offer.

00:15:10 Tricia: Yeah, I share a lot of ideas over on my Instagram. It's @thoughtful.talk. My TPT store, I think you can find me @thoughtfultalk as well. I was under previous… I had a name that was very difficult to say before. So I'm slowly switching everything over to Thoughtful Talk.

00:15:32 Hallie: And we'll have links to everything in the show notes. So not to worry. Tricia, thank you so much for joining us. I always end my episodes with a joke because jokes build rapport. And that's why I always like to hang on my wall when my students came in. This way, if they wanted to take credit for it, they could, or they can make fun of me for it. So that is up to you. You want to make fun of me or use it. It's up to you. So how do you prepare for a party in outer space?

00:15:56 Tricia: Oh, I don't know.

00:15:59 Hallie: You planet. Ba-dum ching, guys. Yes.

00:16:06 Tricia: It's a good one.

00:16:08 Hallie: If your students like it, you can take the credit for it. If your students make fun of you, you can blame me. It is okay. I can handle it. Thank you. Everyone go check out her Instagram, go check out her social media, her TBT store. And until next week, everyone, stay out of trouble.

00:16:31 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. 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!

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