The beginning of a new school year tends to be overwhelming for most SLPs regardless of how long you’ve been in the school setting. I am excited to share how you can collaborate with teachers and create a speech therapy schedule! Over the years, I have found several ways to manage some of the “start-up” stress by doing the following:
Talk with Your Administrators
Instead of going to each individual teacher, I would suggest first going straight to an administrator to find out the “dos and don’ts” of pulling children out of class for therapy. Some may prefer you only take out during specials or avoid taking out during certain subjects. Going into scheduling with these expectations considered, you’ll hopefully lessen the chances of a major schedule breakdown later on down the road.
Gather Schedules
Speaking of scheduling… you’ll need to grab copies of both master schedules and individual teachers’ schedules. I like to go into scheduling my children with as much information front-loaded on me as possible. Yearly I am in awe of how administrators work out all of the kinks in scheduling an entire school! It makes me thankful for only having to figure out the pieces of my crazy speech-puzzle schedule.
Inform Your Staff
Give copies of scheduled therapy days/times and goals. Even though everyone is overwhelmed and absorbing tons of information at the beginning of the year, I have found educators are very appreciative of knowing when you will be grabbing their students for therapy. Once I have finalized my schedule, I let teachers know when students will be pulled for therapy and goals that will be addressed for each student. Be sure to let teachers know schedules are subject to change throughout the year… because they most certainly will!
Advocate for Your Students and Yourself
I like providing teachers with information on developmental norms, roles of SLPs in the school setting, and how we can serve students with communication needs. This will hopefully help guide teachers on who and when to refer. There are so many great options to get information to teachers! You can go as simple as placing papers in boxes or having them communicate only through using a low-tech communication board during an inservice. Making it fun and interesting for them can be as simple as adding a good SLP joke!
Have Patience
There will be hiccups. There will be mistakes. Just remember everyone’s schedules will have multiple changes before “the one” will finally stick. Try to have patience with yourself and everyone else! Personally, I like to grab an iced coffee, my favorite snack, and turn on some music while I’m making my schedule. I also tend to have a few extra treats or sweets in my room in case some teachers stop by to chat or with questions!
Need help and a place to start with adapting forms to get yourself organized? Check out my Speech Therapy Binder and Planner! It includes editable welcome back letters, parent contact forms, forms to organize IEP/evals/billing info, and MUCH more!
Although certain tasks at the beginning of the year can feel daunting, I enjoy the excitement of a new year. I hope this helps you collaborate with teachers and create a speech therapy schedule that you love. There is just something special about the halls filled with smiles and palpable excitement. Here is to believing this will be yours and your students’ best year YET!
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