Tuesday, September 26, 2017

10 Things a School SLP should do by October



September is a crazy time of the year for us school SLPs and sometimes it's easy to make our to-do lists a mile long.  It's also easy to be super hard on ourselves and feel like we are falling behind in our priorities, so I decided to make a list of the top ten things I want to have accomplished by October 1st.  If you haven't done all of these things yet don't panic! Just make your goal date be the end of October!

1. Introduce yourself to all of the teachers whose students are on your caseload

2. Meet all of the students on your caseload - be it by observing them in the classroom or taking them to your therapy room

3. Communicate in some way with all of the parents on your caseload so that they know their student isn't being underserved.  This could be a phone call, individualized note in a communication book, or a generic "Hey, your kid has a speech therapist this year and it's me!" kind of letter in their backpack.

4. Make your speech schedule and run it by the classroom teachers, gym teachers, OTs, PTs, school counselor, and hearing teacher (and anyone else who may provide a service for your student).  Once you're done be sure to share it with your supervisor or school administrators, being sure to note that it may change depending on other related services.

5. Organize your desk/work station.  Don't start the year off being disorganized!

6. Review all of your students' IEPs and create your lesson plan form for all students, with their IEP goals written at the top for quick references

7. Create your rubrics/forms that you will use for progress monitoring throughout the school year

8. Take note and make an easily accessible list of which of your students' have photo release forms signed and which do not

9. Take note and make an easily accessible list of the dates of all of your students' IEPs or triennials are for the year.  This way nothing will sneak up on you!

10. Check with the school nurse about any food allergies or medical conditions that you should know about for students on your caseload!  It's important to know if they have a nut allergy, or if they are on a medication that makes them drowsy in the afternoon!

What was/is on your to-do list for the rest of the month and October?  Share it in the comments section!