The End of the Season
Ah, spring has sprung! Though it doesn’t much feel it today—as I sit, the skies are overcast and the weather is chilly. If I’m being honest, I feel quite lethargic… not nearly as springy as I’d like to feel staring down the first of April tomorrow. This week is the closest I have to a Spring Break (I’m free Monday, Tuesday, and Friday and half of Wednesday and Thursday, so not too shabby!), and I think my mind and body have instructed me to rest a bit. Also, my birthday is Sunday and 36 feels quite different than 35 did! We’ve planned a relaxing weekend, which will be a lovely way to finish off a week of rest before the final sprint.
From My Desk
This month saw a little bit of change to my regular schedule, as I took over part of a caseload for a therapist who recently swapped positions. My regular caseload is 5th-8th grade, but this caseload ranged from K to 8th. It was a bit fun to delve back into the world of elementary school for a few weeks. My services were short-term, so I hardly had enough time to do much real work with them. But I did have to change my mindset a bit and refresh my memory on some skills that I don’t normally work with!
It did make me think about specialization and expertise. I’ve spent most of my career working with middle and high school students, which is where I really find my stride, despite enjoying working with younger students from time to time. I’d love to think that I could truly specialize in language and executive functioning skills for upper grades; but, when you work in a school setting, you can never be sure what you’ll be assigned to!
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
In addition to some of the products I’ve been using all semester, I’ve thrown something of my own into the mix. I uploaded something new in my store this month, an inference unit, that I’ve been getting a decent amount of use out of. It’s been simple ones for me lately!
Plans for Next Month
We’re now headed into April, the fourth and final quarter of the year. April will see most of my IEP meetings for the year wrapped up. I’m planning to finalize all of the testing I have on my list, get all of my reports written, and do a lot of finalizing for the year. I’m prepping ahead this year because I’ll be covering a maternity leave in May. It means I’ll likely have no paperwork days through the end of the school year, so I have to be ready to wrap up without needing to work late into the night.
What’s Giving Me Life
Reading more short stories instead of focusing on books
I’ve decided to spend my year focusing less on finishing books and more on reading from a variety of writers and styles. To that end, my end table is littered with a plethora of short story collections. I’ll still be reading other books, of course, but I have no major goals.
Grapefruit spritzers
I’m drinking less alcohol at the moment, especially mixed drinks and cocktails, but with the weather warming up, I like to have something fun and sparkly. A couple of weeks ago, I made what has turned out to be a wonderful alternative to one of my favorite drinks. It’s a simple mix of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and lime juice, a splash of simple syrup, and a sprinkle of coarse salt, and it’s utterly delicious!
Living Libations Best Skin Ever
It was a little too light in the depths of winter, but now that the weather has changed, I’m back to using my seabuckthorn oil as a moisturizer and it’s lovely to be back! I just topped up during their spring sale and am experimenting with using it as an all-in-one cleanser and moisturizer solution.
Dreaming of a fairy garden
One of our house goals for this year is to turn our backyard into a bit of an oasis, and one of my dreams is to make a fairy garden. I’m not sure yet what that will look like, but in a year where I’m trying to be more creative and frugal, I’m enjoying dreaming of it and hopefully will enjoy making it come to fruition.
In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
— Mark Twain
I must say, I hope your spring is feeling a little bit more lively than my own! Here’s to hoping the sun will shine tomorrow and April will bring about a bit more cheeriness!
Cheers,
Christin 🪻🌺
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
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A Short Letter for a Short Month
Hello everyone, from the depths of midwinter! This February has felt impossibly long. Here in the south we’re vacillating between weather that teases of spring and cold so deep it goes straight to the bone. I keep hoping that the permanent return of spring is on its way, but March has frequently decided to throw snow and ice into the mix, so we shall see! At any rate, the winter wreath has been taken down not to be replaced because the birds will soon be looking for places to nest and they always chose our door! I’m dreaming of flowers and will be headed to the garden center this evening after work. So, let’s get to it!
From My Desk
This month has been full speed ahead with assessments, baselines, and meetings. The other day, as I sat messaging a parent after dinner, my husband commented on the fact that I seemed to be working later than usual.
“IEP season has started,” I replied.
“Ah. I get it.”
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
I just checked back on January’s newsletter because as I thought about what I’d been using most this month, I felt like I’d already written about it. And I have! February has been a continuation of January in more ways than one.
I’m still using Spiffy Speech’s Semantic Feature Analysis Charts. My students really enjoy getting to pick their stamp and completing these grids. When I’m working with groups, they’ve been a great way to encourage students to discuss the words together. I love watching them ask each other questions about the different features and work to come up with an answer.
I’m also still getting a lot of use out of Kristine Nannini’s Context Clues Stories. Having the option to choose between different lexile levels has been perfect for my kiddos and the vocabulary has been just the right mix of challenging and familiar for most of my students.
Teletherapy tip: take a screenshot of the question page so that you can display the text and questions at the same time!
And since it’s baseline time, I’m still using the heck out of my informal Comprehensive Language Assessment. If I have enough time, I’ll be adding my Language Sample into the mix, as well!
One other thing I’ve used and enjoyed is this Executive Function Assessment from Life Skills Advocate. You have to sign up for the newsletter to get the free dowload, but I found this really helpful for an older Autistic student who wasn’t sure what he needed to work on. Once we started going through the questions, he had a lot to say!
Plans for Next Month
March is when IEP season goes into full effect and when most of us get Spring Break, so ease is the name of the game! When I start planning for March, I start to shift more towards a structure of baselines/discrete trials and games. Attention is starting to wane as we creep toward the end of the year, but there’s still a lot going on—we can’t slump just yet!
I highly recommend having a few baseline materials and quick and easy options for discrete trials for the broad skills on your caseload. Data becomes a little more important as we’re writing IEP goals and working toward one of our final progress reports of the year. Yes, there’s a 4th quarter but…. I find that 4th quarter is often so disrupted by end of the year activities that I do my last big push for data during 3rd quarter.
But to keep up with those antsy, pre-Spring Break moods? Sprinkle in games! As long as I’ve hit some good practice at the beginning of the session, I start lettings students choose more games that are just plain fun to keep them engaged for the next time.
P.S. Want something seasonal and discrete for context clues? My Irish Slang Context Clues unit is fun!
What’s Giving Me Life
Something you can’t buy: the slow return of birdsong and warmer weather. There’s something about those days when the weather creeps above 60 after months of cold. And I know, here in the south “months of cold’ means like 3… but still!
Side note: I opened my front door yesterday to let in some fresh air and a bird flew in, landed on my Lego Whomping Willow, and flew back out.
Something else you can’t buy: working on routines. They’re still in process, but I’m getting a little bit better at developing some rhythms that are working for me.
“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?”
I hope this short letter for a short month has found you well! Take a breath and make sure you’re making time for yourself before we enter this crazy time of year.
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
Welcome to 2025.
Beginning a new year and a new semester as an SLP.
Man, January is such an interesting time of year! Somehow, 2025 feels like it should be the conclusion to the “COVID years.” Is it just me? It feels like a turning point, somehow.
Welcome to 2025!
From My Desk
I have to admit, I’m a little concerned right now. If you’d like to avoid anything nearing a political discussion, just skip ahead now. My political feelings only come to the surface here when I’m worried about their impact on my job and my students. And right now, I’m worried about my students.
My most pressing concerns relate to my students whose families may be immigrants (I work with a relatively high number of Hispanic students) and my students who are LGBTQ+. Even if there are no tangible ramifications from this week’s executive orders, I know the worry about what could happen can be devastating to students. And with the current administration’s seeming focus on marginalized communities, I’m preemptively worried about things that might be coming down the pipe that could impact students with disabilities and/or mental health concerns.
It all feels extremely heavy and I feel disheartened. Regardless of your political affiliation and who you voted for, I hope you’ll find space for compassion. Particularly if you’re actively working with students or clients: please remember that the people we work with come from all different backgrounds and situations. When I was more religious, I tried my best to keep this in mind:
There but for the grace of God go I.
Whatever your religious beliefs, I think it’s important to remember that we could also have found ourselves in similar circumstances if not for God/fate/privilege/etc…
Just food for thought.
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
This month has been dedicated to getting back into the swing of things. Without a doubt, my most used material for January has been one of my own: Comprehensive Language Assessment. Every year, I’m reminded why I designed this. It’s such a convenient way to start gathering data on progress, future needs, dismissals, etc…
If you work with students who are in upper elementary school or higher, I’d love for you to check this one out!
I’ve also been enjoying these Semantic Feature Analysis Charts from Spiffy Speech and Context Clues Stories from Kristine Nannini.
Plans for Next Month
February is kind of the beginning of the end of the year in a lot of ways. February is when many of my IEPs start becoming due and reevaluations are creeping in. Because the majority of my students are nearing the end of their current IEPs and the beginning of the next, February is the time for mega organization!
I’ve spent time in January going through my deadlines so I’m set on knowing what’s coming. Now it’s time to start making my way down the list. As mentioned above, I’ve already pulled out my informal language assessment and started doing baselines and that’s what will continue throughout February.
In addition to a ton of baselining, this is also the time to look at which IEPs are ending so that I can ensure we’ve adequately addressed those goals.
So basically, where January is for getting back into the swing of things and getting everything organized, February is for transitioning toward the end of the year.
What’s Giving Me Life
I’m completely obsessed with Moving Out on my Switch right now. I’ve been playing 1 and 2 since around Christmas and they’re just the right amount of “here’s exactly what to do” and freedom.
I’m really enjoying the idea of creativity right now, so I just started an art journal as well as a list of other creative hobbies that I want to make more of a habit. I’ll probably write more on this later!
I bought three of these jumpsuits in black right before they went away and have started a personal challenge (which you can read about here). So far, I’m loving how easy it is to get dressed in the morning.
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
I hope your school semester is getting off to a lovely start, my friends.
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
Honest Thoughts
Hello and Happy Holidays! Let’s get the cliche out of the way—can you believe it’s the holiday season already?
I have to admit, I’ve been feeling distinctly disconnected from the holiday season so far this year. People were decorating for Christmas quickly after Halloween ended and while I never decorate before Thanksgiving but don’t begrudge people who do, this year it’s really messing with my sense of time. I’m hoping that as December starts swinging, I’ll feel a little more festive. But if not… I’m determined not to fret.
From My Desk
This past month, I faced the same question from at least two of my middle school students: “Why am I in speech?” One of these students doesn’t really need services anymore, which I had already planned to express at our next meeting. The other student does need support but doesn’t want it. I had very candid conversations with both of them, explaining why they were still receiving speech, giving my opinion on whether or not they still needed it, and, most importantly, asking them how they felt about that. The student who doesn’t need services still enjoys speech—they just want to miss less class. The student who doesn’t want speech agrees that he has needs but the things he’s done in speech aren’t meeting them.
These conversations have brought to mind some questions to ask (yourself, students, and others) about when services are and are not the best option.
What do you (the student) need help with?
How do you (the student) feel about coming to speech?
What am I doing with the student and why?
Is there any research I need to do to better address these needs?
Is my materials toolbox running low or been overused?
Can you (the teachers) address these needs with my help?
Can I address these needs effectively in less time?
Did I build a relationship with the student first?
Have I explained what we’re working on and why?
Is it time for an assessment and/or a meeting?
While I was writing this, I received an email from the parents of the second student. In it, she thanked me for being willing to admit things weren’t working. I think we need to remember that more often. SLPs tend to have a, “I can save the world!” complex, when the truth is… we can’t. We can certainly make a huge difference in people’s lives, but it is dependent on so, so many different factors of which we are only one.
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
Pink Cat Games
I would not have thought this website would go over with my middle schoolers, but it’s amazing how something as simple as spinning a wheel for points can motivate a student! I haven’t done this yet, but I love that you can create your own question sets. I’m planning to spend some time soon creating sets that are more middle school appropriate.
Creature Campers and Cat Ninja on Epic! Books
I’ve been doing a lot of book reading this month. I can’t lie, my energy is significantly lower this school year for a host of reasons, so I’m taking advantage of things that can take a little bit off of me! Epic! is great for that because of its Read to Me section of books. I can’t read aloud quite as much as usual, so Creature Campers and Cat Ninja have been godsends!
Plans for Next Month
✨My Halloween and Thanksgiving Boom decks have been well received the last couple of months, and I was thinking of making another version for December but… I really didn’t want to only release something that was strictly Christmas. I decided that, ideally, I would have a Christmas deck and a winter deck. I didn’t have time to create both this year, so I plan to have two versions next year!
✨ After a big holiday, I like to do a big ole therapy reset. For me, that looks like:
Spending the first couple weeks progress monitoring the exact goals on the IEP
Triple checking upcoming IEP and eligibility dates and making sure they’re on my calendar
Doing a bulk therapy buy to restock my therapy materials for spring
What’s Giving Me Life
Cozy mysteries a la Myrtlewood Mysteries
My Kindle stand and remote set up. I can’t vouch for their longevity as I just got them a week or so ago but boy, am I in my cozy era with it.
My traveler’s notebook set up. This one I can vouch for—it’s amazing! I have the leather cover, weekly planner, blank notebooks, extra connecting bands, and zipper pouch. My notebook consists of a pouch of pens, a weekly planner, a collections notebook (Bullet Journal style), and a long form journal.
And also, I started journaling using different color pens for my cycle recently (one for menstruation, one for follicular stage/ovulation, and one for the luteal phase). I love getting to look through my journals and easily catch patterns based on where I am in my cycle. I adapted this idea from Claire Baker.
Rooibos tea. I’m three months into my caffeine-free life, subbing rooibos for my Yorkshire and I’ve officially reached the point where I really want it in the morning. The ritual feels restored.
“Wisdom comes with winters.”
I hope you all have such a warm and festive holiday season.
Christin
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
The Lost Quarter
Hello, all!
I write to you from the beginning of the second quarter of the school year, having just completed progress reports for the first. And I’ll be honest—I barely remember this quarter. If you read my last note, you’ll know that September started off crazily for me. Yesterday afternoon, I sat down to transfer information from my most recent Bullet Journal into the newest and took some time to read through my thoughts and notes for the last few months.
It was a pretty surreal experience. And it’s really no wonder that the beginning of the school year is a complete blur. But still, we’re chugging along, doing our things.
From My Desk
This month, I had a meeting and communication that reminded me how important it is to be neurodivergent affirming and how important it is to provide instruction. One of my Autistic students hates coming to speech (although I’m slowly winning him over). Last year, he was removed from therapy altogether, but his family was convinced to give it another try this year. After a month of services, we had an IEP meeting to review what we were doing, what was working, etc… I came to the meeting with only my observations and a desire to listen to his parents and teachers. What I heard echoed and built upon what I was seeing in therapy: a student who wants to do good, fit in, etc… but just doesn’t understand the reasons behind neurotypical expectations and behaviors… and uses a lot of humor and behavior to mask it.
After the meeting, I reached out to the team to find out if they thought writing goals focused on education would be a good fit. I wanted him to know what made him tick versus what made neurotypicals tick. I wanted him to know how Autism makes things a little difficult but more importantly, how it makes him unique. I wanted him to use that knowledge to advocate for himself more effectively.
The feedback I got was very similar: last year, they would have said no way. This year, though…. maybe he’s ready. They shared things that had happened just recently and how having some of that understanding could have changed things.
It reminds me of speaking to someone I know personally about an acquaintance we believe may be autistic. This person told me that they hoped our acquaintance wasn’t tested for Autism because it “might make them feel bad.” I countered, “What if it makes them feel better?”
When I was diagnosed with ADHD several months ago, I elected not to take stimulants. Instead, I delved into various research about other things that can help me manage the areas of impact. Some might think my diagnosis was pointless if I wasn’t going to treat it, but treatment was never the point. Understanding was the point. Education was the point. With a diagnosis firmly in hand, I can pursue knowledge, try things out, adapt, and just, at the end of the day, not beat myself up about things I have minimal control over. It’s frustrating, yes, but also freeing.
I’ll probably write more about how to teach students about neurodivergence soon, so stay tuned!
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
Speechy Musings Compare and Contrast Activities
I’ve had a lot of comparing and contrasting goals this quarter. What I loved about this one is the differentiation. I could work with comparing/contrasting objects by having students sort characteristics or come up with their own, AND we could work with comparing and contrasting elements from a text. Simple, well-rounded, and good for teletherapy with a fillable PDF.
Semantic Relationships Boom Cards
I wish I’d had these last year! Semantic relationships is a section on the CELF, which translates to it being a goal on some IEPs. I’ve also found it very hard to target specifically, so these have been a lifesaver!
My Social and Executive Function Skills Task Cards
These have been great for checking in with my variety of social skills goals. I’ve found them useful for both some quick practice and for determining where we need to go next.
Plans for Next Month
My Halloween Boom Cards have been flying this month, which surprised me for some reason! I threw them together last year based on the specific goals I was targeting at the time. Seeing how well they did, I’m planning on making a Thanksgiving version too, so stay tuned for that!
I’m also planning on updating my Synonyms and Antonyms Unit because finding materials for synonyms and antonyms (for older kiddos) is hard!
What’s Giving Me Life
🎶 Listening to IDK How ahead of going to see them in concert next weekend
📚 Reading all the Agatha Christie and loving The Mysterious Benedict Society. I’m also reading The Happiness Trap and finding it pretty transformative right now.
🍷☕️ I made a quick simple syrup using fruit teas from Celestial Seasonings to make a spooky cocktail a few weeks ago, but I’ve been loving it most stirred into some sparkling water. Also, since abandoning caffeine, I’ve been loving rooibos. It’s perfect with honey and a splash of half and half, just like my beloved Yorkshire.
🍂 Fall in general! I’m not sure that I would have made it through the last couple of months if it wasn’t for Fall. The slowly turning leaves and breezy walks (even when it’s still very warm) are keeping me sane. The earlier evenings are, for the first time in my life, bumming me out rather than making me feel cozy. It’s the daytime hours that my body and mind are loving right now.
“It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks and a silence in which another voice may speak.””
I hope you’ve had a lovely fall so far! Remember that, whatever is going on personally, and however you feel it’s affecting your work, you are a wonderful SLP. Whatever it is you have to give your students right now, it’s plenty and it’s good.
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
Hi there, autumn.
I’m writing this little note on September 20, two days ahead of the official beginning of fall. But really, I’ve been easing into an autumnal space since September 1.
And boy, have I needed it.
This school year has not started off in the best way for me. Without going into too much detail, my nervous system imploded on September 1 (Hogwarts Day, of all the days). This was after about six weeks of increasingly less subtle signs that something was up (night time panics, migraines, fatigue, days I can’t even remember through the blur, shortness of breath, feeling overwhelmed and on edge). It all culminated in about three days of extreme nervous system dysregulation and two weeks of painfully slow recovery.
In fact, it was just yesterday that I looked at my husband over breakfast and told him that the day before had been the first day I had made it the entire day feeling like myself. The simplest, smallest things suddenly became huge wins.
I ate an entire omelette!
I had a stuffy nose and didn’t have a panic attack!
I slept through the night!
I enjoyed a cup of tea!
It’s been extremely difficult and it has impacted my work. In fact, I experienced a work first this month: I missed my first due date in ten years.
And you know what? I was so completely and utterly exhausted, I almost didn’t care at all. SLP Christin of years past cannot even begin to imagine the nonchalance with which I proceeded to rectify the situation. In the face of everything I had been through in the previous few days, being a few days behind on paperwork suddenly seemed like a drop in the ocean.
That’s perhaps the most valuable thing I learned over the last 20 days. There were days I believed I would never feel normal and happy again. And when I began waking up in the morning without a feeling of dread sitting on my chest and taking long, sweaty walks while a few fall leaves breezed by me and dancing in the kitchen while I chopped vegetables that I could actually make myself eat, I was reminded afresh of how important the little things are. And how unimportant some of the big things are.
Last night, I wrote in my journal: It’s little things but life is primarily small moments not big events.
I don’t say this to suggest that you should ignore your due dates and coast. I do say this to remind you that your life is so, so much more than work. You can give yourself grace and ask forgiveness and the world will continue to spin and students’s needs will continue to be met without you neglecting your own in the process.
If you need grace for yourself right now, please take it.
If your body is trying to tell you something, please pay attention.
If you’re feeling low, please know that the sun can shine again.
If someone near you is struggling, please take their hand.
It’s the little things that matter. The big things will be forgotten before you know it.
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
Pruning
The world is noisy. I don’t want to make it noisier.
I’ve been thinking this week about the ways we use social media. More often than not, I look to mine (Instagram, specifically) with inspiration in mind. The expectation is always to find new ideas. Strategies I haven’t thought of. Tips that might come in handy.
The problem, I’ve realized, is that when I go to places like Instagram with only inspiration in mind, I tend to end up with overwhelm instead.
There’s a difference, for me at least, between purposefully looking for creative ways to address a clinical query I have at the moment and scrolling through Instagram being fed strategies and tips that, while I’m sure are helpful when you need them, are nothing but overwhelming when I don’t.
Within that vein, I was searching the other day for the pros and cons of TikTok and YouTube as a creator. One of the differences reminded me of the difference between social media and blogs—the ability to search for and easily access information as desired.
My own musings, combined with this article, made me wonder about the benefits of participating in social media as an SLP.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure that for some people, the fast-paced nature of social media with ideas flowing constantly is really helpful!
But I also imagine that there are other people like me—people who thrive on the slower, more intentional sharing of information online.
Maybe, just maybe I need to change how I share information.
What are your thoughts? How do you like to consume information and insights about being an SLP?
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.