It's the first week with students at my school! Welcome back!
It's time to ask ourselves, "how should I try taking data this year?" We need data to track progress and provide in our MA billing notes. Last year I feel like I tried everything from taking data on my computer to handwriting notes. Each type had it's pros and cons.
Xcel Spreadsheet on Computer
Pros:
Copy and paste into MA billing notes.
Fast.
More information.
Cons:
Not as portable (my computer has a very short charge unless connected to power source)
It's my personal belief that it's socially inappropriate (and somewhat awkward) to keep a computer open for a session while you're with a student. I know that's not how everyone views it, so no worries if this is your preference.
Handwritten Notes
Pros:
Portable.
Charts are easier to draw out.
Less noticeable by student.
Cons:
Time consuming- not only the time it takes to write them, but then going back to to re-type them in for MA billing is MORE time.
Clearly there is not perfect solution to these issues. My plan this year is to utilize data sheets that have the students' goals and objectives at the top. If you're interested in what I'll be using, check my TpT store for your free Data Sheets for Speech and Language Therapy download:
I hope you enjoy! Let's have a happy paperwork year! :)
The beginning of the school year can be completely overwhelming. I wanted to give you a little information on what I do to prepare. This is also a FREEBIE checklist that I'm posting on my Teachers Pay Teacher's store: SLP Daily and Weekly Checklists - Editable!
Enjoy!
1. Prepare your room and organize! Throw out old paperwork and organize craft drawers.
2. Plan out your daily "absolutely must complete before I leave each day" list. This is something I like to do before school starts so I never let things build up over the year. Included: MA Billing, Pull out student objectives for the next day, Review next day's plan, pull out needed materials, do your printing, and clean off table, door handles, and chairs.
-MA Billing: You do not want to get behind on this task, so make sure to set aside time for the job and get into the mindset of "this HAS to be done." Otherwise you'll find yourself with unnecessary stress.
-Student Objectives: This is something I purchased off Teachers Pay Teachers :Queen Speech's Speech-Language Therapy Objective Binder. It is helpful to place this in front of the student(s) as we review what we'll be doing for the session. It let's them know WHY they are doing what they are doing. It's listed as an objective binder, but as you can see from the photo below, I place them in a plastic page protector and keep them within reach at our work station. That way I can leave them out in front of us as we work as a constant reminder or visual to refer back to as why we are working hard. I also like the page protectors because I can always grab and switch it out for the next student since I keep the others right behind me. (Random fact: I keep loads of worksheets, etc in these page protectors and use the as visuals that I leave out on the table. They protect the papers I use a lot during the day AND you can write on them with dry-erase markers and use them like a white board.)
-Review Plan/Pull Out Needed Materials: This is self-explanatory. More preparation on your part will make your next day go much smoother and stress-free!
-Do your printing: This is important especially if you have any meetings the next day. I rest a lot easier knowing any extra copies, agendas, and notes are completed the day before.
-Clean off table, door handles, and chairs: I can use Clorox Wipes at my school and I do this at least once a day. I know some of you might be reading and thinking, "Every. Single. Day?!" And let me answer with a resounding, "YES!" It makes for a much more relaxing morning when I walk in and see a nice clean office. This puts you in the mindset to get working! I also try to use a Quat solution (this kills everything) once a week.
3. Plan out weekly "to-do" list. Included: Write Individual Growth Plan (IGP) and plan out sessions for the week.
-Write IGPs: At our school we have prompts and need to write on them once a week. Similar to MA Billing, you need to get into the mindset that this HAS to be done and set aside the time to do it. Getting behind means unnecessary stress that is avoidable and we definitely have enough stress at our jobs.
-Plan out sessions for the week: I've heard of professionals planning daily, weekly, and even monthly. In the end it's what works best for you and what serves your clients best.
4. Make your schedule- I'm not going to lie, this is a daunting task. I wait until my school says they won't change the time of any subject times and the class lists are finalized. This is very important. If I started with their rough drafts I'd have to start over anyway, so patience is important. This is hard when you just want to know your own schedule! For me, I lay out the K-8 general education, SPED, OT, Psych, and school schedule out and start inputting students and grouping them together by similarity in goals/objectives. I like to color code and put where the students' class is, that way I'll know what he/she is missing for pull-outs. This requires a lot of work and lots of moving people around. But always remind yourself it'll get done. If you get overwhelmed, walk away for 10 minutes!
5. Decide what to do the first sessions. TpT has a ton of fun beginning of the school year and "get-to-know-you" products.
6. Prepare homework, copies of screeners, and daily "grab-and-go" activities. I use so many wonderful products people have created on TpT. Why stress during the year, when you could spend the time printing and preparing while waiting for finalized teacher schedules?
I'm sure there is A LOT more that we all do to prepare for a joyful school year, but this is just a list to get you started. Feel free to use the comment section below to add anything that might be helpful!
Now enjoy your free editable checklist from my TpT store:
The new school year is just one week away! I'm back in my office after a whole summer away.
My name is Lacey and Joy is my middle name (no really, it is!). I try to bring joy into everything I do, so I decided to name my blog, "Joyful Speech and Language."
This last school year I kept thinking of how nice it would be to start a blog. But as most of you probably know, the school year gets pretty crazy and so my summer vacation was used to set everything up online. And boom! Here we are together!
A little bit more about me- I graduated from University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire with my bachelors and masters in Communication Sciences and Disorders. I am now an American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) certified Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) who is working in the K-8 school setting. The majority of students at my school are English Language Learners (ELL) with Hmong as their first language. That means I frequent ASHA's Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) sections on their site and am interested in all things associated with the topic.
I look forward to writing about what's happening around my office and around the SLP field. Please follow me in various social media settings using the links in the upper right corner of my blog homepage. That way you can be updated as I get into more of a groove on all platforms.
