Life in the IEP Tribe
Join us as we dive into the world of special education with two educators who have walked the same path as many of you. In addition to teaching in self-contained and collaborative settings, our hosts bring a unique perspective to the challenges and triumphs of raising a special needs child. From classroom strategies to heartfelt family moments, they offer practical advice, empathy, and a community of support. Discover how their personal experiences can shed light on your journey and gain valuable insights into navigating the complexities of special education both in and out of the classroom. Welcome to the tribe!
Life in the IEP Tribe
The Speech Umbrella: It's Not Just About Talking Good
The mysterious world of speech therapy extends far beyond correcting pronunciation errors. In this eye-opening conversation with Speech Language Pathologist Eliana Rodriguez, we discover the vast "speech umbrella" covering everything from articulation and grammar to social language and alternative communication methods.
Rodriguez reveals how speech therapists serve as crucial "gatekeepers" in child development, often being the first professionals to identify communication challenges in young children. She dispels common misconceptions, particularly the fear that augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices might prevent verbal speech development. Using a brilliant comparison, she explains how children who repeat phrases from videos can similarly learn from communication devices, opening worlds of expression for those who struggle to communicate verbally.
The magic of effective speech therapy lies in meeting children where they are. Rodriguez describes getting down on the floor with nonverbal children, following their interests to build rapport, and creating personalized interventions based on what motivates each child. These child-led approaches transform therapy into engaging play while achieving critical communication goals.
Parents struggling with whether to pursue speech services will find reassurance in Rodriguez's compassionate advice: trust your instincts, seek early intervention, and don't let pride or misconceptions stand in the way of getting help. The collaboration between speech therapists, teachers, and parents creates a powerful support system that can dramatically improve a child's ability to connect with the world.
Have concerns about your child's communication development? May is AAC Awareness Month with devices up to 50% off. Don't wait to explore resources that could transform your child's ability to express themselves and engage with others.
we are now currently uh, let's see midway through april. Down here where we live in southeast georgia, we are less than a month of school days away from summer, and for that I'm incredibly grateful. It's not that I don't like the kids I do. I love the kids Most of them, no, all of them. I really do love the kids. I love all of them. But you know, it's really funny.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was younger thinking, wow, teachers are so lucky, they like work for the school year and they get off all summer. And yeah, now I understand it a little bit better. But something else that is really cool is that in the misery of the last month of school, as we claw and fight and scrape and scratch our way through, we get to do that alongside some really great people. Yes, sir, and before we started, or before I started, working in the school system, I had no idea the amount of supports that are out there for students with special needs and I always thought, okay, well, there's a teacher here and maybe a speech therapist there. But what we're finding out, the more and more we talk about this stuff and get people to come talk with us, is that there is an entire nation of people out there that are like linking arms to help support these students, and it's super cool Just yet another one of the fantastic people that we get to do this whole loving kids with and walk in hand in hand and sometimes dragging each other across the finish line, because you know what it's a hard job working with kids.
Speaker 1:And so, laura, I'm going to let you go ahead and introduce this week's guest, All right.
Speaker 2:So this week we are talking with one of our co-workers slash friends at work. She's a speech and language pathologist that works with many of our kids. We call her Miss Ellie Eliana Rodriguez and I tell you, everybody loves to go to Miss Ellie's class. We even have kids that cry when they have to leave. Everybody loves to go to Miss Ellie's class.
Speaker 1:We even have kids that cry when they have to leave, because Miss Ellie, she'll get on the floor with the kids and she will just tap into their needs and their wants and their abilities and it's infectious, because even kids that she doesn't serve want to go see her.
Speaker 2:It's like, well, come on, it's true, so yeah. So this episode we have Miss Ellie and we'll probably call you that all episode.
Speaker 1:That's how it's going to roll.
Speaker 2:Miss Ellie. So, just like I called Jared Mr Curtis a lot too, that's fine, well good, um, well good. So you know, you were talking about not knowing that before you started working in the school system, jared, that you didn't realize the amount of support, and, um, I think that I think that's a common thing and I know that me, when I was a young parent and my child went to school and they did the kindergarten screening, that they were like, well, I think that maybe he could benefit from some speech services, because he kind of is a little nasal and I'm like, ok, well, first of all, it's, if it's, I think it's hereditary, I think it's hereditary. And second, I don't think I need him pulled out of classroom because he, you know, has a speaks through his nose a little bit and I didn't understand what it was. So, but I think a lot of people have that also, that misconception that that, miss Ellie, that all you do is help kids talk, right, I don't think that they understand.
Speaker 1:Send them to Ellie so they can talk good yeah.
Speaker 2:We're just going to teach them how to talk. I don't think they understand the vast array of the multifaceted thing of speech and language pathology. So probably throwing a curveball a little bit, but you go ahead and let us know, tell us what you do with our kids and not just telling them, you know, teaching them how to use their words, like speak, correctly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so speech, we have such a huge scope of practice, like we call it the speech umbrella, where we do like we can target so many different things and that's how we learned it in grad school.
Speaker 3:Like the speech umbrella you have, yes, helping kids speak correctly because they have the sound errors, then they're hard to understand. Um, that goes under like articulation and phonology, because there's some patterns and there's some letter recognition and phonemic awareness that they don't have and that's just like in one little segment. And then we have more like grammar and syntax, where they don't use the correct verb tenses or leave the S at the end of plurals and using the correct pronouns for certain things. Like it's a whole language is just such a huge. There's so many things in language and then we can talk about like social skills and social language and the pragmatic stuff and comprehension questions, and speech and language is a huge. We have a huge scope of practice is the short answer to that. And and yes, most of the time when people think speech like oh, it's just sound errors, right, or my kid doesn't speak at all, like it's just like those two things and that's it.
Speaker 3:And that's where we first come in and I like to say, like speech language pathologists are like the gatekeepers. Because that's yeah, seriously, because when you first see a kid in kindergarten because luckily this school district does mass screeners for pre K and kindergarten, so we do get to see these kids like really early on, and the first thing that we see is like, oh, there's a need in speech or language or both at the same time. And we do look at fluency, which is like stuttering and stuff like that, and we do listen to your voice and your nasality, because there's can be some structural things going on in there, but not that we can see, but we can hear it. And we can then tell parents like, hey, you might want to go see an ENT for this or you know, but like that's why I say we're like the gatekeepers, because we get to see these kids first and then we can help parents and refer them out and see where they need to go from there. Does that answer that question? Absolutely it does nasality.
Speaker 1:I think that's gonna be the name of my next band, nasality, right opening for metallica you can't talk like that.
Speaker 2:if your band's nasality though, You're going to have to talk like me.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'll do my best.
Speaker 2:So, talking about the mass screenings, what do you typically find that is the most common speech and language challenge for our elementary age students.
Speaker 3:A lot of these kids have never received services before, so like they've never received early intervention at all. And then we catch them in pre-K or we catch them in kindergarten, because some kids here in Georgia there's a pre-K lottery and not everyone gets in, so then we don't really see them until kindergarten, so that's like a whole like we don't see them until they're five years old. You still have from birth to five, and they're just behind on their sounds, or they're behind on, you know, following simple directions or stating opposites, you know, or they don't know their colors or their letters or their letter sounds. There's like so many things that we catch in kindergarten from these mass screeners and when we tell parents like, hey, they, you know, they failed this area of the language screener, we're going to recommend some interventions and we'll see how those interventions go. If the data comes back where they haven't made progress, we're going to move up and then we might recommend even testing. And some parents get caught off guard when you, when you tell them this you know, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that we see often and I'm sure you do too is that there's kind of this natural response by parents. I'm going to call it natural because I think we do see it often that there's this kind of pushback because you're telling me there's something wrong with my child and, oddly enough, while it is, while we are pinpointing certain areas that they need some assistance in, the help and the extra support that they're going to get can help them to succeed. And so it's not a you have a broken child, let us fix you. It's a hey. Here's some things that we can do to help better position your child for success to help better position your child for success, and there's probably some guilt there too.
Speaker 2:Like you said, it's not till kindergarten. Sometimes the parents might say, oh well, why didn't I catch this? But that kind of brings me back to what Ms McMillan said. Well, we've gone to school for this. We've been trained how to look for these things where parents have not. So I shouldn't feel bad about that, and I would think that the parents would kind of you probably have a broad spectrum or not a broad spectrum, like two polar opposites. So you probably either have the pushback or the parents are like do everything you need to do. There's probably not a whole lot in the middle.
Speaker 3:No, I completely agree, and I was going to say that, like some parents are like what my child has what, or they're having issues with what, and then they, you know, I'm like, hey, you can ask me whatever you want, like call me, email me and we can go from there. But I was like this these are. I try to inform them as much as possible of the process, like from screener to like evaluation, to after, if they need an IEP and stuff like that. I explain the whole process and and I also tell them, like you know, depending on what it is right, if it's like articulation, phonology, like our goal is to hopefully have them graduated by the time they go to middle school, like that is our goal, you know. Um, there's other kids, of course, that would have to be in speech a little bit longer, but there's certain goals that we tailor to each kid, that we try to meet them, and some kids get to be in speeches for a little bit because they've met, you know, that gap, and then we get to dismiss them, and then some kids that just need a little bit more time, and then parents that gives parents a little bit more time also to come to the idea, you know that. Or they have speech, but you know, maybe there's something else going on too.
Speaker 3:And then so luckily, in this county we've had parents where they've been very supportive of if anything, like yeah, if they need to pull out more, like, yeah, let's do it. Oh, do I need to go to the doctor? I'm like, yeah, that's a great idea. Always talk to your pediatrician if you have concerns. That's where they catch them first. They're supposed to be doing developmental screeners every so often and those screeners answer them, you know, truthfully. And that's when they flag certain things and they tell you, hey, we should probably refer your child to speech or occupational therapy or PT. Um, and I think some parents don't always answer those um a hundred percent truthfully. Or you know they're like, oh, yeah, they do them, then do it, but then they might not do it in public. You know there's just a whole lot of different things that go into it, but yeah, Right, um, and like I said, I didn't.
Speaker 2:I didn't understand it when mine were in elementary school and you talked about the interventions and you start with the interventions and then see where that goes. So talk to us a little bit about that intervention. What is it? How do you tailor those interventions to meet the students' needs? Is it something you do? Do the teachers do it, everybody do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it's so funny because each state has their own process of RTI or MTSS, now that it's called. Each state is different. Okay, and I I worked in three different states, so particularly in this state of Georgia and in this county, the way we do that they miss. Let's just say it's comprehension questions or WH questions.
Speaker 3:Then we tell the teacher like, hey, are you seeing this in the classroom too? And they're like, yeah, like he has, they have a really hard time answering basic questions. We're like, okay, cool. So then we write a data sheet with certain, you know, say student will answer what questions, and you know three out of five opportunities or something like that, and we provide a whole packet to the teachers to do them in the classroom. So the teacher will go ahead and pull that student in small group and provide those interventions and collect data.
Speaker 3:And that usually takes about. You know, we try to do six weeks and then check in and then if they haven't made any progress and sometimes we're like, and sometimes we can tell with years of experience if kids need to continue in the tiers or if we just need to go ahead and do a straight language evaluation then we're like, okay, this is enough to support that. We need to go to have a straight speech and language eval and get parent consent, and from there we go ahead and test them. But once we get consent, we have to have a passing vision and hearing, because we can't continue testing unless those two things have passed. So then that's how the process will go.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm just listening. I'm like, hey, I'm down with it. Yeah, so you also talked about a lot of times. The pediatricians are supposed to be kind of catching the. You know, maybe we need speech, maybe we need OT, maybe we need PT. So if a child is getting outside services, can they still get in-school services? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Is it the same thing?
Speaker 3:Yes and no. You get services by speech language pathologists who's been trained and licensed versus by speech language pathologist who's been trained and licensed. Um, the only difference is in speech, like in school, we tailor it more to school setting and then private speech is more like a functional you know, life's like functional skills for life um so, um, so, yeah, sometimes both of those line up. So sometimes we might have very similar goals. But if you have a student who's like private speech and you have a school speech, we look at the private speech eval. But we try to have our goals a little bit different, for insurance purposes, from the private setting. They don't want them to match. So we have to change ours a little bit in the school setting.
Speaker 2:Is it beneficial for them to have outside and inside in school therapy?
Speaker 3:I would say the more the merrier, because in school we only have a certain amount of time during the day and you know, depending on it, we might see kids two times a week, sometimes one time a week and if parents want, you know, to progress a little bit more, they need, or some kids are very severe, they just need that extra time and the schools. Unfortunately we can't give your kids speech therapy five days a week Because we see like over 100 and something kids, versus in private practice you have a clinician who only sees like 20 kids, you know, or something like that. They can see them two times a week, three times a week, as long as your insurance covers it. So I say the more the merrier.
Speaker 1:Well, I've always like one of the things I think I said this last time too, though and my dad's always said for years and years and years you can never over communicate, and so I guess getting support to learn to communicate is equally beneficial as much as you can get it Because you know, like we were saying earlier, it's real easy to hear speech and think, okay, you're teaching somebody how to talk, but it really doesn't encompass all of communication, what comes out of the child's mouth as well as what goes into their ears and what they process, and so I think it's safe to say that. You know it's okay to ask the questions and ask the pediatrician and to talk about all different, because I know we've worked together a lot. You mentioned the WH questions. A lot of our population that we work with. They really struggle with that, you know.
Speaker 1:I don't know how many times, you know I ask I'll ask a student how this or where this, and get the answer yes and no, and it just doesn't quite match up, because there's this processing delay that's coming, you know, from the person saying you know, once it hits their ears and travels to their brain, there's some things going on there that are kind of causing speed bumps and so, and so, yeah, I mean, we as parents, as teachers, talk to whoever it is that you want to talk to, that is in that field, and allow them to assist you. Because one thing that I know I've learned over my 20 years of having a son with autism is that you got to ask questions, like there is no shame in not knowing, and so, yeah, if there's any question whatsoever, please contact your, your local authorities. Where did that come from? Like that just rolled up in my head, but it doesn't even make sense well, I mean authorities, not necessary police officers, but the local authorities on.
Speaker 1:See, I like how you try to help me because sometimes I hear myself talk and I just want to flog myself. Local authorities on. See, I like how you try to help me, because sometimes I hear myself talk and I just want to flog myself. Anyway, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Well, and, as Miss Allie said, the importance of early interventions. If they can catch this before they get to pre-K or kindergarten, before they're four or five years old, what's the benefits of that, miss Ellie?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, we just see, like with any early intervention, the quicker they get it, you see progress also at a better rate. You know, I know sometimes kids are very unique and each kid has its own challenge and their own rate of you know progress. So I can't just say a blanket statement. But if you catch it early, you get more help earlier. Right, parents are more informed earlier. They can seek out more help, more support groups If they need to. They can do their own research ahead of time too. Um, they can work with their own child at home as well.
Speaker 3:But usually what we see is, with the early intervention, depending on what area of speech, they make progress at a quicker rate and then they don't have to be in speech for their whole life. For some of the kids, you know and it's not all of them because, like I said, there's so many diagnoses out there A lot of kids just progress at a different rate and their severity is very different. So I just think early intervention is good so we can get these kids communicating the way they're going to communicate, because we have some communicators that are not verbal communicators but they're different communicators and what we like to, you know, I like to say use your preferred communication method, right Sign language. It can be pictures, what we call PECs, a picture exchange communication system, where it's like a certain picture and you put it on a board, or you can put it on certain things or on buttons, and they just use that. Or, you know, if it's a more high-tech communication system, it can be like an AAC device you know, and I, you know, a tablet.
Speaker 3:You know there's different ways of communicating, just not just a verbal way as well.
Speaker 2:Are there any strategies that you have found that or technique that you found that will help the students develop their own preferred method of communication?
Speaker 3:So I try everything. I think honestly I do. We start with, you know, signs first, right, everyone, baby signs are amazing and great. You start with those and if the kid takes off, you continue and then you start introducing pictures. You, the kid takes off, you continue and then you start introducing pictures. You know, it's like kind of like a tier you know, baby signs, because signs and gestures are there.
Speaker 3:Then you go with pictures and then you can do like a button where it's pushing and then you go ahead and do like a tablet and then hopefully from there it's hopefully verbal right, because all parents want their kids, if they're nonverbal, to eventually be verbal. Everyone's like parents go and I'm like, yes, that's obviously my goal too. However, sometimes it takes a long time to get to the verbal part and we need something in the meantime.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And those other communication systems. Helps, because it helps reduce frustrations on both ends you know the kids and the parents. Then, because the parents are just doing 21 questions or or, luckily, some parents are so in tuned with their kid that they just know like hey, he's looking this way, this is what he? Wants you know, or they know, a certain tone and all that.
Speaker 3:He wants this you know, parents are just so in tune with their kid that they don't even use communication systems. And then you have to educate them on the benefits of using a communication system. So it's a lot of education that we do.
Speaker 2:Right, well, and I know we talked, when we talked to Marley last week about this, and so Xander, didn't? We, as we were uneducated, thought that it would hinder him becoming verbal. What can you tell us about that?
Speaker 3:him becoming verbal. What can you tell us about that? Yes, and that's a very common feeling that a lot of parents have. Like, every time I present that to them, they're like oh no, like, no, this is going to make them stop speaking. They're not going to want to speak, and I always have to show them like an example.
Speaker 3:I'm like, well, does your kid like watch a video on the TV, on YouTube, and just imitate that.
Speaker 3:And they're like, yeah, I'm like, well, that's the same concept, but in a smaller screen and more functional, right, because you they see, and I'm just going to say, like kids on the spectrum, right, they see, let's say a video or let's just say a show on TV, and they will mimic that.
Speaker 3:They this is called gestalt language, so they just phrase and then they just keep saying it and they use it in everyday language and they'll say it. So they're imitating that stuff. So why not give them a tablet that has language already in it, set up for them to be successful, for a functional communication language for them to use? So it has some buds, like I want juice, you know, please, like, help me, like you know, to get those core language, like core language words and stuff like that in their vocabulary so they can use it and they you'll be amazed at so many kids that will push it and then later on some kids like will immediately push the button and then imitate it. Some kids will just push it and they are so happy that you just know what they want. So eventually it does help with their vocabulary and their expressive language.
Speaker 1:That was a fantastic way to describe it, because I would never have thought. I mean, we see kids with electronic devices all the time and they'll say the same things that their favorite YouTuber or whatever says, and they'll just repeat it over and over and it's like oh, wow, yeah, why wouldn't they do that with this device, Especially as they learn. Hey, when I say what this is saying or when this says what I want it to say, oftentimes I can get what I want and then, like you said, at the very least I know I'm being understood and that's huge. So one time we were leaving our oldest son's house. He lives down in Ocean Way, Jacksonville, whatever it is. Anyway, we're leaving his house and I'm driving and Xander's in the back seat and Laura's in the passenger seat, and we drive down the road and we come to the road where we need to take a right.
Speaker 1:Well, there's about two or three Jeeps that pass by and then I pull in behind them. And you know, I am not saying that people need to speed. What I do ask is that you at least come close to the speed limit, close to it. So I'm behind these Jeeps, they're not doing the speed limit and so I'm like you know what? It's time for me to pass them. So I stomp on the gas, we pass them, and from the back seat I hear, oh, you need to calm down. I mean like a whole sentence of Xander, Xander, what are you talking? Because he's seen that on, I think one of his movies, Was it Shrek I think it might have been.
Speaker 1:Shrek, but yeah, and that's what came out and he understood the context of it and he used it properly. Yeah, but so now take that idea and, like you said, this device is repeating these words every day. I'm hearing it every day and I'm starting to repeat them and just the freedom that that can give any child that struggles with communicating, that's a really—I've never thought about it that way.
Speaker 2:Well, like we talked last week with Marley, and she shares, she works with us. Miss Ellie knows Carson as well and the difference is made in his life and his one. His frustration level has gone way down. Two, his communication has gone way up and the kid's conjugating verbs on his tablet. It's like oh, my goodness, so it's not. You know, these devices aren't just like you were saying, it's not just I want juice. They can have conversations with people, with them.
Speaker 3:And we've seen academic progress as well, and so yeah, and you know there's other disorders out there that your language, you might be cognitively there and then later on your regress. You know, like Stephen Hawking, you know and you are so brilliant and so smart and then your language, your ability to speak, is gone. But it's all in your brain. You just need something to help you express it. And he would use a communication system, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I was like I forget what he had, like ALS or whatever, and all his limbs and ability were lost. But he could eye gaze, you know, and there's so many different devices out there Like you use eye gazing, or you can use like a um, a little toggle with, toggle with your hands and you can move things around, or there's one with your mouth where you can blow and certain amount of movement moves, and there's so many things out there. So it's just, it doesn't hinder, it just opens up a whole world for people who just can't verbally express it.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think we can all. Well, I don't say I think we can all agree. I'm not a big fan of the statement that everybody should have a voice, because there's people that I hear talk sometimes and I think to myself I don't, I don't want to hear you anymore. But I will say this when it comes to our kids and it comes to their development, just providing a voice can make a night and day difference in their lives, in your life, and so I would again highly recommend, if there's any question, talk to your teachers, talk to your doctors, and I also know this is that it is so much easier to teach somebody to do something than it is to un-teach them the wrong way and then try to re-teach. And so I think that goes along with what you were saying, miss Ellie, about the early intervention as soon as possible, and don't do not allow pride to get in the way.
Speaker 1:It's okay to walk up to somebody that knows about that stuff and say I don't have a clue. That's what we're there for, that's what we want to hear, and I love the fact that I can go to other people and say that very same thing. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do in this situation? Any direction would help. So where are we at? I mean, I know where we're at, it's just I was looking at our.
Speaker 2:Our cheat sheet. Our cheat sheet yeah Well, yeah, I mentioned earlier about how our kids love going to see Miss Ellie. They hate leaving her room. She gets on the floor and she meets them where they are. She gets on the floor and she meets them where they are. One of the things that Miss Ellie is fantastic at doing is we're incorporating our kids' interests into their therapy sessions and to help keep them engaged and motivated. Can you talk a little bit about that, miss Ellie?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's taken me some time right, experience that one out. But, um, because when first starting off from, you know, grad school I've been in this now for eight years but for starting off, I'm like, oh, we're going to do X, y and Z because this is what the, you know, assessment says and this is what we're going to do, and we're going to write goals this way. And you have a kid come in and they're like, and like they don't want to answer WH questions. I'm like, oh, what am I gonna do? Like, how can I get this kid engaged? And some, you know, some kids are super easy. We're like, hey, we're doing this, and you know, and other kids are just not interested in the task at all. So what I've learned from all the years is establishing a good report.
Speaker 3:So, like the first couple of sessions, I just get to know the kids. So I, you know, I ask them, hey, like, what do you like? Like, tell me about this, tell me that you know. If they're able to, um, and they can, then I figure out ways to incorporate those likes into speech therapy. So it might be like one kid, um, is obsessed with mario and um, I'm like okay, how can I put mario into speech therapy, um, so we've done a system where I'm like, hey, let's work on this, let's have Mario.
Speaker 3:Sometimes I have a printout of Mario and we move them across the board and he has to answer each question and as he answers these questions he moves on to the next and at the very end he gets to color the Mario and take it home. Um, so that's one way, but some of the kids who can't tell me what they want or need is that's when you find me on the floor playing with them. Um, I I like to say I'm child led, a child led therapist, so it's what they like. I use that and incorporate it into therapy where they don't really know that they're giving you know therapy.
Speaker 3:They just think, oh, oh, we're playing, we're having fun. What'd you do today? We just played, just play. Guys like your parents are gonna think that's all we do. But that's kind of how I get them to engage in therapy, want to come to therapy, and those kids are non-verbal. I'm on the ground and I pull out all these toys, like I pull out one toy and see if they like, and if they don't take it out, here's another toy until I find one that they really like and I'm like, yes, okay, I can build my rapport, my connection with this kid, off of this one thing. And that's kind of what I've been, you know, using and it's kind of been really helpful because they're more, like I said, eager when they see me, they want to come and then they stay and they willing to do the work. Um, and then, you know, get to kick them out. You still got to go.
Speaker 3:Don't want to leave, like you said, and and for those that don't, because transitions can be hard you know I put a timer on, I'm like, hey, when this timer's up, that means what and they all know.
Speaker 3:Like what's been really helpful too is having like set rules and you set them at the very beginning of the year, at the very beginning of each session. I have my speech room rules that I go over with every single new kid that I get and they don't change. I'm like this is the same at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year. I do not change. Consistency in that, and they know. And a big thing too in speech is like behavior. You wouldn't think that we would have to deal with behaviors, but we have to deal with a lot of behaviors and not just kids who have other diagnosis. Sometimes these kids are just speech only kids and they have severe behaviors too.
Speaker 3:Incorporating like a reward system has also been very helpful. I have a treasure box and I use like a punch card and I'm like, if you do all your work, you follow my rules, you get a hole punch. And I'm like, eight hole punches is a treasure box. And they seem to be very motivated by that and and I tell them like, hey, you, you didn't follow my rules today, you're not going to get one and they know like, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, miss Sally, I'm like next time let's try to do it next time. So I think those key things are. What I've learned that worked for me across the years is kind of how I get them to engage and do the stuff and meet them where they're at too.
Speaker 2:And it seems like that those good strategies help you overcome those obstacles. Like you said, the behaviors or the not knowing how to communicate Are there. Do you have any other? Are those your major obstacles or do you have other obstacles when working with them?
Speaker 3:No, there I mean, there's a lot of obstacles that sometimes are new obstacles that I've never seen in my life. I'm like, oh, this is a new one and I have to figure it out. And what helps is their teachers too. I go to them like, hey, I can't figure out what they like. I've tried everything. And I also talk to their parents too. And then that's when I get a list of things like oh, they like this and this at home. Or the teacher's like hey, I've really noticed that they like this.
Speaker 3:And they give me ideas on what I can use and pull, and sometimes I have to go out and get some stuff just for a particular student, who become a challenge in figuring it out. Um, so I would say I use, I use the parents input on the child, I use the teachers. Like there's a specific kid that we work with that sometimes I feel like I got them down and then and then they changed next week and they don't like anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that collaboration is important and as part of when we share our students, you're part of our team as a teacher, as a general education teacher, and the parents and any other service providers, and that collaboration is is important because I know there's times you've come to me and said hey, so-and-so, really did great in this today and I said, do what they can do what. And so you know, knowing, sharing, sharing those ideas are key to serving those students the way they effectively, because it takes all of us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I agree, and I like, like after I have a session, I always like to talk to you guys or their teachers and tell them how they did or what they did that day, Kind of on the same page, and that seems to be very, very helpful, you know, for the student and then you know for our relationship to build to upon. I think that really, really helps in the collaborative setting.
Speaker 1:So, Miss Ellie, if you could only say one thing to all three of our listeners that would stand the test of time, what would it be? What would be your one major piece of advice?
Speaker 3:Become a speech therapist.
Speaker 2:We definitely need them. All the cool kids are doing it.
Speaker 3:Oh no, I mean, I guess for parents you know, if you have a gut feeling or something like that, just go seek out help, go to your pediatrician with your concerns, ask around, find those resources. Early intervention, like I said, is the best you know. I guess for parents that would be my first one For teachers, talk to your speech therapist. If you just have a concern on a certain child and you're not really sure if it's speech related or something else, you know we're always available and we have so much information and knowledge that we can share and we're willing to share because we love to talk.
Speaker 2:While you got into it right.
Speaker 3:So like if a teacher would say, hey, if you have a concern or question, like come, come see us and we can tell you which way to go, and if we need to screen them, we'll do this and we'll go X, y and Z, so that's. And if someone's out there like, oh, I don't know what to do with my life, you know, I say, oh, speech therapy is a great career path.
Speaker 2:I even, I think that we even had one of our administrators say man, I think I chose the wrong thing.
Speaker 1:Maybe I need to go be a speech teacher. Well, what's great, though, is, at the end of the day you know all of these titles we all do come together the parents, the SLPs, ptot, the teachers we all come together for the benefit of that child. Nobody's driving home in their Ferraris or anything like that. We are all about seeing the progress of these kids and see them become everything that they possibly can and get the most out of life. Miss Ellie, thank you so much for hanging out with us.
Speaker 2:We're going to wrap up this conversation and one more thing Like we said last week, don't forget this month and part of next month they have the AAC programs. Yes, Some of them up to half off. We posted the flyer on social media.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we'll probably share it again after this one comes out Little secret.
Speaker 1:Miss Ellie was the one that showed us that.
Speaker 2:She's the one that gave us that. We don't tell anybody. I know I told you so much information she does. She's got a wealth of information.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, thank you again, miss Ellie, and we will talk to you later.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you again, miss Ellie, and we will talk to you later.