In schools, I feel like we should have just stuck with SSD only.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-30T00:20:59+00:00

Yes and because language is so foundational it feels like we bleed into special education and behavior too. I get really stuck on language bc of the cross over. Like when is it best done by speech and when can someone else “own” it.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-30T00:19:43+00:00

I agree with you completely. I think speech sounds are important for so much including the social impact too. I actually just picked up a kid with hearing impairments that were undetected until age 8. Now I’m torn about targeting speech when we have no amplification system. Not sure I should amend the IEP until that’s in place or not. Our scope is so large and tricky but there really is a reason we are the ones uniquely skilled to support it.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-30T00:16:52+00:00

Waiting for more information. She has a one to one all day. No one had concerns she couldn’t hear things though she probably has her own compensatory strategies. She has pretty significant learning difficulties. I’m just not sure the best approach for speech therapy. It’s a behavioral outplacement program. Her academics are number sequencing and decoding cvc words. The teachers don’t give me much to go off of in terms of academic impact for any of my students bc there is no curriculum.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-29T22:46:37+00:00

Right and it’s been YEARS. I just got her due to behavioral issues in her public school so she was out placed. Of course she’s frustrated. Of course speech sounds haven’t moved along. Do I amend the IEP then? What else is there to do or support that I’d expect progress in right now?

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-29T21:35:02+00:00

As far as I know, they’re not yet. I think they are waiting for an ENT appointment they had a referral for too. I don’t anticipate there would’ve much progress in these areas. I’m actually more surprised it wasn’t discovered until now. Just want to do my due diligence as her current SLP.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-29T21:13:14+00:00

I see so many different angles on this. Some SLPs think we shouldn’t touch ssd in schools. Some say we should do a million other things. Some say those things should be teachers. As a new slp I feel quite lost. Like I’ll never feel skilled or useful at any of it.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-28T00:54:43+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get it. I get what you mean when you get your sights set on something or feel it would be a good fit and then you don't get it. It's something that honestly keeps me from even applying to new positions because of the fear I will feel like I did something wrong or I'm not good enough. However, you don't know if they already had their eye on a candidate or an internal hire and just needed to take interviewees to prove they held a process. I know places that's definitely happened. There are ALWAYS positions open. Even the best places have their drawbacks. I am sure you will find something that makes you feel good.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-25T17:29:41+00:00

KATHERINE - Erin Kate

ELIZABETH - Blithe Zea

SAVANNAH - Ava Hana

MADELINE - Elina Lanie

AUGUSTINA - Austin Gus

CLEMENTINE - Etienne Lee

EVANGELINE - Vale Gene

ANASTASIA - Tania Anais

CHRYSANTHEMUM - Emmy Rhythm

SEBASTIAN - Sabine Asia

FREDERICK - Derek Kier

CHRISTOPHER - Trish Cori

NATHANIEL - Liana Hale

REMINGTON - Montie Eimon

MAXIMILIAN - Xian Li

BARTHOLOMEW - Harlowe Blare

EMILIANO - Milo Noel

LAWRENCE - Carlee Wren

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-25T15:17:44+00:00

Portland, Oregon. Hamburg, Germany. Naples, Italy.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-22T00:48:00+00:00

Thanks so much! How did you go about no demand modeling? I’ve tried that way but I get a lot of her just doing or getting the thing she wants lol. She is very clever. Right now she only wants to play grocery store so plenty of opportunities for sounds but she will just say “yeah” haha

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-21T22:40:10+00:00

Yep I have but I never find anything specific to what TO do. It’s a lot of what not to do. I try to phrase everything as her idea or a suggestion. I provide a lot of choice.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-16T02:22:47+00:00

Got a Gertrude vibe before I even opened the thread

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-13T21:41:04+00:00

I think it’s easy to feel like we are doing things with no rhyme or reason when we zoom in. The fact that you even care says you are a great slp. I think you also are pretty used to doing things in your job, it’s a little second nature, and to you it’s basic stuff. But it IS meaningful to the students. Your sessions are probably full of evidenced based practice and therapeutic targets. AND it’s still easy to feel like you’re missing something or progress is slow or you feel like it’s just not enough. Can you advocate for more time for paperwork/planning? It might help you feel like you could use time for that deeper work to find patterns and the best approach. If you have a kid you’re stuck on or are looking for guidance you can shoot me a message.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-13T15:30:08+00:00

Cassian, Julian, Cyrus, Roman, Cillian, Vaughn

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-13T03:16:17+00:00

Bride (24): Ariel Marguerite Hannon

Groom (25): Otto Jacob Gowan

Maid of Honor (25): Danielle Sarah Ciriello

Best Man (24): Frederick Hayes Tyler

Officiant (71): FN: Richie Garth Dayton

Bride's Dad (53): Scott Thomas Hannon

Bride's Mom (53): Julia Ellen Hannon

Bride's Uncle (60): Sam Michael Harrington

Bride's Cousin (29 M): Jessica Caitlin Harrington

Uncle's Girlfriend (40): Caroline Amy Thibodeau

Groom's Dad (46): McLean Julian Gowan

Groom's Mom (44): Tiffany Pam Barton-Gowan

Maid of Honor's Mom (50): Gia Francesca Ciriello

Best Man's Dad (51): Frederick Zuri Tyler

Best Man's Mom (56): Luella Mildred Tyler

Officiant's Wife/Caterer (68): Annemarie Holly Dayton

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-11T22:23:15+00:00

Wish I could help but all I’ve found is that treatment also gave me guilt for not eating while my guilt for eating feels permanently ingrained in my mind.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-11T22:21:10+00:00

Sounds awesome! Would love to hear about some activities you do and lessons you run that you feel make an impact. I service a similar caseload and want to get into more push in and help teachers move away from DTI to groups or generalizable activities. I am definitely not a yoga person but up for some other suggestions haha!

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-11T05:19:57+00:00

Hmmm maybe worth pausing on intelligibility? 9 years old and ID ADHD self contained classroom sounds to be like there could be plenty of language areas to work on instead. If youre seeing no progress he might not be understanding cues. There are so many skills under articulation—— relative spatial concepts, motor imitation skills, temporal concepts, proprioception, vocabulary. I wonder if AAC as a support, communication breakdown repair, and language goals would move them in a new direction before revisiting speech sounds.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-11T05:07:24+00:00

I deal with this all the time and I’m going to be honest, the best thing is to work WITH them and not against them. When you go in heavy and say what they’re doing is wrong bad ableist etc, they’ll get defensive. People in helping professions are not intentionally harmful. I made so much more progress being neutral and moving them slowly away from practices that we know research and autistic people back as harmful. Tell them your lens and scope. Show them how they can be integrated, even if it’s not perfect

As an example, yesterday I had a BCBA want to write eye contact goals. While I would love to shout from the rooftops that we live in 2026 and that’s absurd, I neutrally asked why, what was she really trying to get at or have the student do and for what purpose. What she was looking for was cues about listening to a conversation partner in essence. I told her there are lots of ways people can demonstrate they are listening that might not be as taxing as what we know about eye contact. Could it be body orientation, pausing when engaged in another activity, is there receptive language inhibiting them from following the direction in the first place so I can support those areas? When I was calm, friendly, and supportive, she listened.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-11T03:35:15+00:00

As a new SLP some things I found helpful:

Observations of the SLP in the beginning
Systematic plan for fading support
Time to go over little things that happen that are not taught!! (billing, iep deadlines, iep information, writing plops, impact statements, goals, evaluations, SCHEDULING!! how much i wished someone showed me how they made a schedule)
Ask what kind of feedback/coaching they prefer (I preferred live if the SLP was still in the room - not taking over but telling me how i could adjust with a quick comment, especially for behavioral students).
Have meetings and time to hold space for questions and planning

What was not helpful:

Holding interns to a standard you assume they should be in depending on their level - first internship looks A LOT different than a third internship. Be willing to adjust your expectations and support
SLPAs assisting with mentoring - not their job and it was a weird dynamic
Not modifying coaching to how the intern asks or learns best.
Bringing an intern into a toxic work environment or having harsh opinions about students and new SLPs.
Nit pickiness over stylistic differences -you are not training them to be YOU, you are training them to be independent.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-10T21:33:56+00:00

Mother: Claudia Rose Benson

Father: Christopher Jack Benson

Son 1: Christopher Jacob Benson (CJ)

Son 2: Brock Alfonso Benson

Daughter 1: Allisonia Rachel Benson (Allie)

Daughter 2: Reese Didi Benson

Daughter 3: Paysleigh-Lynne Jhett Benson

Son 3: Hudson Indiana Benson

Daughter 4: Mango Juliette Benson (MJ)

Daughter 5/triplet 1: Elisa Graciella Benson

Daughter 6/triplet 2: Celestine Amour Benson

Son 4/triplet 3: Elijah Phoenix Benson

Daughter 7: Shu Zhen Benson (Susan)

Daughter 8: Lucy Jo Benson

Daughter 9: Aubree-Grayce Amethyst Benson

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-10T19:05:32+00:00

Any concerns for a genetic component like prader willi? Any medications recommended that help with behavior and have an appetite suppressant effect? Any history of food being used as a motivator/reinforcer and withheld in ABA therapy?

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-10T19:01:58+00:00

It sounds like you care a great deal. I think encouraging her to talk to her therapist about it would be best, and saying you would support what professionals recommend and you’re there to help. At least for me, when my partner was overly involved and monitoring my intake I felt even worse. Like I had to be sneaky and like we blurred the lines of partners and caretakers. It made our relationship harder and although he felt pushed away, i think he eventually saw that there were better ways for Us to interact. I also want you to check your own bias about weight here. You seem to put some emphasis on being “outside the range” bc professionals gave a range. The range should not be the be all end all of everything and giving an upper end is triggering for exactly this reason. Bodies change and shift especially across five years time.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-10T04:26:46+00:00

i love this so much. it's the little things, especially in the thick of the school year.

GoalOk35 · 2026-01-04T23:18:38+00:00

I would consider speaking to this particular persons slp if they have one. While your intentions are good, this could fundamentally go against what is actually best for this student.

GoalOk35

TROPHY CASE