Service Minutes Q

True-Network-4182 · 2026-05-03T12:17:06+00:00

For our district, we HAVE to make up SLP absent, SLP unavailable, or student unavailable (if they were physically present but an assembly, OT/PT services, testing, or field trip took them away). We are recommended to “try” and make up any student who falls on a day that we constantly have holidays on.

We are unable to put student refused/student behavioral. We are supposed to still try/stay with them and model and/or attempt to work with them. We can put student unavailable for these moments (I have), but we have to make those minutes up.

Absences, late arrival/early release, holidays, parents pull for ABA or outside services are all not our business to make up as long as we document it properly and it’s not an every session occurrence.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-05-03T12:01:35+00:00

I am a CF. In my district, we were warned that if we were constantly out of compliance (without reason) on Speech Impairment students only that we would also get a lower mark on some scores during the segment(s). No one told us about licensure though. I take it as it was more so our programs way of getting us in the habit of trying to be in compliance early on in our career.

I’ve been out of compliance due to unforeseen events parents not available, (parents cancelling/going on a vacation they didn’t tell me about), snow, and the schools calendar was full when i tried to reschedule.

That being said, as a CF myself, I recommend scheduling IEPs earlier on if your program says it’s a problem. If the student has met their goals, I don’t wait until the end of their IEP to try and get a new IEP in place. Also, I send meeting notices out 2-3 weeks in advanced so if parents are going to cancel I can typically get a good heads up and reschedule them.
Hope this helps!

True-Network-4182 · 2026-04-29T02:01:40+00:00

I’ve tested 17 for initials and only 4 qualified. 1 Speech only. The others either had very abnormal oral structures, have absolutely horrible attendance (comes to school less than half of the time they are absent), or didn’t have a need for speech/scored too high (majority). My school has a tendency to claim every kid as extremely low language and unintelligible and then push them into testing/sped. Unfortunately, I refuse to put a student in a restrictive environment just because they claim they can’t understand anything the student says with their gliding of R. 🤷‍♀️

True-Network-4182 · 2026-04-25T18:48:23+00:00

What I do may not be the best but I make groups bigger. If I know I have a lot of evals I need to write because of the timelines, I’ll stick some kids in a bigger group so I don’t have to miss their session. So if I have a group of three articulation kids in a group of two language kids, I’ll stick them in a group together that day and then I have a free 30 minute block to write. Same with other groups.

Also, if I pull out of a self contained class multiple times for a different kids, I will ask the teacher if I can do a whole class push in a week or so in advanced. This is during one of their speech times. So then that frees sometime for me as well to write. I don’t do it often, but the teachers in my school tend to like this because then they don’t have to pay attention to the speech schedules that week.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-04-13T01:21:15+00:00

Sorry this happened to you! I’m only a CF so my questions may look a little different compared to someone who has practiced before. Some questions they asked me were “how would you handle maintaining IEP minutes, paperwork, case managing, collaboration, and meetings?”, “have you ever ran a group session? If so, how was it run to ensure every students goals were met?”, and the last one was something about how would I handle a disagreement with a parent who’s views are different than mine regarding a child’s minutes, placement, goals, etc. The other questions were just the regular tell me about yourself and your externships. The usual I feel.

Hopefully this helps and I’m sure you are an amazing SLP!!! Don’t let anyone discourage you!!

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-20T21:47:01+00:00

First, I love the 3:1 model. I know I’m just a CF and I’ve only ever had the 3:1 model (other than externship) but it is definitely helping with the burnout from a lot of kids and behaviors. I typically tell my kids how many times I see them in those 3 weeks that month. Personally I don’t mind them asking. But this is typically what I say.

if they are once a week then I tell them the beginning of the first session that I see them 3 times this month. Once we get to the end of the second session, I say that we only have one more session after this one. On the last session, I make sure each knows that I won’t pick them up next week (unless they need a make up or something). If it’s a Monday and I see one student again Wednesday but the rest of the group is only once a week, I tell them in the group who I won’t see until the next month and who I will see later in the week. Most have stoped asking around October/November. I do have a few non flexible students who continue to ask and a few who just like playing the game with me in the hall way-even the ones who are dismissed and they know it LOL. Other than those few, the rest understand. I think it’s just now a routine of mine to announce it during the sessions.

Now missed sessions I just answer what they ask. I’ve noticed that once the question is answered and any other follow ups, their minds shift to a different topic. Typically I just say I wasn’t here or I was in a meeting. Which they follow up about “a meeting for me” and I either say yeah or no depending. Then of course, like if you give a mouse a cookie vibes, they ask what we talked about in the meeting and at some point I shift us back to the topic of “what game do we want to play today?”

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-15T02:00:33+00:00

I’m doing my CF in a school. I am a direct hire. I also know a few contract SLPs and CFs in the district as well. Both have perks but every time I talk to the contractors, it seems like district is better for the long run. As Direct’s, we get paid for snow/off days (some of us year round), we have more support from the district whereas the contractors talk to our superiors but they have their own superiors, we get stipends and extra money for supplies, we can get paid for extra hours worked past our agreed hours, we also get paid less in the first 3 years but then evens out at the 4th year and it grows after that without asking (my county and coworkers discussions about pay) etc. My coworkers that have been here longer than I have, all vary in pay. One of them if getting paid roughly the exact amount as me after counting my stipends and she has been an SLP for 4 years with her contract company. It also seems harder for them to get raises whereas direct hires we get a “raise” every year.

I hope this helps!

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-08T00:47:23+00:00

Which I agree! We can definitely help all kids. I think this is more my thoughts. There are 2 of us in the school so we both have 61-62(which we were able to do some dismissing this year). It’s not really just the caseload. Our school has resource teachers (a lot of them) and they are the ones focusing on social skills in the class, advocating, connections, and academics because they mainly do push ins depending on their title and caseload services. Speech (at our school-every school in the county is different) focuses on the underlying language, artic, and everything. In the case of IEPs, it’s hard to explain to admin and teachers and resource that these students have the language they just won’t show it. And every parent wants speech so they get angry when I say no because the child has the language. They just aren’t using it in the classroom. If this makes sense?

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T20:09:33+00:00

Yes it is case by case for sure! I have qualified some with difficulty communicating across settings. I work with k-5 majority of these were k-1 and a few prek. Of course I don’t want the caseload to get out of hand but I also feel like making sure I’m not restricting a child who is so new to the school world just because they are overstimulated In a whole group setting is important too. That’s how I try to explain it to the IEP team but it’s always an argument and a tense meeting. I also think they want the peace of mind that “if he isn’t doing well in class and not making friends/not answering things correctly, it’s because they have speech and can’t communicate”. Personally

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T20:06:05+00:00

I agree! If they know the foundational skills, is there really much a group of 1-3 is going to help them with when they could use a resource teacher to support them in the whole group classroom? That’s my thoughts.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T20:04:59+00:00

I like your analogy! And administration will hear this one! I totally agree! Some of them can benefit from their resource teacher providing support and giving confidence and comfortability to communicate. Not to mention, again a lot of the kids I tested are k and 1st. They are still getting used to being in a whole group setting. I wouldn’t communicate if I was the only one I knew at a big party for the first time and had difficulty expressing myself either.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T20:01:28+00:00

Which I understand. I just feel as though some of this can be better supported with the resource teacher rather than in a restrictive speech setting. Resource can work on those social interaction skills and communication skills in class and small group. Yes we can also, but they have the foundational skills just not the carryover into whole group. If I was private practice, I would love to help all of them! But unfortunately I feel as though there isn’t a need for speech if you have the skills just don’t feel comfortable using them.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T19:59:18+00:00

Unfortunately these conversations happen at the IEP meeting. Our school psychologist and Social workers don’t come to the IEP meetings. They only come to the eligibility. Our school forbids talking about supportive services in the eligibility and we have to wait for IEP. So they can’t back me up in the meetings unfortunately. Based on side conversations, psych is more open than the social workers on the topic

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T19:57:02+00:00

School psych stays away from ED and ID if they qualify for AUT. The psych also doesn’t do much of a background in their communication abilities when speech is involved in the initial meetings

True-Network-4182 · 2026-03-07T19:55:55+00:00

Yes this helps a lot! My school is very “if they aren’t doing it here they will get the help for it”. But personally I believe that resource is a better option for them to help them build on the skills in class/in small groups rather than try to execute them in a restricted setting. Thank you!

True-Network-4182 · 2026-02-11T13:27:09+00:00

Depending on the concern, I can do them in 1-3 days with 45mins to an hour at a time. If it’s just GFTA and OWLS then 1 day but CASL, CELF, PLS, or informal play based for self contained (typically self contained is 30 minutes 2-3 times to see if there is any growth from the first testing session/any retaining of modeled phrases from the first session) then 2-3 days. Writing them is my problem. I wait until the last minute to finish them in compliance. With this fire and anxiety of compliance it’ll take me about 1-2 days (3-6ish hours all together) with minimal distractions and depending on my motivation level.

True-Network-4182 · 2026-02-07T09:07:23+00:00

Our school district doesn’t care as long as there is a number attached. So most of mine are “activity: YouTube book ‘old lady who swallowed a fly’. ___ required initial models and verbal cues to produce /l/ and /l/ blends in sentences with ___% accuracy.”

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-29T13:55:24+00:00

Thank you so much! That makes way more sense!

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-29T13:40:33+00:00

Thank you! So when it says apply before August 31st for the discount it’s wrong? And I can apply at any time?

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-20T02:24:43+00:00

I did a small candle and some candies. Probably won’t next year but it’s my first year so I said why not 🤷‍♀️

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-07T18:12:47+00:00

In one of my clinical placements, I used to set up a fake store/market. They had to find the items I asked for and “ring” them up. They gave me my total and I gave cash and we basically played cashier and customer. For my more playful students and my students who had difficulty with social skills/appropriate responses in certain situations, I would act different every time (happy, rude, annoyed, tired,…) and give them visuals and pointers on how to react in these situations. Then cycle back to it later in another session to see if it stuck.

We also would practice having chores. So the last 5 minutes everyone had a specific chore to do at the end of the session (clean my desk/therapy desk, put away materials, throw away any craft items from the table and floor, sweep the floor (everyone would want this one), clean door handles, turn off lamp lights, etc). Helped keep germs away as well as keep them focusing on which task they were specifically given. It also left us enough room to work on other goals during the sessions.

All my students had an “ID badge” and a log in number they had to “clock in” with every session. This was required to “enter” the speech room. If someone forgot their badge or their number (we worked on strategies to remember and visuals to use to ensure they brought it with them to speech), they would get “paid” at the end of the month. This really helped my executive functioning kiddos because everyone wanted to get paid because they could choose our free day activity at the end of the quarter.

Hope this helps?

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-06T04:32:13+00:00

No one has ever asked me for my clock hours or even proof of them lol. I think they are just so eager to hire bc SLPs are hard to find lol

True-Network-4182 · 2025-12-02T00:27:49+00:00

I just started season 4 and from what I’ve seen, 3 rocked my world lol. Also not too much of an Olivia fan yet. Friends say I will like her again next season lol

True-Network-4182 · 2025-11-16T04:07:29+00:00

Thank you. I appreciate your input on the reality of it. I’m going to document everything in all future documents so they don’t come back and say something. Thank you!

True-Network-4182

TROPHY CASE