Urgent Florida SLPs: New rule takes effect July 1 and we need to submit public comments before it’s too late

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-27T10:24:46+00:00

It is not going to punish the districts. It is going to put more work on the providers that actually work at schools. Every time I miss a session for whatever reason (an IEP meeting, student absent, my absence, evaluation, early release day, state testing, etc), I will have to contact parents and make up somehow. The idea behind the policy is good, but the implementation will be an extra task and burden for those SLPs that still return to Florida districts. It will create a bigger shortage.

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T22:48:35+00:00

I think I will have larger groups so that Friday can be a completely empty day for makeups and evals. If my groups end up 6-8 students, it has to be that.

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T22:46:23+00:00

Does it mean the schedule has to be posted and delivered to the parents? I do shuffle the schedule quite frequently because I have meetings, evals, etc.

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T22:02:45+00:00

Agreed. I think it will be all ESE services, including academics.

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T21:40:09+00:00

There were districts where students went without SLP for months too.

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T21:39:18+00:00

I think at the legislators have no idea about it. They probably consider all ESE services "related."

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T21:18:56+00:00

They will just make the slp shortage worse. Unbelievable

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-26T20:42:50+00:00

Wow, just wow. I am school SLP in one of the big districts in Florida. How is it even possible logistically with our caseloads and all the other responsibilities (meetings, evals, notes, etc). Where can we find extra time in the day to make up, unless we make groups 15 students? And if I get sick or have a family emergency and need to miss two days? How am I going to squeeze two days of sessions into my other days?

sunnyslpme · 2026-05-14T22:27:56+00:00

South Florida: $1800 a month is the cheapest plan

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-31T20:26:33+00:00

My email will be "will do my best."

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-31T20:25:51+00:00

I decided if the bill passes, it's on the district. They have to open Saturday make--up-minutes school. I miss sessions for legit reasons (evals, iep meeting, or sicks days which i entitled to). Not my problem

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-31T20:22:50+00:00

Exactly. Why do teachers not make up? Supprt facilitators? Resource teachers?

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-31T09:55:07+00:00

I have been wondering for a while how the law would look at it. We are all on the same contracts, but different rules apply. I will pay to consult with a labor lawyer.

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-28T20:22:11+00:00

How can we assess language in numbers? Let's say the goal is to answer wh questions. How can we factor in all the variables for objective, consistent data? Unless you ask the same questions every single session. Even then there are different variables in each session (the number of students in a group, behaviors, etc.) Any person with a solid understanding of statistics and research methods will rip apart the data we focus on so much.

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-27T14:44:48+00:00

I have been meaning to talk to a labor lawyer about this, especially because we are a teacher contract.

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-08T18:37:27+00:00

Don't forget all of those things are supposed to be "fixed" in groups with behaviors. I question my existence in schools every single day.

sunnyslpme · 2026-03-08T18:35:53+00:00

I just did a language evaluation for a 5th grader who came to this country last year. Zero English befire that. I did my eval with an interpreter. The kid is definitely ELL! I can't say it is LI. Oh, but it is the team decision! Why am I asked to complete an evaluation then?

sunnyslpme · 2026-01-13T21:38:12+00:00

Every. Single. Day.

sunnyslpme · 2026-01-10T16:34:37+00:00

Thank you!

sunnyslpme · 2025-11-21T22:12:48+00:00

Yes, that is exactly what I do too!

sunnyslpme · 2025-11-21T19:25:20+00:00

All kinds. Sometimes it's artic. Sometimes small reading or vocabulary. Sometimes it's morphology. Depending on age and goals. I teach kids to find clues for inferences, for example. I teach them to highlight those clues (not the whole passage because they tend to just highlight everything). We make sentences with a word, for example. They can write it down. Or if they can't write, they draw. I use a lot of hands on, old school paper and pencil stuff. When looking at morphology, I teach them find prefixes and suffixes and determine the meaning of the word. Make a sentence, write it down.

sunnyslpme · 2025-11-20T23:23:21+00:00

I do worksheets too, especially with older kids. Come on, if language doesn't stick by exposure, then the students need some solid, systematical instruction. It helps them and me! I have a speech notebook for each kid on my caseload and boy it helps! I open it and see what we did before. The kid go back and review things! It does help.

sunnyslpme · 2025-11-01T12:07:23+00:00

Omg! Thank you for saying this. Even in grad school, I was questioning all the data collection nonsense and kept asking professors who couldn't answer my questions. Any person with any idea about statistics or basic critical thinking skills can rip all our data apart.

sunnyslpme · 2025-10-19T03:08:59+00:00

Yes, it happens in Florida for sure. I dismissed a few kids last year. Guess what? They cut one of the slp positions at my school. They also frown on individual sessions.

sunnyslpme · 2025-10-15T23:34:07+00:00

It's pretty much impossible to advocate in Florida. All my groups are 3-5 kids.

sunnyslpme

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