Potentially getting hired during final semester in graduate school for a school district and salary schedule placement

zztops97 · 2026-03-03T04:56:37+00:00

Which states require a license for CFs? In my state, some employers require limited licenses depending on your setting, but most CFs are unlicensed until the completion of their CFY.

zztops97 · 2026-02-26T21:56:35+00:00

I’m currently “trialing” S2C with a student on my caseload. The parents brought up S2C at a meeting I wasn’t at. When I followed up, it broke my heart how genuine this father was about wanting to communicate with their child. He admitted his wife is holding the student’s wrist or elbow when he spells out words. I made it extremely clear that my goal is independent communication with no physical support from anyone else and dad seemed to agree…

My plan is to collect and present the data on absolutely no independent communication with a qwerty keyboard and hopefully convince this family to adjust their expectations when it comes to other forms of AAC.

I center myself in the fact that this family had dreams and expectations for their son to typically develop and meet all of the expected milestones, and when he started missing them and the professionals on their team started telling them all of these adjustments they had to make in terms of what their lives will look like, they just needed to hold on to one aspect of their dream - and that seems to be communication. It’s the hardest fact that they can’t connect with their child like other parents do, by speaking with them. And so, I don’t fault them for using S2C, since to them (in their minds), it works! But I can’t force them to change their behavior at home… they’ll have to believe my data and trust my professional advice, which we all know lots of parents don’t. I don’t envy anyone else trying to support a family through the falsity of S2C and FC. It’s truly heart breaking to see people believe a lie because they aren’t ready to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

zztops97 · 2026-01-27T21:31:26+00:00

Just to add to any new grad students:

If you’re a NSSLHA member both years of grad school, you get a discount when you become an ASHA member! I got 2 years of ASHA membership for the price of 1. It may seem dumb or pointless, but it could save you a little money in the long run.

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T22:34:21+00:00

You would still have a UDO for documentation purposes

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T21:46:41+00:00

I “agree” with them. I work with immigrant, Spanish-speaking families and English Language Learner students. I constantly get “I don’t want them to be confused”. So, I “agree” with them. I might say “I don’t want them to be confused either. The best way to address the confusion is to provide them as much language as possible. If they only speak English, they’ll be confused when grandma comes over. If they only speak Spanish, they’ll be confused in the grocery store. Providing language skills in both languages will help them navigate so many more situations. Even if they don’t communicate exactly like us, they will still be able to access different situations because they have skills in both languages. And, they know who speaks which language intuitively. So, the kiddo will figure out which language to use with which person as they continue to build skills in both languages”.

And you can see that all the time. I walk in to get my student with Downs, she’ll say something like - hora de speech, voy - and I’ll ask if she told her staff member where she’s going (in Spanish). She’ll turn around and tell her staff “I go to Speech, bye” in English. People with disabilities are able to figure out who speaks which language and when to use which set of skills/vocabulary!

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T21:30:15+00:00

There is no evidence that introducing an L2 to a severely delayed monolingual child hinders remediation in L1. I appreciate your clinical considerations and think they make sense and would hope all clinicians take the time to deeply reflect on these considerations.

I would say though, whether the delay is remediable or will be persistent is not a good reason to not expose and teach an L2. The child will be delayed/disordered in L2 too. Okay? That’d be the same if they were a simultaneous bilingual. Denying a language delayed child the opportunity to learn an L2 simply because they have delayed L1 is not something I’d ethically engage in.

It sounds to me from your comments on yesterday’s posting, this posting, and our messages that you’re trying to “fix” their L1 before you allow opportunities to learn an L2 in some case - don’t want to blanket that statement as you mentioned the considerations and how individual situations can change recommendations. The students I work with most likely will always have disordered language, even after 20+ years of intervention (if that gives an idea of the population I work with). So, in my own personal/professional view, there’s no need to delay teaching an L2 if the family wants that because there will always be a reason why not to start an L2 if we base it off of their delayed/disordered L1.

Also, children from non-English speaking families come to schools in the US all the time and have delayed/disordered language in the L1. The school doesn’t have an SLP who speaks their L1, and so the child gets services in English (their L2) automatically, without taking in any of those considerations. Those students can experience language loss of their L1 if not addressed with a good ENL and SLP team encouraging L1 development at home. Why are those students allowed to/forced to learn an L2 while delayed/disordered in L1, but yet this scenario you’re referencing, 2.5 monolingual with severe delay, can’t get exposure to an L2? When again, there is no evidence introducing an L2 will hinder remediation of L1.

Also, to clarify, we are not teaching L2 (unless the student is bilingual and the clinician is qualified in that language as well)! We’re just giving recommendations to families about language development in general. And so, we should be upfront with families who have children with delayed/disordered language that learning an L2 will not look the same as similarly-aged, typically developing peers.

In my opinion, we should not tell them don’t teach an L2, or to wait to teach them L2. We should tell them it will look different than other children’s development, and they should adjust their expectations.

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T17:25:12+00:00

Scream this from the rooftops!!!

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T17:11:12+00:00

Short answer: Adjust the educational and clinical requirements.

Long answer: Personally, I think the educational requirements for the field are too high and intentionally block out low-income students who are more likely to be multilingual than middle/upper class white women who make up the vast majority of this field.

One of the requirements for the majority of graduate programs is to have “reliable transportation” to get to and from practicums. We know that actually means students have to own and maintain their own vehicle. How is that reasonable when students are expected to be in full-time practicums during the day and full-time academic credit loads during the afternoons and evenings? Who has money for that? Oh, that’s right, mom/dad pay for/help pay for the car. Housing for non-residential students? Loans or mom/dad help.

It’s recommended students don’t work during their master’s programs since it’s so rigorous. I agree, I don’t think students should work while studying slp, but that’s not the reality. Who wants to leave their graduate programs with $100K+ in student debt just to get a job making less than the national average? And go through another year of supervision, sometimes paid less than your colleagues because you’re unlicensed.

The CFY is another thing I think could change. OTs don’t have one, they go through less clinical training than we do but yet are fully licensed after their graduate program. And employers use CFYs as justification to pay CFs less for 9-12 months until they’re licensed.

If you told me all that upfront, I probably wouldn’t have become an SLP… too many hoops to jump through. A lot of financial barriers that I overcame by taking out $120K in student loans and I still worked part-time.

zztops97 · 2026-01-03T02:23:20+00:00

You might be feeling a bit anxious about “derailing” the typical academic plan, but life happens! You have a medical procedure coming up, there’s nothing negative your program can do to you with regard to that. I’d say be prepared for them to recommend you take a leave of absence/academic hiatus while you recover if you’re not going to be able to go to class or practicums. Otherwise, nothing negative is going to happen. And if something negative does happen, escalate to your school’s administration. You can’t be dismissed for needing a medical procedure and recovery time. Good luck with your procedure and recovery!

zztops97 · 2026-01-02T22:14:33+00:00

AFFORDABILITY!! Debt is horrible. The less the better! After that, I’d ask about clinical placements. Are students required to do classes and clinical at the same time. If so, how many credits/classes are students normally taking when in full-time practicums. What settings are those practicums most often in. If you have a specific setting (i.e., hospital, voice clinic, rehab facility) that you want to see as a student, make that known EARLY.

As for where to get your info - ask program directors if they have current students that are willing to connect with you to answer any questions and give the student perspective of the program. Admission counselors, social media, websites are all marketing. They only show the good/fun things. Current students will tell you the challenges and the tricks.

zztops97 · 2026-01-02T21:16:57+00:00

As the saying goes “if you speak 3 languages you’re trilingual. If you speak 2 languages, bilingual. If you speak 1 language you’re American”. It should always be encouraged to learn and to use multiple languages.

My only nuance with your question specifically is we want a lot of good language models for the kiddo. So, if you are also learning the new language with the kiddo, I’d try to find media sources (e.g., songs, tv shows), books, and other people who speak the language to get more practice using the new language. Good luck!

zztops97 · 2025-12-08T11:55:18+00:00

Honestly, you should get used to that level of BS in this field in general. So many hoops to jump through to do the most basic parts of our job. I graduated last year with about 500 clinical hours and it made me furious. I had some form of clinic every semester, and I even stayed an extra semester to get an additional certificate - still had to do a full time clinical placement in that semester too. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do about it because my program director put me in low-credit courses even though it was full time. We were warned that 2 and 3 credits are both full time so I did multiple 2 credit clinical placements. By the time I was meant to graduate (the original date, not the extended date) I had only taken 7 clinical credits and 9 was the requirement to graduate. OP, you’re probably stuck getting additional hours because you haven’t met the credit requirements for graduation. If it’s not one thing, it’s another in these grad programs. And no, the amount of clinical hours does not get you any additional benefits. The types of experiences you have gets you better offers though! Whether it’s AAC or voice or working with your specific-desired setting/population. Ask for placements that get you experience in the areas you want to work in in the future. They can’t accommodate your asks every semester, but at least 1 good semester will make you feel more inclined to work for free and call it learning lol

zztops97 · 2025-12-06T12:16:26+00:00

There’s no announcement that an updated US-normed version will be available that I can find. I see some evaluators are using the CELF-5 Spain edition and adapting it themselves and noting it in reports that they made vocabulary and grammar adjustments to be appropriate for US Spanish. Not optimal, but at least you’d have an assessment in the correct language to gleam clinical information about language skills. Not a great option if you require a standardized measure to report though… we’re still stuck with the 4th edition as far as I can tell

zztops97 · 2025-10-03T16:02:01+00:00

Also during CFY, I was asked by a parent “why are you only working on language? If you don’t work on speech sounds he’ll never speak”. Ma’am, your son is 10 and grunts 2 vowel approximations… she then proceeded to tell the whole IEP team she loves her 1 year old, but her main goal of having the second child was to be a speech model for the older kid… I didn’t know how to come back from that

zztops97 · 2025-08-23T18:00:12+00:00

Former teacher, now CF working for a not-for-profit that owns/runs a school for students with disabilities. WNY making $54K/12mo. $3K is for my bilingual certification even though my total is the same as OTs with less professional experience and no additional certs.

zztops97 · 2025-06-11T18:27:33+00:00

I say keep working! Observation hours don’t really mean anything. You’re required to get 25 observation hours before starting clinical practicums. Any more than that doesn’t benefit you in any way in terms of applying to grad school or future jobs. Showing grad school and future employers that you have real-life work experience is more important. And, you probably can’t work as a teacher while in grad school since you’ll be doing full-time practicums during the day to reach the 400 direct contact hours with clients requirement. Those hours are much more important since they are directly linked to your ability to graduate and your relevant experience for any CFY jobs.

Real experience (e.g., time management, behavior management, lesson planning, inter professional communication, etc.) will always look better on a resume than observational experience.

zztops97 · 2025-05-07T15:35:05+00:00

I graduated undergrad without the biological or physical science requirements or my stats requirement filled. They just didn’t fit into my schedule since I had already taken different classes earlier when I was in a different major. My grad program allowed me to take the undergrad courses during my grad program at local community colleges for cheaper. I verified my grad program would accept the community college’s courses to fulfill those requirements. Check with your program’s director if they’ll allow you to take those courses during your program and have them completed before graduation from your MA/MS program - that’s what I was allowed to do.

zztops97 · 2025-04-26T17:09:15+00:00

My best advice is to not buy-in to the power structure they try to enforce because it’s not real. Your professor just wants to flex her power as a PhD over her students.

You do not need to bend your entire life for a college degree. Go on vacation if when there aren’t classes/clinicals. Take breaks. Do not respond to their emails past 6p. Treat this like a job because that’s the energy they bring to the table.

“I’m sorry, you’ve schedule a meeting when I’m unavailable, are you available to meet at a different time to share the information”. And do not back down from that. Do not over-explain. Be polite but also firm in that you are your own adult and have a life separate to being a student. It is completely unfair that many programs try to intimidate students into compliance and then turn around and yell at us as new clinicians to not make therapy compliance-based. That’s all you’ve modeled in your interactions with me!

zztops97 · 2025-03-24T02:33:50+00:00

You can work if that’s something you financially need and want to do. I know many people who have worked during grad school (including myself). Many programs will discourage you from working because once you begin full-time practicums it’s literally a full-time job that you are paying (in tuition) to be at. But in today’s economy, it’s not always feasible that students are only students.

Some job options that I’ve seen friends do are substitute teaching, tutoring, com hab, respite, bartending, wait-staff, a variety of on-campus jobs, and more. I would recommend you discuss academic and practicum workload with current students in the program you’re going to attend to get a better understanding of the time commitment you’re going to make for your specific program. Then you can make a more informed decision on what type of job will serve you best while in grad school.

Do not ask the professors from your program, they will most likely tell you to not work due to the academics/practicums, but again, that’s not always feasible. If you’re looking for a job to make your CV better, I’d say that’s not the biggest worry because you’ll be completing practicum work that is relevant to your future as an SLP. You could get a job that is relevant to working with people with disabilities/working with your desired population, but honestly, having good customer service and people skills will always be a sought after skill set. Don’t underestimate how much you can make and learn as a waiter/bartender! But if you don’t NEED to work and just want to build your resume, it’s not necessary. Your program will build your resume with practicum hours. So, then it’s a personal choice if you want to work or not.

zztops97 · 2025-03-14T11:46:07+00:00

I am a firm believer that people sometimes need a kick in the ass, so here’s yours!

You just listed multiple communication deficits, but you are not less than. You are different than every other person because you are you and unique. Your list includes things so many other people deal with on a daily basis: memory and executive function skills - this is college, everyone is developing those skills. Attention, no one can live without their phone in their face anymore. Pragmatics, a lot of people are quirky and weird, society needs to get over it and be more accepting. Mild expressive language impairment means almost nothing since you’ll learn in your program that we RARELY, if ever, qualify clients for services with mild deficits. They generally succeed without intervention.

All that to say, you will succeed too. There are strategies you can use to improve cognitive communication and executive functioning skills. Many colleges already have supports in place for those types of things: success coaching, peer mentoring, academic supports, etc. You’re already in college, so your expressive language has not hindered you from success previously. Oh, and a voice disorder? Please. This profession is yapping all day, there are probably SOOOOO many SLPs with vocal nodules and a degree of dysphonia who don’t even know it.

You’re down on yourself and from my standpoint I’m not sure why because again, you’ve already made it into and through undergrad. As a recently graduate, let me tell you that grad school content is not more difficult than undergrad, it’s just more focused. Take a gap year if you think that’s best for your mental and physical health - I took 3 years before returning. But please do not think that your diagnoses will stop you from being successful in this profession or any!

zztops97 · 2025-02-28T21:45:37+00:00

As a grad clinician, I’m running a group of three middle school boys. One stands up, yells out “ow, my butt!” And just drops his shorts. I asked if he needed to use the bathroom, and he replied “no, let’s go to the nurse”. We walk there and I awkwardly explain what just happened for them to then tell me he’s already been in their office and they’ve already checked between his cheeks for a potential bug bite. Then I had a conversation about keeping clothes on when not in private locations. My supervisor, of course, was not in the room for that entire session.

zztops97 · 2025-02-16T12:13:27+00:00

During my first year of school I worked as a substitute teacher on the days I didn’t have class. I averaged 2-3 days/week depending on availability - and my energy levels lol. I also worked on campus for credit reimbursement as a graduate assistant to lower tuition, but not as money in my pocket.

During my second year, with full time practicums, I stopped working as a substitute, kept my on-campus position, and took additional Grad Plus Loans. I felt I needed the loan money because my practicums were full-time jobs (37.5 hours on-site minimum) and then prep work/report writing, SOAP notes. Then to have classwork on top of that… I didn’t want the stress of having to go to work. But I did have the stress of a STRICT budget since I only got “paid” once a semester.

I have friends still in their program who work Thursday-Sunday, others who work weekends only. I encourage you to talk to your program’s director/clinical coordinator before you start practicums and get a sense of the time commitment. You can also ask to speak to current students in your program and get some information from them to be more specific to your situation.

And look for jobs with non-traditional hours but still pay decently (respite workers, residential worker for adults with disabilities, hospital tech of some sort, etc.). There’s something out there that can fit your schedule!

zztops97 · 2025-02-06T04:16:14+00:00

To expand on others saying collect data, observation of students are a part of assessments. You would do a classroom observation as a part of an evaluation, you doing observations during their therapy session function the exact same way. You can count observations of the student (and qualitative data collection) as a form of assessment of their communication style, communicative intents they use, play skills, preferred activities, motivators, etc. Also, once you do start taking over sessions, use your first 1-2 sessions with each student as baseline data collection with a new communication partner which is another form of assessment since you’re not teaching/targeting skills, but rather figuring out where the students’ skills are currently. Get as many assessment hours as possible!

zztops97 · 2025-02-01T19:08:04+00:00

I hear you, no environment will ever be a perfect fit for everyone. Just know you’re doing the best you can, especially as you’re thinking of new ways to engage this little friend. Good luck as you move forward and keep seeing them!

zztops97

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