For career research purposes, Google says about 93k per year. Is this data accurate? But I believe SLPs usually charge 100-200 dollars for session (45 min)?, which could translate to over 400k annually assuming a 40 hours week.

This is just kind of a heads up especially to those of us working remotely. I’m not sure if it was Zoom or my phone that was on the charger a few feet away, but I see a kiddo who is the child of a celebrity. I have NEVER followed them or searched for them on social media because that felt icky and intrusive. This week after our session, during which I talked to the parents quite a bit and their names were used, 3 different reels of the dad popped up in my instagram feed (including one that I’d say was mildly NSFW 🫣) - maybe 2 hours after the session, so no way it was a coincidence.
I felt creepy and texted the mom about it, fortunately she thought it was funny but… man, technology is so amazing and so scary at the same time 😬😬😬. I’m going to keep my phone in another room next time I guess?

I have no experience with cluttering but am now beginning to suspect I may have a student (age 8) presenting with it? He’s come up mild-average on most standardized measures, but clearly struggles with communication on a functional level. He has articulation errors that show up more conversationally than in single words (though sometimes both), lots of word-final disfluencies, word-finding issues, sometimes talks fast and sometimes talks really slow, can speak at a typical volume but trails off into mumbling, often sounds monotone, has grammatical/structural issues (e.g. lack of subject-verb agreement in narratives)… student also is Autistic. I’m not even sure where to start, but want to qualify him and give him services if he does clutter! I’d appreciate any advice.

Hey y'all,

I'm looking for a discussion, your thoughts, suggestions for articles or CE to do, or words of support.

I primarily work in the public sector early intervention for kids under 5yrs, but have been taking some private clients on the side for a few months. The clinic I work out of is primarily ABA and psych. I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from other professionals and collaborate with a team, but I'll admit I'm having difficulty with some of the things I have seen/experienced. I'm neurodivergent, and deeply care about neuro-affirming and trauma informed care.

Privately, I currently see a little girl who uses TD Snap motor plan. She is also followed by the behaviour team. She will sometimes punch her legs, and when dysregulated hit her head with her hand or pull her own hair. My understanding is that the ABA team works on these behaviours, and they also work on 'using her talker'. They've been seeing her several hours a week for over a year at least. She was started on PECS at 4.5yrs and then switched to the device when she started school a year later.

Today during my session with mum and child, the client was protesting during a step in our activity using her verbal speech/body language/gestures, she was distresses. I tried to honour this protest and followed her lead by stopping the activity, and tried to wait for mum to help her regulate and give her time to let us know what she needed (which she usually does in Korean to mum or with her device which is mostly English).

Mum felt she was having a hard time with her verbal speech/other communication methods so we tried to support by attempting to interpret/model her protest on her device. But any time I moved towards her device, she would repeatedly select the word combination I had modelled during the activity (not hitting the message bar, but deleting and then reselecting)- and got more upset. Almost like she was thinking I was about to prompt her to continue the activity/require/demand an imitation.

We ended up using other strategies to get through this moment. I'm also saving up to get my own device, and am working to make her a low tech version of her system.

This is a pattern I have seen with SO MANY of my AAC users who are in several hours of ABA a week, or who started on PECS. It's like they only see their device as a tool during therapy, or to be used because someone else wants them to. Many are heavily prompt-dependent.

I would really love some suggestions on how to help these kids move away from seeing their devices this way.

I think most of the people in this sub reddit are American but I would guess not all of you? I find it super interesting how different countries do things differently and I have learned quite a few interesting things that I was able to adapt for my own clients in my own language. There are so many great ideas out there! As a result I was wondering how the field works in different countries. Some things seem to be very different and some are very similar and I'm curious about these similarities and differences (I tried to read up in the American qualification process but I don't quite get it). Maybe a few people would like to share how the job works in their country?

For example: I'm the equivalent of an SLP in Germany (we call ourselves "Logopäde" over here). I think Germany is pretty much the only country out there where the qualification does not happen via the academic route but through an apprenticeship. You can also get an academic degree (I got a Bachelors) but you still absolutely have to do the apprenticeship or you will not be licensed (though it's possible to do both at the same time). It takes 3 years to finish the apprenticeship. You start with the theoretical basics and eventually get your first patients at the end of the first/beginning of the second semester (with a supervisor and in groups of usually two). And basically from then on you have theory and a few patients and a lot of hospitations at the same time + 3 big external internships each with a different focus (children, voice, neurological). At the end there is a very hefty final exam consisting of both practical and theoretical examinations. After that you are licensed and allowed to work in pretty much every area possible (it is recommended to do advanced training if you work with babys with feeding disorders but not necessary and dyslexia is a bit of a grey area). There are first and foremost 2 types of jobs: Hospital/Rehabilitation facility (mostly neurological disorders though there are a few children's clinics) or free practice (by far the biggest sector and very varied though you can specialise). There are also Early Intervention Centers though a lot of those are less about providing actual therapy and more for assessments. If they do provide therapy they are not so different from free practices. Clinic/Rehab usually pays a bit better but tends to be very specialised. I for example work in a free practice and while I do specialise in children with developmental disorders and they do make up more than half of my clients I have a wide variety of disorders (there's some with aphasia, swallowing, myo, articulation, dementia and voice patients for example). I do most of my work in my room at the practice but I also do the occasional home visit. I love the variety very much.

If someone has questions I'm happy to answer but I'd be very happy if others would be willing to share how it works in their area!

(Also I'm sorry if some terms are a bit off - I had to look up some words because I didn't quite know the exact terminology in English and sometimes there isn't an exact translation in the first place.)

hi, I was approached some time ago to work in the special education. I am a speech therapist and normally I work 1 on 1 with a client. However, within this school I was assigned a class of 5 kids. So I would be working in a classroom setting, along with a teaching assistant. The goal was to encourage speech and language skills and communication. The children are non verbal and autistic, ages 4-6 years.

When I started it suddenly turned out to be 7 children instead of 5 (I had not been told this). There were no toys in the class even though the class had started a month earlier. There was no onboarding, no one knew what the intention was and I had to figure everything out on my own.The assistant couldn't tell me much either, she just returned after a burnout. I had no access to children's files (only after 4 days).Parents had been told that I was on vacation for a month and therefore did not attend earlier (I was still working at my former employer, why say I was on vacation???).

After 2 days the assistant got sick, apparently she had just started again after a burnout, but again she was not doing well. Then a teacher came into the classroom, this was nice because for the first time I saw how it worked in a classroom. The next day another assistant was put with me, but she had started the same day as me..we were both new and didn't know much yet. The next day I was all alone in a group of 7 children. Totally irresponsible and not okay towards the parents and children.I had to entertain these children without toys.

I indicated that I have no experience with a class, since you normally work 1 on 1, and that I do need something of help/help. I also indicated that I was surviving and did not experience the first week as positive. My supervisor was quite light-hearted about this.She indicated that this is normal and everyone feels this way the first 6 weeks.Then I was asked how I wanted to work towards the goals of this class, I indicated that treatment materials should be provided first.“Oh, we may have to order that...indeed there are no toys,” was her reply. Then she said “maybe we should sit down next week to discuss things”.

Colleagues were not okay with me not receiving guidance and said there should be a teacher in front of the group instead of a speech therapist (and on reflection, I agreed).I have no experience in a classroom setting and much more was covered than just language development, speech and communication. Behavioral problems etc., personal care (1 day I was just wiping butts). There were many employees with burnout, a lot of employee turnover.Not much seemed right about the organization.The supervisor said “you don't really need to do anything with the kids”.

After my first week, I immediately quit and left. The lack of treatment materials/toys, no supervision, onboarding, lack of communication. It all didn't feel right and thats where my decision was based on. Now looking back, I'm thinking: should I gave it more time? Maybe I would have get used to it. I don't know.

Let me hear your opinions.

I owned Eliciting Sounds but lost it and would like to purchase something less old and preferably less expensive since it’s about $100.

I liked how it was organized by sound, broke it up into the different kinds of errors the child might be making, and then offered different ways to shape the sound from sounds the child could already produce. I know I can google these things but a lot of the time I just see the same two or three techniques per sound and I want to try other ones.

Hello! I’m newly graduated SLP based in Asia and am struggling a bit on coming up with intervention for my ASD profile kids.

Context is i’m working in an early intervention centre for kids aged 2-6 and see about 50 plus kids in a week across 4 classes. We tier the kids by MTSS and then decide how and what we want to provide intervention for them cos its impossible for me to give 1-1 to every kid with the caseload :/

But now I’m not very sure what I can do to engage the kids on my caseload who have autism or suspected autism, where they’re always in their own world most of the time, and despite me trying to intrude in with their play to get a response, they don’t really respond back. I’ve been trying to use communication boards with them, but its a slow process.

Do I need more time to build rapport with them and continue on with using the comm board to make them more familiar with it across routines? Am not very sure what to do and feel a bit helpless especially when my teachers come to me asking for help with communication/language for them but I don’t know what to do either…..feels like my mind is blank and i’ve forgotten all that I’ve learnt in school 🥲

Hi, can anyone share what the going pay rate/range is for hourly/per diem in home early intervention SLP is? Specifically in the San Fernando Valley?

Has anyone worked for this company? I’d love to hear pros and cons if so. Thanks!

I have a client who is newly 3 and I suspect apraxia. He has very limited consonant inventory. He can say m,p,b in like five cv words. He also has difficulty attending to tasks but he’s pretty young so I want to keep things play-based but I’m not really sure how to do that with apraxia therapy. Where do I start with therapy goals? I’m a CF and I don’t have any training in apraxia. I’m kind of lost at where to start. Any advice would be great!

Hi everyone—I’m looking for your go-to online resources for pediatric feeding therapy ideas and techniques.

I’m an SLP with a background primarily in the school setting, so I don’t have much experience with feeding therapy yet. I’ve recently started working with a 16-month-old client who exclusively breastfeeds and refuses all other forms of intake. He previously accepted breast milk from a bottle when needed but has recently begun refusing that as well.

Mom reports she is currently breastfeeding every 3 hours around the clock. If he wakes up crying in middle of the night she has tried letting him cry it out but gives up after an hour. The child was referred by his PCP for evaluation by SLP, OT, and PT a few months ago. No significant concerns were found at that time, and it was thought to possibly be a texture aversion. However, despite a few months of therapy, progress has been minimal.

If you have any tips, strategies, or favorite feeding therapy resources for peds, I’d really appreciate your input!

I'm late to the apple TV game....but finally got a trial and FINALLY got to watch Still, the Michael J. Fox documentary.

Any other adult SLPs just booohooo cry at it. Ugh. So good and honestly so interesting to think about my Parkinson's patients....they all were/are runners/hustlers in life. Just like MJF.

If you haven't watched Sr. On Netflix....also another amazing one that ripped my heart apart as I'm also an end of life/family based caregiver person. (Some of my PhD work is in this area).

Just here to start a line of SLPs who also cried at relevant documentaries. UGH.

I'll go first:

-Yes, there is always a job open for SLPs. There is not always a good job open for SLPs.

-Schools can really be a wild card. Teachers and admin don't understand what we do and they may attack us and our decisions simply because they are unhappy themselves and think our job is easier. Good positions are less common because people don't give them up.

-Private practice and contracting companies are often fee for service with few, if any benefits.

-You'll mostly be teaching yourself everything you need to know. If you struggle, unless your lucky, your employer will put 100% of the blame on you to save face.

-The working conditions in healthcare and education are deteriorating rapidly with no end in sight. Personally I would not have taken this route if I knew this.

Considering a move back to Massachusetts, namely the greater Boston area. It looks like a lot of schools are hiring which is great! But the wages don't seem to correlate well with the sky high cost of living. I also remember a lot of the schools having high caseloads, and some districts quite frankly were so disorganized they couldn't even hold it together for an interview.

I really miss living there, would the move be worth it?

I am a relatively new CFY supervisor. I am supervising a clinical fellow who evaluated a student. I gave her feedback on her report snd she made changes accordingly.This student is transitioning to another school and the receiving therapist (who has personal beef against me…like big time) had a bunch of bad things to say about the report and told my CF she needs to change some parts based on notes she wrote on the report. Some of the things she is trying to change is actual input of the parents. She told my CF she can still change parts of report because meeting has not yet been held and yet her name is not part of this report. Pls share me your thoughts about this.

Current school SLP wrapping up my CF in April (located in southeast). I’ve been looking into travel positions and applying for states that offer reciprocity first, but I know CA always has so many openings flowing in year round. I’ve heard the licensing process for the state can take up to a few months. my question is… it worth the price/cost of living? Any particular cities/starting pay that’s worth it? My partner and I are looking to travel more in the next year or so and I’m trying to weigh the options of reciprocity or if it’s worth it to start the licensure process for other states. Recruiter says they’ll reimburse for licensure costs once a contract is signed for that specific state.

Hi everyone! I am a CF in an elementary school and I am working with a student who has very a limited expressive and receptive vocabulary. This student preciously had a device from Saltillo but had minimal success with using it independently. Now we are shifting to an iPad based program. I am wondering how I should set up their LAMP system, like how many icons, what ones I should prioritize, and what the layout should be. I would appreciate any insight on using LAMP or working with AAC kiddos in general!

Hi, Everyone. I have been an elementary SLP for three years. I am in the DOE, but I do not love where I am. I am really into the medical field, as well as SNF and hospital experience, but graduate school only gave me elementary, so that is how I got in. Any speechies who moved to another state, started in a different field section in the field, and how much did you start with if you don't mind me asking? Right now, I am thinking of California or Seattle. I have lived in NYC my whole life, and I love nature and am not really a city girl anymore. I am also thinking of DC or even Chicago. Also, is it difficult to get your license in another state? It's only myself and my two cats right now.

I am a junior undergraduate student. I love this major. I love my classmates I love the individuals we work with. I am very passionate about working with individuals with disabilities. However, I attended a seminar this weekend and just learned that the pay scale that you look up online is wildly inaccurate. I had no idea that we get paid so low. I thought I would be making 70-100k (I live in Missouri). Bare minimum I thought like starting wage of 65-70. I am shocked to learn that starting wage is like 50k!!! For a masters degree it just doesn’t seem worth it especially with the rising cost of higher education. I am thinking about changing my major but I have no idea what I would change it to atp. I’m just so disappointed at that I can’t believe we would get paid that low.

Reading a recent thread with people complaining about the PLS-5 got me looking into what other options are out there. In my setting, I have to frequently give standardized assessments to two-year-olds. Any standardized assessments I’ve seen apart from the PLS-5 all seem to start at age three, though.

Interested to hear what other SLPs use.

So I have been an SLP in early intervention for many years, ever since graduating (16 years). I've done it part time because I've also been raising 3 kids. Now that they are all in school...I'm contemplating applying for a .6 school job. I'm paralyzed by fear about it. I feel I've lost my school-age skills. I've definitely lost my medical skills, so working with adults or in medical setting is out of the question. I don't know AAC at all, very little stuttering, little apraxia experience beyond getting little ones to use their first sounds/words, no clue how school ieps/meetings/evaluations go. Help!! Thoughts on being in EI vs. School? It seems that school slps seem beyond burned out. I am pretty burned out already and I was actually hoping to make a career change altogether but I'm still needed during the summer for my kids. I've never really felt like this career is for me and I kind of dread continuing in it. I'm feeling pretty lost and hopeless about this! Any thoughts?

Hello everyone, I have a favor to ask. I am currently taking a business class at CSULA and working on a project with X-culture. Our project is researching speech therapy with an emphasis on stuttering. I was wondering for those of you that are SLPs if you can kindly fill out the survey for our research. I highly appreciate it. Here’s the link: https://forms.gle/YvN5BxrLizRgHw2B6

I am an SLP CF exploring job options in Chicago. I am wanting to figure out what the pay scale is for a CF SLP at chicago public schools. What lane and where is the document that tells me?

ALSO: Let me know if you have any good CF leads in Chicago. I am bilingual as well, and I want to work with AAC.

I (regrettably) do not have the most experience with AAC. I am used to using Proloquo and some of my kids use TD Snap. I just inherited a new kid on my caseload who has a device with TouchChat WordPower 60. He can navigate it pretty well. I touched base with his previous SLP (who got him the device a few months ago) and she said that he does better with the device when the core words and the descriptor buttons are on the same page (almost like a core board, I guess?). So his home page is unedited and he can navigate from there to "play" and then there are specific toys and games and they have folders. For example, this is what happens when you press bubbles on the toys and games page. The core words and descriptors (like big, small, up, down) are all in the same place they would be if you clicked describe or went to the home page to activate a core word (like go, stop, more). He also has a page for potato head, which has real life photos of the parts when you click on it.

My question is: is this how TouchChat is supposed to be? I feel like everything I've been reading has been saying that you aren't supposed to edit much on TouchChat. I am used to the activity pages on TD Snap so I am wondering if this is the same for TouchChat? I am also wondering if it seems like he has difficulty navigating between pages and needs words to be on the same page, if this is the best app for him. Looking for advice on moving forward and supporting this kid in the best way!