We've all been there...
Ready and excited for the new school year and planning your initial speech therapy sessions with a fun Back to School book.
Is your favorite First Day Jitters? Maybe Miss Nelson is Missing? Or is it A Bad Case of Stripes?
I'm guilty of them all!
Specifically, I am guilty of using them in the month of September.
What's so wrong with that?
Well, in New York City, schools open a few days after labor day for students. Often times schools are also closed for holidays in the month of September.
This year, we have only 16 days of school in the month of September. In past years, it has been less.
Those are a very valuable 5 or 6 thirty minute sessions.
There are two things that are way more important to do in those 5 sessions than having students complete worksheets for a Back to School book from the comprehensive book companion that you just bought!
1. Rapport building
2. Baseline data collection
First, even if you have students on your caseload that you've known for years, it is so important to connect with them and reestablish that relationship. Summer vacation is long and you never know what happened in their lives since you last saw them!
Second, collecting baseline data is so important. Don't just skip right to that cute book companion. Take good baseline data. I promise you'll thank me later. Why?? Because you will see all of the progress your student made and you will not only be proud of your student, but you'll also be proud of the therapy you provided.
So if you really want to use that Back to School book, what is the correct way to use it?
1. Use the Back to School books with conversation tasks for rapport building. Maybe hold off on the worksheets that go with the book. Save the writing activity or the difficult prompts for later and just focus on conversation. Make sure the topic of discussion relates directly with your student and engage them in talking about themselves. Focus on really getting to know them and allowing them to feel at home in your therapy room.
2. Use a fun craft alongside your Back to School book. This way you can still build rapport with your student AND collect baseline data at the same time. Consider providing trial opportunities between cutting and gluing. Here is a fun craft that I have done with my students for the book Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard. It's low prep and simple enough to engage the students with some clean trials for data collection. Here's how their crafts turned out! They created their own mask disguises just like Viola Swamp!
3. Considering leaving the Back to School book for October. It won't kill you, I promise. I know that might sound crazy, but it's just so important to use those FIVE sessions that you get in September for getting baseline data and building rapport. Sometimes we get so caught up in finishing a Back to School book unit and all of the lovely worksheets that go alongside the book, and we forget to take good and clean data for the students' goals. The book can wait. It will be there when you're ready and you can take your time teaching concepts, vocabulary and more.
OKAY! I hear you!! You REALLY want to use that Back to School book in September. I have a solution for you.
4. Use a Learning Standards-based Speech Therapy checklist that keeps track of baseline data WHILE you use your back to school book and book companion!! I actually love this choice, because it allows me to take an amazing language sample, have fun with my students, build rapport AND collect baseline data!
The bottom line is...
Don't rush into your Back to School book. I know you love all of the cute book companions, but sometimes it can take away from what matters more.
That doesn't mean stop using them all together. But maybe this year just be a bit more intentional about why and how you use them.
Written by: Rosie Sepulveda, Language Encounters
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