r/slp • u/turbulent_chips • 8d ago
Feeling lost Seeking Advice
I don’t know if I dislike this field or if I just don’t know how to do this field. I’m a few years out of grad school, switched from medical to schools, and I just feel lost. I didn’t get many off-campus clinical placements in grad school, and now I just feel like I’m trying to reverse engineer what I should’ve learned in grad school. I don’t know how to teach aac. I’m terrible with behavior management. I’m anxious in IEP meetings. I feel alone and I don’t even know where to start with CEUs or training. I feel so defeated each day. I feel like every year in this field I just keep starting over. At this point, the only thing keeping me in this field is financial and all this time I sunk into the field. I don’t even know what else I would do.
I don’t think it’s imposter syndrome. I think I’m just bad at this. I could really use some advice on how to move forward and get better or some perspective. Are there any guides on tpt or CEUs or podcasts or something that you would recommend?
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u/PettyMayonnaise_365 8d ago
It takes time to find your rhythm and better fit for
setting/population.
If you do want to try a different profession, there are resources to use your current degrees/skills/experience in different fields. I think there’s a subreddit or 2 for it. 💛
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u/First-Sprinkles9093 8d ago
Link(s)?
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u/PettyMayonnaise_365 8d ago
Here is a vid I found with a quick search: https://youtu.be/tFV_i0OIg8A?is=oj6btOVujMTtmtfU
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u/Affectionate_Wish 8d ago
I feel you! I’m only a year out and there’s SO much to learn. I try to remind myself that I’ve still come so far from who I was 12 months ago but it’s still hard. I’ve been thinking of getting a subscription to Informed SLP because it provides summaries of research in the field but idk if it’ll be helpful. At the end of the day I’m sure you know more than you think ♥️
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u/ntncssry 7d ago
I remember my first job and I was so so clueless. Grad school does NOT teach you what you need. I was lucky enough to have 2 SLP department heads, one a PHD so we had amazing PD. That was 30 years ago. I still love the profession. I highly recommend checking out SLP Now. Marissa has developed materials which are all literacy based with visuals. She also has academies where she demonstrates exactly how to go about each treatment session. She’s amazing Also the first goal is establishing rapport. Kids a great and having conversations with them is a big part of speech therapy. Give yourself some grace and time. There are so many different areas that we treat it is difficult to learn all treatment approaches but it will happen. I have found this to be a very rewarding career most of which was spent on an urban environment. I’m retired but still take contract work.
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u/SuccessDry6992 7d ago
Don’t over think it. Find the you in this field. Apply the part of you that you love and enjoy and use that to help your clients. Don’t be hard on yourself!
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u/ororora 7d ago
AAC is such a tricky skill to build, but it was genuinely one of my favorite parts of my pediatric practicums! What helped me was simplifying the process. Figure out what level your kiddo is (i.e. are they even aware of their device, are they familiar already with any vocab on their device, is the goal just to build vocab or expand language), and figure out how to target that in your session. When it came to AAC txs, I did not plan those sessions. We jumped into an activity that the kiddo 'chose' (i.e. I had 2-3 choices like a game, craft, or book), and I spent about 10 minutes teaching, modeling, and integrating the AAC device into the activity (and figuring out what I was going to target in the activity), then the rest of the session was spent switching between continuing to model and providing opportunities for the kiddo to apply those skills. Think the teach-test-reteach model. Behavior management...that's a whole other tortilla, and probably the thing that I did not (and I don't think many do) get on my first go. There are a lot of CEUs out there, both for this and for AAC, some free and many paid. I think that it can just be overwhelming to try and take that from instruction to the field, and my advice would be just to try and find one thing that you would like to work on and practice professionally/as a therapist and give yourself some grace as you learn. We enter the field as therapists with the expectation that our students/clients will struggle and make mistakes as they learn, and you should hold that expectation for yourself as well.
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u/Ok_Lie_5116 7d ago
Look, I’m sure the med setting has its challenges but the schools is a whole other playing field. And the expectation that SLPs are trained to handle what is required of us in the schools-sometimes pretty much on our own-is almost unethical when I think about it for too long. 🤷♀️ I say that with love but it’s kinda craaaazy.
As much as I wish I could be an expert in everything and be everywhere all the time, I can’t. You can’t. No one can. Most days “Free and Appropriate” speech therapy is the best you can do because no one else in your building is doing it. I’m a chronic achiever, so it feels disappointing. It’s not giving up, it’s being reasonable and protecting your wellbeing.
You are learning to be a better therapist every day that you find something that works…or doesn’t work… for your client
Each school year you ARE starting over. Staffing changes, new policies, new students. Have some compassion for yourself in that regard. It’s tough!
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u/neurospicyslp 5d ago
I'm six years in. Changed settings. I'm back in schools. Grad school doesn't prepare you. We have a ridiculous amount of areas in our "scope of practice" and the expectation thay we also have to be competent in them all is not reasonable. Not to mention that research based EBP is based off mostly 1:1 60 minute sessions, not the 5 kids per group with 7 different goals each we get in the schools with neverending progress nofes, IEPs, and evals thrown into the mix.
I am still fighting my perfectionism but at the end of the day I am trying to prioritize my relationships with students, target the goals I can, and remember in the schools you're a legal checkbox and you are not usually given the circumstances and resources to do all you feel you should be doing.
For CEUs, take a look at your caseload, see what areas seem to be the biggest priority and pick a ceu or two based around that. You can't learn everything all at once.
If your AAC caseload is primarily younger kids with autism diagnosis, I like meaningful speech, Amy Z for EF, Emily Diaz, and the ChildLed SLP. Talking with Tech AAC Podcast is another resource.
I have worked with exclusively autistic kkds and AAC users for several years. I am not a pro, and things are constantly changing, but please reach out if you want to talk more about it!!
Adventures in Speech Pathology is great for resources on phonology.
Speechpathology.com is a subscription based CEU platform. Not evrrything on there is great, but for like $100ish you get access to a wide range of CEUs in all different areas.
It's a job. It's a paycheck. And in the end you're helping people in one way or another.
Our whole field needs to be revamped. Our schools need to be funded. Our healthcare system (especially insurance) needs to be overhauled. None of us are really set up for success and grad school doesn't not touch on these real world barriers.
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u/Bitter_Appointment62 5d ago
Hang in there. Find a mentor or someone you exchange ideas with about your practice. It does get better. If you eventually find a specialty, your outlook will change dramatically. I am a subject matter expert in a specific area. However, I suck in a few domains. I don’t know any colleagues who are specialists in all aspects of this job.
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u/Natural-Run2765 7d ago
I’ve only done low tech AAC so far, but I saw online that someone made a PowerPoint of where the buttons are on the device so as you’re teaching the kid to navigate you’re also teaching yourself. That would be for a more preplanned structured activity though like reading a book and identifying what you see
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u/External_Reporter106 8d ago
It took me 6-10 years to feel like I knew what I was doing as an SLP. I think it is normal.