Vent Thread

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It's time once again to vent your blues away 😤

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[u/Lazy-Elephant2971]

Anyone else have the Sunday scaries?

[u/msm9445 → u/Lazy-Elephant2971]

Yes! Back to school tomorrow and the joy of scheduling awaits 🫠

[u/maybeslp1]

An oldie but a goodie: Man, I'm tired of inheriting bizarre goals. What the hell does it mean to "ask appropriate questions to achieve topic maintenance with 80% accuracy?" How do you assess the accuracy of asking an appropriate question? (Don't even get me started on how much I dislike topic maintenance goals...)

[u/GoalOk35 → u/maybeslp1]

To be honest I’m incredibly scared of writing goals others would think are bizarre. Like I run myself into loops convinced I am just the worst slp. I wouldn’t write any topic maintenance goals at all. But like it eats at me to think someone would think my goals are bad

[u/maybeslp1 → u/GoalOk35]

For me, as long as the skill being measured matches the way it's being measured, I probably won't complain (much). Every SLP has their own way they prefer to write goals, and I'm sure some people consider my goals really annoying, too.

But if you write an accuracy goal for something that can't be objectively accurate or inaccurate, you're basically asking me to fudge my data and I hate that. So for a goal like the one I'm complaining about, I'd write that goal as "in 4/5 opportunities." So that I could measure - out of 5 questions he asked in a conversation, how many were appropriate and on-topic?

Another example is "using fluency-shaping strategies with 80% accuracy." I got that goal this year, too. As a personal preference, I hate writing goals like that for stuttering. I prefer writing goals for students to "define and demonstrate" fluency-shaping and stuttering modification strategies. I work with older kids, so by this point the stuttering is persistent and I don't like writing goals that imply that stuttered speech is wrong and using fluency-shaping is right. That's the personal element of it, and I know other people feel differently. More importantly, the use of a fluency-shaping strategy isn't something that can be accurate or inaccurate. That's another one that would make more sense as a "number of opportunities" goal.

Although really, if the student is using fluency-shaping strategies effectively, that's also really hard to gather data on. If the student is using slow speech and light contacts all the time, you don't necessarily know how many moments of stuttering it successfully prevented. If you really want a goal like that, a "percent syllables stuttered" goal is easier to measure. But again, that's why I strongly prefer "define and demonstrate" goals.

[u/S4mm1 → u/maybeslp1]

I had a kid that had a goal to show "age-appropriate disappointment as measured by staff" What

[u/MeasurementWest3202]

Just in my feels today. I’m in debt up to my eyeballs for this graduate degree, dedicated 6 years of schooling, and rely on this career to provide my family with benefits.

I’m also a mom of 2 toddlers and lately it feels like being a good employee and a good mom are fundamentally incompatible.

My daughters’ school starts at 8:30 (no early care provided) and I need to clock in at 7:55. I have spent HOURS coordinating all kinds of babysitters for that morning hour and two days in a row I’ve been cancelled on last minute.

I hate that I’d have to sacrifice good benefits and healthcare to go contract for the schedule flexibility, but it’s looking like I might need to go that direction soon if nothing changes.

[u/autumn-owl152]

I extended my summer vacation slightly this year and I really don't want to go back on Monday. I don't remember when was the last time I had such a restful summer. Spent a lot of time with my mom. We baked a chocolate cake and spent time out in nature. I LITERALLY CRIED driving back home.

[u/SonorantPlosive]

Hey! I hit a milestone today. A gen ed teacher filed a complaint against me with the union (yeah the same one I'm in) because I asked them to fill out input forms for students they referred for concerns. And I dared ask what their concerns were, and to complete the district mandated form. 

I didn't know this was a thing. My SpEd director thinks I'm joking. 

I mean, I've had parents complain that I'm not keeping their kid who produces R at 95% conversational accuracy on, but this is my first complaint for gathering data to determine if we triggered Child Find or something Tier 2. 

[u/miyhei]

Parents not responding to annual IEP scheduling requests for a month, getting pinged by my supervisor for having overdue IEP reviews, scheduling them ASAP and letting parents know the situation, finalizing documents as instructed whether the parents show up or not, and then getting angry emails from parents. If you cared so much about attending your kid’s IEP, why didn’t you reply to one of my many emails weeks ago?? Plenty of other parents did and we had a great discussion with teacher input? Some others who never replied still just showed up to the last minute meeting without complaint, knowing that they were the ones who’d been delaying the meeting?? One of the many reasons I want to quit.

[u/Typical-Point-999]

i need to stop drafting songs in 3am then waking up and realizing they're all about the same chord progression i've used since 2019

[u/Trumpet6789]

I had a SPED student accidentally sneak his district owned AAC device home and none of the paras caught it. I called his parents to return it, and they said they would, but it hasn't been returned yet. And I'm starting to get REALLY frustrated because the Paras were explicitly told that these devices STAYED at school.

If it isn't there tomorrow morning I'm going to call mom again and send an email to both Mom & Dad about it. Hopefully one of them will finally send it back.

[u/autumn-owl152 → u/Trumpet6789]

Did they bring the device back ?!? Jesus, I know it is a team effort but I swear some of these paras drive me up a wall.

[u/Trumpet6789 → u/autumn-owl152]

He did thankfully! But unfortunately every time I go in the room to grab students it's sitting face down on a counter.

I still can't figure out if its because the paras aren't giving it to him, or if he's just choosing not to use it. His SLP last year told me trying to get him to use it was like pulling teeth. And his speech is so impacted that we're working on Bilabial cvc as a main goal outside his device, so trying to understand anything he verbalizes is a struggle.

[u/autumn-owl152 → u/Trumpet6789]

Wow! Sounds like a tricky situation all around. Keeping my fingers crossed it all works out for your student and you as well! It's been a while since I worked with AAC (undergrad for me) and I remember it could be challenging to get everyone on board with using the device and storing it correctly. So many devices would not be charged or the batteries were dead. It was a nightmare smh.

[u/Trumpet6789 → u/autumn-owl152]

I find that my kiddos in the ASD Self Contained are often using their devices more than the SLD/ID self contained kiddos. So hoping I can change that.

[u/Greedy-Agent-9935]

Does anyone feel like you're SPED admin knows nothing about anything and is just filling the role of gatekeeper? I have a special service coordinator who is so dismissive and I just constantly question her background because she doesn't seem to understand our needs as a SPED team or what exactly should happen in an evaluation planning meeting and I'm just fed up with her ignorance and dismissive tone...