If at first you don't succeed, find another way to get people to listen to you....

In the battle to increase awareness of what Speech-Language Pathologists do in the schools, I have FINALLY made some headway at my school. I've mentioned before that I helped present an overview of our role at the district-wide mini conference with two of my coworkers. The only problem was the fact that only one person from my school attended. The 5th grade ESL teacher. While I am certainly glad that one person decided to show her support, I was a slight bit frustrated with the thought of having to ask to present at a staff meeting. They always just feel rushed or draggy because the timing is usually not the greatest. 

I finally bit the bullet and talked to the instructional facilitator about the Expanding Expression Tool and the story comprehension rope that I use constantly. It WORKED! She told me that I could speak to K-2nd teachers during their planning with her. I presented to K-1 today and it went really well. The kindergarten team was especially responsive and appreciative for the mini presentation. The first grade team was a little harder to read, but the principle came in half-way through so I got to show her the EET too! Even if nothing more comes from them now having the materials to make their own story rope as well as a die-cut EET, I feel like I have finally started to spread the word that SLP is more than just articulation. I even get to present to 3-5th grades now! (I just have to figure out a way to prove that the materials are still relevant to those age groups.) 

I may not have gotten much Medicaid billing done, but I feel so accomplished right now. I hate (loathe, and despise) public speaking and here I am speaking to all of the grade level teams. Plus, I get to help out with another presentation to the EC faculty on Executive Functioning (definitely not as prepared to talk about that) as well as showing them our SLP overview. I guess this is the "year of overcoming public speaking" and showing my potential to a wider group of people. I think my former professors at Salem would be very proud to how far I have come with the foundation that they helped me build. Never forget your roots.