Need a Little Help, Mrs. Whiteside?

Today, a bright and confident fourth grade Deaf student completed the speech intelligibility portion of a speech/language re-evaluation and made two stunning observations. Her task had been to read aloud 4 sets of 50 words from randomly ordered picture card decks, but to do so without showing me the pictures. My job was to write the words that I understood her to say. After I recorded a word, she showed me the card, and I checked to see if I had understood her correctly. In this way, I could assign a measurable and unbiased "intelligibility rating" to her articulation.

After 6 years of teaching this student, I am accustomed to her speech, especially when the context is known. This measure helps me more accurately gage how readily understandable she is to other people. I was pleased that my general impressions had been right: her speech is remarkably understandable. I had matched her speech to the correct word 90% of the time. Very good!

 Whenever I administer an evaluation, I work hard to encourage students. Often they know that they have made mistakes, and some are bothered by this. I was especially aware that this student might be surprised and disappointed to know that I could not understand some of what she said. Not the case! The first time that my word did not match hers, she looked puzzled, rolling her eyes at my apparent confusion. The second time, when she could contain pity for me no longer, she said, "Mrs. Whiteside can't spell!"  After several more such exchanges, she finally laughed out loud and said, "Mrs. Whiteside, you need a hearing aid!" She never considered any other possibility.

Need a Smile? Ask an 8-year-old

Overheard during a lengthy (and dry) speech/language evaluation today...

EW: The opposite of entrance is..._____________.

8-year-old Cutie Pie: (Following a pensive pause, complete with furrowed brow, came a confident a-ha moment.) Outrance.

Well, doesn't that make a lot of sense to you? Did to me. I love my job!

Muscogee County Public Education Center Speech/Language Office

Just a quick post to showcase the new Speech/Language Pathology Program office at the beautiful new Muscogee County Public Education Center (MCPEC).

Pictured above: panorama view from the rear right corner of the room.

Pictured above: panorama view from the front left corner of the room (actually, from the doorway).

Above:   Amy and Susan share work space in the new office (apparently, before the tables were rearranged).

More photos of MCPEC are available on Richard Burghard's blog. I don't know Richard, but he does have interesting articles about Columbus..

Georgia Performance Standards - Shared Resource

 Our new school district superintendent wants both students and classroom visitors to know the goals of each lesson in terms of the Georgia Performance Standards. As is often the case, fitting the important job that I do each day (yes, I believe that!) into a conventional academic framework is sometimes awkward. But I do agree that students need to know what it is that they are trying to learn. The work that I do certainly supports ALL instruction -- language is bedrock for learning. But I digress...

I hope that some fellow Georgia SLPs will find a use for the PowerPoint I created and embedded below. I had planned to display appropriate slides from it on the extra monitor hooked to my laptop as an introduction to therapy sessions , but my principal did not like that idea. Instead, I printed the slides and posted them neatly on the bulletin board. Easy enough. Not the most inspired production I've ever developed, but it seems to have met my need to communicate our learning goals in kid-friendly language. For whatever it's worth, it's here for the taking - no need to ask (follow the slideshare link to download and print). Also feel free to edit/remix. If you improve it, please share back!

Georgia Performance Standards for Speech Pathologists For Speech Language

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