How are you going to keep track of everything without going crazy?
In just a few short months, the school will start and you will be responsible for organizing and managing all of the responsibilities of a school-based CF-SLP with a caseload of 55 students or perhaps more! This is no small undertaking for the new graduate, but with the proper planning, you can get the year started off right. From my experience in providing clinical fellowship supervision, this seems to be an area that we should look at in-depth prior to starting your new job.
The beginning of the school year will be a very busy time for you. Starting off with a comprehensive organizational plan will help you prioritize duties, create a workable schedule, and prepare for upcoming conferences well in advance. Over the summer months, I encourage you to experiment with several different options for keeping track of students, schedules, case conferences, and therapy minutes. Create a mock caseload and select several different caseload management systems/options to see which one is the right fit for you. Don’t wait until the last minute and select one without trying it out. You will feel overwhelmed and create a mountain of work for yourself. If you are trying to get acclimated to your new job duties, learn the IEP software, and plan therapy schedules - the last thing you want is more work trying out another record-keeping system. You will feel like you are starting all over each time you abandon one system in hopes that another better suits your needs.
First, determine what method fits best for your work style. Do you prefer a binder/paper system or do you like everything computer based? Maybe a hybrid of the two is the perfect fit? Is the school you are going to be working in using the Google for Education platform? Carefully consider how your information can integrate into the school as seamlessly as possible.
On Teachers Pay Teachers you can look at different types of scheduling spreadsheets. (If you have not tapped into this site, you will definitely want to!) Many items here are free or of minimal cost.
(FREE!)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Price-Range/Free/Search:SLP%20scheduling%20spreadsheet
Look for a spreadsheet you can customize to best meet your specific needs by adding another worksheet or customizing columns within a sheet to best reflect your caseload and items you need to track. Create tabs across the bottom to include items such as a weekly calendar, blank schedule, student list, dismissed, consult, Intervention (RtI), and any additional important information. In looking at a student list sheet, you can quickly see a list of your students, IEP due date, initial eval date, and anticipated re-eval date. You would be able to quickly scan the list for students who will need to have an upcoming case conference scheduled and even work ahead on the next 30 days of conferences.
Dedicate a few hours each week to honing in on the perfect system for you over the summer and I can assure you that you will be glad you did!
