I know it’s hard to imagine… You are so close you can almost taste it!! -- You are completely finished with your college experience! Amazing, isn’t it? For the last few years, you have been surrounded by a group of fellow students, professors, and supervisors who have all been actively engaged in your learning experience. How will you quench your thirst for knowledge now that you are leaving academia and venturing out on your own? In the coming years, you will have less exposure to the academic environment that has been part of your daily experience. How will you continue to stay informed about current concerns and issues facing SLPs in school-based positions?
During your Clinical Fellowship experience, you may be part of a large school district which employs lots of SLPs. Larger districts may have more formalized instruction, meetings, and workshops which cater to district policies and procedures as well as address SLP-specific issues that arise throughout the school year.
However, not everyone will have an experience in a large district with this level of structure and support. As a new graduate SLP, you may want to take the initiative to see what other SLPs are talking about. What concerns do they have with specific students or caseloads? It’s important that you know where to look to find answers to many of these issues. ASHA Communities is a great place to start! I receive daily emails from the ASHA Communities that have chosen to be a part of. These are invaluable to me! I subscribe to the following ASHA Community Digests: Early Intervention, Schools, Technology, SIG 16 School-Based Issues, Autism, Research, and Professional Materials Exchange. I can quickly scan these emails daily to see what other SLPs have questions about as well as look over the great advice given by fellow SLPs.
Speechpathology.com can also provide you with data-driven, best practices information on any number of topics. Even though you do not need CEUs during your CF experience, you can always benefit from presentations on topics you are wanting to get more information about. You can also search for additional free CEUs on different sites including ASHA.
Similarly, there are other forum-style groups which can be found on LinkedIn and Facebook around both general SLP information as well as specialized topics. SLPeeps across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook is a popular hashtag to stay connected to your SLP community. I would tend to use some social media platforms more generally, as they are not tied to formal instruction, research, and advice such as the information from ASHA and Speechpathology.com would provide.
Links:
