As the controversy over whether students should be taught cursive rages on, I thought I would celebrate what is quickly becoming a lost art, putting pen to paper. I have previously mused on the benefits to heart, mind and soul from writing (Writing Heals) and my predilection to collecting (The Ties That Bind). Among my hoards of “stuff” I possess varied writing journals that serve varied purposes! I have my vocabulary journal, my verse mapping journal, my childhood journals, my journal of positive thoughts, and on and on. It is remarkable to reread entries. It’s my autobiography! I have wept when I read about my sadnesses. I have laughed at the comedy that has been my life. I have looked at my foibles with eyes crossed and wondered at what a doofus I have been. I imagine my future as an old lady and dream of contentment.

Today I decided to feature a guest blogger, writer. Grampa Joe, my dear friend’s father, is determined to keep letter writing alive, so encourages his grandchildren to write him letters. He occasionally writes to our son. Mack is always excited to receive a handwritten letter, although it is not easy for him to read the cursive. I also am excited! What follows is a recent snail mail treat.

Dear Mister Mack,
The use of pen and paper is becoming a vestigial skill among your generation, as most have now evolved into thumb twitchers, screen strokers and keyboard tappers. For years G.A.S.F. (Grampa’s Augmented Stimulus Program) has provided an incentive to grandsons and others to learn and retain this skill- not unlike the ability to send a cedar shaft with turkey wing feather fletching on target with a wooden bow as opposed to the carbon fiber, plastic fletched arrows released by a mechanical wrist gizmo from an engineered pulley bow. Your reward is enclosed.


It’s good to hear that you and Deadeye Dad will wear your bobcat bones this season and look forward to learning how things work out. My cervid [NOTE: this word is now in my vocabulary journal!] population is sparse and mostly nocturnal but apple trees heavy with fruit this year and clear trails through the yet un-mowed pastures are welcome signs. I plan to place tree stands this week.


Thank Annie Doyle for her note as well. It prompted me to visit her blog with _______’s help on her computer. You are fortunate to have parents with useful skills to share with you. Be well.

It is so enjoyable to hold paper in my hands and slowly read and reread. What is the cost to our fast past texts and emails? As pen and paper goes the way of bag phones, Spencerian Script, and disco so does spelling and proofreading! Society has two seconds to fire off a text or an email with little time to thoughtfully proofread for typos OR content or to even write cleverly.

A birthday present for our daughter! They”abe” cool!

Really? Needs no caption!

Grampa Joe is clever! After a weekend away with his friends and their family, Mack returned home with an artifact. He had “won” it for figuring out the riddle pictured here. Do you know what this picture represents? The first person to comment with the answer to this riddle can choose any item in my TpT store. My store is not the best, I will admit, but free is free, right? Have fun and good luck!

Here is the story of my summer linky! This is not your typical blog linky, this is a story of how two bloggers became close friends and linked up. For real. In person.

There are so many internet horror stories, but this post is not about the evils of the internet. It’s about what it can be that is good! I have written before that social media has provided me with some of the “best friends I have never met!” I have made countless connections and established professional and personal relationships, but some of these connections are special.

I began following Sparklle SLP  quite some time ago, I think by first connecting with her TpT store. I then moved on to her blog, Instagram, and then her Facebook Fan page. We began chatting through email, Facebook messenger, and Instagram sharing ideas, materials, life events. I will admit, Sparklle shared more materials than me because she is MUCH better at materials creation, but I shared more of my life, because it is an open book. Sparklle chooses to remain anonymous, however I had come to care deeply for this person. Actually, I have come to care deeply for many of the men and women I have “met.”

One day this summer I was reflecting on these relationships and considered that life is too short. I have met some SLPeeps face to face (Erik Raj and I “link up” whenever we can), but I want to meet some more of my friends in person. I want to bake with Mary of Old School Speech. I want to hike with Pam of Chit Chat and Small Talk. I want to watch a Doctor Who marathon with Heidi. I want to simply talk long and leisurely with Amy of 3D SLP. So I texted Sparklle and proposed a crazy idea: Jim and I wanted to drive 1600 miles round trip to camp with Sparklle! To my relief she didn’t think it was crazy!

It was a texting frenzy to prepare, but when I finally saw my friend on her bicycle with her three beautiful children I almost wept! I felt as if I had known her all my life. We are at different stages of our lives, she, in full blown mom mode and me much freer as the Mom of older teens. I must say, I longed for those mommy moments as I watched her with her children. She and her husband graciously gave us the tour of their beloved beach community, took us for the best ice cream EVER, provided boat rides replete with tubing (OMGosh that was fun!), and shared her life and family. Jim and I also had a chance to enjoy each other and I was introduced to some delicious drinks in cans!

Our home away from home. I love camping!

What became clear to me is that most people are good and represent themselves authentically. Social media can be scary, but more often than not it can be a gift, bringing people together to share ideas and lives. It was hard to leave them and I wish we lived closer together. I am comforted in knowing that this was just the first of many more opportunities for a “linky.” In between we will have to be content with sharing emails and messages, photos and phone calls, but one thing is certain, I am a better person for having made these relationships and I am grateful.

Photo credit: Nora Doyle

It’s August 4th. I don’t return to work until August 26th and students return August 31st. I am still solidly in summer mode. Last summer I wrote a post highlighting my goals for the 2014-15 school year. You can read it here. I can happily report that I was able to stick to my plan, so I really don’t think I need to reinvent the wheel and cook up a new batch of goals. It worked for me. Overall, I had a decent school year and so my goal for the 2015-16 school year is to emerge unscathed!

I am aware through social media, that many, many SLPs have already returned to school, some with considerable anxiety, some choosing silence, some already feeling battered. I thought perhaps some suggestions from the personal and spiritual perspectives were warranted.

Here are my thoughts, for better or worse. Truthfully, my anxiety often stems from a feeling of not being in control. In this context I sometimes enter into a power struggle. That can quickly morph into defensiveness between all parties. My strategy is, when I start to feel that anxiety rearing it’s nasty head, I reframe my thinking to “What is the value of pressing my point,” or “Why does that statement threaten me, what is MY thinking?” Shazam! Anxiety in check. This also allows me to practice acceptance of others as I choose not to control them or the outcome.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating; don’t personalize. I practiced this one in earnest and experienced success toward the end of the year when a parent called me and SCREAMED at me for providing services to her child at his regularly scheduled time during the last week of school. This was a problem because his class was playing board games. I’m choosing not to go into the specifics because there is no value in dredging it up again. Suffice it to say, I was triggered by the assault, but was able to engage in self-talk that reiterated that the parent’s behavior was about her. I was able to exit the situation with both my professionalism and grace intact by not personalizing. It works!

Our jobs can be a theatrical event. Sometimes the drama outweighs the educating. I do my level best to steer clear of the histrionics, gossip, and general *%$# stirring. When approached or drawn in I ask myself, “What is the value for ME in this conversation?” If there is no value, I listen with a compassionate ear and make my escape. Sadly, I am not always successful in avoiding the drama, but I am practicing and every day I become more proficient.

I know we are SLPs, but do we always have to talk? In the last year and a half I have been listening more and more. The benefit is, when I actually do have something to say, people listen. They begin to expect some sage suggestion, some speech language pathology chestnut. I don’t like to admit it, but in the past my big ‘ole ego would get in the way, and these days I know where my significance comes from and it ain’t from the people at the table!

As recent as last school year, I found myself ruing Sunday night, getting anxious for the following day and the week to boot! I hear myself saying,”It’s almost Friday,” “Two more days,” “Six more years.” It occurred to me just this week that I’m not living for today! I’m not living in the moment! I’m wishing my life away! For what? I gave this some thought and tried to view it from a spiritual bent. I want to work for today doing kingdom work. I want to reframe my thinking so I’m not focused on working for “the man,” but for the Lord.

To do so I must see every colleague, every student, every parent as a child of God. I once heard that we should look for Jesus in the eyes of everyone. Doing that on a cognitive level will go a long way in creating an atmosphere of peace where I can behave with compassion. Yeah, not always easy, but this thinking will keep from getting triggered and bearing down on myself.

I’m more optimistic for the new school year to start than I have been in years. Each start is becoming a little easier as I practice my hard won skills. I hope sharing my thoughts will help you approach the start of school with a new energy and a sense of peace and I wish all of you a wonderful 2015-16.

 I have a reading problem! Now that doesn’t mean exactly how it sounds. I love puns and double entendre, so my problem isn’t truly with reading, it’s with not reading.

Let me explain: like many of you, I love books. I’m partial to fiction, but I will also read nonfiction and of course, professional reads. My problem is when I read I become so absorbed in the content that I read to the exclusion of all else. This is how it sometimes goes in our house: “Mom, what’s for dinner?” Me: “Cereal!” Now some may think I’m a baaaaaad Mommy, but I prefer to think of it as modeling a lifelong appreciation of reading!

Dusting…

I have a pile of great reads for this summer: The Girl on the Train, Edge of Eternity, American Gods, and a recommendation from Laura of All Y’all Need titled Shotgun Lovesongs. I decided to start with The Hobbit. I can’t believe I waited this long to read it. I moved on to the The Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers. I knew I was obsessed when, in one night, I had three dreams about Middle Earth INCLUDING seeing “Frodo Lives!” written on a wall. No joke! My thoughts are forever swirling around the characters and place names in the books and I am currently nursing a slight sunburn because rather than put down my book and move to the shade, I baked in the sun. I am now fully immersed in the final book of the trilogy, The Return of the King, and I don’t want it to end.

Cooking dinner…

J.R.R. Tolkien was brilliant. He was a philologist who wrote The Hobbit as an experiment with language, new ideas and concepts. I have absolutely loved reading his work, and while he firmly stated that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy were not an allegory for Christianity, Tolkien’s deep faith was clearly revealed in his writing.

That brings me to “the best things I learned this summer.” Words. Lots and lots of new words. Some of them I had a loose definition of from context, for instance I knew a league was a measure of distance, but not what measure. The meanings of some of the other words, I had no idea. As I read when I come across an unknown word, I look it up and then write it down with the definition in my journal (now you understand why I bought the speech nerd shirt).

Here is a little sampling:
Turves: the plural of turf (never imagined there was a plural for turf)
Wains: a wagon or chariot
Eyot: a small island
Fey: supernatural, unreal, otherworldly
Hauberk: a long defensive shirt falling to the knees, usually made of mail
Quail: to lose heart or courage when in danger, to shrink in fear
Swordthain: a noble soldier appointed by a king
Wold: an upland region of moorland
Embrasure: a beveled opening in a wall, especially for a door or window
League: a measure of distance, usually about three miles (unless of course it’s a Hobbit league which is shorter)
Furlong: one eighth of a mile
Gibbet: a gallows built to exhibit the body of one who has been executed
Gainsay: contradict
Blench: flinch, give way in fear
Dwimmerlaik: a name give to the Lord of the Nazgûl when Éowyn confronted him
Vambrace: armor worn on the forearm
Fell: merciless, terrifying; an animal’s hide; a moorland hill (Tolkien used this word a lot)
Dromund: a large ship
Perian: Hafling, Hobbit
Ghyll: a deep ravine

I found this wonderful site, The Encyclopedia of Arda: An Interactive Guide to the Works of 
J.R.R. Tolkien, that lists the rare and unusual words used in his works. If you haven’t read these books yet, start…now. The movies truly do them no justice. In fact, since I am completely obsessed I began watching the movies with my son. After the first I had to walk away as I was becoming increasingly frustrated. My son, too, was frustrated, but with me, because I kept exclaiming, “That didn’t happen! What? The Ents DID decide to become involved! They changed that! He didn’t act like that!” Mack liked the movie better when I left!

Though I don’t watch many YouTube videos, Nora thinks this is the perfect video to compliment my post. It’s a little rough for me. Is this what people do for work?

Oh! I also learned this summer not to go for a run after two big cups of coffee, how to make ghee, and that I really would love to stay home all day and read. What did you learn over summer vacation?

Photo credits: Nora Doyle

It’s been one week and one day since my return to NH from Phoenix, AZ where I made my yearly pilgrimage to the ASHA Schools Conference. Each year during the summer school-based SLPs converge in a pre-appointed destination for an opportunity to hobnob with the speech-language pathology glitterati. It is a time to reconnect, share, and learn and this year was no exception.

While my time spent in the Arizona heat was edifying, it also provided time for laughs. There have been several blog posts highlighting the 2015 conference (http://blog.asha.org/2015/07/14/schools-2015-was-a-sizzler/) (http://speechpeeps.com/2015/07/asha-schools-and-a-little-present.html) so I thought I would share the comedic side.

I arrived in Phoenix around noon on Thursday July 9th. I should have known that an adventure was in the making when my first task in AZ was to have Delta replace my battered, bent and broken suitcase. My poor bag got a swift kick from someone! I met my friend and Leadership Development Program pal, Carly and we set off in search of Alice Cooper’s Coopertown. It was 104°. When I left NH it was in the low 70s. I had a window seat on my flight to AZ and in an attempt to not disturb the passengers next to me with a trip to the lav, I refrained from drinking any water. What a dope! So in order to rehydrate I had 2 ice cold brews and some salty chips. What a bigger dope, but I’m no cry baby, so I forged onward. We met another friend, Jen and made our way out to dinner. As we walked down the street I found myself involuntarily saying, “It burns.” Jen and Carly both replied, “But there’s a breeze.” A BREEZE? Really? It felt like a blow dryer! We made our way to the restaurant where like Gollum I began shrinking into myself and after looking at the roadmap that was my eyes and accepting my jet lag, asked my girls to take me home. I was in bed by 7:30 AZ time!

Friday was spent doing what good SLPs at conferences do; plenary sessions, subject sessions, poster sessions, exhibits, and shopping. The real treat for me, though was meeting, live and in person, some amazing SLP friends that I only knew from our vast online community.

Toobaloo treat from PediaStaff. I tried to call Heidi with it, but my call didn’t go through! Hmmm?

On Saturday, while we were very interested in the sessions we also had a mission. We really wanted

a “Donald sighting.” We looked everywhere, but alas no luck. The convention center did a wonderful job segregating us from Mr. Trump. My only question is, shouldn’t the service elevators be a bit more secure?

It is incredibly hard to believe that it is my “blog-o-versary!” Or should I say, “bloggy birthday?” Whatever it’s called, it means the same thing; on July 7, 2014 I began my intrepid journey into the blogosphere! What a trip!! I have written several times about how blogging has expanded my social, my professional and my personal worlds. My plan is to continue writing as long as there are those who want to read my musings and as long as my creative juices keep flowing.

The Philadelphia skyline on our way to Villanova

This post is less speech pathology related and more parent related. We have a beautiful, smart, talented, loving daughter (am I biased?) who is entering her senior year of high school. Now, our daughter is very organized and has been keeping wonderful records of all her activities. We also have a handsome, smart, talented loving son who is a little less organized. As we have been visiting colleges and getting inundated with information, it occurred to me that our son would benefit from some sort of system to keep track of all his activities. Honestly, it all really begins in freshman year and it’s too late to start trying to make heads or tails of everything by the end of junior year. Hence, my On the Road to College organizer. When I completed all the organizer pages our daughter asked where it was when she started high school!?

These organizers cover everything from community service logs, to sports, to awards and offer a quick and easy way of keeping track of all the information college admissions offices require.
Print as many pages as needed and use a 5 X 7 binder or have all the pages spiral bound. In honor of my one year blog-o-versary I am offering the On the Road College Organizers for free until September 1, 2015.

Grab this set of college search organizers here!

I can’t wait to get this printed and bound. I think it is going to be most helpful for Mack. I hope if you have a child preparing for college or starting high school that you find this organizer useful. As one admissions director said, “View the college search as less of a process and more of an experience.” Enjoy the experience!

I was ironing the other day. That’s right vacation has begun?! I was ironing an antique tablecloth and some vintage aprons. As I proceeded with my domestic drudgery (not really, I love to iron) my mind wandered to my love of collections. I am a hoarder, ahem, collector. It started when I was a little girl. My Grandfather was a philatelist and he encouraged me to start collecting as well. Even as a little girl I noticed dialects. One day, my Grandfather was explaining to me what “coil” stamps were. For the longest time I pronounced the word “curl” because my Grandfather was from the Bronx and everything “oil” with my translation, was “url,” and everything “url” was “oil!” You see, I was only a little “goil” and Bronx was a different language. My Grandfather was also an amazing artist. He made me a beautiful stamp book that I treasure. I also began to treasure collecting. As I grew up I moved away from stamps and rocks and onto records. I saved all my change and would head over to Ramsey Records and search the bins for albums on sale. I amassed quite a collection, hundreds of albums in fact. One day, many years later, we had a yard sale and my husband accidentally took the crates of albums I wanted instead of the small stack I was willing to part with. I don’t want to talk about it:( Suffice it to say, now my kids favorite mom quote is, “I used to have that album.” Sometime in my twenties, my nesting kicked in, so my collecting trended to more domestic items; antiques, in particular linens and glassware. I love old kitchen glass especially, jade-ite and salt and pepper shakers and refrigerator jars. Naturally, with children and limited space my purchasing has slowed down. Very sad! I do love poking around a musty antique shop, though.

Okay, back to ironing! I started thinking about how collecting has influenced me and my children. My son would go into my china cabinet and take a Wade whimsy to his room and announce he had a “collection.” My daughter has a love of buttons and has acquired some beautiful Bakelite and vintage buttons. My wheels started turning and I wondered how I could connect collecting to speech language therapy? I did a little “light research” and came across an article in Psychology Today that explored how children’s collections could be used to an advantage in the classroom. The article quoted Elizabeth Howe. She wrote, “It is quite clear, that the teacher who had such information would have an insight into the children’s inner life which she would hardly be able to get in any other way. Since good teaching strives to connect student interest to curricular content, such knowledge can be invaluable for building intellectual bridges.”
How can I use a child’s collection as the basis of speech language therapy? Here’s how:

1. Vocabulary development-whether it’s rocks, stamps, or buttons the opportunity to expand vocabulary is rich. Think about words like philately (love they way that one rolls off the tongue), vintage, Bakelite, igneous, mica, etc.
2. The connection to science speaks for itself.
3. As I considered the types of collections I have I am reminded of history and the connection to Social Studies. My collections of choice harken back to the depression and WWII. An exploration of life in those eras would be both fascinating and fun for students.
4. With many collections, a study of the arts would dovetail beautifully. The designs of types of glassware, textile design, and stamp artistry.
5. Executive Functions-it would be a blast to have students design a stamp or an apron and role play the process of marketing their designs.
6. Compare and Contrast- the opportunities for comparison are limitless. Comparisons can be made between eras and items themselves.
7. Social Pragmatics-I love the idea of students sharing their own collections; how they began and why they are so valued. The collections themselves could provide great insight into a students thoughts and feelings. 
8. Written Expression-what a wonderful opportunity to write from prior knowledge or to create a character that has a penchant for collecting Matroyshka dolls or socks or gum wrappers.

For me, my collections connect me to an era I love.
They connect me to my parents and grandparents. They connect me to my children and someday to their children and I find comfort in these silly, whimsical pieces of glass and fabric. I think that collecting was important for me as a child and I think it still is today. It seems something of childhood has been lost and I would love to rekindle that joy for my students. Oh, and as I look back on my stamps (that I just had my son retrieve from the attic) I was reminded that my Pops rocked!!!

 It’s my last week of school! Typically, I am in the throes of progress reports, last minute IEPs and evaluations, end of year reflections, cleaning, sorting, and other assorted mayhem. For some peculiar reason the end of this school year is different. In fact this entire school year has been different! This morning my friends and coworkers and I were chatting and one suggested we take a picture of this calm, cool and collected SLP because of its novelty. Another colleague suggested a blog post and I happily obliged! I, too, have been struck by my year and thought it might be a good idea to reflect on what was different this year. It’s probably a good idea to try and replicate it next year! 

From an organizational perspective I have done some things differently and they most assuredly were effective.

1. I often get overwhelmed and forget where I am supposed to be. Yes, I am the person you see walking down the hall and then doing a 180 and going the other way. My new support system was my paper calendar (in my binder) and Google calendar. When I received a meeting notification I first wrote it on my monthly calendar then I entered it into google calendar. I put a check on the notification indicating I had posted it. At the end of each week I looked at my monthly calendar and entered any upcoming meetings for the week on my weekly to-do page in my binder. Google calendar helped by sending me 30-minute and 10-minute reminders. I did not miss or arrive late for ONE meeting this year! ALLELUIA!
2. Last summer I created organizers (that have kept me on task and on time). In fact, I was often
   

   early with my paperwork. Let me just say, that in the past, it was down to the wire. I used these along with pages from Lauren LaCour’s Speech Therapy Organizing Planner, had them all bound, and was good to go. I don’t know why I didn’t do this 30 years ago. Oh yes, I do…no computers! I was able to keep track of goals, lesson plans, IEPs, evaluations, screenings, copying, field trips, purchases, professional development, and so much more in two books. I did separate my planning from my paperwork in two books. I think one book would have been too massive! 

3. All my therapy plans for the upcoming week were completed the week before. Materials were prepped and ready to go the week before. There were no early morning scrambles! This had been my practice forever, but somehow after having my own children, it fell to the wayside. I have reclaimed my sanity by being ready to go the week before.
4. When I received notification for an IEP or evaluation I went to work immediately. Progress monitoring was completed and goals written 2-3 weeks ahead of the meeting date. Testing was begun as soon as possible and was done in the order of meeting date. There were times I would start the process of goal writing only to realize I had already completed them! It’s true!!

Now for the mental component. I spent a good part of my life an anxious, sensitive wreck. How did I stay sane this year? Like this: