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Email me at eheplerslp@gmail.com or follow me on:

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Huge thank you to NCSHLA for inviting me to teach

Huge thank you to NCSHLA for inviting me to teach their short course this year!

Teachers: you all deserve an immediate raise. Immediate! This was 4 hours and I am worn out. You all do this all day every day. The true heroes. 🤩

#autism, #neurodiversity, #slpsofinstagram

I’m using my ⏸️ Pause Card. I’m taking a

I’m using my ⏸️ Pause Card.

I’m taking a short break to spend time with my family during their holiday break.

When I use the pause card, it means I’m taking a break…but I’ll start back soon. It works well with kids for transitions too!

Happy holidays and happy spring, all!
🌸🌷

#slpsofinstagram, #slpmom

First and foremost I want to put a disclaimer that

First and foremost I want to put a disclaimer that I am not intending to discount the advice of any other SLP or professional on here. I do think there can be harm in using sentence strips (if we get stuck on just one) or first then schedules (if we use it as a prize or reward). I just want to share my personal opinion (as a Mom) and professional opinion (as an SLP) that we don’t have to throw away everything we ever learned, made, or bought along the way.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Me: reads neurodiversity affirming information and starts from scratch.
🙋🏼‍♀️ Also me: looks around and says “okay now I have nothing and no clue what I’m doing.” 😜😜😜

Hear me out…let’s meet in the middle.

1) Sometimes families (and professionals…especially teachers) are in survival mode. This is okay. Let’s ride that out. This may mean learning to access communication for necessity- it may not be self generated or ideal just yet.
2) Recognize and acknowledge the settings and goals families desire and have access to: does this kid need to survive a traditional school program? Could I add some structure and flexibility learning to my sessions to help with that? Could all child led possible lead to an obstacle for this family?
3) Do I have a student who needs some basic need fulfilling language access before moving towards our ideal goals?
4) Is my student in fight or flight, eloping, dysregulated? Is my caregiver burned out? Do they have their own unmet needs?

Again- I absolutely respect the ideas behind scrapping the “I want” (only) sentence strips…the reward systems…and a lot of other wonderful suggestions I’ve seen.

But…I wonder if it’s what we are doing with them instead of the tools themselves. 🛠️

#slp, #slpa, #iteachsped, #slptobe, #neurodivergent, #autism

My email subscribers get a message at the beginnin

My email subscribers get a message at the beginning of each month jam packed with ideas for their whole Speech & Language caseload and a whole Freebie Library! 📧 The April freebies just headed out.

I also maintain a blog that gives ideas for a variety of topics, including seasonal themes, gestalt language, and more!

Come check it out.

www.ausomespeech.com

What’s your favorite spring theme?
(I like frogs and bunnies) 🐸🐰

#slpfreebies, #slpblogger, #speechtherapyideas, #earlyintervention, #ashaigers

🗣️ Next month I will be presenting to NCSHLA

🗣️ Next month I will be presenting to NCSHLA for a short course.

Topics will include:
1) Intro to Neuroriversity
2) The Differences in Educational and Medical Models in NC
3) Gestalt Language Development

How to mush all of this together and make it work across settings. Sortof like cleaning out the “junk drawer”…it may get messier at first before it all comes together.

🗣️ Public Speaking was my least favorite course in college.
🗣️ I don’t like standing in front of people.
♾️ I used to be afraid of autism.

I think it’s safe to say I’ve been through some pivotal moments that have brought me to a place where I would intentionally agree to stand in front of people and talk for 4 hours. It’s about kids: yours, mine, and those to come. For that…I will gladly do it!

That being said…this presentation is a lot! 😜

Every time I’m “finished”, I change my mind or the facts change.

The CDC just updated its 1/44 to 1/36 on 3/24/2023. I missed that….and frankly that’s a big jump.

#autism, #neurodiversity, #gestaltlanguage, #slp, #slpa

🙋🏼‍♀️I was wrong. I readily admit it

🙋🏼‍♀️I was wrong.

I readily admit it.

I did the best I could with what I had and what I knew, but I continued to learn. I sought out patient perspectives and vowed to include autistic voices in my continuing Ed.

Here are just a few of the things I’ve had to work on (there are a TON more).

❤️ I do think most parents and providers have good intentions. We are fed lists of “x therapy” and told 567 things to do from the professionals who open the doors.

Sometimes these experts can know a little bit about a lot of stuff…and not a lot about one topic. Sometimes they are very stuck in past ways and deficit driven.

We can make neurodiversity affirming changes and still get paid as providers. We can make these changes as parents and still survive difficult moments.

I firmly believe in:
-meeting kids where they are (joining their world, if they’ll let you)
-allowing and joining in stimming and Echolalia (if the child allows and enjoys this)
-advocating for ourselves, students, and children…even when someone else has intimidating credentials

What are some other things to add to my list of things I’m proactively working on?

#neurodiversityaffirming, #autism, #speechtherapy, #specialed, #inclusion, #neurodivergent

I have a fun freebie for spring speech and languag

I have a fun freebie for spring speech and language!

You can turn a wipe container into a caterpillar for “feed me” games. The set also comes with dot art for articulation, art, and preschool fun!

Let me know if you need the link.

#slpfreebies, #slpfreebiefriday, #articulation, #preschoolslp

❓Number One Question I get during presentations:

❓Number One Question I get during presentations: what does a goal look like?

First- I’d take a long hard look at who or what our goals and treatment plans are for (as SLPs and as IEP providers). The plan should be for the student or for the patient- not for the caregivers, teachers, or classmates.

♾️ Neurodiversity Affirming goals are going to include:
1) The Perspective of your client, patient, or student. I’m not sure if I’ve seen this on an IEP before…and that’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently.
2) Access to self advocacy, including the ability to give consent prior to being touched, the ability to say “no”, and the ability to dissent. These are basic human rights. Not all children have access to this category of language.
3) Functional language (wants, needs, knowledge, and more).
4) Emotional and Sensory Regulation- as an SLP you can embed this in your S of your “soap” notes and also embed it into your goals.
5) Multiple Perspectives and other social topics can be taught- quite frankly to the whole group/class- from a neutral perspective.

Other ideas: executive functioning, functional life skills (can you sort laundry instead of plastic teddy bears?), and learning new info while participating in or with favorite things. Ex: kid doesn’t like reading about spatial position words…but loves basketball. Go play basketball!

📦 As a Mom and as a SLP, it’s time to get out of our boxed in goals and also to think outside the box to really personalize this for each kid.

Challenge: pretty please participate…

Can you share a neurodiversity affirming goal you’ve seen or written in the comments?

#autism, #neurodivergent, #neurodiversity, #neurodiversityaffirming, #speechtherapy, #iteachsped

♾️ Evidently it’s Neurodiversity Week.

🤷🏼‍♀️ I was late to read the memo, oopsie doopsies!

“Neurodiversity” is a term that emerged in the 90s as a descriptive variance between “normal” brains and “non normal brains”.

The Neurodiversity Movement is a civil rights movement that began in the 1990’s.

Many SLPs are now working to become more neurodiversity affirming by:
-recognizing and respecting normal variations in human cognition
-promoting body autonomy
-working on connection over compliance
-shifting “social skills training” to the whole group (including neurotypical students) and helping students learn self advocacy skills

Happy Neurodiversity Week!

#autism, #adhd, #neurodivergent, #neurodiversityaffirming, #neurodiversityaffirmingtherapist, #neurodiverse, #inclusion, #iteachsped, #slp, #slpa

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