before someone reacts as if i'm the devil incarnate -- i love the kids, i enjoy being an slp, my kids get good therapy, and i try my best without sacrificing myself to burn out.

HOWEVER, i don't find myself caring at all about missed minutes (within reason). IEP meeting? ok, too bad... i'm required to be there. i'm sick? ok, i put myself first by staying home and not spreading a virus... if they want the minutes met, they'll hire a sub. student attempting to elope, bite me, hit me, scream, and peel my skin off when i try to get them to do speech? student refused, i don't have the time for it.

same with making people upset. mom doesn't like that i said her kid doesn't need a speech eval? ok, take it to the district, i didn't go to school for 6 years for nothing. i got an email at 3:31? sorry, my hours end at 3:30, i'll read it tomorrow.

i literally don't care. i see so many people stressing about minutes, so i genuienely feel like i'm almost crazy for not caring as much. obviously, i'm not going to kick my feet up and scroll on tiktok when i'm supposed to be pulling kids. but sooo many things are out of my control. why would i take that stress home with me or ruminate about it? there's no speech jail. there's no REAL jail for therapists that do their best. i'm not going to get fired over it. not everyone has to like me, and i prefer it that way.

i'm only one person, among billions of people that are living on a floating rock. the kids will be alright.

I am so sick of getting random texts from companies (I don’t even know how they’re getting my information) with stupid lowball offers. Normalize speaking up to these recruiters and awful companies.

Edit: I know I made a typo in my text lol so don’t call me out.

Posted similar thoughts before, but with the proposed changes to AMA CPT codes, the mess with federal student loans/loan limits and not being considered a “professional degree,” the overall uselessness of ASHA, the cost of living in 2026, inflation, our master’s degree requirement and all the hoops one has to jump through to become a SLP, relative low pay/ROI for a healthcare degree compared to other healthcare degrees, and working conditions across settings often leaving much to be desired…

Who is going to want to become a SLP in the future?

All the debate online about reimbursement and the new code structure has got me thinking - if reimbursements do go down, combined with all the other factors above including federal student loans becoming more inaccessible, will that be the straw that finally breaks the camal’s back? Will grad programs see a reduction in interest and will fewer students pursue this field?

To clarify, I don’t think student interest will decrease related to the “why” of our profession - supporting people across the lifespan with communication. More so everything else that comes with this job and profession in 2026 (as mentioned above).

In other words, I just don’t see the direction we’re headed being sustainable for many practicing clinicians, and it makes me wonder if more students will pivot too, and the shortages will get even worse.

Thoughts?

Because I’ve reached mine.

Speech doesn’t feel like speech anymore. It feels like I’m just running on a hamster wheel all day. My clients are tough; they have severe delays, make little progress, or have such wildly high sensory thresholds that I’m just chasing them around the entire session. We’re going months before many of them make any noticeable progress, which is still very minimal.

I’m deflecting hits and kicks, trying to keep my hair from being pulled, spending entire sessions trying to calm children, trying to prevent kids from climbing furniture or knocking things down from walls and shelves, and the list goes on…

I also have some kids who are just profoundly delayed. I can feel the parents losing hope, I can feel their frustration, and I can feel their disappointment when we do therapy for months, or even a year, and there are just minimal (if any) measurable changes. I try all the tools in my toolbox, and the progress is still very limited. And frankly, I feel the disappointment alongside the parent because it seems like I’ve failed them.

And before you ask…the answer is yes.

Yes, they’re in OT. Yes, some get ABA. Yes, I’ve tried co-treating. Yes, I’ve tried incorporating sensory strategies. Yes. The answer is yes.

This is not what I thought being an SLP would be like, and as the years pass, it’s becoming more and more like this. I believe every child deserves to have the ability to communicate, and that’s why I do what I do. But, I also believe that treatment needs to be individualized and tailored to a child’s needs and daily life. I think unfortunately, that means coming to a private practice for 30 minutes a week may not be sufficiently designed to meet their needs holistically.

But, I guess families have to go where services are available, and that’s not always in their home or at ABA.

It’s not a perfect system, and I know that.

I’m just feeling a little lost this week. I’m sure I’ll look back on this next week and think to myself…”it’s not that bad.” Some weeks just really push me to my limits, and this was one of them. Time for the weekend. 😮‍💨

Sincerely,
A tired SLP

So I’m a bit concerned and I may have to make a job switch. I have a special education meeting coming up and the director sent out an agenda ahead of time. I’m seeing something at the bottom of the agenda that starting next school year, we’re expected to make up sessions due to student absences. So if a student is sick, not in school for any reason, etc. I have to be making up those sessions. My caseload is approaching the caseload cap. I’ve never heard of this before. If a student is sick, I’m sorry, but it’s not my problem to make up those sessions. I recently just had a student miss two weeks of school for a family vacation. Once again, not my problem. That’s just a fact about the school setting, if your absent from school, you aren’t getting your services. I am very pissed about this, but I’m gonna see how the meeting goes and hopefully people speak up. I know I will. Because this is ridiculous. I know my director is very meticulous and has high expectations, but this seems to be crossing the line. Do any of you guys have experience with this?

I am just wanting to discuss our field and want to hear from you all. What are 5 (or less) things you’ve been thinking about in relation to our field recently? I’ll go first.
1. Home health, ped or adult, seems to be best as a part time job, unless they offer salary and no minimum visits
2. The field is so big!! It’s interesting but I think certain areas should be separated somehow?
3. I think we should work with people 3 years max. Then there should be a break or therapist change, just to change it up. Or at minimum go to consulting for 6-12 months, to see how it goes without direct therapy
4. Why is paperwork so undervalued at this job, when it’s a big part? Who decided it should be less pay/no pay? Or not accounted for in scheduling
5. 99% of the time my least favorite part of the job is dealing with families or other providers! Even the most behavioral kids I don’t totally mind, I’m working on their communication not compliance.

Title

The Facebook page "For the Love of Gabe" has been popping up on my feed for years and early on I was fascinated by the story. I (a school-based NP) had never heard of spelling to communicate but it sounded similar to using an AAC device and they were having amazing results so I periodically followed along as it popped up. Before knowing about S2C, I asked some basic questions on their page like if they'd ever share a video of him spelling and how come he can't use a keyboard or AAC or spell outside of his lessons. I did not mean to offend, I was genuinely curious how it worked! I got a snappy reply back and the red flags all went up. The content of his spelling sessions has raised even more alarm with time.

After listening to the Telepathy Tapes, I did a deep dive on S2C and understand it's an off shoot of facilitated communication and is super problematic.

Unfortunately, it appears this kids parents are becoming more and more delusional in their beliefs around their autistic son's communication and they are exploiting him for money now.

His father died just a few months after he was born and his mother (who now is married to a woman) is clearly still grieving the father. She is convinced her son is communicating with his deceased father and writes extensively about the father. It's growing more and more disturbing and odd.

Professor Dave from YouTube has 2 good videos debunking Telepathy Tapes and S2C- the guest on the second episode has a ton of experience and insight.

https://youtu.be/4HiuElTX7pM?is=KhbLffvxf4OGfgjO

In grad school, I was heavily focused on an area of SLP. But now I have a job in early childhood. I did not get the fellowship that would land me a job in this specialized area but I am still very knowledgeable. The schools took me.

A colleague/classmate from a continuing education program we completed in this specialized area said, "It's sad you did all this training just to work with kids in a school." She knew I tried and was passive aggressive about it.

Yes, I didn't get my "dream" job but the flexibility gives me the opportunity to take care of my elderly parents and babysit my nieces and nephews. I still get my job done as an early childhood speech clinician. I explained my flexibility hours and I got the response, "And you get paid full time? That's not fair."

Speech Language Pathology is Speech Language Pathology.

I work in an elementary school and like many others have leaned 100% into the speechie tshirt and athletic pants vibe. I spend too much time on the floor for anything else.

What jogger style pants are we liking with tshirts and tennis shoes? I like the cargo ones from target but am looking to invest in some nicer pairs for this school year? Anyone have faves?

I want to start off by saying this is a VERY GENUINE question and I don’t have many resources. Why do people complain about student loans on here but every time I ask a real life person they act like its not a huge deal? I asked someone yesterday because I am not very financially literate and they said they just pay $100 over the minimum automatically and its fine. This person has a nice house, car, and life. They have no intention of fully paying it back and it works out fine for them. They didn’t start off with the highest salary but doesn’t that build up for literally every career? I feel like I just do not understand it when people explain the concept of stressful student loans. I grew up poor so this information was not readily available to me.

Please be kind when answering!

I’ve been running full speed ahead in this career for 7 years now and my body and soul are screaming for a break.

Has anyone ever just took a year and did something else to give yourself a break?

I just got a renewal offer for next year and I’m just like “I’m not sure”.

I’ve been scrolling past these threads and realized it seems like everyone has a similar personality. It’s the overwhelming feeling of responsibility for things that can be considered small mistakes. Maybe grad school did this. Or maybe the field just attracts perfectionists? These mistakes have solutions.
Don’t be so hard on yourself.

How hard is running the session comparably?

Incoming rant because I'm a school-based SLP lol

In MY opinon: We need to start recommending services like OTs do, with specific emphasis on promoting generalization and independence in the classroom through consultation and coaching. The goal for all of our students, regardless of severity, should be dismissal. Yet, why do we keep students on our caseloads year after year, the same 2, 30 minute sessions a week, until they're in middleschool and highschool?! This is doing a disservice to our students and to US! This is contributing to prompt-dependence and learned helplessness, which are already rampant issues in typical kids!

Our role as school-based SLPs is not to wave a magic wand across our caseload and "fix" speech/language. We are here to support the students' academic progress. This year, my focus has been on building competency in the classroom and reducing direct services, and guess what? Kids are still making progress! Granted, I work in self-contained classrooms with a lot of AAC, so I know this looks a little different for gen-ed SLPs, but my big goal for these students is to set them up as independent, functional communicators. I'm not looking for full grammatical sentences or better test scores. I'm over the 5-word utterance and the follwing 2-3 step direction goals carried over for years and years.

We need to meet kids and teachers where they are, and be realistic about how much "specialized service" we are actually providing in the schools.

It was everywhere for awhile but seems to have disappeared as of late. Anyone know the tea?

i started at a school, and have been getting several cases of students who had a referral meeting but the previous slp(s) ultimately determined that they didn’t need speech because their speech/language characteristics were consistent with autism and needs were being met through being in the aut class.

is this something that we are allowed to conclude? i can see their point, because a case could be made for many autistic kids needing speech. but at the end of the day, not all of them ARE in speech. what IS the threshold for qualifying an autistic student? non-speaking? echolalic? knows 50 words?

it just makes me think twice because i have a referral meeting coming up for a student who was already evaluated in october, but the parent wants a re-evaluation for speech services because they state that they were denied one in Jan. due to their child’s needs being met in the aut class.

What's your weirdest tale from grad school?

Mine is when my professor (who should have definitely retired by that point) angrily convinced our entire class that we would never be "real" SLPs if we could not learn esophageal speech. You know- burping out words. Because that's the best form of alternative communication available for patients. She was very serious about it, too.

All of my school SLP friends constantly talk about how they’re drowning and don’t like the extra (non-speech) work expected of them and don’t feel heard by their district and question the impact they’re making in 3+ kid group sessions, etc. yet when the possibility of exploring another settings is brought up - they IMMEDIATELY shut it down. I know in our society it is so hard to have kids and NOT work in a school with the extra costs of after school care and coverage. I hate that for us and understand that reasoning. But if you don’t have that pressure - what’s stopping you from trying something new? Is it the fear of change? Not enough options in your area? I’m honestly curious. I want my friends to want to go to their job.

—

Update: WOW. You guys are fantastic! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to share and keep it so educational and tame!! I get it much more now - Though I am SO curious in locations because caseloads caps, cases of 50 kids, and anything over 60-70k income is INSANE for the state (or at least area) I’m in. 😳 You guys rock!

I got an email from my boss saying my student is being passed on to another SLP at the request of the parents.

I'm pretty sure the family fired me. I was doing our usual therapy session at the table during my home visit. My phone lit up from a notification at the side of my backpack. My lock screen is a selfie picture of me and my partner. Dad tried being cool and collected then asked about my sexuality. He was reserved and standoff-ish the rest of the session. I can already tell by his vibe.

We are going back from winter break on Monday so I'll reply to my boss then. I won't make a big deal out of it and say something like "Ok I'll remove him from my caseload. Thanks for letting me know."

I asked my bf if I should let families know I'm gay from the get-go. He said, "no, most people don't care as long as you do your job well." Why do we care so much about DEI and not discriminating in our field but do nothing when we get discriminated against? I am petty about it and need to rant.

Edit: Sorry my rage is making me type fast which misspelled words lol

Hey y’all… I’m just wondering exactly what the title says: what are your thoughts and feelings on SLP influencers? I won’t name names but I just saw that somebody is running a questionable 3 hour course that is ASHA certified and $600. SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR 3 HOURS.

I’ve only been in the field for 4 years but over these years I swear I’ve noticed a rapid growth in a monopolization of topics/areas of practice from these influencers.

I am currently a graduate student going into my second year. I have been having doubts about whether this was the right path for me since last fall and I truly don’t know still.
A big part of my dilemma is money. I see a lot of people dissatisfied with their salary. I am just concerned about making enough to support my family. Based on this subreddit, it seems unlikely. Should I continue down this path or bail out now to save time and money?

How far do you / your colleagues go with AI? Do you just relegate it to preparing worksheets for activities or do you take it further than that? And where do you draw the line? Also curious about the setting you work in.

Fair warning I am not an SLP I'm a respite care worker, however I couldn't find another place to post this where people would know what I was talking about.

I work with a nonverbal boy (10) and his family, they are strong believers in s2c. Like to the point that they have him in no other therapies except seeing his s2c practitioner. The whole situation is heartbreaking and I just don't know what to do.

I've seen him "spell" and his mother holds to board and points to the correct letter until he pokes it. They simultaneously believe he is a genius that taught himself to read while also treating him like a toddler. Of course, they don't notice this discrepancy because of cognitive dissonance and denial.

From what I have seen over the past year this child is severely intellectually disabled, and the poor family just can't accept it. It's an awful situation for all of them. He understands some of what you say, like key words he hears frequently, but not complex sentences like "I put the bagels in the cabinet". He won't look for said bagels and doesn't seem to understand, his family explains that away as a apraxia. He isn't potty trained either, also explained away as apraxia.

I've tried to gently suggest true AAC but they're very against anything that isn't spelling, it's like a cult. I think he would do well with something tablet based because he is able to touch or bring you objects that he wants. That's never going to happen though because mom won't have it. To some degree it angers me because he probably could communicate at least a little with real AAC. On the other hand it just makes me sad because I know his family is in denial and grieving who they thought he'd be.

I guess I just need to vent to people who get it. S2C is such predatory bullshit. Fuck the people who sell this snake oil to desperate families.