When Lindsey inherited 75 students with no prior services, she says finding the right school SLP organization system was the only reason she made it. Read how she went from scattered and overwhelmed to organized, efficient, and actually loving her teletherapy SLP workflow.
I want to share something that Lindsey Marlin said to me that I haven’t stopped thinking about.
Lindsey is a 13-year SLP. She has done it all: high school, middle school, elementary, preschool, skilled nursing facilities, home health. She found her way into teletherapy and now works with a tribal district in New Mexico, managing her practice remotely from Phoenix.
She told me that if SLP Now ever disappeared, she would quit the profession.
“I don’t know anyone else who does what you do. And I wouldn’t trust that they would do it to this degree. So why would I settle?”
I’m sharing her story today because I think a lot of you are exactly where Lindsey was before she found a system that actually worked.
What Happens When Your Caseload Gets Dropped on You All at Once
Lindsey didn’t ease into her current role. She took on a teletherapy position with a tribal district and inherited a caseload of 75 students across multiple schools. These kids hadn’t had services in over a year.
“It was just, you know, dumped upon me.”
She had worked hard as a school-based SLP earlier in her career. She knows what it feels like to work nights and weekends trying to keep up, to feel like you’re basically earning minimum wage once you factor in all the extra hours.
When this massive volume of SLP caseload management landed on her desk, she knew she needed more than materials. She needed a system.
How She Started Using SLP Now (And How It Grew With Her)
Here’s something Lindsey said that I want every SLP to hear, especially if you’ve ever thought an SLP Now membership is “just therapy materials.”
She started using it exactly that way. Small caseload. Binders for data. Handwritten notes. Materials were all she needed.
Then things changed.
When she suddenly had 75 students, all with different goals, spread across multiple schools, she started using everything:
- The caseload management tools
- The digital data collection
- The session notes
- The Medicaid billing templates
- The literacy-based therapy units
“Then when I suddenly had 75 on my caseload, it was like, well, I need to utilize this like wholeheartedly.”
What she found is that everything she needed was already there waiting for her.
Why Medicaid Billing Was the Thorn in Her Side (And How That Changed)
I asked Lindsey about Medicaid billing for SLPs because she had mentioned it as one of the biggest frustrations before she had a system.
She described it perfectly.
Before SLP Now, she never quite knew how things were supposed to be phrased. She couldn’t tell if something was pending or had gone through. It was one more stressful thing piled on top of an already overloaded schedule.
“Now you know, it’s a click of a button and you can create with the template exactly what you need. Make the adjustments and then click, click, and it’s done.”
That’s it. That’s the whole transformation. The billing didn’t change. The requirements didn’t change. The system did. And when your system works, the aggravating stuff stops eating your day.
What Her Teletherapy Workflow Actually Looks Like Now
I asked Lindsey to walk me through how SLP Now shows up in a typical day. Here’s what her daily workflow looks like:
- Always On: She opens it at the start of her session day and keeps it open all day.
- Session Prep: She uses the session note feature to see exactly what she needs to work on with each student.
- Real-Time Notes: She takes notes either on paper or inside the platform, depending on the kid. She aims to close out each note in the five minutes between sessions.
“It’s just up all day and I just use it all day and it’s just there all day.”
The caseload tools let her see everything at a glance. No more flipping through binders. No more hunting for the right file. Just click, click, there it is.
She also uses the literacy-based therapy units regularly. Her students have responded well to the structure. They recognize the framework when it comes back in different books, and that repetition is exactly what the research supports.
How She Talks to Other SLPs About SLP Now
When other SLPs ask Lindsey about her school-based SLP tools, she doesn’t hesitate.
“I tell them there’s really no way to do this job going forward without SLP Now. Because unless you’re going to do everything with a binder, I still wouldn’t recommend that. These kids are coming in with more difficulties. Global deficits. There are so many things and it’s just too much to keep track of.”
She sends them straight to the free trial.
“Go look at the website. You can try it. Play with this. Everything that you need is right here. Absolutely everything.”
What “Organized on the Inside but Overwhelmed by the Weight of Everything” Actually Feels Like
There’s a phrase Lindsey used early in our conversation that I wrote down immediately. She said she could relate to feeling “organized on the inside but overwhelmed by the weight of everything.”
That’s such a real description of where so many SLPs are.
You care deeply. You’re competent. You have good intentions for every student on your caseload. But the volume is just crushing.
You’re not failing. You’re under-supported. And the difference between those two things matters.
What Lindsey found, and what I hear from members all the time, is that the right system changes the weight of the job. Not the caseload itself. Not the documentation requirements. Not the meetings. But how all of it feels when you have a structure underneath it.
A Note on Staying in a Profession You Love
Lindsey found her way to teletherapy after 10-plus years of trying different settings. She loves it. She says it felt like grad school again, back when the job was enjoyable.
She credits SLP Now as part of what makes it sustainable.
“I can’t imagine doing this job without you guys.”
If you’re reading this and you’re close to the edge, not sure if you can keep going, I want you to know that is not a personal failure. It is a systems problem. And systems can be fixed.
Try SLP Now Free for 14 Days
If Lindsey’s story sounds familiar, I’d love for you to see what she’s talking about.
No credit card required. Full access to the platform for 14 days, including caseload tools, data tracking, session notes, billing templates, literacy-based therapy units, and 5 download credits to try the therapy materials.
You deserve tools that make staying worth it.
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