It’s Monday afternoon. I’m feeling good, because I came up with an awesome lesson plan on Friday. My next group walks in the door, ready for another fun day in speech therapy. I know exactly what we’re going to do. But wait… Where are my materials??? They must have gotten misplaced in the crazy Monday shuffle. Not cool!
Has this happened to you? Yes? Okay, whew. I was hoping I wasn’t the only one. But guess what? This doesn’t happen to me anymore (or at least much less than it used to). I started consistently using three tools (and you probably already have them in your speech room).
It’s simple, really. I don’t know why I didn’t start doing this earlier!
The first step is to come up with a plan!
Once I have my therapy plan, I pull out the materials I’ll need. It kinds of reminds me of packing… Like we’re going on a speech trip? Here is where I put those materials…
1. The Inclusion Bag
I have a couple classrooms that I go to for inclusion (or push-in services). I spend a lot of time working in our preschool, so I have a bag filled with materials for my minimally verbal friends. I do some quick lessons in other classrooms, so I may or may not prep a bag depending on how many materials I need.
2. The Speech Bin
This is what I use the most often. I use it to keep the materials for the majority of my caseload together. On any given week you might find…
Books for the week
Folders for different therapy “groups” (e.g., activities, homework, craft templates)
TPT packets
Miscellaneous supplies
I also have decks of cards in my drawer cart, visuals hanging on my wall, and binders filled with teaching materials. Since those are organized (and stored close to my therapy table), I usually just grab those when I need them. Check out this post to see how I keep them organized.
3. Digital/iPad
Most of the materials I use on a daily basis live in the SLP Now Materials library. I pull them up on my iPad for quick and easy (evidence-based) therapy!
There you have it…
These three tools are really simple, but they help keep my speech room from getting too messy throughout the day. Everything has a place (even if it is temporary)! No more shuffling through piles of materials on my therapy table!
What are your favorite ways to keep track of therapy materials? Let me know in the comments!
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