Piles of papers stacked on all desks and tables. Therapy materials scattered across the room. A to-do list that’s a mile long.
This unfortunately isn’t an uncommon situation in the life of a school-based SLP.
Sometimes some of that clutter is inevitable, but I absolutely hate it when I can’t find the materials that I need for a session.
I needed a streamlined and efficient way to organize my students’ data and activities.
I tried a number of systems (file folders, binders, portfolios) in attempt to keep track of it all.
The New Student Folder
I was browsing on Amazon for cheap solutions, and I came across these adhesive prongs.
I stick them in regular portfolio folders. They make it so easy to quickly add new pages (and flip through old ones).
Here’s a look at how I assembled the folder:
What Do You Keep in the Folder?
Visuals: I keep sleeve protectors in the folder to store my students’ visuals. This way they always know what they’re working on, and it’s easy to quickly scaffold a new skill. (I store most of my visuals in my therapy tote, but I use student folders to store visuals that I customized just for the student or visuals that the student created.)
Vocabulary Journals: Vocabulary journals are my favorite! There is so much research on the benefits of vocabulary journals, and the sheets can be easily stored in the folder.
Student Data: Increasing student goal awareness is related to better outcomes. I want to give my students ownership of their data. I include worksheets from my Progress Monitoring Kit.
Therapy Activities: I also stick in any paper activities. It’s nice to have a mini-portfolio to share with parents/teachers at conferences.
Curriculum-Based Therapy: I set up a folder for every student, but I also use it to keep track of activities that teachers share with me.
I keep a two-hole punch by the therapy table. This makes it so that my students and I can quickly add new pages to the folder.
I keep the folders in my therapy cart for easy access.
So there you have it! Do you set up student folders? How do you organize them?
I love this idea. I use the same folders that you use and it is definitely a pain. I’ll be using your idea when we come back from winter break.
Hello! I know this isn’t a super recent post but I’m wondering if you print out colored visuals for every student for their working folders? Does this seems a bit expensive/ time consuming for you? Do you think it would make sense for me to instead have a binder of visuals in my therapy cart (love your therapy cart post, btw) to use instead of giving 40+ copies to students individually?
Yes! I store the majority of my visuals in my therapy tote and use the student’s folder for “customized” visuals. I updated the post to be a little clearer. 🙂
This is sooooooo helpful. I have a BUNCH of these folders and I stoped using them because they are a pain and TIME consuming. Where is the link for the student articulation folders set up? Thanks a ton!
Here you are, Natalie!
https://slpnow.com/articulation-stickers/