We can end up spending a lot of our own money as SLPs. Here are some ways to get creative and save money!
Use the School’s Curriculum
Accessing existing materials can help cut down on costs. It also makes it easy to implement curriculum-based therapy.
Access Other District Resources
Does your district provide a materials budget? If so, use it!
If you don’t have a budget allocated to you, you can always try to request materials. If you present a good rationale, they likely will approve the request!
If the district says “no,” there are other options! For instance, are there district SLPs that can donate therapy materials to you?
Invest in a Subscription
Your caseload needs can shift drastically as you get to know your students and get new ones throughout the year. Having access to a library can be really helpful. By purchasing a subscription, you’ll have access to thousands of materials at once! This will help you avoid spending way too much on individual materials that you haven’t (and may never) use!
Avoid a spending spree as soon as you get your caseload!
Get to know your students first and what type of support they need. The materials that you will need will change. Books, songs, videos, and bubbles will take you a long way!
Other Free Resources for Educators
The public library (A great source of physical books and e-books)
Free Books for Literacy-Based Therapy
37 Amazing Sources for Free Teacher Resources
Remember, you are your best therapy tool.
You don’t need tons of materials to provide amazing therapy.
The best thing you can do is invest time (not money!) in keeping up with the latest research.
We know that this can be really daunting!
The Informed SLP is a great account to follow to help you stay up to date on the latest research.
We recommend taking the information they share (on Instragram and on their blog). Then, think about new ways to use your existing materials!
You can also our free challenge to learn how to do literacy-based therapy! (You don’t need tons of materials to implement this approach, and you can always access free books!)
Remember that old saying in grad school about how we should be able to do therapy with a post-it note? (Or paperclip or whatever they joked about!)
Well, it’s halfway true! As SLPs we are what drives the therapy, along with our relationship with our students. How we use our materials and shape them to provide therapy is up to us and our knowledge.
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