Danielle Williamson
Course: English 102
Instructor: Dr. Natasha Whitton
Assignment: Proposal
The most common challenge school-based, speech-language pathologists face in the workplace is the paperwork versus the student debate. In fact, in a 2007 SLP Health Care Survey on workplace and work conditions trends, survey respondents ranked paperwork as the number one challenge they face in the workplace (Ghazzawi). Working with patients and students, of course, should come first. However, extensive documentation is needed to meet federal, state, and local requirements, and it takes up much of the pathologists’ time. There is no way of reducing the amount of required paperwork, but it can be made easier, and the stress of it can be lessened by hiring an assistant, developing a special system, and managing time effectively.
Due to the Individuals with Disabilities Act, school-based speech pathologists are required to complete documentation on each student. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) is the basis of the documentation. The IEP must include current school performance, annual goals, all special education services the child receives, places and times the student receives services, a measure of progress, and several other types of data (“Lighten Your Load”). In addition to the extensive paperwork, speech-language pathologists need to spend a certain amount of time with their students, meet with parents, and complete other important tasks. The paperwork is an important part of a speech therapist’s job; however, it can take time away from his or her most important task, which is spending time with the students.
It is a safe assumption that the government will not reduce the amount of paperwork speech pathologists must complete. Therefore, schools and individual therapists have to create their own ways of making the paperwork more manageable while still spending enough time with their students. A simple solution would be to hire a speech-language pathologist’s assistant. The assistant could spend time with students while the pathologist worked on paperwork close by in case the assistant should need help with the students. However, it would cost the school system more money to hire an extra person, and many schools do not have the funds available.
In the Livingston Parish school system, speech therapists have found a system of managing and dividing their time between paperwork and students. Debbie Crawford is a speech pathologist at South Live Oak Elementary, one of the schools in the Livingston Parish system. In a personal interview she said,
In our system, we have come up with a program that is called a supplemental service delivery model that allows you to see your students three weeks out of the month for direct speech therapy services, and during the fourth week, we provide services that are more supplemental in nature, like checking on grades, meeting with parents, phone conferences, completing progress notes, et cetera. (Crawford)
The majority of the month is being spent with students while still giving the therapists time to do other required tasks. Although some still feel that not enough time is being spent with students, this system works fairly well and does not cost anything. The system could be implemented in other school systems as well.
Another very simple way of relieving stress associated with the amount of paperwork in a speech-language pathologist’s workplace is managing time effectively and avoiding procrastination. Although the amount of paperwork will be the same, not waiting until the last minute will help immensely with stress. If the therapist has time left after a lunch break, the time could be spent on paperwork. If possible, they could schedule a few time slots throughout the day to work on and complete their IEPs. Time management is a good technique for relieving stress. It does not cost any money, it is easy, and it gives the individual the freedom to decide when it is better to work on the paperwork. The paperwork will still be there and must be completed, but finishing it early and working on it in small sections at a time will probably make it seem less daunting.
There will probably never be an end to the paperwork that school-based, speech-language pathologists have to complete. There is not really a solution to the problem; however, there are techniques that can be used to lessen the amount of stress that large quantities of paperwork can bring. If money is available, assistants could free up some of the speech pathologists’ time. School systems can work out their own ways of eliminating the problem, and individuals can help themselves by not waiting until the last minute to complete their tasks and managing their time wisely.
Works Cited
Crawford, Debbie. Personal Interview. 9 Nov. 2009.
Ghazzawi, Gail. “Survey Report: Workforce and Work Conditions Trends 2005-2007.” SLP Health Care Survey. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Dec. 2007. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
“Lighten Your Load: Strategies to Reduce Paperwork for School-Based SLPs.” Schools Focused Initiative. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2001-2003. Web. 10 Nov. 2009.
Dr. Whitton’s Comments: For this essay, Danielle was asked to propose a solution for a problem that she might face in her future career and to meet with a professional mentor in that career who could comment on the feasibility of her proposal. As with her other work in English 102, Danielle found an interesting topic and organized her paper around a clear call for action. What I like most about her paper is that she is considering the challenges that she will face after she graduates and beginning to think about strategies for solving them. The separation between her classroom preparation and her career has narrowed, and I encouraged her to keep in touch with her mentor.
