7 MORE Free CEUs for SLPs

 

Hi everyone! Back in 2021, I posted a blog post that contained 22 Websites for Free CEUs for SLPs. You can find the original post here. 

Today, I am back to share SEVEN more places for FREE CEUs for SLPs. 

1.) Bright Ideas Media - This website boasts that it is "Professional Development for Busy SLPs." Depending on when you visit the website, you will find several webinars that are all ASHA CEU approved. (But remember - you don't have to use ASHA CEU approved providers to get your CEUs! See what ASHA considers approved professional development activities here.) This last year, I earned 8 hours of continuing education credit from them without paying for a single one. There are paid options, too - starting at only $15!

2.) If you work with a lot of 0-3 aged kiddos, the Early Intervention Training Program through the University of Illinois has lots of good trainings that are free - even if you aren't an Illinois Early Intervention Provider. There is a mix of on demand and live webinars. 

3.) Speech Therapy PD - This is another website that sells subscription services - which appear to be reasonably priced. However, they also offer a free course that you can find here.

4.) Lavi Institute - Once again, this is a website that you can buy CEU subscriptions from, but they also offer an ethics and supervision course for free. 

5.) In my previous post, I mentioned that Dr. Edythe Strand had presentations available on UT Dallas's website. It looks like those presentations are now available through the Childhood Apraxia Treatment website.

6.) AAC in the Cloud has several webinars found here. At the end, you can fill out a survey to get your certificate for CEU credit. 

7.) Feed the Peds has a free training on screening for pediatric swallowing. The website says a certificate of completion is available for up to 5 hours of training. I have this on my list of ones to do, but haven't completed it myself yet. 

Bagless Speech Therapy

I recently started doing speech therapy through the Early Intervention program in my state as a side-gig (that will hopefully turn into my full time gig). It's only been 6 months since I started doing therapy following this in-home model and I have already learned SO much. 

But the best lesson I've learned so far was to embrace bagless therapy! I know that bagless therapy is nothing new. There are tons of blog posts about it already. I know this because I read through a ton of them myself. But bagless therapy was still a little scary for me. I think I equated bagless therapy to therapy without a plan. My type A personality was not okay with that. But I learned that "bag" does not equal "plan." I can have a plan without my bag! So how do I do this?

Session 1 

- I look at parent goals/child needs. I review their IFSP with them, but I also talk with the parents every session to see what needs they would like addressed. We also talk about some of the things I am seeing, developmental norms, etc. 

- We make a list of a few target words, vocabulary groups, and skills we'd like to work on. 

- I spend a little time explaining what therapy will look like, why play based therapy is important and effective, and how the parents can be an active part of their child's therapy. 

- We use the remaining time to go through the child's preferred toys and talk about ways that we can use them to target the goals we set. 

Session 2

- Check in on how things went throughout the last week and troubleshoot any problems with the family.

- I often provide the family with parent handouts for targeting specific vocabulary/words they mentioned in the previous session. I use these two resources a lot: Word of the Week and Vocabulary of the Month Parent Handouts.

- I do more in-depth modeling and coaching with the child's preferred toys. If we can, I will try to move the skills into some non-preferred toys to help with generalization of skills. But this sometimes takes a few sessions.

- We also discuss where we can incorporate these skills into their daily routines. I take some time to reiterate how important it will be for the parent to be a part of their child's therapy. 

Session 3

- Check in on how things went throughout the last week and troubleshoot any problems with the family.

- I might provide them with a specific routines based handout, if I have one. Otherwise, I will review how to target these skills in their routines. 

- Continue will play based therapy - modeling and coaching with the parent. Continue working towards targeting skills in familiar and new activities to help with generalization.

Further sessions will be a mix of 1, 2, and 3 based on how quickly the child is learning new skills and how the family's needs change. When a child has started mastering a skill, I'll often start over with a lot of the session 1 activities I talked about - just with new skills!

I have seen my kids (and parents!) really blossom with this strategy. Parents feel empowered and kids are learning the skills they need to function in their environments. Changing my mindset from providing therapy to coaching the parent has helped tremendously. I'll be honest, I still have some families that have no desire to participate in their child's therapy, no matter how much I try to encourage them. But I still ask the questions, go through the routines, and hope that they might try the skills. Even in these situations, I still try to use what is available within the home so that the child still has access to the toys once I leave. 

Occasionally, I'll have a parent ask for some ideas for Christmas or a birthday. In that case, I might bring a toy in to show them how it could be used with their child. Then they can see if their child showed any interest in it. It gives them a chance to see how it might work for their child before investing in it. 

And, despite my best efforts, I do sometimes still bring something into the house. But I limit myself to ONE activity. Some things that I just haven't been able to completely leave behind include: 

- a few animals (I can use these with other things the kids have. Can we build a barn for them with our blocks? Can they ride on a toy car? Can they hide in a shape sorter?)

- bubbles (I keep one of those tiny little bottles in the pocket of my scrubs, just for emergencies!)

- my spinning laser light (once again - fits in my scrub pocket for emergencies)

- a few cars (once again, can usually be incorporated with toys the child already has)

- playdoh (I keep a few cans in my car so I can run out and get them if needed. It seems like it has been a huge motivator). 

- a book (I rotate the book based on the season or skill I am trying to target. I use a book almost every session so that I can model to parents how to meet their child where they are at with book reading. Families can usually access any book I have through their local library if they feel so inclined). 

- Don't forget that you can always use movement and songs/fingerplays! No equipment needed!

I hope this gives you some hope for bagless therapy! Try it and see what you think! I hope you are as pleasantly surprised as I was! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Book Review: Let's Talk Together

I recently picked up this copy of "Let's Talk Together" (affiliate link) by Cory Poland and Amy Chouinard from my local library. The cover boasts that the book includes "home activities for early speech & language development" - which I thought would be perfect since I have primarily been working with Early Intervention patients for the last couple years. Some of my activities are feeling a bit stale, so I was excited to add some new stuff to my toolbox. 

Overall, I thought this book was great. It is written in parent friendly language, as it was intended to be used by SLPs and parents. The beginning of the book gives rationale for the targets and activities chosen, which I think is perfect for parents who may be wondering why they are doing some of these things. I feel that by explaining the foundational skills needed to communicate (such as oral motor skills or imitation skills), the authors have got some "buy in" from parents. 

Pros: 

- Wide variety of activity types - crafts, sensory activities, physical activities, music-based activities, etc. There is something to cater to every child's strengths and interests. 

- The pages are reproducible! Perfect for giving to parents. And each activity has it's own page - perfect for parent handouts!

- Each activity lists target words in three different levels. The target word choices were excellent in my opinion. The included a wide variety of nouns, verbs, environmental sounds, prepositions, power words, etc. This wasn't just labeling items! 

- This is a great resource for parents who need help playing with their kids. I have had several parents over the course of my career say that they don't know how to play with their kids. Even if they aren't doing the activities perfectly, or hitting the target words, they are at least interacting. 

- Each activity has ideas on how to grade it up or down for a child's skill level. Plus, they explain how to promote independence for the child. 

- Each activity has the targets listed clearly at the top, so it's easy to flip through and find activities that apply to that particular child's goals. 

- There are other great resources for parents, such as the tips at the beginning and the word lists at the end. 

Cons: 

- There was a couple activities that incorporated computers. The APA recommends no screen time for children under 2, which are the children that I would consider to be the target audience of this book. Of course, you can choose not to share those activities with the parents!

- I felt that some of the activities required more skills than the typical "early developer" would have. For example, the "Indoor Winter Wonderland" activity requires a lot of advanced play skills/imagination skills. Once again though, you can choose the activities that are appropriate to your child. 

If you do a lot of play based therapy with little ones, this book is a must have!