In this solo episode, you’ll learn some easy session ideas and activities for fluency session, plus tips for exiting a job gracefully as an SLP.

The questions today were from Dana Wierzbicki. You can find Dana:

Website: https://www.infinitehorizonspeech.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infinitehorizonspeech/

Fluency Parent Handouts

Preschool https://bit.ly/3t3O6te

School Age https://bit.ly/3wTo1hL

Resources

Vooks (for video books)

Episode 99 of the SLP Happy Hour Podcast for more on Echolalia

“River Rocks” (Search on Amazon for River Stones, Kids Stepping Stones)

Session Ideas for Fluency

Make a Canva presentation to share stuttering facts (www.canva.com)

Create a virtual collage of feelings (Sarah creates Canva, Google Slides, or Jamboard visual with pictures from Google Images to create a virtual collage for emotions including cute, calm, interesting to start with)

Reading books (using fluency techniques, or sometimes this can be a time to focus on providing a safe space to stutter and being a person who receives that message and doesn’t correct the student) Ex) Sneezy the Snowman, Zora’s Zucchini , The Little Red Hen

Stuttering Books: Unstuck, I Talk Like a River, When Oliver Speaks, Stuttering is Cool

Exiting a Job Gracefully

How do you know when it’s time to leave a job? Start with self care and boundaries - if you are implementing your self care plan with fidelity and you are still feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or just unhappy with your work - it may be a workplace issue. Most burnout is caused by ineffective managers, an unrealistic workload and competing demands - listen to Episode 39 Burnout Is Not Your Fault for more on workplace systems that contribute to burnout (and the fact that most burnout isn’t caused by individual factors).

Some tips for exiting a job gracefully:

Provide sufficient notice (and whatever that looks like for your setting) whenever possible
Write a letter to your boss about your departure and make it generally positive if you can; if your work wants more information they will provide you with an exit interview where especially if you already have a job lined up you can usually be completely honest and workplace exit interviews show they are interested in hearing more
Try to tell as many coworkers in person as possible (or in an email if you must) so people can hear the news from you
Remember you cannot control how people will react to this news - that is on them
Finish up your own work (as much as you can), and create a note for the new SLP of things they will need to know to ease the transition
The most important tip is this: you can only control how you leave, you cannot control the reactions of other people. You can tell people you are leaving (and tell it with grace), but you cannot control their reaction - their reaction is their responsibility
Secondly, only you know your job situation, your team, and your boss. You may need to do something different to leave your current position. I trust you to make the best decisions you can - and you can trust you, too.