top of page

A Guide to Your First Day as a School Speech Therapist

Updated: Jul 16

Embarking on your first day as a speech therapist in a school can be both exhilarating and nerve-wracking.


Whether you’re fresh out of grad school, transitioning from a different setting, or moving to a new school, I've got essential tips and strategies to help you navigate your first day with confidence.


Let's kickstart your school year with ease and confidence!


Start Here

🔴 Locate your office or speech room

🔴 Get keys needed to access all staff locations on campus (e.g. school building, staff bathroom, speech room, etc.)

🔴 Get a map of the campus


Sign up for my email newsletter and get these FREE First Week of School SLP Checklists!

Meet the Staff

🟠 Meet the principal, assistant principal, office staff, SPED staff, SPED director, etc.

🟠 Create a staff contact information log including phone extensions & email - or ask office staff if there is a school-wide/district-wide staff log

🟠 If it's a small school, you may want to walk around and casually intorduce yourself to teachers - if you're in a larger school, you may want to introduce yourself to the teachers in self-contained classrooms that you'll be working with (they will likely be case managers for the students you share so it's a good idea to have a good working relationship with them)


Technology

🟡 Get your email & office phone number

🟡 Get logins for your computer, Medicaid billing, IEP web program, etc.

🟡 Access your caseload


meet the SLP introduction letter

Email Teachers

🟢 Introduce yourself (check out this editable Meet the SLP resource)

🟢 Let them know how they can get in touch with you

🟢 Notify them that first draft of therapy schedule will be emailed by the end

of the week and that it is *subject to change

🟢 Communicate the speech evaluation referral process (e.g. Google Form, RTI/MTSS) - if you're not sure yet, or you still need to set this up, then create a draft of your email so it's ready to send later in the week once you've figured out the referral process

teacher referral form for speech language therapy and red flags handout
Teacher Referral Form & Red Flags Handout

I hope this has been helpful! 😊


You might also be interested in checklists for:


About the author Sarah. Sarah is a pediatric SLP and the creator behind Speechie Adventures.

ความคิดเห็น


bottom of page