Being a private SLP that travels to see children in their homes and schools definitely has it's perks. I love the one on one attention I can give each child. I also love being able to see them in their environment and really work on language experiences that are important to them. Plus, no car duty!
But like any good thing, there are also drawbacks. For example, today we are expecting a tropical storm and the roads are flooded. So I am home with a cup of coffee blogging... well I guess that's not such a bad day. But in all honesty, one thing that has been difficult for me is keeping good data records while being in a new place every hour. I really love when students can keep track of their own data. It gives them a sense of ownership and motivation towards their goals. When I was working in the schools I had data charts that the students worked on weekly displayed on the walls. I can't really wallpaper my car with those. So after brainstorming ideas, I came up with mini goal tracking books!
These goal books are small and kept together on a binder ring. But they pack all the punch of what I was missing from my classroom. On each data ring I have a graph for each individual goal I set for them as well as a written goal set by the student. The student set goal is probably my favorite page of the book. It gives me a really clear picture of why each child thinks that he/she is in speech and what is important to them to work on. Maybe it's working hard on their /r/ sound when they read out loud in class or maybe it's using good social skills at lunch. If it's important to them, it's important to me!
The individual goal graphs have been a total timesaver when it comes time for re-evaluations. It's so convenient take out that particular student's goal book to report on goals. I have been guilty of falling into a rut of working on the same goals for a long time and neglecting others. Since each goal page has it's own page on the ring, it's very easy to see which goals still need to be addressed. Win, win!
Since these goal books are small, I have been able to keep them in a small container with a lid. That way they don't get messed up and don't take up much space while being stored in my car.
You can download you own copy of these books in my TpT store,
here!
