Hey everyone!

Welcome to my little blog. I'm very new to blogging but through other professional blogs I've come across, they've been extremely helpful and I'm hoping to add my growing knowledge to the bunch.
I am a Speech Pathologist working in New York City. I am hoping that this blog will assist other budding therapists like myself .

Comparing notes with my fellow graduates, I realized, there are certain kinds of CF speech therapists. One type of therapist thinks they learned everything they needed to know in grad school in order to be an OUTSTANDING therapist and got to their CFY then realized, that's not exactly the case. (CF: "I've used every assessment that was available to me in my school clinic!"  CFY Supervisor: "Well there's one GFTA and we share it with 4 other therapists in the district." CF: *GULP* "HUH?!" The next kind of therapist, felt they didn't have enough book knowledge when they graduated and were looking forward to the hands-on learning  provided by their supervisor during their CFY and then there are those who, like myself,didn't feel they had enough book knowledge and had a supervisor who wasn't immediately available to them, had to think off the cuff and make the best out of a less than flattering situation. At the time, I used other therapists in my district, online resources, and I created a lot of my own therapy tools because of the limited resources available in the rural and very poor school district where I was employed.

I chalked it all up to a lesson learned. I got through my CFY with shaky legs and actually felt like I made a difference, even with the limited resources available to me. A few humbling lessons I learned through my CFY experience is:

• You won't know everything right out of school!

• Don't be afraid to ask questions!

• Trust your judgment!

• You are not the first CF and you won't be the last!

• Plan, plan and then plan some more. (for treatment, meetings, scheduling etc)

• Don't get behind in your paperwork! Ask someone to review your medicaid notes before submitting them. Cross your eyes, and dot your t's with medicaid forms.

• If you have a CFY Supervisor available to you, (ALL CF'S ARE SUPPOSED TO BE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A LICENSED, CCC'd SPEECH PATHOLOGIST) use them! Call them, e-mail them, ask them to physically come and help you with a case! That's what they're there for.

• If you're in the schools, the teachers, guidance counselor and other related services staff are your friends. and don't forget the janitors (are we supposed to call them Custodial Engineer's now? LOL )!

In about a week, I will be starting in Early Intervention. I'm sure I'll have a ton of info for you as this is a new area for me. I'm looking forward to learning new things.

CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, advice, and helpful suggestions to others that may read my blog are always welcome here.

Well, that's all for my first, ever blog post. As I gain knowledge, I'll share it with you here. Thanks for stopping by!

Essential websites:
http://www.ASHA.org
New York State Speech Language and Hearing Association http://www.nysslha.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

• I'm not familiar with EVERY state, so I will venture to say that MOST states have their own Speech Language and Hearing Association

Google groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perkilou/