The Start of Another School Year
Well, of all the months, I’d have to say, September is one of my favorites.
This September is especially full of activity with my own kids heading back to school and getting back into the sports they love. It is also a month for goal setting, making plans, and dipping my toes into new things to see what feels right.
And September 2021 was full of opportunities to build my knowledge and re-connect with some great friends and colleagues.
A few highlights this month included announcing we will continue the Language and Reading Study group throughout this school year.
The study group gives us an opportunity to grow our knowledge base and to find like-minded colleagues to learn with. We continue to explore topics that are starting to become “common conversation” in schools.
Our vision of SLP and teacher collaboration when planning for literacy supports in schools continues to permeate discussion topics and we look forward to exploring how this collaborative relationship can improve practice from both sides. It is a new path we hope to help pave, when planning for student supports, going forward.
This September, the first international Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) research conference was held on-line.
This virtual conference from the DLD Project included more than 80 presentations from 18 different countries. Access packages are still available! Myself, I purchased the 12 month access so I can take my time to go through the presentations. Based on what I saw on twitter, if you are someone interested in the academic success of students, this is a conference you may want to check out here. Profits from the conference are going towards a research grant to further research into DLD.
You can access information about the conference sessions here.
Lastly, this September, I started to take a deeper dive into structured writing intervention through The Writing Revolution: Advancing Thinking Through Writing.
This has been a goal of mine for some time—to complete a writing course that bridges curriculum/knowledge building with writing. As I gain more knowledge myself, I start to see how structured writing instruction can be used as a universal support for all students and how we (SLPs/teachers) might change the dose/intensity to help our children with language impairment as an intervention tool. I am excited to see how using structured writing instruction may improve spoken language skills, written language skills, and in general, my student’s confidence in their own writing.
As October settles in, so does our family’s routine. You’ll likely see me at a hockey rink, with a coffee in hand. Holding on to my coffee and some hope that the work I am doing is thoughtful and meaningful. Thank you for all your support this past year. Here we go! Enjoy this school year.