I’m back with another blog post about my CF (clinical fellowship)! I asked you guys to send in some questions you wanted me to answer.
Before checking this out, you can read my first CF blog post that I wrote 4 weeks into my first year as an SLP. I go into a lot of info there about how CF life was in the very beginning which would be helpful to any new CFs reading this!
First, can you explain what a CF is?
A CF, or “clinical fellowship“, is a speech pathologist’s first “year” of working. I put “year” in quotes, because it isn’t necessarily a year in length. It’s based on a set number of hours that most people complete in a span of ~9 months. You DO get paid (yay) but you have to basically practice with a temporary license under an already-licensed speech therapist. It’s just another extra mentoring step that we have to do before we are fully licensed by ASHA and the state boards. Fun stuff. Mostly it is just another headache-inducing step in the process, but I digress…
Now, let’s hear your questions! I’ve broken it up into different sections based on the type of questions. The sections in this post are: the application process, COVID-related questions, the experience, miscellaneous, and looking forward. I hope you find this post helpful and if you have any other questions for me comment below!
— THE APPLICATION PROCESS —
How many places did you apply to/interview for?
I found the company I work for, PTS, during a job fair at UD (where I went to grad school). I really connected with one of the clinical directors and, after talking with them, I discovered I had two friends from undergrad who were working there. My friends both had amazing things to say about the company and they spoke with their clinical directors about me. It was really awesome to have connections at the company even before I started.
I knew I wanted to work in a school, so I was in contact with a few agencies (EBS was another one I talked with) and filled out common applications for school districts in my area. Recruiters are always going to be reaching out to you which is exciting and stressful at first! I asked a lot of questions in the beginning but then I got sort of overwhelmed/over the process and just wanted to confirm I had a job. The fact that I knew people working at PTS and that they could advocate for how their CF went def sealed the deal for me. And the fact that it was a smaller company and that the clinical directors were SLPs made me feel like my needs/concerns would be heard and I wasn’t “just a number” to them.
Tips for CF interviews?
I can’t really answer this one because my interview for PTS was super relaxed. I did go to a few job fairs though, and that was an interesting experience! Highly recommend. Especially talking with companies that you may not actually want to work for… you’ll get lots of experience interviewing that isn’t super nerve-wracking. Bring tons of copies of your resume, and be prepared to talk about your experience and your strengths/weaknesses in a very open, non-structured way. If you are going for a more formal interview, I would bring examples of your clinical writing or relevant materials you’ve made in the past. Always good to have some things on hand to show your style/work! I also kept a list of all assessments I’ve given in the past. Super helpful to have because it’s so hard to remember all the names of assessments especially on the spot!
Salary/pay for CFs?
This is definitely a range, depending on what setting you work in. If you have specific questions about salary feel free to send me a DM on Instagram!
Opinions on agencies?
I mentioned this a little, but I felt more “at home” with smaller/local agencies. They felt more personable and like I was more than just a name and phone number on a list of potential recruits.
How to go about the CF and any tips on getting the placement you want?
Start looking early! Like I’d say beginning of spring semester during your senior year. Especially if you want a school based placement. If you want to go the medical route, you can begin looking even earlier! Just make sure you are up front about your start date and where you’re at with your schooling.
How do you find CF opportunities?
Online spots like: Indeed, LinkedIn, job fairs, through colleagues/supervisors.
Did you take the first job you were offered?
I only got as far as a job offer with one company, so i guess the technical answer is yes? The others I spoke with and got info about salary/benefits but didn’t go through the formal interview process to receive a formal offer.
— COVID QUESTIONS —
What was your role in providing therapy through an online mode?
I was responsible for providing therapy minutes and holding IEP meetings on schedule. However, I wasn’t able to do evals so those were put on hold. Everything else felt the same just online, obviously!
How is teletherapy?!
It wasn’t too bad actually! I liked having the opportunity to try it out because it was something I looked into/researched a lot during grad school. Just because it intrigued me to be able to do therapy at home or from anywhere in the US. I am actually super thankful for this experience because if I ever do transition to teletherapy, I already have this experience! It is super hard without the perfect caseload for it, though. Some of my life skills students struggled to adapt to this method of learning.
How did you finish your CF with COVID school closures? Are you still able to finish your CF on time because of Corona? A lot of my friends in schools can’t.
I am a bit behind on my hours because of COVID. It was a lot harder to meet a full week of hours from an at-home setting. Even doing therapy and push-in sessions with the life skills class, I still struggled in the final month and a half to get where I wanted to be hours-wise. Since I wasn’t doing evals or any reg ed push-in, it was really hard to find things to bill for. I made it work as best as I could! I should meet my hours after doing ESY (summer school), though.
— THE EXPERIENCE —
Was there anything you felt like you didn’t learn in grad school that would have helped you in your CF?
It would have been overwhelming, so probably not that helpful, but I do think it would be interesting to see how IEPs look in different states across the country. It was hard to transition from the Delaware IEP format to the PA one.
Do you feel that you were fully prepared after grad school? Nervous at all?
My program prepared me as well as they could have, I think. There’s always going to be things you don’t know and there’s always going to be new, district-specific things that you need to learn. But as far as preparedness, I felt like I had a taste of most things I needed to know to start in the school setting.
I was definitely nervous to start and I can remember feeling super overwhelmed at first because there were so many things that I had no experience doing on my own (but not necessarily things that should’ve been taught to me in grad school). For example, scheduling, learning how to connect with teachers/staff, how IEPs work in PA (I went to grad school in Delaware so it was slightly different from what I was used to).
How stressful was it ACTUALLY?
I cried a handful of times in the first marking period. I felt super overwhelmed with not knowing my caseload, the staff, and being thrown into scheduling/holding meetings right away was not ideal. I still have some rough days, but they were few and far between after Thanksgiving break I’d say.
Any tips for goal writing or goal banks you found helpful?
I always recommend writing your own goals or asking supervisors/colleagues for help! For example, asking what are their favorite goals to use for a specific area?
I’m starting my CF at a school in August — what do I absolutely need to know/have?
Here’s a list of some of my fav materials! It’s really hard to recommend things right now because of COVID — it probably won’t be easy to share materials/items between groups/kids. I’ve been loving using Boom cards for virtual therapy so definitely look into that! Or TPT materials/PDFs that can be shared via screen-share!
What advice would you give a new school based CF?
Make sure you have someone who you can go to for the little questions. Try to find anyone else who is new in the school/district and befriend them if possible! Take note of the people who help you throughout the year and try your best to give back to them. It’s not easy being new and I definitely would not have survived without a group of coworkers/friends to ask questions and lean on.
I’d also argue that rapport, rapport, rapport is the most important thing when working with your new caseload. Have so much fun!
Favorite materials you’d recommend to CFs?
Jenga, Uno, crayons, and puzzles were my most hot ticket items. I’d offer other things to do/play and my students would always want to go back to those! There are also a ton of TPT shops that I love: Type B SLP, Peachie Speechie, Speechy Musings, etc.
What is your biggest piece of advice?
You know more than you think! It’s so freaking easy to feel overwhelmed and unprepared. You are going to have many days where you don’t feel adequate enough to do this job. But always make the most of it. If you aren’t having fun with your students you are doing something wrong!
What was it like having the new independence?
It was easy for me to transition to being independent because my spring semester placement in grad school let me really be independent with choosing materials and running sessions without my supervisor hovering or being super involved. This was in the SNF setting, though, but I think it still prepared me to have to make decisions “on my own”. I’ve always felt most confident working with kids though so it definitely felt more “right” to be calling the shots independently!
Organization tips?
I used a three ring binder to keep data sheets, caseload lists, and in-progress evals organized. This year, however, I’m switching over to SLP Toolkit and I’m super excited! I’ve been using it so far with ESY and I’m loving it.
I’d also suggest finding a good planner! I love my Plum Paper planner in the vertical priorities layout.
How to maintain a work/life balance during your CF?
LEAVE WORK AT WORK! I will shout this from the freaking rooftops. Also — DO NOT ADD YOUR WORK EMAIL TO YOUR PHONE! Sometimes I would stay an hour or two late to catch up on what I needed to do and then I would NOT open my work computer once I got home. Leave that sh*t at work. It’s so easy to open your computer to do “one quick thing” and then spend an extra 2, 3, 4 hours at home doing work. You NEED breaks. Or you will burn out. My capstone project in grad school was about burnout. It is SO prevalent in our field.
If you are a CF you are going to be busting your butt to do some of what most seasoned SLPs would consider the most minute of tasks. Don’t make it harder for yourself. During my first year I told myself to focus on one thing at a time. For the majority of the year, it was learning how to properly do evaluations and IEPs. Coming from an out-of-state grad school, I basically had to re-learn the ins and outs of IEPs in Pennsylvania. It took me a while to feel comfortable with it. In exchange, my therapy activities weren’t groundbreaking. I wasn’t making my own materials every week. I repeated activities often. Did my students care? Absolutely not. Did they still learn things? Of course. Focus on what’s important and that’s it!
How was working with your CF supervisor?
I feel like for the most part, I was pretty independent during my CF. Of course I talked to my CF mentor, but I wasn’t banging down her door every day! I’m lucky I had a lot of help from friends/coworkers when I needed it. My CF mentor was working full time in my district, but she was able to come observe and give feedback! It was nice to have her look over some of my evaluations and reports, too.
Tips on scheduling, your favorite/difficult part, things you wish you would have known?
Try to keep the times that work best for every grade level open for makeups or for testing! If you give yourself an hour in your schedule for testing but it’s when every grade is either at lunch, recess, or special, that chunk of time is not going to be helpful or productive.
I am planning to use SLP Toolkit to help with scheduling this year as well! It has already helped me a lot with scheduling ESY virtually.
Biggest takeaway?
I’m never going to know everything, but as long as I’m doing what I think is best for my students everything will be ok!
— MISC QUESTIONS —
Who/what inspired you to start an SLP Instagram/blog and when is the best time to start one?
Now! Haha. Start it as soon as you have the desire. It has been really fun to document my journey from undergrad, through grad school, and now as a CF! I don’t really remember what inspired me to start my blog (I’ve had this blog since 2014!) but I really wanted a space to follow all SLP related Instagram accounts so that’s why I started my IG! And I wanted to continue to be a resource for SLP students and thought that a separate IG would be a good way to do that.
How did you build your confidence? Starting my CF in two weeks and I feel so unqualified!
Girl, I still doubt myself SO often you aren’t alone! It’s very stressful. The best advice I can give is do your research, and pump yourself up before meetings! If a parent or teacher ever asks you something you don’t know, just be honest! You don’t have to pretend to know everything. Just say “great question, I’m not sure I know the answer to that. I will have to do some research and get back to you”.
What was the hardest part of starting as a newbie in the school setting?
Getting to know the culture at the school! Figuring out who is friends with who, and who teaches what. And what everyone’s first and last names are! No one talks about how much harder it is to have to know everyone’s full name lol.
— LOOKING FORWARD —
Process for applying for your C’s?
It’s all on the ASHA website! Apply for your membership before your CF is done and then all you have to do is submit the final paperwork and your membership will be ready!
What are you most excited about for post-CF life?
The pay raise! Lol. And being able to say that I’m a full-blown speech therapist. No if ands or buts!
