Congrats on becoming an SLP graduate! As you begin your professional journey, you will soon feel the need and desire to begin investing in continuing education courses and therapy resources in order to better your skills, continue learning, and provide the best care for your clients. Before you give all of your time (and money!) to these, stop and review these six considerations for making wise investments during your clinical fellowship year.
6 Considerations about Making Wise Investments as a New SLP Graduate
#1 Focus on What You Know
Although it will be tempting to try to learn everything that your 20-year veteran colleague knows within your first year, shift your focus back to what you know.
Focus on getting comfortable implementing what you have learned in graduate school. Now is the time to truly implement your studies and be in control of your caseload.
Once you have a better sense of where you’d like to focus or what your areas of weakness are as a clinician, you can start continuing education courses.
#2 Consider Your Caseload
You’ll be so tempted to begin making purchases immediately upon graduation, but the cost of all of these things will add up quickly!
Wait to see what your caseload necessitates before making purchases for therapy resources or continuing education.
#3 Use On-Site Resources to Make Wise Investments
Figure out what your place of employment has available for you also before you make any investments.
You might have to do a thorough search, but many times, you will be able to find quality materials! Ask your supervisor for help locating resources if you’re having trouble.
#4 Think Quality, Not Quantity
When you do make purchases, consider the quality of the items instead of the quantity of items.
Focus on resources that are likely to provide years of use for you. Instead of purchasing many cheap downloads or games, consider pooling your money for a few high-quality items that you can use multi-purposefully this year and will also use long into the future.
You can add the smaller items later as you need them!
#5 Consider Storage
Think about how and where you will store your investments.
It’s very easy to end up with a lot of “stuff” that you need to move from location to location. Invest in folders, storage systems, and a portable filing system if possible.
#6 Stay Organized
Whether it’s digital files or physical resources, receipts from purchases, or continuing education certificates, stay organized!!
Label what is yours and keep all of your receipts. It’s likely that you won’t stay at this workplace forever, and you want to be able to clearly show what is yours and what was already on-site when you arrived if there’s ever a question about it.
Depending on your employee status, you might also be able to report some of your purchases for a tax deduction, so saving receipts and staying organized pays off double-time!
Create physical file folders or use a system like GoogleDrive or DropBox to keep track of everything you acquire throughout your CF year.
Extra Tips to Make Wise Investments as a New SLP Graduate
Continuing Education Options
The Informed SLP and SpeechPathology.com are both cost-efficient ways to stay up on research and best practices.
Don’t go overboard this first year. Save for more expensive courses in the future once you know better what you need!
Resources
Find tried and true resources from trusted SLPs–like me! Check out my Amazon storefront and Teachers Pays Teachers (TPT) shop for lots of my favorite games and resources for working with the pediatric population.
BONUS TIP: TPT rewards you with credits that you can redeem for free products by reviewing resources after purchase!
Bundles
Save money by purchasing larger bundles that cover a wide range of targets, especially for articulation and phonology.
These bundles involve speech sounds in crafts and games to keep kids engaged during therapy:
Articulation Activities Games & Crafts | Speech Therapy Articulation Bundle K-5
Speech Therapy Articulation Bundle | Speech Sounds Rhyming & Fine Motor PreK – K
Be confident that you can target a variety of speech sounds with these bundles!
Remember, as a new SLP graduate, you are destined for great things! By making wise investments during your CF year, you’re setting yourself up for a successful transition from graduate school to the professional world. Enjoy this season, you’ll have your CCCs before you know it!
You may also be interested in reading:
SLP Expert Opinion: Milestones vs Averages and Why Developmental Milestones Have Changed
