SLP Corner: No IEPs!

* Warning: this post is heavy on the SLP talk and jargon. Read on if you dare!

I think I may have found the perfect job: minimal direct therapy, lots of assessments and no IEPs! My new job is working for SERRC, a non-profit funded by grants and contracts. There are several divisions to SERRC, and I work for the part that contracts with school districts to provide their SPED needs.

Their needs may be speech, OT, PT or general SPED administrative support. Some districts need OT and PT but not speech. Or vice versa. Typically these are rural school districts that don't have enough of a caseload to warrant hiring a full-time or part-time therapist, so they contract with SERRC.

SLP Corner: Alaska SPED law and IEPs

This is part-two of of being a speech therapist in Alaska. See the last post for details about my caseload.

The IEP process here is a bit different. They use a software program called Goal View. It's okay but I prefer SEIS. Most schools have a "data clerk". This person handles all the IEP paperwork! If I need an assessment plan signed by parents, I tell my clerk. If I need to discharge a kid, I tell my clerk and she calls the parents, tells them what we need, sends the paperwork out and voila! Before an IEP the clerk brings me a file of all the IEP papers for the meeting -- I don't even have to print anything out! When the meeting is over I enter my notes online, give the signature page to the clerk and she finalizes the IEP online and then sends hard copy to the district office. It's a dream come true.