Being a School SLP During a Pandemic

That’s a blog post title I never thought I’d write. I’ve been wanting to document my feelings on the pandemic, and thought it would be a good idea to do so in a blog post so that later on, I can come back to it. I am headed into week 9 of this whole stay at home/quarantine situation (it may vary based on your state). I can honestly say that I never imagined that we would be in this situation. It’s still sometimes surreal.

 

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I personally am not doing teletherapy, but I know many school based and private practice SLPs who have had to switch. That means learning new skills and pretty much a different way to do your job. Which is super hard! My teacher friends are also in the same boat of having to completely shift how they were delivering instruction and I know it’s been exhausting!

 

To add to the stress level, I know a lot of SLPs who are also trying to juggle schooling for their own child(ren), while working from home. Myself included! Even though my daughter is in preschool, I’m still working with her daily so that she continues to keep up with the skills that she learned, as well as teaching her new skills. We’ve been doing reading lessons from this book:

She has learned a lot and has really enjoyed them! I love how they are quick lessons.

 

I’ve loved seeing how the SLP community has come together to share resources! I have been trying to do my part to make and share free and low-cost materials to help out as much as I can.

 

There are so many things to worry about during this time. I have family members who have health concerns and who have had to be incredibly careful to limit exposure to other people. I worry about my students and their families. I worry about the small businesses in my area and how they will survive this time. I’ve been trying hard to focus on taking things day by day. The initial anxiety I felt when this started has faded, but still pops up when I think about the future and how things might change.

 

I think we need to take time to grieve as well. Grieve that our school year is ending in a vastly different way than we all expected. A lot of states (mine included) have announced that school will not be resuming for the rest of the year. When our governor announced it, I definitely cried. None of us knew that when we left the kids on March 12th that it would be the last time we’d see them in person for a long time. I love the end of the year feeling. The feeling of waving to the school buses on the last day is filled with excitement; we don’t get that this year.

 

So while none of this has been expected, we will get through it. It’s forced a lot of us to slow down and appreciate the little things in life. I will never again take running into a store quickly or meeting for a play date for granted, as those are things that we cannot do right now.

 

A big shout out to all the healthcare workers, hospital SLPs, mail carriers, grocery store employees, and all the frontline workers who are out there keeping the world going! You are appreciated more than you know!