So what brought me to this post was a conversation I had on Twitter. I'm not sure how it started, or even where I got involved (it's actually acceptable to butt in on a convo!) but it came down to SLPs being labeled, treated, and paid like a teacher. Now. Backspace. I have the utmost respect for teachers…gen ed, special ed, music, art, I love you all. My mom was a fabulous teacher and I am ever inspired by her. I think teachers are amazing creatures and I could never never never never teach a class of 18 or 20 or 25 kids all day long. Did I say never? I really couldn't. Teachers probably feel the same way about us….although I do get told pretty frequently “I should have been a speech path!”. I think they think I must play games all day. Which I do. But its more complicated than that, as you all know. I digress….
I happen to work in a district where I am considered a teacher. I am paid like a teacher. I get no stipend for holding my CCC's and no funds to pay my licensure or certification or CEU's. I am thankful I do not have to hold teacher certification, as some of my other SLP friends do. I'm evaluated like a teacher. I have a caseload of around 65, am a member of my school's RTI team, have a revolving door of people to help, and never seem to have enough time to do many things I want to. However, I love my job. I am lucky enough that I get paid to do what I love. It brings me incredible amounts of joy. But sometimes I wonder…usually after someone calls me the speech teacher… am I shortchanging myself working in this setting? Am I doing enough?
The plain and simple fact is: we are not teachers. I do not have an education degree. I do not hold a teaching certificate. I did not know a thing about curriculum and standards and literacy centers until I started working. I am an SLP. I know ASHA, the Big Nine, acronyms for a million dx tests, phonetic symbols, treatment plans, cranial nerves, and how to make any person say any sound in the English language. I know what dx means. And tx. Point is, my skill set is different. I sometimes joke with teacher friends that I don't teach, I pathologize (said with a dash of sassy, of course). Fighting this battle almost seems never ending. I know a lot of SLP's don't mind being called the speech teacher. I am not one of those. I do not think any of us should be.
I know the policy differs from state to state…even district to district. I have friends in other counties in Florida that must have their speech-language teaching certificate to practice. We definitely need more uniformity. It just is crazy that there are different sets of expectations when I cross a border…whether it's county or state.
I read a great blog post recently on advocacy by a fabulous SLP, Mary, over at Speech Adventures. Her thoughts on advocating for ourselves as far as our workload, spill over into this situation. We have to continue to educate others about what we do and who we are. Command the respect that we deserve. I think the complacency that occurs is because we are tired. We work hard and wear too many hats. We like to help and do everything we can to make everyone happy. It seems like such a battle that isn't as important as the 4 IEP's I have to write and the lesson plans I need to make and the Medicaid billing I'm behind on. But it is. It's important.
I am not asking for my name in lights on the school billboard. I don't think I am any better or more important than anyone else in the building. I just want my title, the one I worked so hard for and earned in the master's program that was required of me to get national certification so I can be here to play the games that make our children better communicators. That's all.
I would love to hear your comments on this one… Are you considered a teacher in your district? Are you ok with being called the speech teacher? If you don't work in the schools, what is your opinion of all of this?
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It drives me CRAZY when people call me a “speech teacher.” When children/parents do it, I usually just model what I am in the conversation. When other professionals do it, I’ll (usually gently) correct. Thanks for the great post!
I do the same thing… I find myself correcting a lot. Thanks for reading 🙂
I totally agree…I hate being referred to as the “speech teacher”. I feel that title is better for someone who teaches a public speaking course. I also think it’s strange that OT’s and PT’s don’t require an education certificate to work in my school district while I do. I kind of feel we are all related services so probably should be treated the same way.
That’s exactly what I think it sounds like! I agree with you about the OT & PT thing…in my district they are on a different pay scale that SLPs ( a better one) and have way smaller caseloads. I don’t think it makes any sense.
Our OTs and PTs in the district I was in lat year were not on a teachers contract. I think, because SLPs are, that that is why we have to hold the teaching certificate.
Courtney
Littlespeechcorner.blogspot.com
Actually Courtney, I think if you look at your master agreement, you’ll find you are locked into the teachers contract because you have the teaching certificate. Not the other way around. School districts CAN hire personnel without teaching certificates (custodians, office staff, cook staff). The basic difference is which retirement system is paid into – TFFR or PERS. You can only have TFFR if you’re in the teachers salary scale (apparently).
The only other reason I can think of is that PT/OT cannot case manage…but I don’t see how that can require a teachers certificate (particularly since most regular ed teachers don’t know much about due process).
Mary, it is because OT and PT fought or separate contracts. They are no longer protected by the union, if they chose to be. SLPs did not pull away, so we still fall into it. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
SD just gained state licensure and my thought is that as all the kinks are ironed out in that regard, teaching certificate requirements will dissipate. I do not believe Those on the licensure believe both are necessary.
Another thing, are you under the Board of Education in your state? We are…which is another reason why a teaching certificate might be necessary.
Forgive all the typos, please. I am using my iPad. =/
I totally agree!!! I am actually working on a professional development series to hold in my building next year to teach the teacher what I do! To show how it is different from what they do. I think it is important to advocate for the importance of what we do and how our roles impact the students we work with! We are constantly struggling with expectation for teachers vs SLPs in my district. I enjoy the pay, benefits, stability as being considered a “teacher” and part of the union. But, we are different, don’t “teach” in the traditional manner and should be considered when they create requirements/evaluations/expectations.
That is awesome! I have done a presentation with the staff at my school and got a great positive response. It’s an ongoing effort though. I don’t mind being on the same pay scale, but the C’s thing bothers me because teacher who are National Board Certified get a stipend but we don’t. Being NB certified and ASHA certified are the essentially the same. I certainly agree that we should be evaluated on the same scale.
As a new SLP, this also drives me crazy. I could never handle a classroom full of kids. What teachers do is amazing to me. The teachers at my school understand that I’m different, but most of the time I avoid correcting them as I don’t want to upset anyone. When I do try to correct people, I always get “Well, it’s close enough to being a teacher.”
It’s definitely a bigger deal when you are new! I remember being so aggravated about it. I think you just have to say it in a way that is respectful, but it is definitely a fine line. With the teachers I am friendly with, I have had the conversation about why I do not like being called that and they really do put forth the effort to call me the right thing. It’s just sticking with it, being consistent, and educating others.
This, like for you, is something that bugs me. It’s really something that I try to shrug off for the most part unless the time is right for an explanation. It’s hard when teachers call us “speech teacher”. Like another person said, I don’t teach others how to speak in public situations. I think of the “speech teacher” as the one that timed me and made sure I didn’t say “um” when giving a speech about whatever topic I drew out of a hat. I’m not even sure my family understands what I do entirely…Ha!
Like I said in a reply to an earlier post, I think the fact that we are on a teacher contract does not help our cause. Everyone in the district I am in now has called me the Speech Therapist. I am not a huge proponent for that title either, but it’s a step in the right direction!
Agreed! Lol.
Speech therapist is way better than speech teacher…
I have been an slp for 33 years. I have been called a speech teacher, speech therapist and speech pathologist. I didn’t mind these terms. As education is changing, I agree that we need to use either speech therapist or speech pathologist.
Wow!! I appreciate your input….I certainly agree about us needing to evolve as education changes!
Great post Jenn…and thanks for the link to my rant…err post on advocacy. This conversation has come up a few times on twitter over the past couple of years too, so it’s obviously a “hot” topic.
I think it would be easier to accept the need for teacher certification if there was a reason for it. I suspect that it’s hold-over from before licensure or ASHA for most states (but have absolutely no data to support that…just supposition).
I have a SPED teacher who continually tells me (and others) that she could be the “speech teacher” because she teaches LIPS. I think this is one of the reasons why I make sure to correct teachers and her that I am not a teacher. I do not hold a teaching certificate (restricted or otherwise) and I am not on the same salary scale or in the union or even in the retirement system.
I try to make it clear that it’s not that I think teaching is beneath me – far from it. Teachers are a unique breed and I have the utmost respect for them…but just as their few “special ed” classes don’t make them special educators – my few regular ed classes don’t make me a teacher. I don’t give grades and I don’t see the same kids every day for hours on end. I simply could not do their job…of course, they also couldn’t do mine. We need each other to help our students be successful and that, after all, is the ultimate goal for all of us.
Mary
Thanks Mary! It’s a post, not a rant! lol. It bothers me that we continue to have to complain about this…
I would accept it to, if it made sense. But it doesn’t, especially since there is so much variation depending on where you are located.
Good for you! You’re a great advocate for our profession!
I couldn’t have said it better myself 🙂
Here is another thought I have on this topic. I just posted on Mary’s blog and used the word therapist. I think I have become accustomed to this term because it is how my previous district distinguished between Bachelor level and Master level SLPs. It becomes easier to lump all together as therapists instead of using he label that seem to be separating us.
Is there a tile distinction between Bachelor and Master level clinicians in your area?
I, too, have become very comfortable with that word. I just realized that in the past couple of days.
In my district, we do not hire bachelor’s level clinicians. Master’s degree is a requirement (yet another difference between us and classroom teachers). I do know that they do it in other counties in Florida though.
Hey Jenn. I’ve been browsing some new SLP blogs, and yours looks great.
I just graduated from grad school this May, and in my undergrad, my professors really pushed us to advocate for ourselves and for our position. We are NOT speech teachers, we are not speech therapists, but we are speech-language pathologists. It’s hard for people to understand the difference in the terminology since they are not in our profession.
Here in Michigan, licensure was just passed, and all SLPs will need to be licensed by Dec. 2013. Because we didn’t have licensure before now, SLPs were having a hard time distinguishing themselves from those who did not have their CCCs from ASHA and still called themselves “speech therapist”, “language therapist”, “speech teacher”, etc. This is why my professors really pushed for us to introduce ourselves as speech-language pathologists because we have the CCCs and we are “real” SLPs.
I love your term “pathologize”. I’m totally going to steal it. 🙂
-Brea
Let’s Talk SLP
http://www.letstalkslp.blogspot.com
Thanks! I have been following yours for a little while 🙂
It is. And I think because there are so many names for our profession, it makes things more and more confusing. I am glad to hear that university professors are really pushing the SLP thing…that is ASHA’s position on the subject, that we are SLPs not speech teachers or speech therapists.
I had never heard of differentiating among those in our profession depending on licensing/CCCs until this week. I am not aware of any districts that do that in Florida, although there may be some. I guess that makes sense. Bottom line is, until we all start being consistent with our title, no one else ever will.
Lol, I always get a giggle from that one. Steal away! 🙂
See I don’t mind the “speech teacher” title as much as I hate when speech language pathologists call each other “speechies” I feel like that is the most degrading to our degree.
Our elementary students called us speech teachers, but the teachers called us speech pathologists. In junior high and above I expect my students and all staff to call me a speech pathologist. I work in the medical setting too and I know that is a HUGE pet peeve to most people in the medical setting. They are ALL called speech pathologists in my area and “speech therapist” is a degrading term in the medical settings I work in. I am not saying ALL medical speech pathologists think that–just the ones where I am from. I think we should expect the same from our staff in the school setting as well. Why should a medical speech pathologist be jus that and a school speech pathologist be a speech teacher….
This blog caught my attention but for a different reason. I have worked in a variety of settings and prefer medical over schools but am currently a school based SLP. When I have new students on my caseload, they often call me “Speech Teacher” I gently remind them that I have a name and if they call me “Speech Teacher” I will call them “Speech Kid”. Amazingly they learn my name very quickly. Names matter more than labels. Names embody our identities and are consistent across all parts of our lives. Labels are what we do in given situations. I use my CCCs every time I sign my name because I did work hard to earn them. I use my unique knowledge and skill set in the variety of roles I serve in at my schools. At the end of the day it matters more to me that my students (although some would be better labeled “patient”)know and understand why they come to see me and know they have someone who has the time to know them individually.