Download the show notes and full transcript of the conversation.
In this episode, you’ll hear Renee Brown talking with Katie Widestrom-Landgraf about how she took up an opportunity to switch from being a medical SLP to being school based. Renee talks about aspects of being a school based SLP that she needed to relearn and update to meet current practice. She also talks about what’s worked for her to work collaboratively with teachers, and other duties SLPs may find themselves tasked with in the school setting. A therapist who takes a holistic child led approach, Renee talks about the importance of advocacy not just for students, but also yourself, and the SLP profession.
Discussion & Reflection Question
- How can you work with teachers on how your different, but complementary roles, can work together in helping kids in learning language and reading skills?
- If you’re thinking about making a switch between medical to school based, or vice versa, is there knowledge and skills that you will need to update for current practice?
- How can you advocate for yourself if you find yourself with other school based duties that may impact on both your work as an SLP, and your work-life balance?
- Have you found yourself in a position where a non-SLP professional offers therapeutic suggestions or advice? How do you, or would you, respectfully assert your expertise?
- If you’re about to graduate or transitioning fields, who and where you can reach out to connect with other SLPs for some down to earth and practical advice on “a day in the life of…” your chosen area.
A school based SLP does have its challenges, but you have those students that just pull on your heartstrings. The students that teachers would come up and say, “Hey, look. I don’t know what to do. I can’t understand the student. Can you help? What can I do?” And then you see that student. Without speech, without us giving them what they need therapeutically to progress, then they might get looked over. That’s what brings me back, is I’m helping these kids create their own futures that they deserve.
– Renee Brown
Renee Brown MS,CCC-SLP
Renee Brown is a licensed school-based Speech Pathologist, busy mom to Elan and Jovie, wife of Dave, Frenchie mom to Max & Luna, self proclaimed life-long learner, and a small-town Pennsylvanian! Along with her SLP qualifications, Reneealso has a degree and teaching certificate for Elementary Education in Pennsylvania, and has received two ACE Awards from ASHA for continuing education.
When she is not working or creating SLP materials, you’ll find Renee binge watching shows on Amazon Prime and Netflix, traveling, skiing, connecting with other awesome SLP’s on Instagram, enjoying a glass of wine or margarita on the weekends, and being my kids #1 fan (and has the whole baseball mom chair to prove it!).
Contact Renee Brown:
thebusyspeechmom@gmail.com
Katie Widestrom-Landgraf, MS, CCC-SLP
Katie is a speech-language pathologist who has worked in both medical and educational settings for over 20 years. She presently works with adolescents in a large suburban high school.
Katie is a past president of the Minnesota Speech-Language Hearing Association (MNSHA). She has collaborated with the MN Dept. of Education to expand the understanding of oral language as critical neurodevelopmental infrastructure for academic achievement processes.
Katie is most passionate about helping students develop their language skills as a tool for thought, wonderment, questioning and curiosity…and of course communication. When Katie is not working with the students on her caseload, she is still working with students to develop their communication and self-expression as a high school forensics coach.
Katie enjoys great conversations and connections where one loses a sense of time, fabulous dining experiences, transcendent cups of coffee and books that are so good she negotiates with her alarm clock so that she might finish just one more chapter.
Contact Katie Widestrom-Landgraf
the.curious.slp@gmail.com
I think our students are some of our best teachers. Renee talks about how there’s something new to learn. Students will require us to rise to their needs and expectations, and that’s kind of one of the coolest things of our profession is that we can be in two years, 10 years, 20 years, and we also get to evolve with our practices and with the ways we are thinking about and approaching things.
– Katie Widestrom-Landgraf
Mattie Murrey Tegel, MA, CCC-SLP, L, CPC, CLSC
Medical Speech-Language Pathologist and Founder of Fresh SLP
Mattie Murrey-Tegels is the founder and SLP behind Fresh SLP and The Missing Link for SLPs Podcast. She’s been “in-the-trenches” as a medical SLP around the world for over 25 years and now an Assistant Professor for 3 years. She is thrilled to be adding this dream of a podcast because paying her experiences forward is something she is very passionate about. If you ask her patients and students, one thing they will remember is how much she loves her job! She may not look like it but she is a huge introvert and when she is not actively working as an SLP, she is almost always reading, writing (writing over 1,000,000 words a year), or listening to amazing Chicago Blues bands. She also loves being outdoors and definitely enjoys soaking up the sun at her home in Minnesota, where warm and sunny days can be limited. She’s ridden motorcycles for many years, raced sled dogs, hiked huge mountains yet she cherishes the quiet moments of climbing into a hammock to nap or timeless conversations with friends and family.
The Missing Link for SLPs podcast and Fresh SLP is her legacy, giving back to a career that has so richly rewarded her.
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Not a substitute for a formal SLP education or medical advice for patients/caregivers.
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