SLP Coffee Talk

Do worksheets have to be boring? In this solo episode, Hallie shares four easy ways to make worksheets more engaging for older students without adding a ton of prep or turning every session into a game. She explains how to pair worksheets with simple games, choose high-interest topics that connect to students’ lives, give them more choice in how they complete the activity, and use a simple white colored pencil trick to add an element of surprise. Most importantly, she reminds SLPs that the go...

Are you writing following directions goals straight from a CELF subtest score? In this solo episode, Hallie makes the case for asking "why" before you write another three-step directions goal for a middle or high schooler. She explains how to use item analysis to find what's really driving the difficulty, why compensatory strategies often serve older students better than more isolated drill, and how to build self-advocacy into the activities you're already doing. She also shares low-cost, tee...

Tired of reaching for the same generic drills no matter what speech sound error walks through your door? In this episode, Hallie chats with Laura Rinella, MA, CCC-SLP, creator of Laura Teaches Speech and a pediatric specialist in speech sound disorders. Laura breaks down how she builds targeted, individualized treatment plans that move the needle on intelligibility, offers her take on telling articulation and phonological disorders apart in real sessions, and explains why she sees every kid's...

Struggling to know what "good" data collection actually looks like, especially with older students on your caseload? In this episode, Hallie sits down with Kayla Obenour, an SLP with over a decade of experience across schools, outpatient, home health, and private practice, to chat all about what real, useful data collection can look like. Kayla shares why she's always aimed to "practice what she preaches" as a clinician, how she helps new clinicians cut through the overwhelm of tracking every...

In this solo episode, Hallie breaks down how to stop drowning in back-to-back groups with completely different goals. She covers why you don't need a separate activity for every student, how one resource — a video, book, article, or even a game — can hit multiple goals at once, and why mixed-goal groups can actually work in your favor instead of against you. If planning has been eating into time you don't have and you're tired of scrambling between sessions, this episode is for you. Bullet...