The Future of Speech and Language Kids (and our Profession)

There is a lot of uncertainty in the world of education right now.

And even before talks of reducing funding for education, speech-language professionals were overworked and under-supported.

But amidst this stress and uncertainty, I bring you a message of hope.

Because this is also a time of unparalleled technological advancements.

New technologies have the potential to save us, if we’re willing to try something new.

I’m Carrie Clark and on today’s episode of The Speech and Language Kids Podcast, I’m going to show you that together, we can use these emerging technologies to find solutions to our profession’s biggest problems.

And find ways to support our clients, our families, and ourselves in ways that we didn’t even know were possible.

Listen to the Podcast Here

You can listen to the full podcast episode below:

Remember what it was like in 2020?

I want to take you back to the year 2020.

I remember first hearing about Coronavirus, just a chuckle during a meeting when someone told of others doubting that they should be traveling to China right now and everyone else thinking those people were overreacting.

I remember feeling that fear grow as the virus spread.

And I remember when it finally hit that my kids weren’t going back to school and we were all locking down.

My first reaction was fear for myself and my family.

But once that initial fear wore off and we were hunkered down, I realized I had an amazing opportunity to help all of you.

Because you were suddenly thrust into a world of online therapy with zero time to prepare or get trained.

I started out with a simple “crash course in teletherapy” video and it spread like wildfire.

You guys were drowning and you latched onto that video like a life preserver.

And so we made more.

And we continued to grow and support you through the new situation you found yourselves in.

Welcome to 2025…

Well…I think that today, 5 years later, we find ourselves at the brink of a new reality shift.

You’re all drowning again, though it looks different this time.

And many of you seem like you’re on the brink of burning out or quitting.

Meanwhile more and more kids are needing our support.

So once again I find myself with an opportunity…or maybe….and obligation….

to throw you a life preserver.

Hope through Technology

Yes the world is chaotic.

Yes things are stressful.

But I find an amazing amount of hope in the new technologies that are available to us and improving at a breakneck pace!

Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) can now provide us with quicker and easier ways to do the “grunt work” parts of our job so that we can spend our time and energies on helping the kids.

There are emerging technologies that have the potential to save us hours of work per week…if we use them well.

And yes, of course there are ways that these technologies could be used irresponsibly.

But that’s all the more reason for you and I to step in now and start leading the way in using these new technologies the right way.

But I Can’t Do this Alone.

I know that you don’t have the time to sift through these new technologies and learn how to make them work for you.

I know you don’t have the time to build out the tools and resources necessary to make your job easier.

Just like you didn’t have the time to research and reinvent therapy to meet the sudden requirements to do teletherapy in 2020.

So I’m here to help!

I can dive into these technologies and make them work for us as long as you continue to support me!

These technologies are too costly (in time, energy, and money) for one SLP to build alone.

But when we combine the forces of the full Speech and Language Kids Hub (10,500 members and counting!), we can divide the efforts.

Through your support, I can focus my time on building out these new tools for you to use.

And with 10,000+ people to try them out and give feedback, I can get them to where they need to be in much less time.

So What’s Coming for Speech and Language Kids, Then?

I’m going to be using my Speech and Language Kids Hub as a launchpad for these new technologies and ideas.

I’ve already created 7 infinite material generators, a goal-wording generator, and an accommodations and modifications generator.

These tools are already running for our full, paid members!

But I have so many more ideas still to come!

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