In my district we have monthly speech meetings. We get together discuss updates, listen to a lecture to learn something new and sometimes debate issues in our field.
This last week the topic of PRODUCTIVITY came up. Can I get a dramatic *dun dun dunnnn*?
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Okay, ALL most of us SLPs know we are "busy", but are we really as productive as we could be?
That is a good question.
Our school psychologists are required to complete a form that shows how many students they have assessed and how many qualified. This determines the % of eligible students out of all we assessed. This basically shows us if we are assessing the right students. Makes sense, right?
Our lead SLP suggested that we start to keep track of how many screens we do, initials, triennials, (full team or speech only), hours of therapy, hours writing IEPs, hours writing IEPs at home, mentoring, consultations, staff meetings, phone calls, e-mails, lesson planning and so on...(forever right? haha so many things that we do!)
Immediately during this conversation I began creating a google form, in case we really wanted to try to keep track. However as the conversation continued, we were all thinking what is the point of doing this?
Now you think about that....what if you were asked to keep a productivity log (like they do in the hospitals). Would you do it? Why? What is the benefit?
Here are some thoughts:
Pro: I think it would be a great way to track how many hours I really do spend at home. I could better assess if I am really doing as much as I think and compare myself to other SLPs. Maybe strive to be better? Maybe if I track all this information others (supervisors, principals, teachers) will notice how much we really do! Maybe I will get an aide or a smaller caseload? Maybe it will be incentive to work harder and more efficiently. It would keep SLPs accountable and make fairer workload/caseloads in the district.
Con: Will I be compared to other SLPs? If I am "not working as hard" as someone else will I be punished? What is the baseline? Where should I be? How much is too little? How much is too much? Will I get another school site? What is an appropriate "work load"? Who determines that? Maybe we won't get aides? Maybe supervisors, principals and teachers won't grasp how much we really juggle all aspects of our jobs, even if we list what we do. Maybe I will waste all this time tracking every last detail of what I do for no reason! What will it tell me? and will it actually make anything better?
We are not currently tracking, but we will be discussing it further and to determine answers to these questions.
What do you think? Will it help? or not? Do you have to do this in your district? Do you like it? Why or why not?
I am super curious as to what you all think. If you comment, I will randomly pick a comment (my husband will) and give you my new "Thanksgiving What am I?" game when it's done. Comment by Friday 7pm Pacific and leave your e-mail too.
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