General Communication Strategies

When do you think you will retire?
Typical Retirement Age:
1.Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs):Average retirement age is often around 60-65 years.
2.Physical Therapists (PTs):Many PTs also retire between 60-65 years, but some may choose to work longer, especially in private practice.
3.Occupational Therapists (OTs):Similar to PTs, OTs typically retire around 60-65 years, though many continue working part-time or in consulting roles.
4. Special education teachers often retire between 55-65 years, influenced by state retirement benefits and personal circumstances.

SLPs spend 15+ hours a week on paperwork. Caseloads of 60, 70, even 80 students. IEPs that take hours to prep, run, and follow up. Scheduling that feels like solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded. And after all that, you still have to find time to actually do therapy.

Research shows that when caseloads cross 45 students, nearly half of SLPs say their workload is unmanageable. At 60 or more, that number climbs to 70%. And 75% of school-based SLPs have considered leaving the field entirely.
We built EASI because we are SLPs, and we have lived this.

EASI is a HIPAA-secure platform that includes MySLP (My Second Look Protocol), a clinical assistant trained on every state's IEP eligibility criteria and years of proprietary clinical data. It does not think for you. It helps you verify whether your clinical decisions are sound or need a second look.

The platform also includes language sample analysis that transcribes speech in context, including filler words and disfluencies, and calculates MLU, IPSyn, percentage of consonants correct, and more. Coming soon: a record review feature that compiles your test scores, previous reports, and IEPs into comprehensive evaluations.

And yes, MySLP can help with scheduling. Put your caseload and available times in, and it generates a schedule for you.
We are looking for beta testers before our early 2026 launch. If you want early access, sign up here.

https://easi-as.com/

School-based SLPs, we're seeking clinical partners for EASI beta testing. This evaluation platform was developed through National Science Foundation Phase 2 funding by a team of speech-language pathologists, data scientists, engineers, and special educators.

EASI provides comprehensive analysis in 15 to 30 minutes, record review reports, and secure AI assistance for case consultation. The system helps you brainstorm complex cases, verify your clinical findings, and develop therapy plans within a HIPAA and FERPA compliant environment. Unlike general AI platforms, EASI was purpose-built for clinical workflows with student privacy protections integrated from the ground up.

Join the beta program at Liricare.com. Your feedback will shape tools designed by field experts who understand the demands of school-based assessment and the ethical requirements of working with student data.

Sign up to be a beta tester today! https://easi-as.com/#card-v1ul56zcfdrd9j5

For those preparing for the SLP Praxis® Exam, here's a Statistics Refresher from ASHA that can help you study Research: https://www.asha.org/research/ebp/statistics-refresher/

Research on reducing school based slp turnover:
https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2021_PERSP-20-00262

Finding your balance:

Did you know that caregiver education is essential to a child’s carryover/generalization of skills within the home, school, and community?

Creating understanding, responsive, respectful, and collaborative rapport with caregivers can yield to an environment where caregivers feel safe and encouraged to learn.

Clink the link below to gain insights on how a speech-language pathologist can integrate such an approach when providing caregiver training for augmentative and alternative communication and/or multimodal communication use (which involves all forms of communication use). 💞🤩✨💖

https://www.theinformedslp.com/reviews

Did you know the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative IDDSI has a YouTube channel?❣️

If you are an experiential learner who develops understanding more easily with visuals and hands-on guidance you will find the IDDSI YouTube channel beneficial to your learning style. 🤩

https://youtu.be/9tRoJ31Mz30?si=e63JYschrsV_aNkJ

https://youtu.be/7C0lZOhMULw?si=cYLuha3qNBMr5nrP

https://youtu.be/peiLPtnmEsA?si=5dO78t2NXOddervZ

Did you know that delayed echolalia is the first stage of gestalt language development?! It’s a building block not something that should be extinguished❣️

If you are looking for an introduction to gestalt language development checkout this free masterclass designed for parents and professionals❣️

This free class also discusses how child-led therapy can help support children’s overall language development❣️🤩
https://www.meaningfulspeech.com/offers/YpBHFc24/checkout

For a deep dive into the well-verified, decades long, qualitative research that details the differences between gestalt language processing and analytic language processing (the mainstream development of language through single word use) look no further than this amazing site which will grant you access to more educational resources 🤩:

https://communicationdevelopmentcenter.com/