thank you!!

Thank you everyone for all of the kind words.

It is nice to be heard. And even better to be encouraged!

I have a question for the blogosphere... does anyone know how I can post some links to pdf files? I have some custom made materials that I'd love to share, but am not sure how to do that for free. Advice?

Why I'm hiding from this blog

Why am I hiding from this blog?

Because I feel like a total hypocrite.

Last May I reported 10 reasons to be a school-based Speech Pathologist.

And it was true. It really was.

But now?

I'd advice against going that route.

For reals.

My pessimism stems from so many changes that have occurred recently. Most importantly these include:

• Last year my school had 3.5 full time assistants to help our extremely needy students mainstream into their general education class for most of the day. This year we have 1.
• These students without sufficient support are blowing out and hurting themselves and others. Multiple times per day.
• The teachers are angry at the special education team because we aren't "dealing with" these issues and behaviors.
• I had 21 hours/week of speech assistant support for the last 9 years. In September, I had 1 hour/week. Now I (thankfully?) have 10 hours/week.
• Daily 35+ min lunch duty that I've never had taken out of my schedule before, now my duty because our "vice principal" position was eliminated.
• My printer was taken away.
• Then, to top it all off, I had a parent complain to the assistant superintendent that I was doing "picture therapy" instead of "speech therapy" to their non-verbal student with whom I'm providing AAC and picture exchange support (per their IEP goals!).

Almost every single one of these issues stems from lack of funding for our schools.

I am tired.

I am frustrated.

I am teary eyed. A lot.

And although I have cool new ideas to share with the blogosphere, I may be hiding under my covers a little bit too.