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ASHA 2013

November 22, 2013 By

It was such a pleasure to attend the ASHA convention in Chicago this year! Hearing Ben and Jerry speak at the opening session was a treat! What personalities! I like people with high entertainment value. They obviously know how to have a good time yet still take care of business. I would have loved the opportunity to hang out with them for a while. Their opening comments underscored the necessity of teamwork. The science of ice cream making and of course selling it, service delivery.

Those two friends are obviously very different people. Complimentary of each other, and still I’m sure they had their disputes. Their words of wisdom for us, “Subjugate your ego.” You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. Assemble a team that rounds out your weakness.

As a small business owner, I appreciate how challenging it can be to do those things. You want a good reputation for your business. You may even be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Finding people that you trust to either work for you or collaborate with can take time. I often turn to my ASHA colleagues for wisdom when making these decisions.

Here are some great ways to network:
-have a network of local therapists and meet regularly.
-stay connected through professional organizations like the American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology
-love the ASHA special interest list serves! They connect a network of brilliant and experienced SLPs who are happy to share their knowledge.
-Give back to your community. Local volunteer opportunities and charitable donations are an excellent way to connect with other professionals in the area.

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ASHA 2013- The Magic of Teamwork: Science and Service Delivery

November 14, 2013 By

We are so excited to be at ASHA this year! We flew in on Tuesday, so we could hang
out in Chicago a little before feeling the press of the crowds at the convention
hall. And I’ve been reading articles about the ASHA convention. Sean Sweeny wrote
about his experience as a presenter in Easy Speak magazine. He is quite funny! When
I hear a presenter speak, I’m usually just caught up in all the good information
that they share; I never think that they *might* feel tense before walking up to the
podium. I suppose being in the spot light makes everyone tense the first time or
two… Can’t wait to actually hear what some of our presenters have to share and
see what’s new in the exhibit hall! I hope to have better insight into science and
service delivery working together. What a great theme!

My interpretation of it of course comes down to how we use technology tools to
enhance our therapy interactions. As it stands, I am a data driven therapist. I
collaborate with another speech therapist to offer social skills/ articulation
groups once a week. We plan out lessons together and then we each do our favorite
things during the session. Play with kids, laugh, and teach. We read the stories
and collect the data. Tap tap tap… 🙂 Then we use that data to direct the focus
of our next session, and we also like to think that we are always using evidence
based practices.

The reality about evidence based practice is that there is a small pool of knowledge
for what we KNOW works. Many of our interventions fall into the area of “don’t know
for sure but it doesn’t hurt.” So I like to rely on my treatment data to drive
intervention decisions.

Tracking data for some things seems black and white- 69% correct for final /s/ in
sentences. But it’s actually more complex than just that. What compensations did
the individual use? How much support in the way of verbal, visual, and tactile cues
were provided by the therapist? What was the environment like? Were the activities
high structured or low structured? All of these variables influence performance.
It’s true for articulation, it’s true for eye contact, and it’s true for any
exercise that you ask your clients to participate in.

If you are not tracking the complexity of the scenario, then your data could falsely
give the sense that progress is not being made. So I keep track of context. And
that is how I keep science in my sessions, driving the decisions that I make for
service delivery.

Really looking forward to hear how others interpret this theme. And hoping to walk
away with more insight for my clinical practice…. And maybe a few new friends!

Best,
Jessica

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JOTx on the go

November 4, 2013 By

When I started my private practice I had limited office time, so I supplemented by doing outpatient services in people’s homes. There are many benefits to that.  For one, you can see how the person is actually doing in their home setting. For two, you don’t have the overhead costs of having an office.  So if you can space your appointments a reasonably close distance apart, then you can do well.  And if your caseload goes down, you don’t have to worry about paying for space that you aren’t using.  Things to manage effectively are your drive time, chatting with your friendly clients too much, and your documentation time.

This is where JOTx really helped me. I was able to use the blue tooth on my phone to establish an Internet connection so that I could provide point of service documentation during my sessions. The problem with that was that some days my Internet connection was weak, and the app would run slowly as it tried to push data up to the server.

This is why for version 2 we insisted that the app function offline. Many locations don’t have Internet. Even when you have access to the Internet, the connection isn’t always good and sometimes you have to piddle around establishing the connection. So you have to have a system that doesn’t put you out of business when your connection is lousy. For JOTx therapy, that means that any data stored locally on the device, from the time that it is recorded to the time that it is pushed up to the server has to be securely encrypted. That means that if a hacker got your iPad before the memory could be wiped, the only information they would find is a senseless string of symbols. This was not a task that our programmers took lightly. In addition to data encryption, the app is protected by password access, a time out feature for inactivity, and pin access for re- entry. Like with any documentation system, therapists need to use common sense, but between that and our security measures, our users can rest easier knowing their data is secure.

Filed Under: JOTx Tips, News