The Aligned SLP
Supporting overwhelmed school-based SLPs to use an educational model of service delivery, including inclusion, neurodiversity, a workload approach, multi-tiered systems of support, and true collaboration with teachers and other education colleagues - to increase a sense of belonging, creativity and to reduce stress and burnout.
https://sarahdowlingschoolslpcoaching.com
The Aligned SLP
Latest Episodes
Lesley Sylvan on her book and sabbatical
We explore how school-based SLPs can stop working in isolation and start building real MTSS change through shared responsibility for language across the school day. We unpack what makes innovation possible and what makes it sustainable so we ar...
Medical versus Educational Language
We challenge the medical-style language that keeps school-based SLPs stuck in isolation and overload, and we replace it with an educational, MTSS-aligned way of thinking. We lay out concrete language swaps and service design choices that help u...
Moving from the Outside to the Inside
We rethink what it means to belong as a school-based SLP and why the pull-out, referral-driven cycle keeps us feeling like outsiders. We connect curriculum, embedded systems like MTSS, and day-to-day collaboration to bring back purpose, equity,...
Interview with Zoë Watt
We trade the pull-out fix-it model for a collaborative MTSS approach that makes communication support part of everyday classroom learning. We share what it takes to build inclusive, sustainable school-based SLP services that respect teachers, c...
Interview with Pam Waterhouse
We unpack why school-based SLPs feel like they’re failing when the system is built for an impossible caseload and a pull-out “fix it” model. We explore a kinder, more inclusive way to work by building teacher capacity and shifting toward classr...