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 classroom impact that helps more students thrive. 

• moving from a medical model to an education-aligned mindset 
• accepting neurodiversity and focusing on strategies over “fixing” 
• noticing how pull-out therapy can send an unhelpful message 
• protecting student dignity and self-esteem when motivation is gone 
• using a workload approach to reach more students 
• delivering articulation support through teacher professional development 
• teaching listening and self-correction skills that generalise 
• starting change by learning the school plan and partnering with principals 
• using shared language and school priorities to earn buy-in 

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear about it. Share your experiments, your questions, your aha moments, because your experience matters and maybe exactly what another SLP needs to hear.

https://sarahdowlingschoolslpcoaching.com

Music: Daniel Chui

Transcript

Welcome And Why Alignment Matters

Sarah 0:02

Welcome back to the Aligned SLP. I'm Sarah Dowling. If you're new here, this is where school-based SLPs stop being clinical islands and start being collaborative partners. We're ditching the impossible caseload, embracing the workload approach, and reclaiming our joy as professionals aligned with the education world. I'm very happy to have Pam, Pam Waterhouse, with me today. We've known each other a few years here in British Columbia in Canada, both trying to help school-based SLPs and work more closely with teachers. Pam's been doing that for many years. So yeah, you've been a key influencer in British Columbia, Pam, you know, encouraging school-based SLPs to work more closely with teachers and get into classrooms. So can you describe, you know, when you first shifted your perspective from pulling children out and starting to get more into the school and the classrooms?

From Medical Model To Reality

Pam 1:05

Yeah, sure, Sarah. I came to British Columbia from Alberta in 1988, where I had been working in a health unit prior. So coming to schools was my first real school experience. And it was definitely a different time than it is now. Um almost half a century later. But maybe the medical model worked at that time because what we had was um kids going to their own special schools. So our blind kids went to the school for the blind, and the deaf kids went to the school for the deaf, and we had classes for our kids with intellectual delays. So basically, as a speech pathologist, we just saw the kids in the classroom, and we had nothing to do with any of the other kids. And even then, we were overworked. And even then, maybe we saw our kids twice a week, but you couldn't always provide the dosage that kids need to make a change. Um when you're driving from school to school and we didn't identify kids as kids with developmental language disorder. Back in the 80s, I was taught that these kids with delayed language that it was to be called a delay until they had basically been therapized and they hadn't made enough enough progress. And now you could call them a language disorder. So we were just assuming everybody was language delayed, and if we could just provide that dosage of therapy and the right amount of therapy, well, then they were all going to be healed, that we were the miracle workers. And you know how that went, Sarah.

Sarah 3:15

No, I remember those times as well. Yes. Yeah.

Pam 3:18

So it was the evolution of scientific literature and understanding that even though we didn't call it developmental language disorder, a lot of these kids had this pervasive disorder that was going to be lifelong and we couldn't really fix it. And so they were put in their own special classroom called the language disordered classroom. And they had a teacher. So they weren't even my kids that I was responsible for seeing. So, you know, it's the progression over the decades, writing report cards where the kids were not making the progress that you were thinking you were capable of making with them, and coming to that realization of I suck, I'm not doing a good job, I don't know what I'm doing. But what can I do differently so that more kids make more progress, right? So that was that evolution of what can I do differently? This isn't beneficial to the kids. Uh this isn't where I want to work and spend my career because I had huge caseloads at multiple schools, and I couldn't release anybody from my caseload until they were fixed. How many kids did we really fix? Like, you know, the simple artic ones. So and I think that's maybe what happens to SLPs is we begin to choose the simple artic kids so that we um can feel successful in our jobs.

Sarah 5:04

Um, absolutely, because we've got to get some satisfaction somewhere. Yeah, and uh and it has been an evolution of understanding that yes, we can affect um change in some ways, but we're not gonna fix. Um, and that's that's still, I think, a recent realization for SLPs to really get it into their hearts and minds to understand that we've got to leave that notion behind apart from some of our speech kids.

Pam 5:37

Yeah, yeah, and you know, it's just that accepting of diversity that as Canadians, and I want to say British Columbia's lens especially, we um kind of lead the way in that changing our curriculum, um, inclusivity, that acceptance of diversity, the language diversity, the ethnic diversity, the religious diversity, the sexual identification diversity, like everybody belongs and everybody has a place in our society and in our schools.

Inclusion And The Myth Of Fixing

Pam 6:17

But why aren't we changing as SLPs? Why are we not changing so that our role is more accepting of diversity and looking as an example at fluency as maybe neurodiversity? And maybe that's okay, and they don't need to be fixed if they are comfortable, happy, healthy people. Who are we to say, no, that's wrong, that's bad, you need to be fixed, you know. So getting our head around diversity, inclusivity. People aren't perfect, and it's there was a time when the teachers would really say, Well, you fix them, and when they're fixed, then I can teach them. And we're realizing we really need to work closely with teachers because these neurological differences aren't fixable, that this is the brain that you need to live with and learn how you learn and learn how to advocate for yourself.

Sarah 7:30

And it's just a whole yeah, I absolutely agree. And it's it's a massive mind shift to think that I'm actually preparing a student to live the life that they have with strategies and and ideas and teaching some skills, um, but being cognizant of those skills aren't trying to fix them, but trying to help them survive, cope, learn, um, be good at feel good about themselves, um, and take responsibility for themselves as well. Because I think sometimes in the therapy process we can disempower children. Um, and you know, so yeah, sometimes we have to say, actually, I'm helping you, you know, be the best you can be. Um, and let's let's you let's see if we can work on that together, you know. I'll work with the teacher and the therapist and the principal and the parents, you know, to do that as well, to change that mindset. Yeah.

Pam 8:28

And I feel like at the core of um changing our service delivery model is kindness, that we want to be kind and accepting. And when you think about pulling kids for therapy, there's a nonverbal message, and the nonverbal message to the teacher and the family and the student is you're getting therapy, you're going to be fixed. And then when the child isn't fixed, everybody's angry that the parents aren't practicing enough, they aren't doing their part, and the child is feeling disheartened that he's supposed to be fixed, but he's been coming to therapy for years and he isn't fixed yet. And it it just isn't a kind way to provide service delivery.

Sarah 9:22

Yeah, I'd absolutely agree. I'd absolutely agree. I think a lot of my motivation as well has been from kindness

Kind Service Delivery And Student Dignity

Sarah 9:28

and compassion and empathy, trying to understand it from other people's points of view, from the student themselves, from the family, from the teacher's point of view. I remember a grade three uh boy who had had speech therapy, you know, since preschool, and he still had significant um sound issues, but he was intelligible, you know, mostly intelligible. Um, but he was done, absolutely done, and there was no way he's working on speech anymore. So we just agreed that we'd meet another three or four times, um, and I said, then that's the end, that's it. Um, and then in the future, you know what a speech language pathologist is, you can always ask again, you know, if you want to have another go. And that's what we did, and the I, you know, the teacher wasn't very happy about it. Um, you know, mum was great actually, mum was fantastic. Um, but yeah, it took a bit of negotiation around him for people to accept that. No, he he's fine. I don't want to destroy him by continuing to make him have speech therapy. Um, yeah, let's keep his self-esteem intact and his his joy of life. You know, he was a wonderful character. Um, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, so that that's fantastic background to where we've both landed in many ways in different countries. Um but so where where are you at now? Like you've you've just recently retired like I have, and where are you at now is your practices, you know, in the last few years

Articulation In The Classroom Model

Sarah 11:04

and what you know what you were trying to do um recently?

Pam 11:08

Yeah, well, like many people of my age group, you exited the the full-time working um job due to health issues, where I just couldn't do that those hours anymore because you know how this job consumes us. Um it isn't just a nice eight to four job. It really consumes you. Um yeah, so prior to leaving, I was so invested in working with teachers, working closely with teachers, looking at these kids with needs, looking at all of these kids who were fully integrated. Um thinking who in this building has more than 20 minutes once a week to spend with this child, and how can I work smarter so that more kids make more progress and are getting more help than 20 minutes once a week. So I did a lot of professional development with teachers first and foremost. Um I started with working on articulation, articulation in the classroom, doing lots of teacher training around that. And um, it was very successful and very fulfilling to see kids making progress like I would never have believed. And my example is always uh a kindergarten teacher I work closely with, and we presented articulation in the classroom because we started doing the professional development together for teachers in our district, an SLP and a kindergarten teacher presenting together. And yeah, and we presented it one year at our BC Speech and Hearing Conference. And when I were putting together the video, it's early October, and I'm saying, Oh, I don't like this video I made of you teaching kids the TH sound. Can I come in and do another one? And she said, No, we're done. Everybody in the class has it. And and in her classroom, she usually has one or two English-speaking kids. The majority of her students are um English language learners, and so basically in September, she has no kids with a th sound, and she just says, Let's get them hearing sounds and tuned into sounds on the English language, and we'll all start with th as a group, and then from there we'll s consonant blends is another one. We spend a lot of time with a lot of kids with s consonant blends because they don't occur in many languages, and we're going on to L and R because again, L and R are different in different languages, and it just blew me away. It's like what, like four or five weeks into school max, and you're done working on TH, and it's like, yeah, everybody has it. But if you think from a teacher's perspective, how do you teach kids letters of the alphabet and their sounds and how to read, and how do you write it when you don't make the sounds? So as soon as she presented it from her teacher's perspective, all of the teachers were like, that's unreal. That's that's phenomenal. That's that's so true. And so it was this big rolling snowball in our district where we would do pro D for teachers two hours in our public library at 7:30 at night, and it would be sold out within the first day of putting tickets up for sale. So it was um it was just a really cool experience. And then from there it snobbled into language development, professional development um for teachers, and um going off in all kinds of different directions with that, but again, um priorizing spending time with teachers and in classrooms and teaching people that have more than 20 minutes once a week to spend with any child. What I was finding with these kids is typically if they were referred to the speech language pathologist, I would go in and do my assessment and say, oh, we're going to work on um F and V, and now we're going to work on um L. And now we'll, you know, work on SH. So you plug through the sounds one at a time. Whereas when the teachers were working on articulation in the classroom, the kids were learning the skill of listening and comparing sounds and matching sounds to graphemes. And a lot of kids that had a lot of articulation differences or unacquired sounds could um correct all those sounds on their own because they were just learning that skill of listening, comparing, self-correcting. So these kids didn't need to come to me for the next three years while I waded through one sound at a time.

Sarah 17:16

It it was a really cool model, like a whole child model where and when the teachers realize that they can actually affect that change, you see them, you know, they go from nervous to excited. I mean, they're excited to try. Um, but then when you see that they have an impact, they realize that it's not just the SLP who has an imp an effect. You know, like we always say, you know, um in schools, language is the medium of education and it's also the thing that's been taught. You know, it's a it's a very complex scenario with language and speech that's going on. So if teachers, they're doing speech anyway when they're doing phonics. So why don't why don't we increase their confidence um and and help them understand that much more and be much more um focused on it and incorporate it in a much more um cohesive way. So yeah, that's just fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. I always think that you're the person in BC who's known for getting speech into their classroom.

Pam 18:18

Well, but what I do see is there's a lot of districts now that are doing that, that are offering articulation training to teachers. And it's almost like they need permission to say, oh, I can do this. Because it's often, well, you know, what sounds are hard for them. Well, I don't know, you're the professional. And now it's like, okay, I've had this child working with an L group and the other L kids all have it and they don't. What can you show me? Oh, well, let me show you some jaw-tongue differentiation, you know, and and even if we are going to see a student, it's for one or two sessions to establish a new behavior, and then you pass it back to the teacher to be practicing. So um yeah.

Sarah 19:15

Yeah, and the kids I've had the most progress with have always had the teacher more involved. You know, they're happy to incorporate things or do some lunchtime practice, or you know, the that's when the kids make progress. Um, it's not when I'm seeing them once a week. It has to be somebody else. So somebody within the building has to be involved, and preferably the the teacher, if you know, if possible. Yeah, that's fantastic.

Tips For Starting School Collaboration

Sarah 19:38

So if you were uh trying, you know, we've got listeners out there who are younger than us, which is not that difficult, and um they're newer to their profession, and they've probably got to that point that we both got to, you know, where they're frustrated um with the this the state of where they are with their with their interventions and what they're doing in their job. So have you got any top tips? Have you got any uh advice um to share with them about starting on this road?

Pam 20:08

I feel like I always had the best luck when I was new to a school. I was taking it from another speech pathologist where I could go in and learn a little bit about the school, um, meet the teachers, see where the teachers were kind of coming from. Every school has its own climate in terms of strengths, weaknesses, student population. And schools have their own goals. So they may have math goals and they may have reading goals and they may have writing goals. So if you can go in and shake the principal's hand and say, oh, hey, I'm your speech pathologist this year, and your school goal is this, and I know a lot about this, and I can work really closely with your teachers and you know, be a really big help to you as you want to improve your intermediate, you know, reading goals. Let's talk about some evidence-based strategies. And I've had principals say, no, no, no, we don't do that here. We just want you to see the kids. And it's like, yeah, just assume that I'm a professional and I know how to do my job, and let me just do my job, and I'll come back and talk to you in a few weeks, and we'll see if anything needs to be tweaked. Well, okay, but I don't like this. And in two weeks, they're coming to you saying, Oh, this teacher wants to start a book club and buy this book, and would you help her lead it? And it's like, Yes, because all students. All teachers should know about evidence-based reading strategies. Like the ways that you can change schools' mindsets and introduce learning is just um amazing. You can affect so much change for all the kids in the school, um, so many teachers.

Sarah 22:25

Um I often advise um in my courses and and my emails is that um to go and have that conversation when you go into school, even if it's the same school you've worked in, go back and say, I want to work in a different way now. There's a more modern way I want to work, and and I'd like to try it with your school. Um, and do the same as you did. And and you know, I've had the same reactions is like, no, you know, the person before me, you know, pulled all the kids and wrote all the IUPs. Well, and I'll say, nope, I'm not doing that. I work in a different way. Um, and I'd like you to, you know, I know what I'm doing, and I'd like you to to to learn how I work, because I it's a different way of working. I want to empower you, I want to share my knowledge with you. I want you to take the reins and drive this and then come to me with questions and ideas of things that you want me to do. Um, so yeah, it's a different way of w working. Yeah.

Pam 23:23

Build capacity amongst your staff is what's buy in. Oh, capacity. Okay, I'm in.

Sarah 23:34

So yeah. Yeah, you have to learn some of the lingo, some of the words, the phrases that people need. And knowing the school plan, I think is key, key. Yeah. Yeah. Show that you're actually interested in their school and you've actually read their school plan. Yeah. You're not just w walking in with your wheelie suitcase and and uh your assessment over your shoulder and and not really obs knowing what's going on in the building, but you're actually wanting to be an active part of that community. Yeah. Yeah. And they're blown away if you know the school plan. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's wonderful. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much. Yeah, we will definitely be talking again, I'm sure. And um, yeah, so thank you for for being one of my podcast interviewees and helping me on my journey. And uh, and um, yeah, we'll uh we'll speak soon. Thank you very much.

Pam 24:29

You're welcome, Sarah. Nice to talk to you anytime.

Takeaways And Listener Invitation

Sarah 24:33

Thank you for spending time with me today. Here's what I want you to take away. You're not failing. The system is asking you to do the impossible, and you're doing the best with what you have. But there is a different way. And remember, you're not alone in this. We're building something new together. One conversation, one collaboration, and one small change at a time. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear about it. Share your experiments, your questions, your aha moments, because your experience matters and maybe exactly what another SLP needs to hear. Until next time, stay curious and be kind to yourself. I'm Sarah Dowling, and this has been the Aligned SLP.