Use these 3 tips for creating a functional and time saving speech therapy space. No matter the size of your therapy space there are some things you can do to make it functional and time saving! It may not be a glamorous room like you see on IG but it can be very functional and effective for you and your students.
TIP #1 for creating a functional and time saving space
Put a bookcase directly behind your chair at your therapy table! You will not believe the time you will save by not having to get up and go get what you need. I had space to have two bookcases so I was able to have all my speech and language workbooks, task cards, artic picture cards, manipulatives, etc. right at hand. All I had to do was turn around and grab what I wanted in a matter of seconds. Talk about saving time! So easy to put back after use, too!
TIP #2 for creating a functional and time saving therapy space
Use a craft caddy to hold all your pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, glue sticks and keep it on the end of your table. Now you and your students can grab what they need to complete a worksheet, color a page, do a cut and glue activity or whatever. No getting up to walk over to a storage cabinet to look for those things nor do you have to use up space in your bookcases with those things!
TIP #3 for creating a functional speech therapy space that will save time.
Use two milk crates with slots for hanging files stacked to hold your “working folders” and all the extra papers (worksheets, data sheets, homework, etc.) that you have copied or printed to have at hand for immediate access! Now when I say working folders I am referring to the individual folders for each student you use to keep a copy of their IEP goals, data sheets, medicaid forms, etc that you need to access each session. I also kept copies of worksheets and homework pages, upcoming craftities, etc. in there too! Everything at my fingertips. I used my planning period or stayed late to stay ahead with pages they would be needing for upcoming sessions.
In the bottom milk crate is where I stored the extra papers that I had printed/copied for student activities and data sheets. In the top crate is where I stored my student working folders. I created hanging files labeled with all my scheduled session times such as 8:15, 8:45, 9:15, etc. In each time hanging folder I place that session’s student working folder. When my students came in for their session all I had to do is pull the crates and grab all the folders for that session. It sure made keeping data easy peasy because I only had to pull out each students data sheets. It also made writing progress reports easy to do too.
BONUS: My table was set to a height comfortable for me so my crates slid right under it to be out of the way!
I hope these 3 tips helps you create a functional and timesaving speech therapy space this year!
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