A Day in the Life of a Speech Therapist at Bright Start

Video Transcript

Katie:
Good morning everybody. Today, I’m going to show you a day in the life of a home base speech
language pathologist. So I normally start my day off with a big cup of coffee and I sit down and I get on
my computer and I look at my schedule for the day to kind of refresh myself on who I’m going to see and
what I need to bring. So looking at the day, I have a light day today. I typically see around six or seven
kids in a day. That would be a full day for me, but today I only see four kids because one canceled. So I’ll
have plenty of time in between sessions to write notes or catch up on any documentation I need to
catch up on, which is nice. So I will keep you updated throughout the day to see where we’re at.

Katie:
I’m about to go out on the road and I’m going to give you a quick overview of what I keep in my trunk at
all times. So this is the files where I keep my kids files and I have like extra attendance logs and things
like that. I also keep masks, of course, and my gloves for feeding in there. I have pens and paper for note
taking, and then I have an umbrella and I also have a raincoat in case we get caught in the rain, which
happens sometimes. As far as the toys and activities go, I really don’t keep a lot in my trunk.

Katie:
You can see it’s really not that much. And that’s because I have a lot of early language kids. And with
these kids, I like to use what’s in their natural environment in the sessions typically, but I do have some
fun microphones. I have some books. I have a few cars and a few toys like that. I also keep Lysol and
Clorox wipes. And then I have my Bright Start bag that I’ll just put the kids folder and any of the
materials they need before the session. So that’s about it as far as materials go.

Katie:
Hello.

Speaker 2:
[inaudible 00:02:38].

Katie:
There we go. Let’s see if she’ll do it again.

Katie:
Hello.

Speaker 2:
Hello.

Katie:
Yay, baby. High five. Good job. Again?

Katie:
So after I see each kid, there’s a few things that I do. So once I get in my car, I make sure and keep hand
sanitizer around 24/7 because I use it after each kid. Then once I do that, I try to allow enough time in between my kids, so where I can write my SOAP note so that I’m done at the end of the day. And I don’t
have to go back and write my notes. So I’ve allowed about five minutes to write my note and then I’ll
head to the next kid’s house.

Katie:
Up, up, up. Swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing. Stop.

Katie:
Hey guys. So I just got done with my three morning sessions. And so what I’m going to do now is finish
up my note from my last session. And then I’m going to head to the office to grab some supplies. Then
after that, I’m going to go home because I have a little bit of time for lunch before my last… I think I have
two sessions, so I’ll eat lunch and then I’ll have my last two sessions, but I’ll keep you updated.

Katie:
So I am currently outside of the office. I’m about to run in and get a few supplies. I’ve already checked
the rest of the week and I don’t have any evaluations or reevaluations coming up. But if I did, this would
be the time where I would grab the materials that I need, but I don’t have any coming up. So I’m just
going to get some paper and maybe some more pens and stuff like that.

Katie:
I am home for my lunch break. I got my chicken salad and I’m ready to eat. Depending on the day, I may
or may not have a lunch break. And that’s all up to how, how you schedule your kids based on how you
want to schedule your kids and how your families or whenever your families are available. So I think
normally I do have a lunch break, but there’s been times where I pack my lunch and just eat on the road
depending on the day. And so today I have a few hours actually in between the last kid that I just saw
and my next kid. And so I have two plan of cares due, I think this Saturday, but I’m going to go ahead and
get them done because I have that this extra time.

Katie:
Good. How about I see a sunny day.

Speaker 3:
Sunny day.

Katie:
Say the whole thing. You got it.

Speaker 3:
I see a [inaudible 00:05:56].

Katie:
Try again. I see a sunny day. One more. Then we can swing. I see a sunny day.

Speaker 3:
I see a sunny day.

Katie:
Yeah. Good job. Huh?

Speaker 3:
[inaudible 00:06:17].

Katie:
Yes. Hello, so this is my last session I’m about to have, and this session is actually done at Target, which
is really cool. So when you think home health, you think of people going into houses, which is normally
the case, but as home health SLPs, we may go to day cares, after school programs. I’ve gone to parks
before. I’ve also gone to stores like Target depending on the circumstance. And so that’s really cool to
target certain goals and make it super functional. And that way the kid can target these goals in a
different environment from what they’re used to. So I will touch base with y’all after the session and let
you know how it goes.

Katie:
Charmaine, we are all done. Can you say bye? Good job. Bye.

Katie:
So I just finished up my last kid and it went great. It is now 5:20. So I’m a head home and get dinner
started. I hope you enjoyed getting to see what I do on a day to day basis. Like I said before, each day is
so different in terms of how many kids I see, who I see, what diagnosis I see. And that’s just really one of
the great things about this job is the flexibility and the unique experiences each and every day.