Therapy On A Budget: A Challenge

During my second semester of grad school, I took a class on school-age language development and disorders. One of the best activities of the whole term was dividing up into groups of 4 and deciding how best to spend $1000 on therapy and testing materials (or was it more? $1000 seems about right). $1000 goes really, really quickly and it's also an unlikely amount to be given for materials, especially if you work for a public school district. She gave each group a stack of catalogues and a calculator. I don't know how many of us realized that therapy materials such as articulation cards were just part of what we'd need. We had to consider supplies such as dry-erase markers, time timers, portable whiteboards, board games, stickers, tokens, and construction paper.

This year, I was allotted $200 by the district and another $440 by Medicaid. The catch was that I had to buy everything myself and then be reimbursed. Everything bought with district or Medicaid $ is technically owned by the district - I can't take it with me if I ever leave. At this point in the school year, I've blown through this money and also spent close to $400 of my own on treatment materials, books, games, and school supplies (however, most of the games and books are mine to keep!). Adding up how much I've spent on materials reminded me of the challenge set forth by my School-Age Language instructor. And I've decided to pass the challenge on to anyone who reads this blog.

Let's pretend you are a new SLP in either a school district or a clinic. You can be reimbursed for some of your materials, but no one is giving you any money up front. You have $300 saved up so that your shelves at work are not full of borrowed and possibly-falling-apart games. Let's also presume that your district/clinic provides you with all of your testing materials (mine does, thankfully) and that you have two drawers full of pretty much every type of assessment you could need (again, I do). You need to use your $300 to find treatment materials, activities, and miscellaneous supplies to get you through the first couple months of work and beyond. I'll let you decide your age range, but I'm going to stipulate that your students/clients have a wide range of needs.

Reply to this post with a list of what you would spend your $300 on! I'm curious, and I'll make a post later on with my own list.