lscain

They told us the same thing but they were lenient. I think they didn't want people to sign up for summer classes and then have to drop them because they didn't get a sponsor. Basically you had to have something before school started in the fall.

Yes, only certain groups that you and your supervisor choose will be for grad school. It adds up to 4 1/2 hours a week. You can do it all in one day or space it out. The rest of the time that you do therapy is just for your job.

Oh, when you schedule your practicum time, they won't let you take off work on that day without permission. So I wouldn't schedule it on the day of class or maybe not the day before, in case you need to take off to study or finish a project or something.

I think the hardest class was probably the first Neuro class. You'll probably take it in the fall. But if your professor is Dr. Sam's, she is really good. The best advice I can give is just to hang in there and know that you will be done eventually. Of course I'm not even done yet, ha ha! Also, I'm older and I have two kids in middle school. I think that makes it more difficult. I have to take them to activities, help them with homework, and all that kind of stuff, so I have no time. My parents have really helped out with my kids and my husband had to step up and help out with housework and laundry and stuff. But I think if you don't have kids and you're younger it's probably easier. Also, I had to take a year of leveling courses so I'm really sick of classes now!

I work full time and the pay is the same as a teacher's salary in the district. I would probably email first and let them know your situation. Attach a resume to the email too. All districts are different. Some have a director of speech and some just have a Special Education director and maybe a lead SLP. Just try to find out what the district has and email that person. You might even email the speech director as well as the special education director just in case one of them doesn't see that email or pay attention to it. If you don't hear anything within a week or something I would probably follow up with a phone call then. What region are you in?

I am in cycle 8 right now, getting close to finishing, thank goodness! I was just reading this because I remember looking at this whenever I applied. Someone was asking how hard it is to get sponsorship so I wanted to share with you from my experience. I had an extremely difficult time finding sponsorship as did several others in my region. It was a terribly stressful time for me. I had no idea if I would even be able to continue in the program. I am in Region 10 and I was a teacher at Garland ISD. At first I thought I would be able to stay there, but they ended up not having any openings. I then decided to only apply in three or four districts near me thinking it would be easy to get sponsorship. I had no idea how hard it was going to be. I ended up applying at like 30 districts. I didn't even know that there were that many around here. I sent letters, emails, phone calls, etc. I was told over and over that either the districts did not hire assistants, that they would only hire assistants if they were bilingual, or that they had too many assistants and not enough SLPs. I think I was under the mistaken impression that TWU would help me find something if I couldn't get it myself, but that was totally wrong. The only help they would give is to tell you if they thought someone might be hiring. I did not find a placement until the middle of the summer after our classes had started. There was another girl in region 10 who did not have a placement toward the end of the summer and she quit. I'm not sure if that's why, but we all thought it was. We also had a student in region 10 who was actually from somewhere around Brownsville. She couldn't get a sponsorship there but she got one in Dallas. She was married and had a son. She and her son moved to Dallas while her husband stayed at home. She lived in an apartment for a year. Then after the school year ended she found a placement near her home, so she was finally able to move back. It was crazy! In some areas though it's easier to get placement. I know some people didn't have a hard time at all. Plus, I think if you are already an SLPA rather than a teacher, it's easier, especially if you can just stay where you are. I'm saying this, not to be discouraging, but so you'll be prepared for how stressful it can be. They suggested that we wait until March or April or something like that to look for a placement because they said districts wouldn't know what openings they had until then. I would not do that. I would start looking immediately. If you happen to be in region 10, Dallas ISD hired a bunch of people. By the time I decided to apply there they didn't have any positions left.

Region 10

ReagorSmith, I hadn't contacted any school districts yet either, but when I got my acceptance email yesterday I contacted the special ed and speech coordinators for my district to see what I needed to do. The speech coordinator said she was in charge of TETN and set up a time for me to meet with her next week. Keysmith, I got an email too and my status on Webadvisor still says awaiting department review.