Maternity Leave for SLPs
Congratulations! If you’re reading this post you are most likely expecting! I spent months preparing for my maternity leave in 2020. I bet you can guess what happened as soon as you saw the words 2020!
During my last day at work, my boss said, “we’re having an emergency staff meeting after school in case school shuts down but you don’t need to stay.” Then, midway through my crazy 40 hour birth – our school shut down! So my very well planned-out maternity leave binder was less helpful than I had hoped.
There was ONE THING that really saved us though! I had created all of my maternity plans digitally! My caseload was changing fast and I wanted to have it all in one place online so that I could share it with multiple people. I could not have planned it better for the crazy mess that we ended up in during 2020!!!!
Planning for maternity leave as an SLP can be a daunting task, but with the help of digital tools, it can be much more manageable. By utilizing digital resources, you can easily organize all necessary information for your substitute and ensure a successful transition. In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of planning for maternity leave digitally and how you can use certain resources to help streamline the process.
Benefits of Planning Digitally
Organizing and planning information for your substitute for a long-term leave can be really overwhelming. You need to prepare in advance but simply can’t know which day you’ll need to leave school. By uploading documents into a digital drive file, you can continue to edit them right up until baby is coming! Get a move-in student on your caseload? Just add it to your schedule and caseload list in Google Drive. Then, there is no need to reprint pages. You or your sub can print the items upon their initiation of your leave or leave them digital at that time.
Here are some of the other benefits of planning for a long term extended maternity leave digitally:
- Easy Access: With digital resources, you can access your maternity leave plan from anywhere, at any time. This is particularly helpful if you need to make updates or changes while you’re away as long as you have a computer with you.
- Collaboration: Digital tools allow for easy collaboration between you and your substitute. You can share your plan with your sub and the entire team and work together to make any necessary adjustments to things.
- Organization: Digital resources make it easy to organize all necessary information in one place. This can save you time and help you avoid the stress of trying to locate important information in a hurry.
4 Critical Things to Leave Your Maternity Leave Sub:
1. Student Info:
I always include pictures of students and the PLOP of their IEP under it. In this section of the plans, I also like to include any sensory information, behavior plans, AAC device passwords, etc. My motto is always-the more information the better. I definitely tend to over-share.
2. Staff info:
Adjusting to new staff and a lot of new names and faces can be tough. I like to find a yearbook photo to include for my substitute if I can and what room they are located in.
3. Schedule Preferences:
There is nothing like coming back to a schedule that you really don’t like and have to change. Share your preferences with how the substitute should add new students to your schedule to try to keep this consistent.
4. Ordering info:
If you’re going out in the spring don’t forget to tell your school secretary or whomever does your ordering what you need for next year. Ordering test protocols in a hurry in the fall is no fun!
The SLP Maternity Leave Binder
As speech pathologists, we all know how challenging it can be to manage a caseload of students, especially when taking time off for maternity leave. That’s why this digital maternity leave binder for SLPs is a fantastic tool to have. It’s designed to help you keep track of all the essential information you need to manage your caseload effectively while you’re away.
The SLP Maternity Leave Extended Leave Binder is an excellent resource for organizing all the necessary information for your substitute. It utilizes a Google Drive copy of an organizing binder. It also includes reminders for other documents to upload to supplement your binder.
Here’s how to use it:
- Download the Binder: You can find the SLP Maternity Leave Extended Leave Binder by clicking HERE. Once you purchase it, you can simply download it to your Google Drive account.
- Customize the Binder: The Binder comes with pre-made sections for student information, staff information, schedule preferences, and ordering information, but you can customize it to fit your specific needs.
- Share the Binder: Once you’ve filled out the binder with all necessary information, you can share it with your substitute and team. This will give them access to all the information they need to provide the best possible care for your students while you’re away.
- Update as Needed: While you’re away, you can continue to update the binder as needed. This will ensure that your substitute has access to the most up-to-date information, making your life a lot easier!
The Maternity Leave Binder Plans for a Smooth Transition Back
The Maternity Leave Binder includes several sections, such as meetings and important dates, building-specific notes, scheduled meetings, and important dates, passwords and pins, paperwork procedures, district-specific IEP notes, student notes, progress report procedures, lesson plans, beginning and end-of-the-year checklists, routines, common accommodations, and more. It even has several blank documents that you can use to remind you of documents to upload to the file, making it incredibly convenient to keep everything organized in one place.
With the digital maternity leave binder, you’ll have access to essential documents such as your school map, school staff directory, school calendar, SLP’s schedule, caseload list, IEP due date list, evaluation due date list, building schedules, curriculum, school philosophy, mission, beliefs, welcome letter, school staff photo, building staff handbook, and SpEd staff handbook. The included sample IEP and IEP procedures will help you stay on top of IEP deadlines and ensure a smooth transition back to work when you’re ready. Overall, this binder is an excellent resource for any speech pathologist looking to streamline their maternity leave and ensure a smooth transition back to work.
GRAB THE BINDER FOR MATERNITY LEAVE FOR SLPS HERE!
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