home site map our company advisory board contact us update profile
| 
| 
| 
| 
| |
| School-Based » School-Based Jobs » School-Based CEUs » Tips, Tools & Tech » Checklists & Forms » Articles » Interviews » Related Links |
| » 800.242.5183» Email Us |
| Home | School-Based | In the Spotlight |
 In the Spotlight - Jennifer Taps, M.A., CCC-SLPSan Diego Unified School District, California Short Bio Jennifer Taps received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University. She has worked in San Diego Unified School District for the past seven years. Currently, Jennifer works as a Senior Speech-Language Pathologist, providing support and staff development opportunities and collaborating with a dynamic team of professionals. Jennifer also facilitates the district’s Articulation Resource Center, conducting research and supporting SLPs in articulation and phonological treatment through professional development and coaching. She has presented on several topics, such as the Speech Improvement Class (the district’s short-term, intensive general education service for students with mild articulation needs), best practices in articulation and phonological treatment, response to intervention, Thinking Maps and preschool language strategies. These presentations have occurred at the ASHA Convention in 2007, ASHA Schools Convention in 2007, several state conferences and in districts throughout California, West Virginia, Wyoming and Kansas. Most importantly, Jennifer works one day per week with students with speech and language needs in general education classrooms and students with phonological and articulation needs. Other SLPs observe Jennifer at her site as she demonstrates various techniques. Personal Philosophy/Mission Our profession has undergone a transformation in the past twenty years. It is critical that we remain open to new research and to shifts in thinking. We need to collaborate with other professionals to carry out best practices. Additionally, it is my goal to provide students with multiple opportunities to make meaning initiate and share thinking. When learning occurs in such a social context, it allows students to feel valued and to share things that are truly important to them. This enables us to individualize instruction and to build upon a student’s strengths. Setting/Caseload Description San Diego Unified School District is the second largest district in California and the eighth largest urban district in the country. More than 80 languages are spoken in this district and 29% of students are English Learners. Two hundred and fifty speech-language pathologists serve 7,500 students with speech and language impairments, preschool through grade 12, at 211 sites. I work in an elementary school in central San Diego. We have a large military population so students arrive at our schools with a variety of instructional backgrounds. Our school welcomes fully-included students with special needs, English learners, and children with a variety of learning strengths and needs. I enjoy working with students in the classroom to help them think and talk about their personal experiences. It is also my pleasure to work with students who have phonological or articulation needs. There is nothing more rewarding than witnessing a child’s transformation from unintelligible speaker to that of an effective communicator. Areas of Interest I have participated in several research projects, including the Transdisciplinary Team (TDT) pilot study, SALT (Systematic Assessment of Language Transcription, Miller, 1984) sample database collection, Thinking Maps training, best practices in teaching the /r/ sound (Ristuccia et al, 2004) and efficacy in group articulation treatment with Dr. Steven Skelton of California State University-Fresno. Additionally, we did not anticipate the interest that the Speech Improvement Class would generate. SLPs from over 300 districts have contacted us about this general education option. Our district developed an innovative, efficacious approach to addressing students’ mild articulation needs in 20 or fewer hours. All suggestions regarding home practice, generalization, feedback, motor learning and linguistic targets are based on sound research from various fields. It is our district’s goal to contribute to a shift in practice throughout the country. Resources are available for download at slpath.com. Favorite Therapy/Technique/Materials The most effective thing we can do as SLPs is to help our students share their thinking about text and personal experiences. Therefore, it is ideal to use text and curriculum materials from the classroom whenever possible. For example, many students benefit from “frontloading” text from the classroom. This can occur in the classroom or another environment prior to the class reading the text together. Students who have been given the foundation of understanding will have a better grasp of the information and will be more likely to actively engage with and think about text. When my students are actively engaged as a result of the text preview, I hope that this will inspire them to share their thinking about the world we live in and to become productive members of society. Caseload Management Tip I keep a binder with a tab for each student. This allows me to monitor progress frequently and to ensure that I am addressing all goals. I also keep track of conversations I have with teachers because collaboration is critical for students to reach their academic and personal potential. Recommended Readings These selections focus on best practices in phonological and articulation treatment (Gierut, 2007; Morrisette & Gierut, 2002; Skelton, 2004), the social-emotional impact of single sound errors (Crowe-Hall, 1991), methods for facilitating generalization (Ertmer & Ertmer, 1998), sound placement strategies (Bleile, 2005; Secord, 2007), working with bilingual students (Kohnert, 2007) and active and collaborative strategies to get all students involved in class activities (Udvari-Solner & Kluth, 2008). I highly recommend all of these resources:
|