Stepping Out Beyond Our Four Walls {Sounds Like Fun}

I am so excited to begin a new series right here on this blog titled “Stepping Out Beyond Our Four Walls.” Earlier this year, Jenna from Speech Room News, Desiree from SLPTalk and I presented at OSLHA on ways we were getting out from our therapy walls and promoting our wonderful profession to our districts and communities. We received such a great response I thought I would ask a few of my friends to share ways they are also making a big difference in their districts. Today’s guest post is from Kim and Angela over at Sounds Like Fun and they not only have some fabulous ways they’ve been “stepping out beyond the four walls,” but also a crazy story of how their skills and willingness to step out helped even with local authorities! (And can I just say, I love the idea of putting up a coffee bar in the teacher’s lounge! Count me in!)

What an honor to be guest blogging for Nicole! Her blog was one of the first blogs we followed and it remains a favorite of ours! Nicole, thank you so much for allowing us to share some of the ways we’ve stepped outside of our four walls over the years.

We work in a small rural system in West Georgia. Over our 22 years in this system, we have had many opportunities to shed light on what an important role Speech Language Pathologists play, not only in the school, but also in the community. We fully believe that making our presence known in our school and community has been a vital part of developing a successful working relationship with others. We’ve taught Animated Literacy in the kindergarten classroom, mentored students, given presentations to faculty members, spoken at regional speech consortiums, administered free hearing screenings for faculty and staff during BHSM, put a coffee bar in our teacher workroom, decorated bulletin boards for character education, served on the yearbook staff, presided as co-chairmen of our school system’s RTI committee, painted faces for the Pre-K classes’ annual Fun Day, volunteered for Special Olympics, sold concessions at Field Day, written lyrics for song parodies to motivate students during state testing, and designed brochures for our school system’s preschool special education program. As you can see, we’ve utilized many avenues to step outside our four walls. Because we have so willingly given of our time, we have reaped many benefits in return. For example, when we asked for iPads, we were given them. When we requested a Smartboard, we got one. We won’t tell you doing all this was easy, because it wasn’t. But was it worth it? Yes! Administration, colleagues, and parents have taken notice of our efforts, and we’ve established a wonderful working relationship with these people.

The coffee bar is a favorite among teachers. So glad we can make others happy!

While we’ve actively made an effort to be involved in the day-to-day aspects of our school and community, we’ve inadvertently been included in some less conventional exploits.  Here’s a funny little story that definitely high-lights one of the more extreme ways we’ve stepped outside our four walls. Several years ago, we received a phone call from our special education director. This particular director was quirky and eccentric, and while she was really good at her job, we NEVER knew what she was going to ask us to do. (Like the time she made us teach Good Touch Bad Touch, a child sexual abuse prevention program to kindergarten through 5th grade . . . AWKWARD . . . but that’s a story for another day.) On this specific occasion, she was calling from the local jail. In an urgent tone, she instructed us to get down to the jail ASAP, and then hung up the phone before we could ask any questions. Well you can only imagine what was going through our minds! We jumped in the car and raced down to jail, which was only about three minutes from the school. With much trepidation, we walked in the jail and were greeted by our special director and the sheriff.

A few hours earlier, a deputy had picked up a hobo who was staggering down the highway. The man wouldn’t speak to anyone and only communicated through a series of hand gestures. Thinking that the man was using sign language, the sheriff called our Board of Education office to see if anyone there knew sign language. Of course, our special education director immediately knew to call her speech people.

After we arrived at the jail, they made us aware of the situation and took us into the back of jail where the man was being held in a cell. Friends, let me tell you, hearing that cell door clang shut behind us was NOT a good feeling and coming face to face with a clearly inebriated stranger was clearly out of our comfort zone! Now, neither of us are fluent in sign language but we both know our fair share of signs and whatever that man was doing was not sign language. After a couple of failed attempts at communicating with the prisoner, it was obvious he was trying to pull a fast one over on the sheriff and his deputies.

Needless to say, this was a first for us! We had never used our professional skills before to help the local authorities, but in doing so, we were able to heighten awareness of our profession with a sector of our community that we most likely would not have come in contact with otherwise.

This story proves you never know when an opportunity to step outside your four walls will arise. While taking on any responsibility outside your normal duties may seem daunting, consider each one an opportunity to educate and teach others about our profession. In long run, you will be doing yourself a favor!

Kim and Angela co-own a TpT Store and blog at Sounds Like Fun. You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram.