MISSOULA - This week's One Class at a Time winner is Caitlin Nogle who works as a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) at Chief Charlo Elementary School.
Nogle — who is in her second year as an SLP — watched her brother go to speech therapy sessions as a kid and has always wanted to become an SLP herself.
“It’s a lot of running around - I get my steps in every week and every day!” Nogle said.
Throughout the week, she works with 50 different kids in therapy sessions.
“We just help with overall communication. So, going back to those actual speech sound disorders where they have an error, maybe saying they’re S’s or R’s," explained Nogle.
But being an SLP is more than just helping with articulation, it’s also about helping non-verbal students find ways to communicate in their school environment.
Nogle will be using her $250 One Class at a Time Grant to buy learning games and toys that can work in a variety of therapy sessions.
“So I may have a game that is targeted — it’s just a random fun game — but I can also target articulation and then I can target describing with my next group of kids," Nogle described. "I can use it as a reinforcer for kids that are using their iPads correctly to communicate. So one toy can go a long way for a lot of different kids’ needs.”
Since Nogle is still in the first couple of years of working as an SLP, she actually goes to thrift stores and garage sales often to find things her students love. And apparently, dinosaurs are a big hit right now.
“I have a classroom that I go in every morning and I have a few kids that come up and say, ‘time for speech?’ And so just seeing how excited they are and ready to learn is what really motivates me to keep going when the paperwork is hard and therapy planning," Nogle said. "It’s just those connections with the kids that really makes it worth it.”
