Chain Letter Link Up

Now that just sounds interesting doesn’t it?

In the course of the few months that I’ve been blogging, I’ve written app reviews, hot topics, and various posts. I’ve helped write a social media ebook with Pediastaff and other bloggers, and participated in a Blog Hop. It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise when I was asked to participate in a Chain Letter Link Up…but since I’d never heard of one before, suffice it to say, I was a bit surprised.

What is a Chain Letter Link up (and why do I keep wanting to write chain-mail instead of chain letter) you ask? Good question… Here’s the answer.

An enterprising blogger writing under the name of Teach Speech 365 came up with an idea to connect a bunch of SLPs and Blogs. She created a series of questions and asked them of four SLPs (and posted the answers)….who then in turn asked two more SLPs (and posted their answers)…who then in turn… well, you get the picture. Many of the SLPs that are participating have posted free downloads from their blogs and/or TPT stores…others just have (solicited) advice. The goal is, of course, to have a “chain” of SLP blogs to follow that perhaps you weren’t following before. The post is a bit long, and for that I apologize…but it will be worth it…and be sure to track back to all the people in the chain letters to find their blogs and freebies.

Since I am so heavily on twitter…it should come as no surprise that the two people I “interviewed” are blogging #SPeeps. So…without further ado…your chain letter link ups.

Blogger #1: Tanya Coyle

1. Your name, email, blog address, link to TpT store if you have one

Tanya Coyle

slptanya at gmail.com

lexicallinguist.wordpress.com

@SLPTanya (I don’t do TPT but Twitter is pretty meaningful to me)

2. When and why did you start blogging?

Originally, I started blogging in early 2002 and had the same format of a cool/rare-ish word as the theme of the blog post. It was a personal blog, though, and I let it go in late 2004. I picked up blogging again (for professional purposes) in fall 2010. First it was to share random ideas, projects, and info from my practice but then I started what I thought would be a few posts on social media use for professional learning because I saw a need for people to know what it was all about. It sort of became the majority of the content of my blog and what most people were most interested in reading about/sharing.

3. What is your favorite population to work with?

Throughout grad school I was adamant that I wanted to work in stroke rehab and told anyone who’d listen. Sure, I did my thesis with preschool kids but that was because I wanted to work with a specific professor and it could be about literacy – one of my passions. Then the jobs were in paediatrics and I haven’t looked back – I love working with kids. My favourite age group is probably late preschool and early primary school aged.

4. How much time per week do you spend blogging and/or creating materials?

Per week? Um, ya, about that; I’m sort of random in my posting time frame. But I’d say I work about 5 hours, on average, for a given post because I do a fair bit of research on it and discuss the topic with people to make sure I’m hitting on what people want to know. I know, I’m ridiculous.

5. What’s your favorite topic to create materials for?

I suppose I’m the wrong blog to include in this chain – haha. I don’t tend to create materials because I’m an assessment donkey – I assess kids on my caseload and then supervise the therapy at this point in my career. But if we’re counting home programming, it would be literacy based materials.

6. What’s the best thing about blogging?

Being able to help people learn things they want to know and, in turn, being able to read others’ blogs to find out what I want to know. I also like learning surprise stuff I didn’t know I wanted to know. The community of bloggers is also fantastic!

7. Do you have any blogging tips?

I don’t think I’m qualified to give tips since I blog randomly and not at all consistently. I have found that, if you’re starting a blog, just start writing and you find a niche (intended or not) pretty quickly and naturally.

8. Add a question and answer of your choice (can be speech related or not).– Do you prefer Twitter or Facebook?

I’m all about the Twitter!! Facebook is fine and well, but I find it harder to separate personal from professional on that platform. I love that you can follow anyone on Twitter, without them having to follow you back ( or be vetted ‘friends’). I especially like that you have to be succinct on Twitter, which means I can sift through more info faster. FB has a habit of promoting long windedness (said the woman who responded to this question with a full paragraph).

Thanks Tanya!

Blogger #2 was Aubrey Klingensmith.

1. Your name, email, blog address, link to TpT store if you have one

Aubrey Taylor Klingensmith

atklingensmth@gmail.com

speechieapps.com

2. When and why did you start blogging?

I started my blog in January 2012 because I had been using my iPad in speech-language therapy for several months, and I was constantly getting asked questions by colleagues about the “best” apps to use in therapy. I was also hearing some healthy skepticism about using technology in therapy. Around this same time, I started becoming more active in networking via social media, particularly with the “#slpeeps” on Twitter. Through all of this, I realized that I could more efficiently share my thoughts with my colleagues by referring them to a blog where they could read my views on various apps in depth. In addition, I would be able to use the blog to address concerns about using tech in therapy while also having something to contribute to discussions in my Twitter group. In other words, the blog killed three birds with one stone!

3. What is your favorite population to work with?

Hmm…adults! I went into this field because of my love for working with adults with developmental disabilities, and that is definitely still the population that holds my heart. I do enjoy working with a variety of adult populations, though.

4. How much time per week do you spend blogging and/or creating materials?

This varies a lot! Since I review apps, a lot of the time I spend on them is actually therapy time, since I am using them with clients. Not including that time, I would say I probably spend about 10-15 hours a week on writing time and outside-therapy critiquing time, depending on how many apps I review that week.

5. What’s your favorite topic to create materials for?

My favorite topic is dysphagia, and I love finding new and improved ways to more clearly explain the various problems, compensatory techniques, and exercises. Sometimes this is through apps, sometimes not.

6. What’s the best thing about blogging?

The best part about blogging was actually not at all what I expected: developing more relationships with other bloggers, app developers, readers, and colleagues. Such a fun way to be involved in an incredible community!

7. Do you have any blogging tips?

My number one blogging tip is to have a sure-why-not/take-it-and-run-with-it attitude. So many great opportunities have come up when I’ve actively taken this outlook!

8. Add a question of your choice: What has been the biggest surprise about blogging?

For me: people actually want to read what I’m writing?! Whoa.

Thanks Aubrey!

What an interesting concept! Thank you Tej Sohan for “interviewing” me. I’ve learned a lot from all of the bloggers!

Thanks to all bloggers who participated! Each will now be responsible for interviewing 2 bloggers and doing a blog post with the “Chain Letter Link-Up” Label. Let’s see where the chain leads….

Remember, you can find the beginning of the Chain Letter Link up here!

Feel free to leave a comment…I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Until then…Adventure on!