💬 Meet Jen: A Speech and Language Pathologist Who Does It All

I’ve known Jen the longest out of everyone on our team—we actually went to high school together! We were good friends, part of the same crew, and spent a lot of time together. She was even with me on my first road trip to visit my brother at the University of Toledo… which means she was also there when I got my first speeding ticket! 😅

As often happens, college, marriage, and family life made us lose touch… until a couple of years ago, when she joined our school as a speech pathologist.

Jen and I with our friends in high school. Don't ask me why 5 high school friends went to a JCPenney's photo shoot, but we did and I am happy to have the picture!

Full of Ideas and Passion

Jen didn’t just want a standard role—she wanted to make a real difference. From the very first phone call, she was brimming with ideas. I’ll admit, I was a little overwhelmed and wondered how she would pull it all off.

But Jen doesn’t do anything half-hearted. She didn’t just want to run small-group therapy like we were used to—she also wanted to:

• Lead classroom lessons for our youngest students 🧒

• Consult with teachers and provide recommendations about students they were concerned about 👩‍🏫

• Support parents with advice and resources 💡

I often wondered how she had time to do it all—but she made it work.

Our special education team!

Curious About New Programs

When I started teaching UFLI Foundations in my classroom and helping other staff implement it, Jen was curious. She would stop by to watch, ask thoughtful questions, and talk about strategies like the sound wall and sentence modeling.

She saw how much these approaches helped students and immediately wanted to learn more.

Jumping In With Both Feet

So, when I told Jen I was looking for a teacher to teach some of my phonic programs, she jumped at the chance. And, true to form, she didn’t do it halfway:

• She came to watch me teach 📚

• Ordered the manuals and started the online training videos 💻

• Asked thoughtful questions like, “On the blending board, I thought we alternated between decoding and encoding—is that right?” ✅

• Prepared her classroom space and modeled lessons with me

• Developed a whole additional class idea

Jen is now more than ready to teach her first class next week, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Jen & Bailey ready for her first class next week.