Welcome to Elevate Essentials!
This is your go-to spot for news and information on everything you need inside of SLP Elevate, updated throughout the month to keep you in the know! Come here anytime to stay up to date on what’s new - whether it’s the latest bonus resources, upcoming PD sessions, or key updates for Elevate members. Think of this page as your one-stop space to keep you connected, organized, and in the loop.
☀️ May Favorites & Seasonal Must-Haves ☀️
May brings big end-of-year energy - schedules are shifting, students are counting down, and attention spans are… negotiable 😅 This is the perfect time to keep things engaging, flexible, and meaningful while riding that almost-summer wave.
Start on your My Resources page with these Monthly Theme Units:
Friendship
As the school year wraps up, this theme is a natural fit. With reading passages, conversation starters, articulation word searches, and interactive games, it’s perfect for targeting social communication, main idea, summarizing, and real-life conversations about friendships and relationships — all super relevant right now.
Young Entrepreneurs
Got students already thinking about summer plans (or making some money)? This unit taps right into that. With fiction and nonfiction passages, real-world scenarios, conversation activities, and life skills connections, students can explore jobs, decision-making, and communication skills in a way that feels practical and engaging.
Leaning Into Summer Themes
If your school year is wrapping up, now’s a great time to pivot into summer-focused units like Summer: Making Waves, Water Parks, or Amusement Parks. These are always a hit and make it easy to keep sessions fun while still targeting key goals.
Then don’t forget to check the Bonus Page for exactly what you need this time of year:
🎲 Need More Engagement?
If your students are over it, head to the Engagement section and grab high-interest options like Science Experiments, Magic Tricks, Giant Game Companion, Emoji Kitchen, or the Ultimate School Scavenger Hunt. Perfect for keeping participation high with minimal prep.
🗣️ AAC Supports
Don’t forget about the AAC Foundations and AAC Spring Chat Mats - great for supporting functional communication during seasonal conversations and end-of-year routines.
🎮 Cheat Sheets (Your Secret Weapon)
If sessions are dragging, add in 5 minutes of a Blooket or Baamboozle
Cheat Sheet from the Bonus section. It’s an easy way to boost engagement while still targeting language goals.
🎉 End-of-Year Resources
Wrapping things up? Head to the Holidays section for the End of Year Activity Pack or End of the School Year resources to finish strong with reflection, discussion, and meaningful wrap-up activities.💜
🏕️ SLP Elevate Summer Camp
SLP Elevate Summer Camp is officially here, and we are SO excited for everything coming this summer inside Elevate! 💜
This year’s Summer Camp is designed to help you stay connected, supported, inspired, and prepared heading into the next school year — without making summer feel overwhelming. Throughout June, July, and August, members will have access to:
✨ ASHA CEU-eligible PD sessions
✨ Our Summer Book Club featuring Hallie’s book The Secondary SLP Roadmap
✨ CF Bootcamp sessions with Hallie and SLP Elevate members
✨ Back-to-school planning and membership support sessions
✨ Fun Facebook engagement opportunities
✨ And our NEW Summer Camp Challenge with prizes and giveaways!
Whether you attend every event or just hop into the sessions that fit your summer schedule, we’re so excited to spend the summer with you inside SLP Elevate. Keep an eye on your email and the Facebook group for registration links, reminders, Summer Camp Challenge opportunities, and more details all summer long! 🏕️☀️
✨ A little reminder about the SLP Elevate Referral Program…
Sharing SLP Elevate with a colleague just got even more fun… and more rewarding. 💜
Here’s the new lineup:
1 referral → $10 Starbucks gift card ☕
2 referrals → Speech Time Fun merch 📔
3 referrals → FREE ticket to a Speech Time Fun Speech Retreat Virtual Conference (ASHA CEUs!) 🎉
4+ referrals → FREE month of SLP Elevate 💻
Know a CF who needs support? A coworker who wants better materials? A fellow SLP who would love this community? Send them our way! When they list your name on the onboarding survey, you get the credit - and the perks.
There’s no limit, so refer away. We’re so grateful for every recommendation and connection you help create.
🎉 May 2026 - Fandom Frenzy 🎤✨
Get ready to tap into what your students already love - because this month is all about fandoms, from Swifties and the BeyHive to Potterheads, sports fans, and everything in between. Fandom Frenzy leans into community, identity, and shared interests to spark meaningful conversations while targeting core language skills. Once you’re in the unit, start with the quick video overview, then grab the full ZIP file or pick and choose what works best for your groups.
You’ll find all your go-to core resources like Reading Passages & Activities, Picture Stories, Building Background Knowledge, Word of the Week, and YouTube Cheat Sheets - all centered around high-interest, culturally relevant topics that naturally get students talking, connecting, and engaging.
This month’s supplemental activities bring the fun and the skill-building. Academic Language & Thinking Tasks, Inferencing Cartoons, and Main Idea Tic Tac Toe help target comprehension and critical thinking, while Narrative Retelling Using Passages and Describe the Scene support expressive language and organization. Want real-world communication? Maintain that Conversation (+ Boom Cards) and AAC Music & Movie Conversations make social interaction feel natural and relevant.
You’ll also find creative, student-approved options like Articulation with Song Lyrics, Which Multiple Meaning Word (+ Boom Cards), and What to Pack to keep things fresh and flexible as the year winds down.
It’s a high-interest, low-resistance kind of month - where students feel seen, conversations come easily, and language goals still get the spotlight. 💜
Academic Language & Thinking Tasks
Helps students build and use academic vocabulary in meaningful ways by moving from identifying words → applying them → explaining their thinking. Includes structured supports like a vocabulary reference, response toolkit, and prompt cards to strengthen clear, organized language.
AAC Chat Mats: Music & Movie Conversations
Supports functional communication using high-interest topics like music and movies. These chat mats include core and fringe vocabulary to help students ask questions, comment, and engage in back-and-forth conversations with visual support.
Articulation with Song Lyrics
Makes speech sound practice more engaging by using familiar, high-interest song lyrics. Students practice target sounds in a fun, relevant way while also building fluency and confidence through repeated, meaningful practice. 💜
✨ New May Bonuses Are Here!
May therapy sessions can start to feel a little… extra 😅 Students are ready for summer, schedules are packed, and keeping engagement high suddenly becomes the mission. That’s exactly why this month’s bonus resources were designed to bring movement, interaction, discussion, and meaningful communication into your sessions without adding extra prep to your plate.
Whether you’re supporting articulation carryover through movement, building background knowledge for stronger comprehension, or helping older students navigate social situations and perspective-taking, these resources are flexible, engaging, and easy to use during the end-of-year stretch..
Articulation: Mission Movement
Get students up and moving while still getting meaningful articulation practice in. Students complete articulation trials, then earn a movement mission before the next round. This resource is perfect for students who focus better when movement is built into the session, while also supporting executive functioning, expressive language, social communication, and fluency carryover.
(Located in the Articulation section of the Bonus page.)
Building Background Knowledge: Spring Holidays Around the World
Help students connect with the world around them through high-interest passages, curated videos, and activities focused on spring celebrations and traditions across cultures. Topics include Holi, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Passover, Easter, Nowruz, Songkran, Vesak, and Cherry Blossom Festivals. This resource supports comprehension, inferencing, vocabulary, and discussion while helping students build the background knowledge they need to engage more confidently with texts and conversations.
(Located in the Holidays section of the Bonus page.)
Social Skills Lab
Bring social communication practice to life with realistic, engaging activities built for older students. This resource includes video-based social analysis, perspective-taking worksheets, conversation path activities, situational awareness tasks, and role-play remix cards. Students practice flexible thinking, interpreting social situations, and navigating conversations in ways that feel relevant and authentic.
(Located in the Social Skills section of the Bonus page.)
💡 All three May bonuses are live now and ready to help you finish the school year strong with activities that keep students engaged, moving, thinking, and communicating right through the final weeks of therapy!
Articulation: Mission Movement
Bonuses → Articulation
Building Background Knowledge: Spring Holidays Around the World
Bonuses → Holidays
Social Skills Lab
Bonuses → Social Skills
Up Next in SLP Elevate...
The coming few months are packed with exciting theme units that bring fresh ideas and student-approved fun. From new stories to ready to go activities, we’ve got tools that make therapy planning easier and sessions more memorable. Stay tuned - you won’t want to miss these!
June 2026
July 2026
August 2026
SLP Elevate Summer Camp is bringing you THREE incredible ASHA CEU-eligible PD opportunities this summer — all INCLUDED within your membership! 💜
🎓 The SLP Balancing Act: Ethics, Eligibility, Workload, and Advocacy with Karen Kockler — June 3, 2026
🎓 Better Bilingual Evaluations Through Converging Evidence with Emily Sweet — June 15, 2026
🎓 Beyond Checklists: Rethinking Clinical Supervision in Real Practice with Kayla Obenour — August 6, 2026
These sessions focus on highly requested, real-world topics for school-based SLPs and are designed to provide practical strategies and immediately applicable takeaways for your clinical practice.
Keep an eye on your email for registration information and reminders for all upcoming Summer Camp PD events! 💜
328: Starting the AAC Conversation with Caregivers
327: 5 Signs Your Speech Goals Aren’t Clicking (And How to Get Middle & High Schoolers to Actually Care)
326: Play-Based Therapy Fun
325: Remembering Your Why for Grad Students & Beyond
From Hallie's Desk -
Hey Elevate Friends,
May has entered the chat… and it’s giving main character energy. 🎤✨
Between countdowns to summer, shifting schedules, and students mentally halfway out the door, this is the time of year where engagement can feel a little… negotiable. So instead of fighting it, we’re leaning all the way in with this month’s theme: Fandom Frenzy.
Because if there’s one thing students will always show up for, it’s what they love.
Whether it’s music, movies, sports teams, shows, or internet trends, fandoms come with opinions, emotions, debates, inside jokes, and a whole lot to say. And that’s exactly what makes them such a goldmine for speech and language work. You get natural opportunities for explaining, describing, comparing, persuading, storytelling… all wrapped up in conversations students actually want to have.
(And suddenly, no one is “too tired to talk.” Funny how that works.)
This month is a great reminder that connection doesn’t always come from the perfect plan - it comes from meeting students in their world. When they feel seen and heard, the language follows. The conversations get richer. The participation goes up. And sessions start to feel a whole lot easier.
Also, quick reality check: May is a lot. You’re juggling wrap-ups, progress, end-of-year energy, and about 47 different things at once. So if your sessions feel a little less polished and a little more “we’re rolling with it today,” you’re doing it right. Truly.
Keep showing up. Keep finding those small moments of connection. Keep letting your students bring their interests into the room.
This month, we’re embracing the group chats, the fan theories, the “wait, let me explain why this is the best song ever” energy… and turning it into meaningful communication.
Because when students care, they talk. And when they talk, that’s where the growth happens. 💜
Big fan of you, always - xoxo,
Hallie 💜