Listen here:

SUMMARY

We continue the conversation in Part 2 about empowering parents in the speech therapy process. Homeschooling can be the best option for speech and language development, as it allows for more individualized attention and conversation with adults. However, the current system of speech therapy in schools is often ineffective due to large caseloads and limited time with each child. Homeschooling parents who need speech therapy for their children can explore alternative options such as finding a smaller clinic or one-on-one therapist, looking for government assistance or scholarship programs, or considering online therapy. It is important for speech language pathologists to empower parents and involve them in the therapy process, as they play a crucial role in their child’s progress. Additionally, there is a need for more training and awareness about the impact of tongue ties and orofacial myofunctional disorders on speech development. The traditional model of speech therapy may need to be reevaluated and adapted to better serve the needs of homeschooling families. 

TAKE-AWAYS

• Homeschooling can provide a conducive environment for speech and language development.
• The current system of speech therapy in schools is often ineffective due to large caseloads and limited time with each child.
• Homeschooling parents can explore alternative options for speech therapy, such as smaller clinics, one-on-one therapists, government assistance, scholarship programs, and online therapy.
• Speech language pathologists should empower parents and involve them in the therapy process.
• There is a need for more training and awareness about the impact of tongue ties and orofacial myofunctional disorders on speech development.
• The traditional model of speech therapy may need to be reevaluated and adapted to better serve the needs of homeschooling families.

ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST

Amanda Owens is a proud homeschool graduate, quirky creative speech language pathologist, and grateful homeschool mom of four small children. She takes solid speech therapy research and clinical insight and packages it into accessible tools and training for homeschool parents, empowering them to do more with speech therapy at home.

Find Amanda Owens at: 

• www.illuminatecommunicate.com
• learn.illuminatecommunicate.com
• www.instagram.com/theilluminatedhomeschool

TRANSCRIPT

Christy Faith (00:00.078)
I want you to come in there with that knowledge that homeschooling is sometimes the absolute best.

place for speech and language development, if not always. Welcome to the Christy-Faith Show, where we share game changing ideas with intentional parents like you. I'm your host, Christy Faith, experienced educational advisor and homeschool enthusiast. Together, we'll explore ways to enrich and transform both your life and the lives of your children.

Welcome back to part two. In this episode, we'll continue delving deeper into game changing ideas for intentional parents like you. So grab your coffee, find a comfy spot and let's dive right in. I've worked with some really tough, tough cases. Apart from the case of abuse, the best case scenario in my opinion is homeschooling. My personal opinion, maybe that's the homeschool graduate talking, but here's why. You are not being told to sit down and be quiet all day.

Is that gonna help a child learn speech and language? No, it is not. You're gonna be talking with an adult who has clear speech and adult language in the child's primary language, whether that's Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, English, whatever. You're going to be having conversations with someone who takes time to listen to you because they can. And a teacher has to watch out for how many other kids, yeah?

And then when it comes down to it, the crux of the matter, while being super gentle to my speech language pathology friends, because I have been there, and I know that district by district, speech language pathologist, caseload by speech language pathologist, caseload, it does depend. But in my state, my home state, which I will not name, it's probably in the show notes, I had friends who were averaging over a hundred children on their caseload that they were expected to see every single week.

Christy Faith (01:57.87)
Think about it, if you're only allowed to see children while they're not eating lunch, not at recess, not doing math and not doing reading and not at specials, because that is something that kids who learn differently, that's usually some place that they excel, they find joy, et cetera. How many kids do you think are in those groups when you're seeing 100 kids or more at the same time? I had a friend who is at 145. At one time I was expected to see almost 160.

three to five year olds in a single week. I was saying possible. It's not possible. I was seeing kids in groups of 15 and not being allowed to bill Medicaid for it, which was greatly disappointing to the administrators. Although my direct administrator, she was a godsend and she completely respected it. She said, take care of the kids. I don't care. And I was like, I can only take care of the kids so well. And I couldn't even get the paperwork done. And she knew it because I was just spending time working with those kids. And I was seeing them in groups of

seven to fifteen for fifteen minutes one to two times a week. There's no benefit. And this is the case across the country. This is not just your state. This is the case across the country. And were these one -on -ones? Were these? So these are even groups. Yeah, of seven to fifteen, groups of seven to fifteen kids. When I had groups of three, it was a party. I was getting stuff done.

But I can tell after working in seven districts, I saw so many SLPs data, they would have one to five check marks. Every now and then I'd see 10 check marks. You need 60 to 150 repetitions to institute change. 60 to 150 repetitions in a small period of time, so like in a session. I think you can get some magic after 20, but I never saw data where another SLP was getting 20, except for once. And that girl, she was a robot. I have so much respect for her.

So is it effective? It really depends, but sometimes it's absolutely not. And you're going to feel like you're getting help when you're actually completely just sitting there treading water. Absolutely. I had a friend one time, not a homeschooler, not interested in homeschooling, but she knew my background and came to me for help. And I said, this is not the homeschooler talking because don't think it is. It's not, but your daughter will never get the help she needs.

Christy Faith (04:21.486)
I knew the district, I knew the school, I could say that confidently. And she just was not ready to accept it. And let me tell you years later that her daughter is still struggling tremendously because people want, they want it to work. They want it for, I'm paying tax dollars. And this is this caveats right into this. I'm paying into the system. I'm paying the tax dollars. This is what you should be delivering this for my kid. Well, you heard it here first. They can't.

The system isn't set up to do it well. The progress is incredibly slow. I mean, of course, you know, one -on -one is better. I want to talk on a really hard question right now. And this is, I will say this is a little bit contentious in the homeschool space because there's disagreement in the homeschooling space on should we be accepting government funds? Should we not? When should we, when shouldn't we? We don't need to have a political discussion.

I want to talk about the mom's perspective where she, her heart is calling her to homeschool her kids. Her child needs help. Her child needs speech intervention. Their insurance maybe doesn't cover anything or maybe only covers a small portion. What can a homeschool family do in this instance where they're faced with, I have to enroll my kid in public school?

to get the help we need because we can't afford anything else. This is, and I'm not expecting you to have a good answer, but I think it's worth the conversation. It's very real. It is. It's super raw. And I am incredibly cognizant of it when I'm sitting there with a family that I know is waiting to get tutoring for other children, waiting to...

do other things have literally stopped doing family sports in order to pay for one of their children to get speech therapy. And there is a weight that is on my shoulders when I work with families like that. I mean, I always feel a sense of responsibility, but always joy. And I still feel joy with those families, but there is also this certain gravity of the situation because of the huge sacrifice they're making on top of.

Christy Faith (06:41.23)
every other sacrifice that they're making. And that being said, I'm actually, I'm actually one of the less expensive speech language pathologists in my state that I know of. I charge less than Medicaid reimburses and I won't take Medicaid for certain reasons because it can make it difficult for some of my families to get help. But when you're thinking about it, I want you to first think about it in a couple of different categories. If your child has significant needs, and I mean severe needs, like your child,

is probably always going to need you at some level. And let's be transparent because this is the hardest conversation you can ever have with a parent. Your child needs you and they need their relationship with you and their relationship with people and their life experiences. And they will get more of that at home with you than in a special education classroom surrounded by other people pulled off in corners so that nobody's too noisy.

with other people who may or may not be regulated because they've been taken from their house and they are completely confused by this. And you may be understaffed, you may have a great teacher and you may not. You may not have a great teacher. I'm thinking in my head of one amazing teacher and I'm like, yeah, I can see where kids being in her classroom is a worthwhile thing. But I have also seen far more classrooms where I would not have put a child.

because they would be more appreciated. And you could say, yeah, but then they won't get speech therapy. And you'd be like, their relationships are far more important than the minimal gains that they might make in school speech therapy. Yeah, that would be a thing that I cannot say as a professional, you should do this, but I would weigh as a mom who has seen these things. Then on a lighter perspective, kids who...

You know, they're struggling and they're totally not reading. I'm sure you have plenty to say about this. You know, they could work with a speech therapist, but they might actually do better working with you. If you're training yourself, you really have to kind of kind of way, are they actually making progress or are they just sitting in a space? You know, and then. Options for kids.

Christy Faith (09:02.446)
and families to get speech therapy when things are expensive. So I'm part of Christian Health Sharing Ministry. They do not cover traditional speech. They don't. Unless you've had an accident, they will not cover it. And my recommendation for you is to look for the little guy. Don't go to the hospital clinic that's gonna charge you $300 an hour. That's an actual legitimate number that I got from a local hospital when I was trying to find my prices. Consider going to a smaller clinic or a one -off person.

because they are more likely to go, yeah, do you want to work with me once a month? Okay. Or let's work for one month, take two months off. One month, take two months off. And there's actually some interesting research about gaps and pauses like that, which financially can also be a benefit. And if a family is low income enough,

You might have the option of, of Medicaid or government assistance. And there are actually scholarship programs too. They're not everywhere, but they do exist. So those would be other things that I would be considering shop around, look for the one -off little guy. I I'm going to be completely open. I had a family that came to me and they're like, Hey, our speech language pathologist, she was just doing it when she was retired and she retired, retired. So how much do you cost? And it was like, I.

I cost this much and I was telling them and they were like shocked and it was like, well, I'm less than everybody I know by like 10 to 25 or more dollars an hour. And they shopped around and they found the same thing to be true. They were paying $30 for a 30 minute session, which is the same as voice lessons when I was going to school. Yeah. So shopper.

find the sweet little old lady who's on her way out of speech -language pathology who just wants to enjoy children and get a little fun money to take to Florida with her in February. There's options. You just gotta look. You gotta look. And it would be my prayer that everybody can find it. But yeah, it's a hard topic because the sacrifices you're already making at just a homeschool. Before we continue, I wanna share with you a program that has been a game changer for our family.

Christy Faith (11:18.894)
At our learning center, we instructed and helped kids through pretty much every program on the market. So we know firsthand just how important a solid math foundation is for our kids' futures. Finding the right homeschool math curriculum that didn't compromise academic excellence, but also didn't put me and my kids through the wringer was a challenge. Until one day, I found CTC math. You guys, the rest was history.

First off, it's a mastery -based program, which means your child gets a full grasp of the material. It's also loaded with mixed reviews, ensuring your kids don't forget anything they've learned. The questions are adaptive, too, which keeps students confident and progressing at their own pace. But the best part? All the teaching, grading, and testing?

Done for you! With CTC Math, there is no compromise on excellence. Your child gets a top -notch education and you just made your homeschool life easier. Visit CTC Math to get your free trial today. Whether you're newer to homeschooling or you've been homeschooling over a decade, the fact is creating a streamlined, successful homeschool is hard. The pressure is high and the weight of responsibility often leads to self -doubt, second -guessing.

and feeling completely overwhelmed with the excessive amounts of opinions and curricular options out there. We love our kids and at the same time, the stakes are high. We don't want to mess this up. So how do we build a homeschool that our kids will thank us for when they're adults and one that you have 100 % confidence in? The first step to pulling all of that off is joining Thrive Homeschool Community. Thrive Homeschool Community is where you learn the eight -step homeschool success framework.

to build an undeniably successful homeschool. Each year and each kid presents us with uncharted territory. But when you have a good plan, the right plan, you can rest in the security and confidence that you are doing a great job. The path is easy. Join Thrive, say a quick hello to your new friends, start the eight step homeschool success framework, and kiss anxiety goodbye. It's risk -free.

Christy Faith (13:30.318)
No contracts. You can cancel anytime no questions asked. Go to Christy -faith .com. That's C -H -R -I -S -T -Y -F -A -I -T -H .com. Enter promo code podcast for $10 off your first month. See you inside. Right. Yes. I mean, really? Didn't you know that we're...

white upper middle class privileged fundamentalist. I mean, it's so funny. With single incomes and 10 children. I was like, yeah, so I qualify for Medicaid on this side of the microphone. I qualify for Medicaid in my state. Thank you. Yeah. It's like, are you kidding the sacrifices that we make? And we know the statistics for homeschooling families. It is definitely sacrificial. We are below the median household income. This is not a position of privilege.

But I love your messaging here to families who have kids who really need help. That when you can find someone good. Now, speech therapy is different than maybe an Orton Gillingham reading specialist, where a reading specialist can meet with your kid over Zoom nationwide. This is not a thing where there is licensing per state. Speech therapy is different though. Now you can do Zoom sessions.

but you have to do Zoom sessions in your state. Something fascinating that you shared with me the very first time we met on a Zoom call was you said they've done some research on Zoom speech therapy. Can you share a little bit about that? Because people often think, you know, you need to put on the gloves and put your fingers in the mouth and all of that, but they are finding...

Well, I'll just let you share because that was very surprising to me. I would think that I had to bring my kid to an office. I really before that conversation. You don't. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's one of the most important things with shopping around is people are so dead set on getting in person that it limits their pool even smaller. You know, and online speech therapy research has shown it to be equal to.

Christy Faith (15:36.302)
and some cases better than, and some cases less than, but overall about equal to in -person speech therapy. I find that it makes the parents pay attention. And maybe that's because I attract the parents that really connect with me. And if I'm being honest, when I made the switch from working with parents who are used to dropping their kids off and made the switch to parents who really wanna be involved,

and I made that my priority, progress changed. Duh. Like, parents are the secret sauce. Let's just be honest. So, so many times I'll have a parent go, hey, my kid is two, they're an open mouth breather, they choke when they chew, because I have feeding and swallowing background as well. They choke when they eat, they can only eat five foods and it has to be soft stuff, like, whatever. You would think that has to be in person, right? And I would say, mama, can you pay attention during a Google Meet or a Zoom?

Can you pay attention? They'd be like, well, yeah, I FaceTime all the time. And I'd be like, well, then we're good. Because as long as I can teach you and you can let me watch your kiddo with the camera, put me in your earbud and I will talk you through it. We'll do this together. And it is great that way. The other day, I was in a barn watching the fields get lime on them while helping a little buddy and his mom navigate language development.

And I'm in mom's ear and she's putting that camera back and forth and that little buddy and that mom were doing amazing. Because you can do that when you're online. And I wasn't distracting. I wasn't taken away from mom because I wasn't another lap to sit on because I'm kind of cool and I like to play and sometimes that happens, you know, because I'm basically the biggest kid in the room when I do in -person therapy. And...

It worked really well and I can give mom's ninja skills that way. So yeah, I love online therapy. Is it for absolutely every kid? No, but is it for more kids than you'd probably expect? Yeah. Yeah. It's worth a try at the very least. Yeah. Well, I was also thinking because you have such a personality and you're so fun loving. I'm sure you capture the kids right away. You mentioned.

Christy Faith (17:58.414)
something about a power of one thing. Did we cover that already? No, no, that's a totally different thing. It's different. It's different. It's not just speech therapy. So I have an email list and I send people things from time to time. And I had a couple of weeks in a row where it was health issue, crazy things, you know, hashtag life, right? And

I had moms who were in a similar boat and they were overwhelmed. And I had mom after mom who was overwhelmed and like, hey, Miss McMahon, I'm so sorry. I couldn't do the speech therapy this week. I couldn't do the work that you asked me to do this week. I just didn't get to it. I'm so sorry. And I remember talking to each one of them and then to myself, you know, pot and kettle, right? We're all in this boat together. And I was like, you know, one thing, sometimes that one thing,

is loving your babies. Because I learned that from business stuff, you know, the one thing book, smart business stuff. And I was like, my goodness, it applies to regular life. For me, with what I believe, my one thing is what does God want me to do in this moment? How does he want me to behave? How does he want me to see himself? And that one thing shapes everything else. In speech therapy, I like to send my families home with one thing. If you can only do one thing. Now here's your list. So if you want to go to town, go to town.

But if you only do one thing, do this, because if you only do one thing, you're going to make progress in small progress that is consistent, is better than big progress sometimes and completely feeling overwhelmed and giving up the next. It really is. You're constantly watering those plants instead of, you know, overwatering them on Saturday and Sunday and not watering them Monday through Friday.

ask me how I got. What a great analogy. No, I think that's great analogy and it gets you moving forward. Yeah. You don't have to do everything. Do you think that license, yes, just on a professional to professional note, do you think the licensing is, I'm hearing murmurs that the licensing is going to change. Is it going to that you will be, you guys will be able to practice across state lines? What is the landscape looking like that for now? So there's a bunch of different theories.

Christy Faith (20:19.662)
running around. And one is that they're just keeping us entertained because things were supposed to roll out at a certain level two years ago. And I read the minutes of the meetings of the Interstate Compact Board and not every state has passed legislation and approved it to join the Compact. But it should be rolling. And sometimes I read the minutes and I'm like, they got together. They passed last meeting's minutes from

last month and then they passed a movement to adjourn. That was it. Yeah. maybe next month, maybe next month. Right. Yeah. So there's a bit of that going on, but there's speech -language pathologists who have licensure in multiple States. I know I haven't multiple States and I know you are building a super cool directory, which I need to talk to you more about because I,

some names that of people that should be passed on to help people find homeschool friendly providers which I think is really important. Yes. But well and also who practice in this particular way I feel like you definitely are you are a flexible practitioner and you try to meet the family where while still setting healthy boundaries for yourself you're not that's always really tricky in the industry where you're helping kids it's like you want to you want to

React and and be helpful to the family. But at the end of the day you also have to say This is you won't get progress if we don't do this, you know type of a thing as well I want to ask you and I don't ask everybody this but I try to ask a lot of people this What is one thing in your industry? Speech and language pathology that you just can't get behind that you just Disagree with it would empower us tremendously to know

If you have any of those. Yeah, I do. The show will resume in just a minute, but first I want to share with you an incredible resource that is totally free to homeschooling families everywhere. Have you ever felt like you were on trial for your homeschooling choice when visiting a doctor or another service provider? It's unsettling, especially when someone misinformed has the power to threaten your family. Unfortunately, we have heard countless stories.

Christy Faith (22:37.23)
of parents who have felt trapped in offices and met with suspicion rather than support simply because they were homeschoolers. I've been profiled and interrogated myself and I'm sure many of you have as well. Enough is enough. It's time we proactively vet service providers before giving them our business and our money. Enter Christy Faith's List, a directory 100 % free to homeschooling families.

connecting you with homeschool friendly service providers who promise to support you in your homeschooling choice. We want every homeschooler in America to know about and be using this list. So here's how to make Christy Faith's List a household name. 

One, tell all your friends about it. Let's show the market just how powerful the homeschool movement is. 

Number two, check Christy Faith's List website before stepping foot into any service provider's office to make sure they are on there. At number three, if your favorite service provider isn't on the list, make sure to refer them. There's a button on the homepage of the website. It takes only 30 seconds and that way we can send them a lovely invite. If you're listening and you are a homeschool friendly professional, we want you on the list.

We're eager to connect homeschooling families with you, shout your name from the rooftops, and bring you tons and tons of business. We have plans for every type of business, both small, local, nationwide, and worldwide. Check out ChristyFacelist .com today. Hi, mama. If you like my social media content and my show, I'm pretty sure you will love my book, Homeschool Rising, Shattering Myths.

finding courage and opting out of the school system. My book is for homeschool parents, both veteran and new, and the perfect book to hand any homeschool skeptics in your life so they can better understand why you've chosen this amazing lifestyle. This book will challenge you.

Christy Faith (24:30.702)
empower you, encourage you, and give you solid, mindful answers to all those questions you get about your homeschooling choice. Grab your copy and maybe an extra one for your mother -in -law today. Homeschool Rising is available wherever books are sold. Okay. Ooh, girl. Spill it. And this is kind of like a love note to speech language pathologists. Guys, we have skills that are not replaceable. And I know that a lot of times,

We are afraid that we will be replaced, but we can't operate from a spirit of fear. That's not why we're here. And gatekeeping things to ourselves that would be helpful for a parent to know can sometimes be tricky. And I know speech -language pathologists are often put in a position of be quiet or lose your job. I actually started my business and the reason why it's called Illuminate is because I was reading a Bible verse at five in the morning, getting ready for another 10 to 14 hour day.

And it was, God illuminates my darkness. He illumines my darkness or something like that. And I was like, man, what does this even mean? I am up at five. I don't drink coffee because I'm not a grownup. And it was one of those moments where I was thinking, I'm tired of not being able to tell people what they really need. Like, your child probably needs private therapy too, because they're that severe and I'm only allowed to see the kids this many times in the school district.

Parents would like to hear that. Speech -language pathologists would love to tell you, but they're worried about losing their jobs or looking incompetent, which they're not. They're just under the gun. And then... Well, because parents aren't at the school and they don't know this group situation, how... And so it's really hard where a parent could easily say, which is unfair. A parent could easily say, well, I paid cash.

got one -on -one, we're done. We took care of that problem in six weeks. It's been four years in the district. That person is terrible. It's not, that's not the case. It's the system itself and the way it is set up. But I can understand that predicament that you guys are in when you guys are working in the district for sure. Absolutely. And then even working in private settings, I felt the most freedom working actually for the government and the zero to three, the birth to three.

Christy Faith (26:49.038)
intervention because I was like, okay, they probably have a tongue tie. you got it fixed? Fantastic. No more feeding and swallowing therapy for this infant because that was really what it was. And then, you know, the mom could take the exercises and run with it. Or, you know, hey, you know, they might be a kid who needs a tutor later on because they may be, you know, at an increased risk of phonological dyslexia because their phonological memory is terrible. They have a severe to profound phonological disorder.

be prepared that you may need this later. You could tell people those things. And so like when I started things, I was like, I just, I just want a place where I can tell people what is true. I really wanted that. And I, I know speech language pathologists, we're afraid of being open and honest. So many posts in speech language pathologist groups are anonymous because they're afraid of getting

skewered, you know? And another thing that I think that I would love is more training. We talk about parent training, we talk about parent coaching, but you really need to have that mindset of this person has just as much to offer to the speech therapy session as I do. And I'm going to be listening and speaking because we need both of us. They may at some points direct the path of the speech therapy plan of care because it's the parent.

And they are the one who is entrusted with the well -being of this child, not me. But gatekeeping, spill the tea, share with the parents, train them up, make them your speech language pathology assistant or aide or whatever it's called in your area. And this doesn't mean that they're now equipped to do speech therapy to other kids. You're equipping the parent with what they need for their kid. I love this so much because we are capable.

Absolutely. We are. Absolutely. Of doing a lot. Of doing a lot. Yeah. And this concept of, you know, it happens with the, in Prussia, when teaching became a profession, the messaging that that sends when something becomes a profession is that all of a sudden no one else is qualified to do this particular thing. And then, you know, that's yes and no, right? We need you. We can absolutely help this.

Christy Faith (29:09.71)
progress for this particular individual child. It makes so much sense to me. It's a team effort. Okay, second thing. So, because I'm sharing this one because you love a rebel, right? no. If you're enjoying the show and you don't want to miss out on future episodes, hit that like and subscribe button and show us some love with your comments. Those five star reviews really do make a difference. Okay, so in the speech language pathology world, across the world at large, there is this understanding.

that if a child is having difficulty making sounds, something could be wrong with the mouth, right? That makes sense. Like if you're having trouble, you know, making your times for a marathon, maybe there's something different with your form, maybe you need to gain some muscle, you know. But in other countries, including Brazil, if a child has a tongue, they check for tongue ties at birth, right? And here in the land of the free and the brave,

Most speech language pathology programs are teaching graduates that tongue ties are an old wives tale. That's what I was taught. And they have nothing to do with, nor does anything musculature or range of motion in the mouth really have anything to do with speech sounds. What? Yeah. Yeah, it's great. It's great. And whenever I explain that to a parent, when they're like, yeah, it's really weird. Like,

Well, they got speech therapy for the school for like three years, but it wasn't working. But with you, it's just going so much faster. It was like, for one thing, I'm teaching you and you probably weren't allowed in the room. They're like, no, no, we weren't allowed in the room at the school or even, you know, the other clinic or whatever. And it's like, yeah, and you're allowing me in your bedroom. You're wearing your jammies. I'm prepped up on a pillow. So like, how's this for friendship level? The high degrees of intimacy when you do online speech therapy. We've seen your jammies. It's fine. But.

It's kind of surprising because it sounds like a no brainer to most homeschool parents, but when you're taught that it has nothing to do with it, you just believe that it has nothing to do with it. And I went to a top 20 school and they taught me that. Why? Why are they teaching that? That's complicated. So because there is this sense that the brain is in charge of it all. And there were studies done about non -speech.

Christy Faith (31:27.47)
motor exercises and how they were proven to not work. And I'm like, of course, because you're not relating any of this that you're working on to speech. You got to convert it. Of course, you're not going to make progress on your R sound if you don't, right. Take what you've learned and then apply it. Right. Although there's a speech language pathologist that I follow. She, she works with not for, but with orthodontists who send kids to her that have tongue.

functioning and mouth functioning that's so bad they break through their orthodontic appliances over and over again. Whoa. And she helps them correct their function. And usually they get their sounds as an extra bonus. Like what? That's so interesting. So when you're in the schools, when you're at a clinic that might be a little bit more old school, if you're noticing that there's not progress, your child's a mouth breather, whatever, it may be an orophacial myofunctional disorder. And you might just have a therapist that doesn't believe it's a thing.

them about tongue ties. And if they don't believe that's a thing, that might be something you want to consider when you're looking into whether you pick them. That's something tangible to take away. Yeah, that could be like an innocent screening question. yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be that's awesome and fantastic. This has been such an incredible conversation. I think the parents that hear this are going to feel so empowered. We are going to make sure that

Any link you want on there, Amanda, is in the show notes to your website, to any of these. You mentioned that you have a freebie as well. We're going to make sure to put that in there. And also I'm roping you in because I want to go even deeper and I want you to teach and thrive. that'd be so cool.

Don't think you've gotten rid of me by any means. And I know also that you do reading interventions too. And I think I do a bit. I do a bit. I'm dabbling. I'm dabbling. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Cause I want a conversation. You said that you do some OG stuff. What's it? So I'm not even doing Orton Gillingham anymore. I'm doing straight up phonological and phonemic awareness and I'm working on memory and I'm doing some things where I had another SLP at a conference. We were talking. I was like, girl,

Christy Faith (33:41.07)
I think we can build phonological memory." And she's like, tell me more. And she's been doing, she's been doing. Yes. Only quirky people like us would be like, ooh, tell me about this. Speak nerdy to me. Because it's something that we really care about. And I actually, I had no desire to work on literacy.

but I absolutely fell in love with my kids with severe to profound phonological disorders. I love unpacking the Rubik's Cube that is the phonological system. And those kids were more likely to need dyslexia help. And some of them couldn't afford a tutor and me at the same time and their speech sounds were still so bad. I was like, well, we're just doing both. That's how this is going down.

And so I've been I've been doing a deep dive into really training myself and I know that I am not a reading specialist. I am not a reading tutor. We can we can invent it. But I do know that sometimes by learning and having interventions with a phonological awareness and the phonemic awareness specifically, you are going to untangle that yarn so that a

a tutor or just a really well equipped mom can get more bang for their buck. Yes. Yeah. And most of the times it's just speech language pathologists who like to play in that area of the pond. So yeah, is the way that you practice in this homeschool space where you empower parents. I mean, I definitely see that this would be beneficial for even non homeschooling parents. Yeah. Is the way you practice widespread, is it growing or are you kind of this?

lone wolf saying, hey people, this is a great way to do this. That's a really good question. I meet speech language pathologists all the time that are becoming more and more passionate about parent coaching. I know one who's actually in the homeschool space, but she focuses completely on late talkers and play. and can that girl play? She's a good egg and really cares about her people and her audience. So I know I'm not the only one.

Christy Faith (35:59.022)
But she has this phrase that I try to borrow. She said, Asha might just have to just come at me because the American Speech and Hearing Association, like their task, you know, with making sure that we have our certification, but it's our actual states that maintain our licensure. And I feel like a little nervous even saying this, but when you're divulging secrets, other people may not like you very well. And I think people are afraid of this model. I've seen people try and then stop because I think,

I don't know if they were stopped by somebody else. So maybe that'll happen after this podcast. I'll text you. I'll be like, hey, Christy face. It happens. They told me to cease and desist. Hey, if there's anything I've learned about my audience in particular is if beware coming after me or anybody that I love because we come out with fangs. I have the best audience. You do. You do. Yeah.

We are not. Yeah, we are some women who don't rattle the cage of an angry bee. Yeah. Yeah. What is it? What is that phrase? Mama bear? Yeah. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. But I think, I think I haven't seen anybody that's willing to spread out outside of their own private practice. And part of that might just because the business model is unusual. I've been told by

I know an educational psychologist and an occupational therapist who I believe is in your Thrive membership doing some chit chats with you. And they do those kinds of things. And so I know it can't be crazy. I don't think I'm crazy. But crazy people are the more fun. I don't.

Yeah, no, and I think that it provides a lot of value and you know, you can have a bigger caseload technically. It's just a different model. Just because something's been done a certain way since it basically was created doesn't mean it needs to continue to be done that way. And especially with how accessible information is nowadays and also just the grit of the homeschool parents where we are willing.

Christy Faith (38:05.806)
to do the work if we need to. We will do what it takes. We don't trust the system. So we have to find people in the system who we trust. And so I think this is fantastic. I can't wait to see how this unfolds and what other people practice in this way. And I know just last week I sent your name to a gal in Thrive. Can you consult across state lines?

I usually, when I do a consultation, see, I don't charge for those. So it's gotten to the point where my caseload has gotten high enough where what I have to do is you send me an email or if you want to be HIPAA compliant, you send it through my contact form on my website and you say, hey, this is my state. Could you tell me who's in my state that is homeschool friendly? Gotcha.

because I didn't just go, all right, who wants to work with homeschoolers? Tell me your name and your practice information. I asked them some pretty, pretty detailed questions about homeschooling, their views on homeschooling, their experience with homeschooling, their views on homeschooling rights, and also medical freedom friendliness, because a lot of families that find me, that's actually something that they value very highly. And then I just send that to an email.

Eventually, maybe someday I'll have a VA that will do that. But right now that's me. So be gentle. If I get hit with a whole bunch of these, it might take me a minute. But in Indiana, in Florida and in Texas, I do offer free consultations because that's where I'm currently licensed. I'm licensed in another state, but I don't have the business licensure set up. So I'm not touching it yet. Gotcha. But yeah, I totally do. And then I also have, you know, my curriculums and stuff, but these are things that.

No, I don't think anybody's ever tried before. I don't think anybody's ever done that before. And so what I'm just hoping is to make it easier for people to practice things at home, whether they have a speech language pathologist who just doesn't have the time to give them training, or they have a great one, but they want more, or they are kind of on their own because it's literally all they have. I would much rather that there's no mom circling in the black hole that is, you know,

Christy Faith (40:21.038)
Google or YouTube scrolling into the middle of the night, trying to figure out how on earth they can help their kiddo. I would much rather things are a little bit more one -stop shop, but I'm only one me. So I'm just trying to build it as I go. Yeah. Yes. well, I love it. And I hope a lot of people visit your website and inquire with you and just see how you can help them if you are not licensed in their state. But this has been such an incredible conversation. Thank you so much for just spilling the tea, not gatekeeping.

because these are truly game changing ideas. They're gonna be listening to this episode and thinking like, what, what? And I think that's fantastic because we're the right audience, homeschool moms, we don't think inside the box. And so I'm just so glad that you're here and this is gonna be the first of many, Amanda, thank you so much for coming on the show. Awesome, thank you, it's been a treat.