Interview with Barb Conrad, CCC-SLP, Northern Ohio Special Education, Regional Resource Center

Beck:Hi Barb. Thanks for your time today.Conrad:Good morning Doug. Thanks for the invitation.Beck:Barb. Would you please tell me a little about your professional education and your current position?Conrad:I am a graduate of the University of Akron for both of my degrees. I completed my undergraduate

Beck:Hi Barb. Thanks for your time today.

Conrad:Good morning Doug. Thanks for the invitation.

Beck:Barb. Would you please tell me a little about your professional education and your current position?

Conrad:I am a graduate of the University of Akron for both of my degrees. I completed my undergraduate degree in Speech and Hearing and my master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) from the University of Akron. I also did post-graduate work in order to be licensed in Ohio as a Speech and Language Supervisor. I worked as a school based SLP for ten years and have been a speech-language supervisor for the past sixteen years.

Beck:And Barb, would you please tell me about the Northern Ohio Special Education Regional Resource Center (SERRC)?

Conrad:We have 16 SERRC centers in Ohio. The regional resource centers are federally funded. The Northern Ohio SERRC covers 40 school districts in 3 counties and employs 114 speech language pathologists. In my role as a speech-language supervisor/consultant, I provide support for the SLPs through recruiting and technical assistance, policy and procedure updates, trends in the profession as well as trouble shooting and problem solving with the local SLPs, their clients and parents.

Beck:And I know you recently won the Rolland VanHattum Award, in 2005, awarded by the ASHA Foundation for excellence in the schools. Congratulations on that. OK, well then, let's move on to recruiting SLPs into the schools.

Conrad:Sure, Doug. There is a very real shortage of SLPs out there, across all settings. So as employers, we're all competing for the same graduates.

Beck:What can you tell me regarding the magnitude of the SLP shortage?

Conrad:I can tell you the numbers in Ohio, and we believe our state mirrors the situation nationally. In Ohio, we need some 225 new SLPs annually across all settings according to the U.S. Department of Labor and Statistics, and we have about 190 to 195 that graduate annually in our state and of those not all choose to seek employment in Ohio. We lose around 25 to 30 graduates to out of state jobs. So there is a real shortage. We actually are more fortunate than most states because we have ten graduate programs here, producing more SLP graduates than most other states, but we still can't keep up with the anticipated openings each year.

Beck:And how stable are these numbers?

Conrad:The numbers are fairly stable, with little variance each year from what we can tell. According to the Dept. of Labor and Statistics we should expect similar numbers of openings annually through 2010. In recent years there have been as many as 70 SLP openings in the fall in the schools alone.

Beck:What things can be done to recruit additional SLPs?

Conrad:There are many things being done in Ohio, thanks to OMNIE. www.omnie.org I've been part of the OMNIE project (Ohio Master's Network Initiative in Education), which has been funded for about ten years by the Ohio Department of Education and is coordinated by Nada Allender. The program started out as a venue to offer master's degree programs online or through videotape, to SLPs who were working with bachelor's degrees in the schools. Students took three years to complete their program part time, and it worked very well. We graduated 53 students with master's degrees, the program was highly successful.

Beck:And so arguably, you were among the very first distant education programs in SLP?

Conrad:Yes. I think we actually were the first. Currently, we are putting a new distance master's program together that will get off the ground the first of this year. Our goal is to re-train educators or other allied professionals who are either out of work or looking to change professions.

Beck:Very good. And then you were able to use the OMNIE program and their funds to help recruit new SLPs?

Conrad:Yes. We were able to have the SLP supervisors statewide go out to their communities and speak with students in the undergraduate and graduate school programs about working in the schools as SLPs. We used funds to purchase give-away items such as 'How to Get A Job' binders, bookbag totes filled with memo pads, highlighters etc. to help support our message. That was the first time we provided incentives to students to help get our message across. Prior to that, other employers were providing incentives to students, and we weren't able to compete. We needed to offer something to help students focus on the school setting. After that, OMNIE teamed with Dr. Terry Hallett from the University of Akron to create a DVD called "Don't Miss the Bus: Communication Happens in Schools." She helped us create a multimedia approach to promoting the school setting which demonstrated what it was like to be an SLP in the schools, and the students loved it.

Beck:That really is important. Using innovative and exciting technology does help grab the attention of the audience, and multimedia is an excellent way to go. In fact, your DVD was very early in the multimedia movement, being available in the later 1990s.

Conrad:Yes, we were ahead of the curve on that. We gave away several thousand DVDs to school based SLPs at our two state conferences to show to prospective students from their local high schools. We believe that creative effort really helped us get our message out to the intended audience. OMNIE also sent the DVDs to every high school guidance counselor in Ohio, and made them available in the school libraries along with some 800 binders that we assembled, and those were placed in the Career Centers sections of the high school libraries, too.

Beck:Do you have any idea how many students saw the DVDs and other recruiting materials?

Conrad:Well, we believe it was many hundreds, if not more. Of course, it takes many years from the time students learn about our profession until they finish high school or their undergraduate program, and then apply to a graduate program, and then enter the job market. But it's worth the effort. For example, at this time in my region, we have some 24 students enrolled in one of many of Ohio's undergraduate or graduate programs to become an SLP.

Beck:And of the 24, how many were influenced by your recruiting efforts?

Conrad:At least 20 of them. We know they either heard our presentations, saw the DVD or they "job shadowed" an SLP in my region, so again the recruiting efforts are worthwhile, and they do make a difference.

Beck:That's very impressive.

Conrad:Thanks. OMNIE is currently sponsoring Project Inspire which I coordinate along with Kathy Jillson, which funds recruiting efforts to school-based SLPs to help spread the word in their local high school about our field. This past school year we funded nearly $10,000 in stipends to 48 SLPs who talked with students at Career Night, at Future Teachers of America meetings, or had students job shadow them, and we funded other creative proposals statewide. Locally, in my office we've personalized our efforts by sending college students "care packages" with popcorn, chocolate, and information about working in the schools. The care package helps us stay in touch with the students, and helps them stay in touch with us, the profession and the opportunities that await them.

Beck:Absolutely. I think contacting them once or twice a year is important, and it helps maintain their long-term interest in SLP.

Conrad:I agree. We need to inspire and motivate students and that can be done in large groups, and then smaller groups of more interested people, and hopefully, as time goes on, a one-to-one relationship with the student. At that point, once we've identified interested students, they can "job shadow" and identify an SLP that can help them better understand the profession, the school and the long term opportunities available to them.

Beck:So the key to recruiting is a creative outreach program?

Conrad:Yes, that is very important, as is the funding of these efforts. We have been fortunate because the Ohio Department of Education has supported our ongoing efforts. OMNIE also provides financial incentives to graduates accepting positions in schools especially in those areas where there has been an opening for an extended period of time.

Beck:That is fortunate and I think the Department of Education is to be applauded for that. Of course, there are other funding sources that other states can use such as private donations from speech and hearing centers, private school funding, student group fundraisers and perhaps private monies from people and patients who have benefited from SLP services, too.

Conrad:Yes, I agree, those are all reasonable opportunities, and the more one explores and investigates those, the more recruitment funding becomes available.

Beck:OK, well thanks so much for your time. I really do appreciate your taking the time to review and reveal some of your recruitment successes.

Conrad:My pleasure, Doug.