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October 07, 2024 11 min read

Even the most experienced SLP knows that mastering speech room organization can be tricky…and sometimes downright frustrating. If you’re struggling don’t worry. I’ve put together this helpful guide so you will feel prepared, knowledgeable, and ready to start your new year with confidence.

Top 10 Worst Speech Room Locations

Unfortunately, sometimes, we SLPs are not at the top of the list when it comes to allocating classrooms. SLPs all over the country have been placed into less-than-desirable conditions on many occasions.



To start we are having a (not too serious!!) look at our top 10 worst speech room locations that can make speech room organization a real challenge:

#10. Basement Room: A cold, damp unfinished underground room, lacking light – your students would just love coming down here, right?! But in some schools, this is the only space that can be found! Speech room organization becomes crucial in these dim conditions.

#9. A Through-Room: Ever been placed into one of these? A room that links two main rooms or corridors and people constantly use it as a short-cut. It would be difficult to concentrate on therapy with people frequently passing by! Crafty speech room organization is key to creating a semblance of privacy.

#8. Art Storage Room: This is a frequent location for SLPs! Tucked away amongst the paint and art supplies, we can be found trying to squeeze our resources in on top of everything else! If you're lucky, it might be a little bit 'artsy' in decor, but not likely!


#7. Gym Storage Room: Another popular spot for us to be located! With a gym store, you are likely to be close to the gym and therefore have noise to worry about as well as the lack of space and sharing storage with others – imagine trying to work with students while a game is going on next door with cheering and shouting! Sound-proofing becomes a part of your speech room organization here.

#6. Book Closet: At least in a book closet you will have plenty of reading resources close at hand! But not much space, or light, or storage – not likely to be very much opportunity for any decor either – bookshelves everywhere... Vertical speech room organization becomes essential.

#5. Cleaners Closet: This would be similar to the book closet in some ways, but clear distinction between the cleaners storage space and yours will need to be set out from the start – you don't need any nasty chemical cleaning solutions popping up amongst your resources! Safety becomes a crucial part of your speech room organization strategy.



#4. Disused Toilet: So they are having problems finding a place to put you – and some bright spark decides that the disused toilet would make a good spot! Remove the toilet and maybe the sink, but it's still a tiny space likely to feel cold and have no natural light.

#3. Hallway: Yes – if you are a day-a-week SLP, then you may find yourself landed in the hallway! Far from ideal – imagine the distractions, the noise, the lack of order and privacy – you would need to invent easily portable screens to demarcate a space for yourself! Mobile speech room organization becomes your best friend.

#2. Janitors Store: Tucked away in some remote part of the school building, you will not be too easy for students to find! And when they do arrive to your dimly lit and dull room, they will be greeted by the aroma of cut grass and fuel, mixed in with a greasy workshop smell – hmmm, maybe not the impression you wanted to make...!!

#1. The Boiler Room: This has to be the all-time worst location for your speech room – in fact I'd say that if you were located here, you would move your sessions outside on dry days! Imagine the noise and the smell! A boiler room wouldn't have much in the way of light or finishes either! A huge decor challenge, not for the faint-hearted! Extreme speech room organization skills required!

Maybe, before you began to read our top ten, you were stressing out about the details and touches for your classroom decor this year. Now that you've been reminded of some of the awful places that others have to work in, you realize that you're blessed to only have the worries you do! I am!

If you're someone who ends up working in a situation like one of our Top 10 Worst..., then fear not. In the next section we will discuss how to achieve speech room organization in a small space and give you a few tips!

Top TIps for Speech Room Organization in Small Spaces

There are some décor and organization guidelines that apply to all small spaces including small speech rooms.

  • Avoid Large Pieces of Furniture: Try to use small pieces of furniture where possible. When considering your own desk – use as small as you can use to manage. (This might mean making friends with the custodian to try and trade items from elsewhere in a school-based setting!)
  • Maximize Storage: We all need storage – and furniture items can be bulky – but when you're short on space you need to use every inch wisely. Maximize the space you have with clever speech room organization! Lauren at BusyBees Speech has great organization ideas including using hanging files on doors to make use of every square inch of space!
  • Choose Light Colors: If you have a paint choice, choose soft, light shades on the walls. When choosing a paint color, we can easily be tempted to try to brighten things up a bit by choosing a nice bright color – but with smaller spaces, it's best to opt for the lighter colors!
  • Create a ‘Color Wall’: I always like to have a colorful bulletin board in my speech room and couldn't live without this, no matter how small the space! So I would choose one wall to use as a 'color' wall. Ask that it be painted in a light shade and then put your bulletin board and necessary wall fixings onto this wall. I love the cool shades that Nicole over at Speech Peeps has used in her speech room.

If your room is narrow choose the shorter wall for this as it will make the room feel wider – choosing the long wall in a narrow space will make it feel more tapered. Did you ever think you’d be incorporating optical illusions in your speech room organization strategy?!

Just remember not to be tempted to overdo the décor on the walls – this will enclose your space even further!

  • Ensure Good Lighting: Sometimes the small speech rooms we inherit can be poorly lit with little or zero natural daylight. One of the first tasks you should undertake in speech room organization planning is to ensure you have acceptable lighting. In situations with no natural light, you may be forced to add desk and/or floor lamps. There is nothing worse than a dimly lit small space.
  • Use Multi-functional Furniture: Try to find ways to make furniture suit more than one purpose – like making-over the back or side of a filing cabinet to use as a magnetic board. Another idea is to double up low-level storage cabinets as seating for students by putting soft cushions on top. Or forget the cushions altogether and use the cabinets as tables.

I just love this idea from Keri at Kinder Keri to place vinyl cut-outs to section tabletops!

In small speech rooms, you need to be very smart with the precious storage you have. By spacing your students with simple cut-out templates like this, you will have created personal workspaces for them PLUS you’ve added extra room for other resources!

  • Implement Super Speech Room Organization: Small spaces look bigger and more spacious without clutter and fussiness. The key to avoiding the mess is to be very clever in your speech room organization plans. Every inch of storage space has to be maximized! Check out this unusual and innovative ceiling-level storage idea at the Family Handyman.

I'm not sure if this would pass fire regulations in some school buildings but if it does, then this would be a fantastic way to store your out-of-season resources – definitely out of the way!

  • Keep Your Resources Organized: It never fails that I find lots of printed resources sitting around in folders and sleeves here and there…and well, everywhere! I've been searching for a solution to this problem for years. 

You’re in luck! I've finally found it and I must share it with you! By laminating basic manilla envelopes you can create durable storage for much-loved printed materials. I saw this idea on Love Laughter and Prep, where Lauren shows you how she made hers.

First, label the flaps of the envelopes and laminate. You can then neatly stack the envelopes in categorized bins to easily locate them when you’re strapped for time! I’ve already made a start on this one for better speech room organization in my space!

I hope you have found some useful tips while considering your own speech room organization strategies. One takeaway is that excellent organization is attainable in any size of speech room and in any conditions! Next I’m going to share with you my all-time favorite go-to tip for top-notch speech room organization.

My Speech Room Organization Realization

Since we’ve covered how furniture, storage, and resources can make speech room organization seem impossible, I’d like to to talk about one of my favorite places in my speech space…my humble oasis…my desk!!

Is there a more magical retreat?! Here I can escape for a free minute to breathe or to tend to all of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ tasks SLPs face. No one can bring me down at MY desk!

So what happens when my desk, my special space, ends up just as cluttered as the rest?

 

Let me take you on my journey…

Last week I was visiting family near my hometown and I decided to make a detour for a little shopping with speech room organization on my mind.

I came across a branch of Staples that I haven't ventured inside since my own ‘back to school’ days! 

The memories came flooding back as I passed a pleasant hour (or two!) browsing and reminiscing among the neat pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, and folders.

If I were a kid shopping for school right now I would have such fun. I could not believe the range of cool stuff for kids these days!

Of course, now I'm a little beyond my school days, and my tastes have changed slightly. I still have a compulsive need to buy gorgeous pens, folders, and folders. However, several (ahem!) years on from my last visit, my purchases were a little more grown up and focused on speech room organization.

What I discovered was the Laura Ashley range from Staples. Martha Stewart also has a similar range and I found it difficult to make my choice.

In the end, it was the speech room organization possibilities that swayed me to make my purchase. If you are a creator of clutter like me, then no matter how cute the items they will still wind up forming a messy pile on your desk.

Mixed in with assessment manuals, extra notebooks and all my other desktop clutter I knew it wouldn't be long before my pretty purchases got lost among the mess.

Enter… shoebox storage for speech room organization!

Big enough to fit all necessary clutter inside and yet compact enough to leave plenty of room to work. The coordinating shoebox was an inspired buy. I’m putting it on my work desk in the morning to improve on my speech room organization goals.

My very simple stationery shopping list for an organized speech desk included…

  • A pretty (yet sturdy) shoebox storage bin big enough to hold large notebooks. You can purchase one, or decorate one on your own with printable or purchased papers.
  • A magazine file to keep assessment manuals accessible at all times.
  • A pencil case
  • Some color Sharpies (I have a plan in mind for these…!)
  • Large and small notebooks

These items are perfect for enhancing speech room organization and keeping my workspace tidy and efficient. We can all agree it’s easier to clean out a single shoebox rather than several drawers of clutter. Choose your path and never give up. You will find what’s right for you, your students, and whatever space you’ve been provided.

Next, we’re going to talk about one of my absolute SLP heroes. She has literally taken our ‘speech show’ on the road. Forget all of the potential downfalls or setbacks. Her amazing story inspires and proves that there are no hurdles too high when speech room organization MUST prevail!

Mobile Speech Room Organization

Forget the desk…and hopefully the boiler room, this wonderful woman inspires me that ANY space can become your dream speech space - no matter where administration places you.

Here is her story:

“…After spending my entire SLP career in a school setting (Early Childhood and Elementary) I have made a huge change to Early Intervention. Aside from moving about 500 miles from my previous home to Chicago, I will also be traveling many miles to see my new, and very small, clients. As a traveling Early Intervention therapist many things will be different. One of the biggest of these differences will be trading in my desk for my new office: my car.

As my car will now act as my office (along with a few coffee shops along the way) I had to get my trunk area ready and organized in a way that allowed me to move between items as I moved between clients. Here's how I've tackled speech room organization in my mobile setup:

  • Digital Organization: One of the biggest things to staying organized for me is WebPT which is our web-based system for scheduling and maintaining client records. It is great to not have to tote around oodles of paper. This baby keeps my schedule ready, client information easily accessible, and SOAP notes contained all in one neat little iPad/laptop. It also allows me to fax and keep in contact with a client's OT/PT! There are a lot of other great websites and apps that can help a traveling SLP stay organized with data and information as well.

  • Physical Planner: However, I still love a good planner for keeping track of everything in my life. I found this adorable small russell and hazel binder for my planner and use my favorite Staedtler marker pens from Target! The binder even has dry-erase interior… how neat?!? Plus, keeping it compact and easy to use is a must as a traveling therapist.
  • Clear Storage Boxes: When it came to storing the items that I would be toting around with me I chose clear boxes that snap shut from Sterilite. Surprisingly, they rarely move around in the trunk! However, if they do, I know that I won't open my trunk to see items spilled everywhere. The clear boxes allow me to quickly see what is in a box and pull it out to take it into a session. My boxes are in varying sizes. The largest contains my "Library" of board books for sessions. I also have smaller boxes for my IKEA food sets and puppets (see my post here) as well as some sweet Dollar Spot finds, bubbles, Mr. Potato Head, and play-doh. I do carry some art supplies with me but rarely use them as parents typically have those in their homes.

  • Large Carrying Bag: Now, I don't want to be carrying all of those individual pieces into a session. On top of being difficult to balance when the ice invades Chicago this winter, having items out of sight can be very helpful. I found these amazing, cute and large bags at IKEA for only $2! I love that it zips, is super tall but still easy to sling over my shoulder, and didn't cost so much that it can't be easily replaced if needed. I simply throw the boxes and items into the bag and head into a client session.

It's not as spacious as my previous office, which was the size of a classroom, but I have made it my own and enjoy having an organized method to the madness. If you are a traveling therapist or contemplating the change in placement, I would recommend putting organization/function before style in your speech room organization. Plus, having a few stylish and fun pieces never hurt an SLP!

If you’d like to learn more about me and my new adventures in Early Intervention, check me out here at Sublime Speech!”

If you have been located in an odd place for your speech room, or consider yours to be worthy of a 'worst speech room' mention, Let us know about it on social media, we'd love to hear from you and learn about your speech room organization strategies!