My Journey to a Speech & Language Capsule
- Meredith Taylor
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
Introduction to My SLP Background
I fell in love with the field of speech and language during my sophomore year at Indiana University. My first class, Childhood Language Learning, captivated me. After one lecture, my late professor, Dr. Barbara Fazio, shared how a career in speech-language pathology offers flexibility, variety, and deep rewards. From that moment, I was hooked.
Even as a child, I apparently had an ear for sounds. My mother loves to tell the story of how I once ran inside while playing with neighbors to announce, “But mo-om, she’s not pronounciating [sic] her sounds right!”
After earning my Master’s in Speech Pathology from The Ohio State University, I’ve worked in early intervention, private practice, pediatric outpatient therapy (alongside SLPs, PTs, OTs, and DTs), and public schools. Each experience shaped my approach and fueled my passion for helping others communicate.
My Mission: Empowering Voices
As speech-language pathologists, we all share the same goal: helping individuals communicate more effectively. Advocacy is at the heart of our work, whether for our clients, their families, or our profession as a whole.
Working across various settings in the decade before transitioning to public schools taught me invaluable lessons about empathy and understanding. I witnessed firsthand how speech and language challenges affect individuals and their families. These experiences deepened my appreciation for the hurdles they face and inspired my mission to empower even the youngest communicators.
For eight years, I worked as an SLP in a self-contained preschool setting, where I developed my “Capsule” idea (and the foundation for this blog and website). My focus was on creating engaging resources for young learners with a variety of goals.
Areas of Specialization
Some of the key areas I specialized in were directly inspired by the needs of my current caseload. Working closely with these students pushed me to explore innovative approaches and develop resources tailored to their specific challenges. These areas include:
Large Group Language Lessons: For minimally verbal students requiring visual supports to answer simple WH-questions, follow directions, or respond to yes/no questions.
Themed Vocabulary Instruction: Creating direct instruction materials tied to seasons, holidays, and other fun topics to expand vocabularies.
AAC Beginners: Teaching aided language input with low-tech core boards and voice-output devices, helping students learn icons, words, and functions.
Speech Sound Disorders: Supporting students with apraxia of speech or those with very limited sound and syllable combinations in their repertoire, using play-based therapy to maintain engagement and motivation. Additionally, new comprehensive resources have been developed for students with phonological process disorders, including dedicated activities to provide various scaffolded visual cues for producing minimal pairs to effectively address Cluster Reduction of S-Blends.
By tailoring resources to meet these unique needs, I discovered how to make therapy not just accessible but exciting.
The Impact of Speech and Language Resources
Creating resources has always been a cornerstone of my work. Early on, I taught myself to use tools like Boardmaker, PowerPoint, and Google to design materials for my caseload. As I became more proficient, my resources improved, allowing me to meet my students' needs more effectively.
Sharing these materials with families, coworkers, and later, the world, through Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) and Boom Learning has been incredibly rewarding.
It was my preschool caseload that inspired me to start my TPT store in 2018. Seeing the joy and progress my resources sparked in my own students motivated me to share them with others. ✨
Despite having fewer than 600 followers, my store made it into the Top 6% of Sellers in 2024! Feel free to follow me here.
I'm beyond grateful to everyone who has found "my needles in the haystack" on TPT. Becoming a teacher-author truly feels like a childhood dream come true.
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 pushed me to create my Boom Learning store, where I converted my printable materials into digital formats to engage my preschoolers via teletherapy.
Now in my third year of treating at an elementary school of Kindergarteners through fifth graders, I'm focusing on creating more resources for various language goals I'm encountering with my current caseload, such as:
Additionally, I've developed organizational supports and visual supports for speech therapy, ensuring my materials help students at every stage of their journey, such as:
Articulation Hierarchy (in use with my caseload; not yet published; soon to be a full blog post)
Homework Folder Covers (in use with my caseload; not yet published)
S-Blend Arm Sliders for Cluster Reduction (in use with my caseload; not yet published)
One-Page Articulation Worksheets
Images in color and in black/white Good-bye, Jumbo Articulation Drill Book; Hello, One-Page Articulation Worksheets!
There are 10 target words for every position of every consonant.
These images were used for 2 years with my own caseload before publication.
Lessons Learned Along the Way
When I first began creating and listing products, I relied heavily on free resources like Boardmaker images, clipart (a big shoutout to My Cute Graphics for being a lifesaver in those early days) and basic fonts. My original logo—designed in PowerPoint—was embarrassingly simple. At the time, I called my brand "The SLP on TPT" but have since rebranded to my own name: Meredith Taylor SLP
Looking back, my early creations make me cringe a little. The font on my logo wasn’t even centered! But just like my logo, my products evolved. With beautiful clipart from Bunny on a Cloud and fun fonts from KG Fonts, I’ve transformed [the majority of] my resources into polished tools I’m proud to share.
That original logo, however, reminds me of the excitement of posting my first free product and making those initial sales. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start—and we all have to start somewhere.
Turning Setbacks into Comebacks
This journey hasn’t been without challenges. In my next post, I’ll share how copyright violations cost me thousands of dollars and hours of stress. Spoiler: it involved my Paw Patrol Apraxia Deck, and the hard lesson I learned about licensing laws. Stay tuned to hear how I turned this setback into a comeback!
Leave a comment! How did you know you wanted to become a Speech Pathologist?
What settings or clients have inspired or challenged you throughout your journey in this career?
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