The Listening SLP

The Listening SLP A speech-language pathologist who specializes in hearing loss and literacy. International Speaker.
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QUIT TRYING TO FAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT!!Faking it til you make it ONLY sounds good in theory. The reality is that we are...
07/30/2026

QUIT TRYING TO FAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT!!

Faking it til you make it ONLY sounds good in theory. The reality is that we are dealing with PEOPLE. People who are investing their time, energy, and money into a service. They do not need or deserve you trying to build the plane while flying it.

That’s a recipe for DISASTER!

Want to learn a new skill or do a new thing? That’s great! Go get in depth continuing education, find a mentor, shadow others, etc.

Stop using your clients, students, and patients as your personal trial and error. The amount of comments I see on the internet where people are asking for help AFTER agreeing to seeing a client knowing they have no or minimal experience is wild.

What we do know is that bad therapy or instruction can have lasting harm.

I strongly believe is supporting fellow SLPs and professionals, but we have to be held accountable.

What are your thoughts on this? ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Go head and SAVE this post! 📌I have been asked this questions many times by frustrated parents. We are diving into the g...
07/28/2026

Go head and SAVE this post! 📌

I have been asked this questions many times by frustrated parents. We are diving into the general roles of school based SLPs when it comes to reading instruction.

First off, yes literacy IS within our scope of practice as speech-language pathologists. SLPs have a vast scope of practice (some say too big, myself included). It makes it impossible for SLPs to know all the areas they are expected to treat at an in depth level.

So yes it is within the school-based SLPs scope of practice BUT is it within their scope of competence? Maybe. 🤷🏾‍♀️

In addition to scope of competence discussions, the majority of school districts do not acknowledge that SLPs can assist with reading.

ALL SLPs can support LITERACY! 👏🏾

You don’t formal goals to address literacy concepts in therapy either.

Biggest takeaway is yes an SLP can work with literacy, but that person should have proper training and knowledge to do so!

Let’s keep this conversation going in the chat. What questions do you have?

It’s just as simple as that 🗣No, no, no! Pictures DO NOT help children decode words! I had a parent recently share that ...
07/26/2026

It’s just as simple as that 🗣

No, no, no! Pictures DO NOT help children decode words! I had a parent recently share that was a tip suggested to assist their child with reading.

Looking at pictures to decode words encourages guessing. Additionally, what happens when pictures are not there?!?! GUESSING. Guessing is what happens.

You know what DOES help children decode words?
·Tapping out sounds
·Identifying word elements (digraphs, short vowels, vowel teams)
·Blending sounds together
·Error handling based on missed phonemes

Pictures have a place and play a role in comprehension and language development. I’m not suggesting we ditch the pictures!

Just remember that the pictures aren’t helping us READ the words.

Tag someone that you want to see this!
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Hot take (that really shouldn’t be a hot take) 🙄Testing a Deaf or Hard of Hearing child who uses amplification WITHOUT t...
07/24/2026

Hot take (that really shouldn’t be a hot take) 🙄

Testing a Deaf or Hard of Hearing child who uses amplification WITHOUT their device calls the validity of your results into question.

You’re not measuring their abilities. You’re measuring what they could access without the tool they rely on every day.

We would never remove a child’s glasses before administering a vision-dependent assessment and call the results valid.👓

So why do we accept it when it comes to hearing technology? 🦻🏾

If a child doesn’t have access to the auditory information the assessment requires, how can you confidently say the results reflect their true language, cognitive, or academic skills?

You can’t. 🙅🏾‍♀️

If a family arrives without the child’s amplification, the best decision is usually to reschedule the evaluation.

Yes, rescheduling is inconvenient. Making decisions based on questionable data is far more inconvenient.

I’m curious if your district, clinic, or practice have a policy for situations like this? If not, what do you think the standard should be?

Let’s discuss it below. 👇🏾 👇🏾👇🏾

I love watching the moment something clicks. 👏🏾The best sessions aren’t the ones where people leave saying, “That was a ...
07/23/2026

I love watching the moment something clicks. 👏🏾

The best sessions aren’t the ones where people leave saying, “That was a great presentation.” They’re the ones where people leave thinking, “I can’t wait to try this tomorrow.”

That’s always my goal! For people to make the bigger connection and take action.

Whether I’m speaking about literacy, diagnostics, health literacy, Deaf and Hard of Hearing education, or evidence-based practice, I want attendees to walk away with practical strategies they can immediately apply the next day! Not just another notebook full of ideas they’ll never use.

A huge thank you to every conference, district, university, and organization that has invited me to speak, and to everyone who has taken the time to share such thoughtful feedback. It truly means more than you know. This feedback is from the recent Speech Retreat hosted by Hallie Sherman 💜 speech 💜 SLP !

If you’re planning professional development for your team, I’d love to connect. 💕
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We’ve lost the plot.The goal has never been to chase trends, go viral, or promote whatever intervention is getting the m...
07/22/2026

We’ve lost the plot.

The goal has never been to chase trends, go viral, or promote whatever intervention is getting the most engagement this week.

The goal has always been to advocate for our clients, our students, our patients, and our profession.

That means staying grounded in evidence-based practice—even when it’s less flashy than the latest social media trend.

Our field doesn’t move forward by amplifying pseudoscience because it’s popular. It moves forward when we ask better questions, critically evaluate the evidence, and are willing to say, “The research doesn’t support that.”

Evidence-based practice isn’t optional. It’s part of our ethical responsibility.

Let’s get back to the plot.
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Let’s talk about the Science of Reading 📖The science of reading (SOR) is a body of research that incorporates research f...
07/20/2026

Let’s talk about the Science of Reading 📖

The science of reading (SOR) is a body of research that incorporates research from multiple disciplines (i.e. developmental psychology, educational psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience) about how we learn to read. 🧠

Using the science of reading as the basis for reading instruction have been shown to be effective when teaching children to read. 📚

Reading does not occur naturally. Children need to be taught with methods that have been proven effective!👩🏾‍🏫

When implementing the science of reading, we are using the keys that unlock doors for ALL students to learn how to read. 🔑

As with all things, we have to be informed consumers! There are plenty of products out there that claim to be SOR aligned.

Yet, when we start looking at them we see that SOR is just used as a marketing label. There are questions that parents, teachers, SLPs can all ask ourselves before investing in products claiming to support reading instruction.
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Welcome to The Listening SLP! 👋🏾 I’m Sydney Bassard! I’m a speech-language pathologist, international speaker, and child...
07/16/2026

Welcome to The Listening SLP! 👋🏾

I’m Sydney Bassard! I’m a speech-language pathologist, international speaker, and children’s book author. I specialize in literacy, dyslexia, and working with DHH individuals.

The purpose of this page has and will always be to support professionals and families by providing evidence-based information! Given my own family journey with navigating dyslexia, I know how frustrating it can be when information needed to make informed decisions is not available.

We have to empower people to listen, learn, and advocate!

While I love my job, I love balance in life! Let me tell you 5 things people are shocked by when they meet me in person! ⤵️
👉🏾 I’m short (5’3” and very proud of it)
👉🏾 I’m very unserious IRL. Cracking jokes is my favorite pastime
👉🏾 I have a lot of opinions. I tend to keep my inner thoughts to myself in online spaces
👉🏾 HUGE Reality TV ju**ie
👉🏾 I actually smile a lot, but my resting face NEVER disappoints

Those are some fun facts about me! I’d love to know more about YOU! Who is in this space with me? 💕

Please know you can always DM me or shoot me an email with questions!

(S/O to my amazing husband for this photo of me!)
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Charlotte, NC

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 2:30am
Friday 9am - 2am

Telephone

+19802060582

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