October 14, 2025 • 20 mins
If the word documentation makes your eye twitch, you’re not alone.
In this episode, I unpack why staying caught up on notes, IEPs, and reports feels so hard—especially for those of us with ADHD—and what you can actually do about it. This isn’t about shame or hustle; it’s about understanding your brain, working with it, and ditching the “perfect system” that never lasts longer than a week.
What You’ll Learn
- Why documentation drains your energy (it’s not just about time).
- How executive functioning skills like initiation and prioritization impact your ability to get started.
- The sneaky trap of “productive procrastination” and how to spot it.
- ADHD-friendly strategies to make documentation simpler, faster, and more forgiving.
- The mindset shift that turns documentation from a stressor into a manageable routine.
To find out how I can help you improve your work-life balance, click here.
Come join the SLP Support Group on Facebook for more tips and tricks!
Follow me on Instagram! @theresamharp
Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:01):
Hey SLPs, welcome back to the show.
This is episode 1 21.
I am here in October of 2025,which is a DHD Awareness Month.
So I am in a four-part series onthe podcast about.
A DHD and productivity tips forthe neurodivergent brain.
(00:22):
But if you are listening to thisand you don't have doc, uh,
don't have a DHD, it's okay.
Stay with me because thisepisode is still for you.
In fact, what I want you to dois ask yourself this question,
have I ever had a situationwhere my documentation was not?
(00:48):
Up to date, whether it's sessionnotes, soap notes, ED plans,
IEPs, goals, evaluation reportslike you.
You know, you name, you name it.
But if you have ever had asituation where your
documentation is not up to date,you are not alone.
Okay?
If the words.
(01:10):
If the word documentation makesyou twinge and twitch and
stress, you're not alone.
Okay.
And what I wanna talk abouttoday is why documentation feels
like it's pulling teeth.
Okay?
And I wanna give you some, somesuggestions or some some reasons
(01:31):
why that maybe you haven'tconsidered.
I think we could all rattle offa bunch of reasons why.
Are like the frequent flyers,but I want you to think about
this through an A DHD lens andthen of course, more
importantly, what we canactually do about it.
Okay?
So here is the thing.
A DHD and documentation are notfriends.
(01:56):
Okay?
When it comes to documentation,responsibilities, and
requirements for those of us whoare clinicians, and when it
comes to all of the executivefunctioning skills that have to
happen in order fordocumentation to get done, that
is it.
(02:17):
It is no wonder that westruggle.
Okay?
Because think about it likethis, executive dysfunction, um,
timeliness is part of that.
Right.
Task initiation is part of thatorganization.
Is part of that planning, ispart of that prioritizing is
part of that.
All of these things are part ofthe executive functioning
(02:39):
system, and when we haveexecutive dysfunction, when the
executive functioning system isbreaking down or it's not
optimal.
We will feel the impact.
We might see this as overwhelm,as stress, anxiety.
(02:59):
It could be procrastination.
It could be analysis paralysis,but we all feel it in many
different ways at many differenttimes, and we don't want.
It to feel that way.
So the good news is that it'snot necessarily an indication
that there's something wrongwith you.
This isn't about you beingbroken or your brain being
(03:21):
broken.
In fact, it isn't even about,sorry to say, in many cases, our
system or field.
Speech pathology being broken.
Now, are there things that wecould do to improve it?
Yes.
Are there things that could bedifferent that would make it
easier?
Yes, but we also want to be ableto take action from this place
(03:46):
of our current reality if we arespending time and energy trying
to solve for the way that wewish that things were.
It's a waste of energy and time.
So we're gonna talk through whatwe can do about this.
Okay, so here's what I want youto know.
If you are behind, it doesn'tmean that you're bad at your
(04:08):
job.
It means that we need to look atsome things that maybe we
haven't looked at before.
And in today's episode, one ofthose things that we're looking
at is executive functioning.
Okay?
So here are some of the sort ofmistakes that I see.
SLPs make, okay.
Now, I as a coach am meant to beas unbiased and and neutral as
(04:33):
possible.
So maybe I'm thinking of thesemore so as mistakes from when I
was practicing as an SLP, andthese are mistakes that I have
made, but these are things thatget in the way.
Of completing documentation.
Let me put it like that.
Okay.
Copying and pasting systems thatwe see other SLPs using or that
(04:59):
we see on Instagram highlightreels or Pinterest or wherever.
Okay.
We see these beautiful colorcoded spreadsheets and charts
and file systems, and we arelike, oh, well yeah, that's
exactly what I want, so I'mgonna do that.
But nine times outta 10, thosesystems are not designed for the
(05:22):
way that your brain operates,and nine and a half times outta
10, those systems lose theirshininess faster than you can
say, where the heck did I savesaid system?
And you're trying to find it.
Okay, so let's not go there.
Let's try from within.
Okay?
Let's try to find solutions andcreate solutions from within.
(05:45):
Here's another mistake that Isee.
Over designing or oversystematizing things that are
not necessary that will neverget used.
I do this all the time.
I call it productiveprocrastination.
It is where my brain starts totake action, telling me that
it's useful, it's creating asystem, it's creating a
(06:09):
checklist, it's creating blah,blah, blah, all this stuff,
right?
That I.
In my mind, I'm telling myselfthat this is going to help me
get the job done faster and withless effort.
However, most of the time it isactually just keeping me from
starting the task.
So if you are getting stuck inproductive procrastination or
(06:32):
progressivity, if this is you.
It doesn't necessarily mean thatwe're eliminating this from
happening.
We just wanna know that ithappens and we wanna be watchful
for it so that when it doeshappen, we can catch it and be
really honest with ourselves andpivot.
Okay.
And then also don't assume thatmore structure, more rigidity,
(06:55):
more planning.
Will lead to better results.
That is not the case.
Not always, usually not.
Okay, so here are some questionsthat you can ask yourself to
catch when this is happening andto help you identify when you're
(07:20):
falling into this trap.
Number one is what I'm doingright now.
Is this too complicated?
For me to use when I'm in arush, when I'm tired.
When I'm low energy, like isthis quote unquote system I'm
creating too complicated for me?
Is it only gonna work on aunicorn day, like a day where
(07:40):
everything goes according toplan, or is it also gonna work
on a day where nothing goesaccording to plan?
Because quite frankly, that's tome, the sign of a strong system
is a system that can work andoperate when the circumstances
are atypical, when shit ishitting the fan, basically.
(08:00):
Okay.
Also, you can ask yourself, isthis.
Obvious.
Is it visible?
Is it easy to start?
Is it friction free?
I don't know about you, but howmany times have you sort of
created a system, like worked onsomething that you were working
on it, but you had your doubts.
(08:21):
You were sort of like, oh, Idon't know.
I don't know if this is really,I think this is making this like
a bigger problem.
Right?
That's those are warning signs.
Those are signals.
So we need to pay attention tothat.
Okay.
You don't need a pretty complex,beautiful, organized system.
(08:45):
You just need a system that isforgiving and simple and gets
you into action.
Because again, if you didn'tlisten to last week's podcast
episode, it was about, uh, theexecutive functioning skills
that are involved with tasksthat we do.
So if you want a little brush upon what those skills are, just a
refresher of how they fit in inour everyday life.
(09:09):
But you, um, want a littlerefresher on that.
You can go back to last week'sepisode, but.
When we think about writing areport or writing a session
note, there are so many, again,like I said, so many executive
functioning skills that are atplay here, and I rattled a few
of them off at the beginning ofthe episode.
(09:30):
But I just want you to remind, Iwanna remind you, I wanna keep
these top of mind as we aretalking through this episode so
that you're really understandingthe connection between executive
functioning and documentation.
Okay?
So.
Think about it this way,initiating the task, like
sitting down and actuallystarting the task.
(09:52):
Um, you can also think aboutthis as prioritization.
When you have five reports towrite, how do you know which one
to start with?
How do you prioritize?
There's also task persistence,so staying on task with
something and persisting when.
Even when it gets boring, itgets hard, it gets
uncomfortable.
There's cognitive flexibilitywhen things don't go according
(10:14):
to plan.
You start working on this reportand the template that you
thought you had is not actuallyon this computer.
Well, what are you gonna doabout it?
Does that mean you give up, youcan't do it at all?
Or is there an opportunity forcognitive flexibility here where
you can make a differentdecision?
Do something else with it tostill get it done.
(10:36):
Right.
So those are just a few that I'mrattling off, executive
functioning skills that arecoming to play.
But again, just bringing themtop of mind for you and go back
and listen to that episode fromlast week.
If you want to think about.
Hear about all of the otherexecutive functioning skills
that can be getting in the way.
This is not coming from a placeof gloom and doom by the way.
(10:57):
This is coming from a place of,hey, we're getting clarity on
what's actually going on so thatwe can solve for it so that
we're not solving for the wrongproblem.
Maybe we're solving all along,we're solving for this problem,
thinking that we can't dodocumentation because we don't
have enough time in ourschedule.
Well, it's way more than that.
Maybe we've been trying to solvefor, um, a caseload that we
(11:20):
think is too high, too heavy.
That may be true.
However, there are other waysthat we can solve for this,
okay?
So keep that in mind.
All right?
So I'm gonna give you a fewdifferent, I'll call them a DHD,
friendly strategies fordocumentation, okay?
And this is for the present.
(11:42):
You like the you who is tired orthe you who is stressed, the you
who is overwhelmed.
Okay.
This is not for those unicorndays.
I mean you could use them onunicorn days and great, but
like.
We don't wanna wait for that.
We don't wanna wait for thoseopportunities.
We want to notice theopportunities to get started and
we want to seize them.
So, micro action, microbursts ofaction.
(12:07):
So many of you, and I mean thisfrom such a loving place, but so
many of you are thinking aboutthis through an all or nothing
lens.
I can either write this reportor I can't.
But if I can't do this entirereport at once, why am I gonna
start?
(12:27):
If I don't have two hours opento write this report and get it
done, why should I botherstarting?
Right?
Come on.
You know, you've thought someversion of that at some point.
If you keep waiting for the bestor right time to get it done,
you will never get it done.
You will never be up to date.
So stop waiting for that andstart taking advantage of
(12:49):
microbursts of action.
Set a timer for 10 minutes.
Do one note and that's it.
Get it done.
Just start.
Okay.
I also want you to think aboutwhat tools can I use that that
need the least amount of energyfrom me?
(13:09):
So like what's the lowestcognitive load?
Or how can I approach this fromthe place of the lowest
cognitive load?
So for me, I'm a verbalprocessor.
I process my information bytalking through it also,
sometimes by writing it, butmostly by talking through it.
So voice memos, voice notes, orvoice dictation.
(13:30):
Those are my friend.
They're an easy way for me toget started on a task that I'm
avoiding.
Bullet points, give me bulletpoints all the way.
If you give me a written handoutthat has too much information in
my mind, it's too muchinformation.
On paper, I'll tune it out andit might have the best, most
(13:51):
important, helpful info ever,but I'm not going to utilize it
because my brain will shut down.
So for me, bullet points, why doI have to write in a way?
Like why not write in bulletpoints if I know that I read
information best When it isbrief and outlined with bullet
(14:12):
points, why not write myinformation that way?
Then if I need to make it intonarrative form from there I can,
but at least I've got a startingpoint.
Right.
Okay.
Other sort of strategies thatyou can take, right?
(14:34):
Um, would be looking at what isthe lowest point of entry.
Like, what is the lowest pointof entry that I need that I can
take?
Right?
What's the lowest point of entryfor me to just get started Now?
(14:57):
I said, you know, start themicro verse, do 10 minutes.
But even so, even if you havefive minutes and you don't think
you can write the whole note,can you take five minutes and
give the highlights of the noteso that you have a something to
start with?
Okay.
Also, you can think about howto, how can I say this?
(15:23):
You can think about how youprocess information, and if you
are somebody who tends toovercomplicate things, know that
about yourself and.
Be aware of it and check in withyourself.
Am I making this into a biggerdeal than it needs to be?
(15:47):
Am I making this bigger than itactually is?
Okay.
A couple of other ideas that Ihave for you.
I mentioned voice memos, right?
You can use different toolslike.
Script or Otter or even justlike voice dictation in Google
Docs to help you transcribeinformation.
(16:08):
Okay?
Some of these, almost all ofthese have free level options,
and then some of them have somepaid versions as well.
Chat, GPTI use chat GBT foreverything, not everything, but
I use it quite a lot and thisis, in my opinion, a great way
for you to save time in when itcomes to session notes.
(16:29):
When it's done the right way,when it's done certain ways.
I'm not gonna get into that'cause that's not the purpose of
this episode, but just keep thatresource in mind as well.
Okay.
And then if you can get intosome sort of a rhythm, some sort
of a rhythm of when you can dothese tasks, when you can write
these notes, even if it is.
(16:54):
Thinking outside the box a bit.
So maybe at the end of asession, you just don't have the
energy to sit down and write asession.
Note.
Let's say you, even if you havethe time, even if you have the
time built in, you don't havethe energy to do it.
What do you have the energy todo?
Maybe three bullet points.
Maybe a template where you justfill in the date and this the
(17:16):
client's name so that you don'thave blank page syndrome the
next time you look at it.
So thinking about the lowestpoint of entry and thinking
about the way that you processinformation and how to get this
information out in the simplestway possible.
And if you are somebody who is aperfectionist, notice that
(17:37):
challenge it.
I've done lots of episodes onthis topic before.
If I.
Can go back and find them.
I will link to them, or at leastname them in the show notes so
that you have them.
But I want you to really thinkabout documentation from a place
of executive functioning.
Okay?
It does not have to be thishard.
(17:59):
Executive functioning skills areskills that we can strengthen
and build.
So if this gives you thatpermission to do so, and I hope
that if nothing else, thisepisode gives you some, uh,
gives, helps you give yourselfsome grace, helps you recognize
(18:20):
that, you know, maybe it is.
Not you who is the problem?
I know that, but maybe you needto know that.
Okay.
Maybe it's not you.
It's the way that your brainhandles, interprets and creates
information, producesinformation, and we just have to
(18:42):
figure out what your sweet spotsare.
Okay?
So if this is something that youwant help with, let me know.
This is exactly what we do incoaching.
Book a call.
We could get you up and runningwith a clear cut, super simple
system that works for yourbrain, not the other way around.
(19:02):
And usually it is like little,little tweaks, little mini
tweaks that make a hugedifference.
Either way, I want you to pickone note or report that you have
been avoiding.
And I want you to take onestrategy from this episode or
one of the other episodes onexecutive functioning or on
(19:22):
evaluation and report writing.
Just try one thing.
You can even send me a DM onFacebook when you do it, or you
can send me a message or post inthe SLP support group on
Facebook so that we cancelebrate with you.
Alright, that's it for today'sepisode.
Make sure you tune back in tonext week's episode.
(19:43):
I'm gonna be talking more aboutA DHD and how it shows up in our
role as SLPs.
All right, y'all.
I'll see you then.
Bye.
Hey SLPs, welcome back to the show.
This is episode 1 21.
I am here in October of 2025,which is a DHD Awareness Month.
So I am in a four-part series onthe podcast about.
A DHD and productivity tips forthe neurodivergent brain.
(00:22):
But if you are listening to thisand you don't have doc, uh,
don't have a DHD, it's okay.
Stay with me because thisepisode is still for you.
In fact, what I want you to dois ask yourself this question,
have I ever had a situationwhere my documentation was not?
(00:48):
Up to date, whether it's sessionnotes, soap notes, ED plans,
IEPs, goals, evaluation reportslike you.
You know, you name, you name it.
But if you have ever had asituation where your
documentation is not up to date,you are not alone.
Okay?
If the words.
(01:10):
If the word documentation makesyou twinge and twitch and
stress, you're not alone.
Okay.
And what I wanna talk abouttoday is why documentation feels
like it's pulling teeth.
Okay?
And I wanna give you some, somesuggestions or some some reasons
(01:31):
why that maybe you haven'tconsidered.
I think we could all rattle offa bunch of reasons why.
Are like the frequent flyers,but I want you to think about
this through an A DHD lens andthen of course, more
importantly, what we canactually do about it.
Okay?
So here is the thing.
A DHD and documentation are notfriends.
(01:56):
Okay?
When it comes to documentation,responsibilities, and
requirements for those of us whoare clinicians, and when it
comes to all of the executivefunctioning skills that have to
happen in order fordocumentation to get done, that
is it.
(02:17):
It is no wonder that westruggle.
Okay?
Because think about it likethis, executive dysfunction, um,
timeliness is part of that.
Right.
Task initiation is part of thatorganization.
Is part of that planning, ispart of that prioritizing is
part of that.
All of these things are part ofthe executive functioning
(02:39):
system, and when we haveexecutive dysfunction, when the
executive functioning system isbreaking down or it's not
optimal.
We will feel the impact.
We might see this as overwhelm,as stress, anxiety.
(02:59):
It could be procrastination.
It could be analysis paralysis,but we all feel it in many
different ways at many differenttimes, and we don't want.
It to feel that way.
So the good news is that it'snot necessarily an indication
that there's something wrongwith you.
This isn't about you beingbroken or your brain being
(03:21):
broken.
In fact, it isn't even about,sorry to say, in many cases, our
system or field.
Speech pathology being broken.
Now, are there things that wecould do to improve it?
Yes.
Are there things that could bedifferent that would make it
easier?
Yes, but we also want to be ableto take action from this place
(03:46):
of our current reality if we arespending time and energy trying
to solve for the way that wewish that things were.
It's a waste of energy and time.
So we're gonna talk through whatwe can do about this.
Okay, so here's what I want youto know.
If you are behind, it doesn'tmean that you're bad at your
(04:08):
job.
It means that we need to look atsome things that maybe we
haven't looked at before.
And in today's episode, one ofthose things that we're looking
at is executive functioning.
Okay?
So here are some of the sort ofmistakes that I see.
SLPs make, okay.
Now, I as a coach am meant to beas unbiased and and neutral as
(04:33):
possible.
So maybe I'm thinking of thesemore so as mistakes from when I
was practicing as an SLP, andthese are mistakes that I have
made, but these are things thatget in the way.
Of completing documentation.
Let me put it like that.
Okay.
Copying and pasting systems thatwe see other SLPs using or that
(04:59):
we see on Instagram highlightreels or Pinterest or wherever.
Okay.
We see these beautiful colorcoded spreadsheets and charts
and file systems, and we arelike, oh, well yeah, that's
exactly what I want, so I'mgonna do that.
But nine times outta 10, thosesystems are not designed for the
(05:22):
way that your brain operates,and nine and a half times outta
10, those systems lose theirshininess faster than you can
say, where the heck did I savesaid system?
And you're trying to find it.
Okay, so let's not go there.
Let's try from within.
Okay?
Let's try to find solutions andcreate solutions from within.
(05:45):
Here's another mistake that Isee.
Over designing or oversystematizing things that are
not necessary that will neverget used.
I do this all the time.
I call it productiveprocrastination.
It is where my brain starts totake action, telling me that
it's useful, it's creating asystem, it's creating a
(06:09):
checklist, it's creating blah,blah, blah, all this stuff,
right?
That I.
In my mind, I'm telling myselfthat this is going to help me
get the job done faster and withless effort.
However, most of the time it isactually just keeping me from
starting the task.
So if you are getting stuck inproductive procrastination or
(06:32):
progressivity, if this is you.
It doesn't necessarily mean thatwe're eliminating this from
happening.
We just wanna know that ithappens and we wanna be watchful
for it so that when it doeshappen, we can catch it and be
really honest with ourselves andpivot.
Okay.
And then also don't assume thatmore structure, more rigidity,
(06:55):
more planning.
Will lead to better results.
That is not the case.
Not always, usually not.
Okay, so here are some questionsthat you can ask yourself to
catch when this is happening andto help you identify when you're
(07:20):
falling into this trap.
Number one is what I'm doingright now.
Is this too complicated?
For me to use when I'm in arush, when I'm tired.
When I'm low energy, like isthis quote unquote system I'm
creating too complicated for me?
Is it only gonna work on aunicorn day, like a day where
(07:40):
everything goes according toplan, or is it also gonna work
on a day where nothing goesaccording to plan?
Because quite frankly, that's tome, the sign of a strong system
is a system that can work andoperate when the circumstances
are atypical, when shit ishitting the fan, basically.
(08:00):
Okay.
Also, you can ask yourself, isthis.
Obvious.
Is it visible?
Is it easy to start?
Is it friction free?
I don't know about you, but howmany times have you sort of
created a system, like worked onsomething that you were working
on it, but you had your doubts.
(08:21):
You were sort of like, oh, Idon't know.
I don't know if this is really,I think this is making this like
a bigger problem.
Right?
That's those are warning signs.
Those are signals.
So we need to pay attention tothat.
Okay.
You don't need a pretty complex,beautiful, organized system.
(08:45):
You just need a system that isforgiving and simple and gets
you into action.
Because again, if you didn'tlisten to last week's podcast
episode, it was about, uh, theexecutive functioning skills
that are involved with tasksthat we do.
So if you want a little brush upon what those skills are, just a
refresher of how they fit in inour everyday life.
(09:09):
But you, um, want a littlerefresher on that.
You can go back to last week'sepisode, but.
When we think about writing areport or writing a session
note, there are so many, again,like I said, so many executive
functioning skills that are atplay here, and I rattled a few
of them off at the beginning ofthe episode.
(09:30):
But I just want you to remind, Iwanna remind you, I wanna keep
these top of mind as we aretalking through this episode so
that you're really understandingthe connection between executive
functioning and documentation.
Okay?
So.
Think about it this way,initiating the task, like
sitting down and actuallystarting the task.
(09:52):
Um, you can also think aboutthis as prioritization.
When you have five reports towrite, how do you know which one
to start with?
How do you prioritize?
There's also task persistence,so staying on task with
something and persisting when.
Even when it gets boring, itgets hard, it gets
uncomfortable.
There's cognitive flexibilitywhen things don't go according
(10:14):
to plan.
You start working on this reportand the template that you
thought you had is not actuallyon this computer.
Well, what are you gonna doabout it?
Does that mean you give up, youcan't do it at all?
Or is there an opportunity forcognitive flexibility here where
you can make a differentdecision?
Do something else with it tostill get it done.
(10:36):
Right.
So those are just a few that I'mrattling off, executive
functioning skills that arecoming to play.
But again, just bringing themtop of mind for you and go back
and listen to that episode fromlast week.
If you want to think about.
Hear about all of the otherexecutive functioning skills
that can be getting in the way.
This is not coming from a placeof gloom and doom by the way.
(10:57):
This is coming from a place of,hey, we're getting clarity on
what's actually going on so thatwe can solve for it so that
we're not solving for the wrongproblem.
Maybe we're solving all along,we're solving for this problem,
thinking that we can't dodocumentation because we don't
have enough time in ourschedule.
Well, it's way more than that.
Maybe we've been trying to solvefor, um, a caseload that we
(11:20):
think is too high, too heavy.
That may be true.
However, there are other waysthat we can solve for this,
okay?
So keep that in mind.
All right?
So I'm gonna give you a fewdifferent, I'll call them a DHD,
friendly strategies fordocumentation, okay?
And this is for the present.
(11:42):
You like the you who is tired orthe you who is stressed, the you
who is overwhelmed.
Okay.
This is not for those unicorndays.
I mean you could use them onunicorn days and great, but
like.
We don't wanna wait for that.
We don't wanna wait for thoseopportunities.
We want to notice theopportunities to get started and
we want to seize them.
So, micro action, microbursts ofaction.
(12:07):
So many of you, and I mean thisfrom such a loving place, but so
many of you are thinking aboutthis through an all or nothing
lens.
I can either write this reportor I can't.
But if I can't do this entirereport at once, why am I gonna
start?
(12:27):
If I don't have two hours opento write this report and get it
done, why should I botherstarting?
Right?
Come on.
You know, you've thought someversion of that at some point.
If you keep waiting for the bestor right time to get it done,
you will never get it done.
You will never be up to date.
So stop waiting for that andstart taking advantage of
(12:49):
microbursts of action.
Set a timer for 10 minutes.
Do one note and that's it.
Get it done.
Just start.
Okay.
I also want you to think aboutwhat tools can I use that that
need the least amount of energyfrom me?
(13:09):
So like what's the lowestcognitive load?
Or how can I approach this fromthe place of the lowest
cognitive load?
So for me, I'm a verbalprocessor.
I process my information bytalking through it also,
sometimes by writing it, butmostly by talking through it.
So voice memos, voice notes, orvoice dictation.
(13:30):
Those are my friend.
They're an easy way for me toget started on a task that I'm
avoiding.
Bullet points, give me bulletpoints all the way.
If you give me a written handoutthat has too much information in
my mind, it's too muchinformation.
On paper, I'll tune it out andit might have the best, most
(13:51):
important, helpful info ever,but I'm not going to utilize it
because my brain will shut down.
So for me, bullet points, why doI have to write in a way?
Like why not write in bulletpoints if I know that I read
information best When it isbrief and outlined with bullet
(14:12):
points, why not write myinformation that way?
Then if I need to make it intonarrative form from there I can,
but at least I've got a startingpoint.
Right.
Okay.
Other sort of strategies thatyou can take, right?
(14:34):
Um, would be looking at what isthe lowest point of entry.
Like, what is the lowest pointof entry that I need that I can
take?
Right?
What's the lowest point of entryfor me to just get started Now?
(14:57):
I said, you know, start themicro verse, do 10 minutes.
But even so, even if you havefive minutes and you don't think
you can write the whole note,can you take five minutes and
give the highlights of the noteso that you have a something to
start with?
Okay.
Also, you can think about howto, how can I say this?
(15:23):
You can think about how youprocess information, and if you
are somebody who tends toovercomplicate things, know that
about yourself and.
Be aware of it and check in withyourself.
Am I making this into a biggerdeal than it needs to be?
(15:47):
Am I making this bigger than itactually is?
Okay.
A couple of other ideas that Ihave for you.
I mentioned voice memos, right?
You can use different toolslike.
Script or Otter or even justlike voice dictation in Google
Docs to help you transcribeinformation.
(16:08):
Okay?
Some of these, almost all ofthese have free level options,
and then some of them have somepaid versions as well.
Chat, GPTI use chat GBT foreverything, not everything, but
I use it quite a lot and thisis, in my opinion, a great way
for you to save time in when itcomes to session notes.
(16:29):
When it's done the right way,when it's done certain ways.
I'm not gonna get into that'cause that's not the purpose of
this episode, but just keep thatresource in mind as well.
Okay.
And then if you can get intosome sort of a rhythm, some sort
of a rhythm of when you can dothese tasks, when you can write
these notes, even if it is.
(16:54):
Thinking outside the box a bit.
So maybe at the end of asession, you just don't have the
energy to sit down and write asession.
Note.
Let's say you, even if you havethe time, even if you have the
time built in, you don't havethe energy to do it.
What do you have the energy todo?
Maybe three bullet points.
Maybe a template where you justfill in the date and this the
(17:16):
client's name so that you don'thave blank page syndrome the
next time you look at it.
So thinking about the lowestpoint of entry and thinking
about the way that you processinformation and how to get this
information out in the simplestway possible.
And if you are somebody who is aperfectionist, notice that
(17:37):
challenge it.
I've done lots of episodes onthis topic before.
If I.
Can go back and find them.
I will link to them, or at leastname them in the show notes so
that you have them.
But I want you to really thinkabout documentation from a place
of executive functioning.
Okay?
It does not have to be thishard.
(17:59):
Executive functioning skills areskills that we can strengthen
and build.
So if this gives you thatpermission to do so, and I hope
that if nothing else, thisepisode gives you some, uh,
gives, helps you give yourselfsome grace, helps you recognize
(18:20):
that, you know, maybe it is.
Not you who is the problem?
I know that, but maybe you needto know that.
Okay.
Maybe it's not you.
It's the way that your brainhandles, interprets and creates
information, producesinformation, and we just have to
(18:42):
figure out what your sweet spotsare.
Okay?
So if this is something that youwant help with, let me know.
This is exactly what we do incoaching.
Book a call.
We could get you up and runningwith a clear cut, super simple
system that works for yourbrain, not the other way around.
(19:02):
And usually it is like little,little tweaks, little mini
tweaks that make a hugedifference.
Either way, I want you to pickone note or report that you have
been avoiding.
And I want you to take onestrategy from this episode or
one of the other episodes onexecutive functioning or on
(19:22):
evaluation and report writing.
Just try one thing.
You can even send me a DM onFacebook when you do it, or you
can send me a message or post inthe SLP support group on
Facebook so that we cancelebrate with you.
Alright, that's it for today'sepisode.
Make sure you tune back in tonext week's episode.
(19:43):
I'm gonna be talking more aboutA DHD and how it shows up in our
role as SLPs.
All right, y'all.
I'll see you then.
Bye.
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