Liebster Award!

I am so excited and honored that SLP Chelsea nominated me for the Leibster Award.  The Leibster Award is for new bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  It is a way for current bloggers to nominate new bloggers and welcome them into the blogging world.  All I have to do is answer 11 questions that SLP Chelsea asked me and then nominate another new blogger.  Here are my answers to Chelsea's questions.

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started my blog just a few months ago and I have enjoyed every minute of it!  I never thought that I would start a blog because I don't consider myself the greatest writer.  I actually get nervous about being judged by people and that became the reason that I decided to start a blog.  I figured what better way to get over my fear than to face it.  So, I began my blog.  Nervous, afraid, anxious and self conscious were just a few of my feelings when I picked the name Speech Therapy Fun and typed my first post.  What would people think?  Well, I am pleased to say that I have been welcomed into the SLP blogging world with open arms!  It didn't take me long to realize that the only person judging me was myself and that blogging is truly a great experience.

2. What is your work experience?

I graduated from Michigan State University's Bachelor's program in 2008 and from Wayne State University's Master's program in 2010.  Right out of the gate, I started working at a post secondary school for severely impaired 18-26 year olds.  When I became pregnant with my first child, I began contracting out to the school system so that I could stay home part time with my baby.  Ever since then, I have worked with 2 year olds to 18 year olds in all different settings.  It has been a great experience that has allowed me to become flexible and learn so much more!

3. What is your favorite social media outlet (Instagram, Facebook, Blogging, Pinterest) and why?

I love Instagram!  It is so fun to see the lives of fellow bloggers and SLPs.  It makes me feel as though I know them personally.

4. What is your favorite pastime other than blogging? 

Besides spending time with my wonderful and supportive husband, beautiful 3 year old daughter and adorable 4 month old son, I love making products for TPT.  Yes, it is kind of nerdy, but making products and then seeing them being used to help kids all over the world is an indescribable experience. 

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to TpT? To your blog?

I dedicate about 4-5 hours per week on products for TPT and about 1-2 hours for blogging.  I would love to spend more time on these sites, but I try to balance work, TPT, blogging and most importantly, my family. 

6. What age range is your favorite to work with?

I really enjoy working with 3 to 5 year old kids.  It's fun to see the excitement on their faces when I bring out a new product or they achieve one of their goals.  They have pure joy on their faces when they do something well or when they get any words of encouragement. 

7. Who are your favorite SLP bloggers to follow?

I really enjoy following new bloggers such as SLPChelsea and MySpeechParty.  It's fun to see what up and coming SLPs are writing about and what they are doing in their therapy sessions.  SLP Chelsea has new and innovative ideas and Keri from My Speech Party provides wonderful material to parents of children with speech and language impairments. 

8. What post have you written that you are most proud of? 

Even though it's so short and doesn't contain any speech information, I am most proud of my first blog post.  It was just a few sentences to welcome any new followers to my blog and to say, 'Hey, I'm here!'  That post is meaningful to me because it was about facing my fear of being judged and writing for the whole world to read.  I was very proud of myself after that first post!

9. Is there any post that you have been planning to do but keep postponing? 

I have a lot of ideas and most of them are just in my head right now.  I try to post once per week, so hopefully I will be able to post my ideas eventually.  However, the more I write, the more ideas I come up with.   Hopefully, I won't run out of ideas any time soon!

10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging? 

Even though I might be writing purely for myself, it's kind of therapeutic in a way.  I write about things that are on my mind or things that I have learned.  Hopefully, it will help someone who reads it, but if not, it has helped me face my fear and that is what has been important to me.

11. What are 11 facts about yourself?

1. I married my high school sweet heart

2. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful and very large family

3. I am a Spartan

4. I took math through Calculus 3 and love playing with numbers (I could sit for hours and work on Microsoft Excel).

5. I was Ms. Malta of the Dearborn Maltese club in Michigan and won a trip to Malta.  Malta is a small country South of Italy.

6. I have two sisters, one older and one younger, that were both adopted from Korea.  Sometimes, we forget that we don't look alike and laugh when people are confused when we introduce each other as sisters.

7. I was a cheerleader for 8 years where I went to State Finals and placed 4th.  I was also a cheerleading coach for 10  years.

8. My favorite video game is Mario Brothers and Sonic The Hedgehog...the old school ones.

9. My husband and I secretly love Disney World and everything Disney.  We have already been there twice since my daughter was born and she is only three.  We use her as our 'reason' for going.

10. My husband is a way better cook than me.

11. Skydiving, paragliding and riding in a hot air balloon are on my bucket list.

I now nominate Keri, from MySpeechParty.com for the Liebster Award.  Check out her blog to see her answers!