The Listening SLP

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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THANK YOU, FLASHA (FLASHA)!

The best professional development doesn’t just fill seats in a room. It CHANGES how clinicians practice. ✨

It was great to be back at FLASHA talkings about two areas I love most:
👉🏾 Social Media Ethics
👉🏾 Diagnostics for School-Based SLPs

Both presentations were extremely well received. SWIPE RIGHT to see the exact feedback that proves high-impact, evidence-based PD is exactly what our field is craving right now.

I pour my heart and soul into creating presentations that translate directly into clinical confidence. Seeing the audience connect so deeply with social media ethics and modern report writing was incredibly rewarding.

School leaders, private practices, and organizations, let’s bring this energy to your next live event!

I am currently booking in-person and virtual speaking engagements for teams looking to tackle today’s biggest clinical shifts.

Drop a comment or DM me to bring these high-impact topics to your stage! 🙌🏾
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Stop, wait a minute! ✋🏾

You meant that caregivers do not have to narrate or talk 24/7?!?!

Silence can be golden in therapy! Silence is uncomfortable. I know that I use to feel like I had to fill the space (still working on this).

When coaching parents, one of the first strategies we teach is model, model, model. However, if we are constantly modeling, we are not allowing the child time to respond or engage with what we have said.

Additionally, it can become overwhelming and our input can start to sound like Charlie Brown’s Teacher (whomp whomp whomp). 👎🏾

Every time we repeat ourselves, a child’s processing of the input starts all over again.

Instead of repeating yourself, pause and wait and give a look to let your child know you’re waiting for a response.

Do you struggle with the use of wait time?! (I’m terrible at it at home. Ask my family 😅)
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Phonological awareness skills are just ONE skill that children need in order to be skilled readers. It is not the whole pie. 🥧

Phonological awareness (PA) skills are an important foundational skill for reading. When assessing inviduals for suspected dyslexia, it is important to test PA skills.

BUT, we need to test for the other skills as well! We do not want to reduce the act of reading down to PA skills only. Weakness in PA skills are an indicator of potential dyslexia.

Other areas to assess are . . .
🍰 Language
🍰 SIngle word reading (real and nonsense)
🍰 Passage reading
🍰 Writing
🍰 Reading comprehension
🍰 Spelling

Families need to know the whole picture and not just a slice. When deciding whether a child is dyslexic or not, a composite of all these areas are considered.

What else do you want to know about dyslexia assessments?
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I walked into Toy Story 5 expecting nostalgia. I walked out thinking about childhood.

The conversation around screen time often becomes an all-or-nothing debate. But as an SLP, I think there’s a more important question to ask.

What opportunities might children be missing when screens replace interaction?

Because language doesn’t develop in isolation.

It develops during the moments when children are negotiating who gets to be Buzz and who gets to be Woody.

When they’re building imaginary worlds.

When they’re solving problems together.

When they’re telling stories no one else could have written.

This isn’t about villainizing technology. Technology has a place in our lives, and it isn’t going anywhere. It also can’t replace human interaction, which has always been at the heart of language development.

Maybe the conversation was never really about screen time.

Maybe it’s always been about protecting opportunities for children to connect, imagine, communicate, and play. We have to let children be children! This time period in life is so short and we are pushing for it to be even shorter.

As SLPs, educators, and parents, those are the moments worth preserving.

What lesson did Toy Story 5 leave you thinking about? ⬇️⬇️⬇️

One of the hardest parts of being an evidence-based clinician is recognizing that we’re all susceptible to confirmation bias. Yes, ALL of us, myself included! 🙋🏾‍♀️

When we believe strongly in a therapy technique, program, or framework, it’s easy to notice the successes and overlook the times it wasn’t quite as effective.

That doesn’t make us bad clinicians. It makes us human.

The question isn’t: “Have I seen this work?”
It’s: “How do I know this is what caused the progress?”

As SLPs, we should be just as willing to challenge our own assumptions as we are to challenge the research.

Because the goal ISN’T to prove ourselves right.

The goal is to better understand and support the students in front of us.

What’s one clinical belief you’ve changed your mind about during your career? See the caption for my response. 👀

Let’s discuss.⬇️⬇️⬇️
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The U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued its 2026 determinations for States on their implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Part B and Part C. (Part B = students with disabilities ages 3 to 21. Part C = infants and toddlers with disabilities birth through age 2.)

The IDEA requires the Department to issue an annual determination, based on State Performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR), which evaluates the State’s efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of the IDEA, and describes how the State will improve its implementation.

IDEA details four categories for the Secretary’s determinations. A State’s determination may be:
- Meets the requirements and purposes of IDEA
- Needs assistance in implementing the requirements of IDEA
- Needs intervention in implementing the requirements of IDEA;
- Needs substantial intervention in implementing the requirements of IDEA.

North Carolina's Determinations are as follows:
- North Carolina needs assistance (two or more consecutive years) in implementing the requirements of IDEA Part C, which serves infants and toddlers, birth through age 2.
- North Carolina needs assistance (two or more consecutive years) implementing the requirements of IDEA Part B, which serves students with disabilities ages 3 through 21.

If a State “needs assistance” for two or more consecutive years, the Department must take one or more enforcement actions, including, among others, requiring the State to access technical assistance, designating the State as a high-risk grantee, or directing the use of State set-aside funds to the area(s) where the State needs assistance.

The report can be viewed here:https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/ideafactsheet-determinations-2026.pdf

People can have some strong feelings when it comes to second opinions. 👀

Some view it as a challenge to their expertise.

Others view it as an opportunity to gather more information.

Personally, I've never understood why a second opinion is treated as a threat.
In healthcare, education, psychology, and countless other professions, second opinions are considered a normal part of decision-making. They provide another perspective, another lens, and sometimes information that helps us better understand a complex situation.

That DOES NOT mean the first clinician was wrong.

It means human beings are complex, assessment is complex, and no single clinician sees everything.As SLPs, our responsibility is not to defend our conclusions at all costs.
Our responsibility is to pursue the most accurate understanding of the student possible.

If another evaluation confirms my findings, great.

If another evaluation expands my understanding, even better.

Because the goal was never to be right.

✨The goal was always to help the child.✨

What are your thoughts on second opinions?

👇🏾 Let's discuss.

IMSE OG+ is NOT just for teachers. It is for SLPs, too! ✨

As SLPs, we are language experts. The sad part is that many of us received very little formal preparation in how reading and spelling develop, or how language difficulties impact literacy outcomes.

Taking the IMSE OG+ course reminded me that literacy is far more complex than phonics, phonological awareness, or reading comprehension strategies alone. Understanding the full framework has made me a stronger clinician and a better advocate for students.

One of the biggest takeaways? The more we understand literacy instruction, the more effective we become as collaborators, evaluators, and interventionists.

If literacy is part of your caseload (and for most of us, it is), consider investing in training that goes beyond a one-hour webinar or overview course. Sometimes, this depth comes from digging into a topic that directly impacts the students we serve every day. 💪🏾

Thinking about taking IMSE OG+? Drop your questions below, and I’ll share more about my experience as an SLP taking the course. ⬇️
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