ASHA Workload Calculator

When you measure your workload, you make it visible—and visibility is the first step toward meaningful change.

At ASHA, we recognize the dedication, time, and care you bring to your work every day as a school-based speech-language pathologist (SLP). Balancing the needs of students, collaborating with colleagues and families, and meeting administrative and compliance demands can sometimes feel overwhelming. You’re not alone: we’re here to help.

School-based SLPs face unique challenges, which is why we enhanced the ASHA Workload Calculator to help make your workload visible and measurable. As an ASHA member, you have access to this new web-based application, which allows you to dynamically track and calculate how your time is spent across all aspects of your role. With a clearer picture of your responsibilities, you can more effectively advocate for the time, balance, and support you need to continue showing up fully for your students—and for yourself.

Go to the Workload Calculator

The Difference Between Caseload and Workload

	Caseload	Workload
Key Idea	The students you serve.	Everything you do to serve them.
Definition	Refers to the number of students supported through direct and/or indirect services.	Encompasses all activities and responsibilities required to effectively manage the caseload.
Focus	The number of students receiving speech and language services.	The time and effort required to provide those services and to meet all professional duties.
Components	Typically represented as a number of students on an SLP’s roster with IEPs, IFSPs, 504 plans, and MTSS/RTI plans.	The amount of time spent across various responsibilities (direct and indirect services, planning, collaboration, paperwork, assessments, meetings, and professional development) and the SLP's caseload.

Understanding and Addressing Your Workload

ASHA member and SLP Matt Hott shares advice on how to use the school workload tools to uncover the hidden minutes within the school SLP workload.

Your workload includes every responsibility required to support your students—including

direct and indirect services,
collaboration,
compliance,
planning, and
communication.

The ASHA Workload Calculator helps you identify how your time is spent in relation to your contracted hours. By mapping out your workload over a typical week or month, you can

pinpoint areas that contribute to stress or imbalance and then
make informed decisions about where adjustments are needed.

Making Changes to Your Workload

The ASHA Workload Calculator provides more than just insight—it offers a path toward change.

After identifying how you allocate your time across direct and indirect services, compliance tasks, and other responsibilities, you can use the tool’s graphics, reports, and letters to advocate for adjustments that better support your role and that ensure balance and well-being.

Once you have a clearer picture of your workload, consider creating a Workload Action Plan [PDF]:

Identify your top three workload priorities.
Outline practical steps that you’ll take to address those priorities.
Share this plan with your supervisor, mentor, and/or trusted colleagues.

Whether it involves redistributing time, refining processes, or initiating conversations with administrators, these actions can help you create meaningful, sustainable improvements in your day-to-day work.

Addressing Workload Changes With Your Administrator

When talking with your administrator, remember to take the following key actions:

Reference these talking points for advocacy.
Print and share the custom letter from the ASHA Workload Calculator.
Request a follow-up meeting with your administrator so the two of you can
- review data from the calculator (these data are automatically populated into a letter),
- highlight key results, and
- identify next steps to address workload successes and challenges.

Solution-Based Advocacy With Workload Tools

ASHA member and SLP Christina Bradburn shares solution-based advocacy strategies that she and her team developed after using the ASHA Workload Calculator.

SLP Verna Chinen, an ASHA member who works as an administrator, explains the reasons why administrators may find value in using workload data.

Let ASHA help you identify the workload tasks that contribute to your feelings of stress or overwhelm! Here’s how:

Consider using the ASHA Workload Calculator.
Supplement by using Workload Factors That Contribute to Overwhelm checklist [PDF].
Identify several issues that can be improved.
Decide on a few steps that you’ll take: Adjust your tasks to address these issues.

The ASHA Workload Calculator is a valuable tool that helps you pinpoint your unique challenges—and address them.