Ep. 149: Overcoming Your Fear of AI in Speech Therapy with Jennie Belen

Are you an SLP who feels intimidated by artificial intelligence? Wondering whether tools like ChatGPT and Claude have any place in your practice? This week, host Michelle sits down with Jennie Belen, founder of The Latina SLP, to talk candidly about why she stopped fighting AI and started using it to reclaim her time. 

Jennie shares her journey from writing IEPs by hand to confidently using AI tools for report writing and therapy planning. Together, Michelle and Jennie tackle the ethical questions every clinician should ask before adopting new technology, and they offer a clear starting point for anyone who feels overwhelmed by all the options out there. If you have ever wondered how to bring AI into your practice without compromising your standards or your patients' trust, this conversation will give you the confidence to take that first step. 

Follow SLP Full Disclosure on Instagram at @AMN_Allied for show updates and SLP opportunities. 

Key Takeaways

• Why so many SLPs feel hesitant or fearful about using AI 
• How Jennie uses ChatGPT to refine report language and therapy planning 
• The importance of using AI ethically, especially around protected health information (PHI) 
• Why starting small with one task is the best way to build confidence 
• Addressing concerns that AI could replace speech-language pathologists 
• Practical advice for seasoned clinicians who feel behind on technology 

Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction and welcoming Jennie Belen 
• 02:25 – Jennie's 29-year journey as a speech-language pathologist 
• 05:39 – Why many SLPs are hesitant to embrace AI 
• 14:39 – How Jennie started using AI in report writing and therapy planning 
• 17:58 – Favorite AI tools and how she applies them daily 
• 26:09 – Using AI ethically while protecting patient privacy 
• 31:06 – Addressing fears that AI will replace speech-language pathologists 
• 36:47 – Advice for SLPs who feel behind on AI adoption 
• 40:34 – Closing thoughts and where to find Jennie online 

Resources Mentioned

• ChatGPT 
• Claude 
• The Latina SLP (Jennie's platform for AI tools and time-saving resources) 

Meet Jennie Belen 

Jennie Belen is a speech-language pathologist with 29 years of experience supporting diverse pediatric populations in school-based settings. A bilingual Spanish SLP and former clinical fellowship supervisor in New Jersey, Jennie founded The Latina SLP to empower fellow speech-language professionals with AI tools and time-saving resources. Her practical, ethics-first approach has helped clinicians across the country find the confidence to bring new technology into their daily work. Connect with Jennie on Instagram and TikTok as The Latina SLP. 

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:11:06
Jennie Belen
I know. And that got hired on the spot in New York City. This is a testimony that came through my DMs. They hired her on the spot, didn't want to interview anyone else because the lesson that she

00:00:11:08 - 00:00:24:01
Jennie Belen
They had AI component

00:00:24:03 - 00:00:40:22
 
Hey, y'all, it's Michelle with SLP. Full disclosure and welcome to the podcast. Today, once again, we are going to be having an amazing podcast. And we're going to be talking about none other than AI. So we are joined by Jenny Bolin. Jenny, welcome to the podcast.

00:00:40:23 - 00:00:47:05
 
Thank you for joining us today.

00:00:47:06 - 00:01:09:07
 
Yes. So we're going to be talking about how Jenny has incorporated AI into her speech language therapy practice. And we're going to be talking about really why she stopped fighting AI. And maybe she can convince me to start using it a little bit more in my practice and how she got started, and really some of her favorite AI tools that she uses.

00:01:09:08 - 00:01:27:10
 
She's very active on TikTok as the Latina SLP, so if you're not following her on TikTok, you need to go over and follow her. She's always sharing tips and tricks about her favorite AI tools and how she's implementing them into her daily practice. So, Jenny, welcome and let me tell our guests a little bit about you.

00:01:27:12 - 00:01:58:06
 
Jenny Bolin is a speech language pathologist with 29 years of experience serving diverse pediatric populations in school based settings. A bilingual Spanish SLP and former clinical fellowship supervisor in new Jersey. Jenny has dedicated her career to supporting children of all ages across a wide range of communication needs. She is the founder of the Latina SLP, a platform empowering speech language professionals with AI tools and time saving resources to to enhance their practice.

00:01:58:08 - 00:02:25:03
 
AI, something that I just can't get away from. And I tell people this all the time. We've had SLPs on here who have developed their own AI tools, who have learned to code and like right things. So it's absolutely amazing how it can be used every day in your therapy practice. I use it very minimally, but I want you to tell us a little bit before we get into the heart of AI and how you're using it.

00:02:25:04 - 00:03:52:01
 
Tell us a little bit about yourself, how you became a speech pathologist, and really, what inspired you to start using AI in your daily practice?

00:03:52:03 - 00:04:15:08
 
You're right. Of course we're going to be rich. Speech pathologist yeah, we're going to be millionaires. Yeah.

00:04:15:10 - 00:04:22:13
 
Oh, wow.

00:04:22:15 - 00:04:34:20
 
Yes, because Jenny and I, Jenny and I are the same age. And so I'm so excited to have someone very seasoned on. Yes.

00:04:34:22 - 00:05:39:11
 
Yep.

00:05:39:13 - 00:06:04:02
 
How did you start? And first of all, before you, before you tell us that, why do you think SLPs in general are hesitant to use AI? It scares me. I don't know why, but it scares me. So why do you think SLPs are hesitant to use AI in their daily practice?

00:06:04:04 - 00:06:13:07
 
Yeah, absolutely.

00:06:13:09 - 00:06:23:03
 
Yeah.

00:06:23:05 - 00:06:38:08
 
Oh, wow.

00:06:38:10 - 00:07:07:04
 
Just going to take our jobs. Yep.

00:07:07:06 - 00:07:21:10
 
How they communicate, how they interact socially with other people. Yeah.

00:07:21:12 - 00:07:33:01
 
Yeah.

00:07:33:03 - 00:07:41:20
 
Right.

00:07:41:22 - 00:07:46:04
 
Yeah.

00:07:46:06 - 00:07:59:05
 
Yeah.

00:07:59:07 - 00:08:45:14
 
Right. And yeah. Yeah. We've got 50 hats that we're wearing and we're spinning 100 plates at one time. Yeah, there's a lot. It is a lot. Yeah.

00:08:45:16 - 00:08:50:09
 
Yeah.

00:08:50:11 - 00:08:53:22
 
Right.

00:08:53:23 - 00:08:58:10
 
Yes.

00:08:58:12 - 00:09:01:20
 
Yeah.

00:09:01:22 - 00:09:08:16
 
Handwritten. The entire report.

00:09:08:18 - 00:09:12:01
 
Yeah.

00:09:12:03 - 00:09:31:04
 
Yeah.

00:09:31:06 - 00:09:42:09
 
Right.

00:09:42:11 - 00:09:46:07
 
Right.

00:09:46:09 - 00:09:51:13
 
Right.

00:09:51:15 - 00:10:16:17
 
Right.

00:10:16:19 - 00:10:31:16
 
Right.

00:10:31:18 - 00:10:48:09
 
Right.

00:10:48:11 - 00:11:19:19
 
Right. Just life changes. Yeah.

00:11:19:21 - 00:11:34:22
 
Right.

00:11:34:23 - 00:11:55:23
 
Menopause.

00:11:56:00 - 00:12:06:11
 
Anxiety.

00:12:06:13 - 00:12:26:19
 
Right? Yeah.

00:12:26:21 - 00:12:33:17
 
Right.

00:12:33:19 - 00:12:37:14
 
Right.

00:12:37:16 - 00:13:05:14
 
Right.

00:13:05:16 - 00:13:12:21
 
Work. Yeah.

00:13:12:23 - 00:13:26:12
 
Right. Right.

00:13:26:14 - 00:13:36:14
 
Wow.

00:13:36:16 - 00:13:57:19
 
Yeah.

00:13:57:21 - 00:14:09:14
 
Yeah.

00:14:09:16 - 00:14:39:17
 
Yeah. Did you initially start using AI in, like, your scheduling, your report writing, or was it in therapy or was it a combination of everything?

00:14:39:19 - 00:15:29:12
 
Right. Let's just do everything all at once.

00:15:29:14 - 00:15:49:08
 
That's the way I. Yeah, that's the way I feel. Because I feel like, you know, like you were saying earlier, as a school based SLP, we wear so many different hats and there's a million different things that we have to do. I don't even know where to begin. The only way that I use it, and I've talked about this before, is I will use ChatGPT.

00:15:49:10 - 00:16:08:07
 
And if I'm trying to end my report, if I'm trying to find a way to word something that makes more sense. So it's not so clinical, so that the teachers and the parents can understand it, because that's the district where I work. They want it to be written in layman's terms, so that anyone who picks up that report, they can read it and understand what it means.

00:16:08:07 - 00:16:31:05
 
So I will put the technical description into ChatGPT. And it can sometimes be, you know, it'll be a short paragraph and then I will be like, reword this into layman's terms or something like that, and it will spit it back out. Or if I can't figure out how to word something, I will, I will give it a prompt and then it just gives me ideas and I'm like, oh yeah, that's the word I was looking for.

00:16:31:06 - 00:16:51:10
 
Or that's a phrase I can use, but I never cut and paste from ChatGPT. I use it just to kind of get my mind going and give me some different ideas. I've never used it and I will use it for therapy like, you know, create me a short story on a third grade level with, you know, these targets.

00:16:51:10 - 00:17:21:23
 
That's how I use it. I've never used it in scheduling. I've never used it in any way like that. So how do you where do you begin? Let's let's talk about that. So the primary listener for this podcast is graduate students, the young kids. And they're so good with technology and they're unafraid. I feel like people my age, we're the ones that are that have that wall up and we're like, oh, and like you said, there's a million different things out there.

00:17:21:23 - 00:17:58:12
 
So how do you narrow, narrow it down and find something that's going to work for you? So let's talk about some of your go to AI tools. And do you want to talk about them like as far as report writing or scheduling versus therapy or however you want to talk about your go to AI tools will be great.

00:17:58:14 - 00:18:09:01
 
That's a good idea, right?

00:18:09:03 - 00:18:15:11
 
Right. Yeah.

00:18:15:13 - 00:18:29:12
 
Right. Right. The clothes that the child is wearing. Yeah. You can use anything.

00:18:29:14 - 00:18:39:01
 
Yeah.

00:18:39:03 - 00:18:46:09
 
Right.

00:18:46:11 - 00:18:50:08
 
Right.

00:18:50:10 - 00:19:31:16
 
Okay.

00:19:31:18 - 00:19:44:06
 
Yep.

00:19:44:08 - 00:19:56:11
 
Absolutely.

00:19:56:13 - 00:19:59:17
 
Right.

00:19:59:19 - 00:20:19:01
 
And use it.

00:20:19:03 - 00:20:56:00
 
I've heard of Claude, but I've not used it.

00:20:56:02 - 00:21:12:23
 
Right.

00:21:13:01 - 00:21:44:13
 
Oh, wow.

00:21:44:15 - 00:22:27:14
 
Interesting. I had no idea.

00:22:27:16 - 00:22:55:14
 
Okay.

00:22:55:16 - 00:23:21:16
 
Wow.

00:23:21:18 - 00:23:44:09
 
Unbelievable.

00:23:44:11 - 00:24:04:13
 
Wow. We're going to have. Yeah. We want to make sure that we get all of those listed. And on your. Are you on Instagram or TikTok as the Latina SLP?

00:24:04:15 - 00:24:24:09
 
Okay. Now on your social media, do you talk about each of these individual AI platforms and how you use them and, and the way that you can use them? Okay, okay.

00:24:24:11 - 00:24:54:17
 
Okay. We're going to make sure that we have we're going to make sure we have all of those linked in the podcast, and I am going to go and play around with them because I think that I mean, you remember this, Jennie, back in the day, I remember when I first started working in the school system, not only do we have to write everything by hand, and I'm so glad that you verified that, because I think that when I tell people that I used to write IEPs and reports by hand, they don't believe me, they're like, oh, she's making that up.

00:24:54:17 - 00:25:15:01
 
It's kind of like walking up a hill both ways, going to school. Right? But it's true. And I remember where I had to create lesson plans when I was in graduate school. We had to do almost like a teacher lesson plan. What was our target, what were the activities? And I had it in a big binder, and I remember having to write it out on these pages.

00:25:15:01 - 00:25:38:16
 
And, I mean, it was a nightmare. And I don't even think that teachers have to do lesson plans anymore. I know as I speak today, I haven't been asked to do a lesson plan in the past 15 years or more, but when I first started, so I can't imagine. Yeah, I can't imagine if I had had AI back then, or I could just go in and and be like, okay, this is my goal.

00:25:38:17 - 00:26:09:17
 
Create me a lesson plan. Because I would think that either Claude or ChatGPT or something is going to be able to spit that out for you in seconds. Absolutely amazing. You said you said a word earlier. You said using AI ethically. So what do you say to those SLPs, other professionals, maybe just people in your DMs and in your comments that question the ethical use of AI in speech language pathology?

00:26:09:17 - 00:26:37:19
 
Because we are dealing with children and families and that protected health information. So what do you say to them about the ethical use of AI?

00:26:37:21 - 00:26:53:15
 
Right.

00:26:53:17 - 00:26:58:14
 
Right.

00:26:58:16 - 00:27:11:05
 
Right.

00:27:11:07 - 00:27:41:19
 
Yeah.

00:27:41:21 - 00:27:52:22
 
Okay.

00:27:52:23 - 00:27:59:23
 
Right.

00:28:00:00 - 00:28:21:17
 
Right.

00:28:21:19 - 00:28:28:19
 
Right.

00:28:28:21 - 00:29:00:11
 
Right I agree.

00:29:00:13 - 00:29:12:03
 
Right. I was just about to say that.

00:29:12:05 - 00:29:16:08
 
Right.

00:29:16:10 - 00:29:23:09
 
Yeah.

00:29:23:11 - 00:29:31:23
 
Right. Right.

00:29:32:01 - 00:29:36:13
 
Right.

00:29:36:15 - 00:29:41:22
 
Right.

00:29:41:23 - 00:29:44:22
 
Yeah.

00:29:44:23 - 00:30:08:04
 
Yeah. And I think that as speech pathologist, like you said, we do follow a code of ethics. And I know that when I first started talking about AI, which I know nothing about, really, and I mean, I've learned so much from you today and I cannot wait to go and play with these websites. But AI can only do what the human trains it to do.

00:30:08:04 - 00:30:28:02
 
And that's kind of goes back to what you just said. If you, as the person, as the speech pathologist, are following the code of ethics and you're doing things the appropriate way, then you're not going to get into trouble. You're not going to you're not going to cross that line. And I think that that's the most important thing.

00:30:28:02 - 00:31:06:22
 
What about I know that when I first started delving into AI and having all of my guests on talking about AI, and then when I just Google, you know, AI and speech pathology, there are people out there that say that AI could replace speech language pathologist, that someone's going to be able to create a platform that a parent could log into and say, hey, my child can't say their R's or their L's or their S's or whatever it may be, and then they can log on to this AI platform, and then it's an AI therapist that's doing the therapy.

00:31:06:23 - 00:31:12:03
 
What do you think about that?

00:31:12:05 - 00:31:26:02
 
Right.

00:31:26:04 - 00:32:01:14
 
Right.

00:32:01:16 - 00:32:10:18
 
Right.

00:32:10:20 - 00:32:25:00
 
Right.

00:32:25:02 - 00:32:29:13
 
Yeah.

00:32:29:15 - 00:33:01:20
 
Right.

00:33:01:22 - 00:33:09:13
 
Right right.

00:33:09:15 - 00:33:14:18
 
Right.

00:33:14:20 - 00:33:23:19
 
And everything in between.

00:33:23:21 - 00:33:39:23
 
Right? Yeah. Because it can. Yeah. Because it can only do what we train it to do. Yeah. Wow. So much information.

00:33:40:01 - 00:34:05:10
 
Right? It would be like me trying to use it for brain surgery. It would mean nothing to me. Or learning how to fly an airplane.

00:34:05:12 - 00:34:38:11
 
If it's right or wrong.

00:34:38:13 - 00:35:07:21
 
Yeah, I, I don't think it will either. I think the favorite my favorite thing that you've said today in How to Get started is to find that area in your job. Is it report writing? Is it scheduling? Is it just creating materials for your kiddos? Find that area and that's where you start. So I want to make sure that you send all of those platforms over so that we can get them linked.

00:35:07:23 - 00:35:27:12
 
But I have learned so much and I can't wait to go and play around. I've got to, I mean, because just like you were saying earlier with the internet and the, the, the IEP platforms, like we, I remember I was working in Florida when we got our first electronic IEP system that was on a computer, and it was such a big deal.

00:35:27:14 - 00:35:52:21
 
And you either have to get on the train and learn how to do it, or you're going to get left behind. And I feel like that that's what that's what AI is. Either you get on the train and you learn how to use it, and you learn how to to implement it into your therapy practice ethically, or you're going to get left behind because it is so useful in so many ways.

00:35:52:23 - 00:36:13:10
 
And thanks to people like you who have your platform, the Latina SLP, that people can get people like me that I mean, I've been practicing for so long, can go to your platform and we can be like, okay, this is how she uses this. Maybe I can do this one small piece and try it this way. And that's what I'm definitely going to do.

00:36:13:12 - 00:36:17:19
 
So,

00:36:17:21 - 00:36:21:20
 
Right.

00:36:21:22 - 00:36:47:15
 
Right. What advice do you have for SLPs that are new to AI? I mean, these these young kids that are coming out of graduate school, these 20 year olds, they're not afraid of AI. But what advice do you have for someone like. Right. Yeah. So what advice do you have for SLPs that are like you and I that are a little bit more seasoned, that might be really hesitant to jump into this world of AI?

00:36:47:16 - 00:36:53:22
 
What would you what's your advice for them?

00:36:53:23 - 00:37:07:23
 
Yeah.

00:37:08:00 - 00:37:16:12
 
Yeah, it is true.

00:37:16:14 - 00:37:21:20
 
Oh that's good.

00:37:21:22 - 00:37:38:17
 
Yeah. It's not going to be the AI bot.

00:37:38:19 - 00:37:49:23
 
Generated. Wow. Yeah.

00:37:50:00 - 00:37:56:14
 
I love it.

00:37:56:16 - 00:37:59:20
 
Yeah.

00:37:59:22 - 00:38:16:05
 
And I don't even think you have to be really specialized. You just have to be knowledgeable. And you have to know that it's there and you have to use it first and foremost ethically, but you have to use it in a way that's going to benefit you because, you know, you and I both are school based speech pathologist.

00:38:16:05 - 00:38:38:09
 
It's going to look very different from someone who is in a medical setting. And it's that's going to look even different for someone who's in private practice. So I think just finding I loved what you said earlier, and I'm going to go back to it. What area of your practice of your daily work tasks that you have? What area is taking up the most amount of time and start, start small.

00:38:38:09 - 00:39:02:10
 
You can't just start using it as a schedule and report right in therapy and all this stuff. And I think for me personally, it's going to be planning therapy activities because I work virtually. And it's going to be I think that would be the easiest way for me to implement it in a way that I can see. What can it do and what can it not do, and what benefits me and what doesn't benefit me.

00:39:02:11 - 00:39:42:03
 
So and I hope that's what everyone takes away.

00:39:42:05 - 00:39:46:10
 
Right?

00:39:46:12 - 00:39:50:20
 
Yeah, yeah.

00:39:50:22 - 00:40:10:07
 
And I remember the, the do you remember the copiers that used to copy. And it would be almost a blue tint when it came out and the way it smelled. You remember that. Yeah. And then we had the dot matrix printers that were a little bit faster and it would make that really weird noise. See, these kids don't have any idea what we're talking about.

00:40:10:07 - 00:40:29:01
 
But you know, when I tell you when I say dot matrix, you can hear that sound now in your mind, you can hear it going across and printing it out. And that's how we did everything. We and then we had the word processors remember the word processors. We thought those were so great, which was the step above the, the typewriter.

00:40:29:03 - 00:40:34:20
 
Kids don't even know what a typewriter is. They have no idea. So things have changed. So much

00:40:34:22 - 00:40:55:21
 
in the world of AI is just it's just going to make our jobs easier if we use it in the right way. Jenny, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been amazing. If you guys do not follow Jenny the Latina SLP, I highly recommend that you do that and we may have you back on and maybe we can get on and do some demos with some of the AI things.

00:40:55:21 - 00:41:01:23
 
That would be fun. So Jenny, thank you so much for joining us. It's been great and we hope you all have a great day.