Caseload and workload
ASHA's Caseload and Workload practice portal (last reviewed 26 September 2026) separates caseload, the students you serve, from workload, everything the job takes, and recommends no fixed caseload number. It reports a median of 48 students from its 2022 Schools Survey, and notes that big caseloads push SLPs from individual to group sessions and from small groups to larger ones. It also describes alternative models such as 3:1, three weeks of direct service and one flexible week. Whatever the model, the weekly grid is where the minutes are won or lost.
Rules for a group that holds
- Same session length. A 20 minute student and a 30 minute student cannot share a session without one being short or out of class longer than the plan says.
- Smallest limit wins. If one student's plan allows groups of 2, the group is 2, even if the others allow 4.
- Never group, either side. If either student is marked never group with the other, they are never together. One mark is enough.
- Only with named peers. Some students may only be grouped with specific classmates. With nobody named, they are seen alone.
- Close grades and one service. Not rules, but preferences: a group of second graders working on language is easier to run than a K to 4 mix of articulation and fluency.
Common conflicts and what resolves them
- A classroom leaves no window. Ask the teacher which block could become avoid if possible rather than never. Core instruction often can; lunch and specials usually cannot.
- Two good partners have different lengths. Check whether one plan's length is a habit or a requirement. Matching lengths opens groups.
- A split week between buildings. Put travel on the grid as a block with the building you arrive at, so students are only placed where you are.
- A never-group pair in one classroom. Give each a different group, or different days, before the rest of the room is placed.
Worked example: who got grouped and why
In MinuteGrid's example caseload of eight students, the scheduler formed 6 group sessions:
- Monday, 10:45 AM to 11:15 AM: GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12)
- Tuesday, 1:15 PM to 1:45 PM: Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9)
- Tuesday, 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM: AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4)
- Thursday, 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM: AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4)
- Thursday, 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM: Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9)
- Friday, 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM: GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12)
Every group shares one session length, and no group contains a pair marked never group. FT, whose plan is individual only in 20 minute sessions, is always seen alone, and JK, who may only be grouped with Ella, is never placed with anyone else.
Common mistakes
- Building groups by grade first and checking session lengths afterwards.
- Forgetting that a never-group rule applies even when only one student's plan lists it.
- Leaving travel off the grid, so a student is scheduled in a building you are not in.
- Growing a group past one member's limit because a slot was convenient.
Try it
The scheduler keeps every one of these rules and lists anything it could not place. The guide to minutes, groups and blocks explains each rule in detail.
Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association.