Monday, December 30, 2019

Using Winter Snowmen In Speech Therapy


.Hi Everyone,

Here in the Northeast January means cold and SNOW.  I am excited to use snow and snowmen as my theme all month long. It is fun and engaging for my students. We all hope for lots of snow, so we end up with a snow day!!!

January Books

This month I am using 3 books that pair perfectly with snow and snowmen. The first book is The Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow .  This series is always a big hit in my therapy room.   It is a cute story about all the pieces you need to create a snowman. We will be targeting vocabulary skills, rhyming and past tense verbs.  When we are done with the book we are going to create our own snowman.  I made rhyming snowmen so that I could pair it with this book. We are going to generate rhymes and cover the spots.

 Print and Go Snowman


 After reading that book I like to use Snowmen at Night.  This is a great book to target verbs.  The snowmen eat, drink and play all night long.  I love to make snowmen with white dough when I use this book.  We then use the snowmen to act out the story.  It is a great way to encourage language skills. At the end we create our own book to take home.

 Snowmen at Night


The last book I am going to use this month is Sneezy the Snowman . It is an adorable story about a snowman who catches a cold. The children try to warm him up.. I love all the vocabulary that is included on the book: snowman, cardinal, cocoa, hot tub, scarf, melt, build, wind, swirled, shiver, sneeze, coat, ice cream, camp fire and snowflake. It is also a great book  for making predictions. If we have snow outside I bring some into the therapy and we make small snowmen. It is fun to watch them melt.

 Sneezy the Snowman


January Games:


Winter games are always fun.  This month I am using Don’t Break The Ice and my Snowman Spinner Game..
  •         Don’t Break The Ice is a fun game for articulation and language drills.  I like to give my students articulation or language deck cards.  Each students practice their target words or language skills and then they take a turn at the game. 

  •         I also use my store’s Snowman articulation and game spinners. They target articulation, verbs, and vocabulary skills. Each student collects snowballs as they play the game. We use the snowballs to create snowmen and snow forts. I use this all month when I have a few minutes left at the end of the session. 
  
 Snowman Game



These are some of my favorite January therapy activities.  I hope everyone has a great January. 

Friday, September 20, 2019

Fall Speech and language therapy Ideas


Hi Everyone,

I love themed based therapy and this month I am focusing on FALL. Although I hate that summer is over there are so many great things about fall.  Here in the Northeast apple orchards, pumpkin patches, hayrides and changing leaves are staples of fall.  I am excited about using this theme all month long.

September Book:  When the Leaf Blew In
I always like to start the month off with a book.  One of my favorite fall books is When The Leaf Blew In.  This is a great circular book that starts with a leaf causing a cow to sneeze.  The cow’s sneeze caused a bird to fly out of the barn.  The bird causes a pig to dive into the mud. The story continues until the end when a Robin causes a leaf to go back in the barn.  This book is great for sequencing skills, farm vocabulary, basic concepts, past tense verbs and articulation skills.  My kids love using my farm animals and a barn to retell the story.  I like to give my articulation kids an index card with a picture of word from the story.  Their job is to say that word correctly throughout the session.  This is a great story for repeated storybook readings.  By the end of the month my kids are great at retelling this story. 




September Sensory Bin:  Fall colored rice
 I also love using fall colored rice. If you haven’t dyed rice before it is very easy. 

How to dye rice: In a zip lock bag add 3 cups of rice, 2 teaspoons of vinegar and food coloring.  Close the bag and mix the rice.  Place a paper towel on a cookie sheet.  Spread the rice on the paper towel.  Allow to dry.  That’s it.  Very easy and fun!

I made my rice yellow, orange and red for fall. We added small toys and articulation cards.  I created a set of squirrels with articulation and language targets on them.  We buried them in the rice. As we found the toys and pictures we practiced words and made sentences.  I also like to play find the acorn.  I bury the bottom part of the squirrel in the rice.  My students take turns selecting a squirrel.  If they find the acorn they win. It is quick and easy allowing time for everyone to win a game. 

 Squirrel Sensory Bin
Squirrel Sensory Bin
September Game:  Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
This month we are playing a squirrel game that my kids love.  Sneaky Snacky Squirrel. They love collecting all the acorns for the squirrel. 

There are two ways we play this game in therapy:

1.)    I use articulation and language decks. I like to spread cards around the table.  Instead of using the log that comes with the game we place the acorns on the cards. It is a fun and interactive way to engage my students. 

2.)    I also use my store’s articulation and game spinners. I have attached a game spinner for the /s/ sound.  We use this spinner in place of the game die.  The students use a paper clip and pencil as the spinner. (Amazon also sells spinners that can be attached.) They practice their sound or language target before they select their acorn.

 Squirrel Game Companion
Squirrel Game Companion

September Arts and Crafts:
Leaf Rubbings
  • This month we are going to make leaf rubbings. I start with different sizes and types of leaves. We decide what color leaves we see in the fall. We peel the crayons and are ready to start. We start by making simple leaves and then brainstorm what things we see in the fall that we could make using the shapes we have. I model for my groups that struggle with this. We make squirrels, cows, goats, frogs, chickens, barns, pumpkin patches and apple trees. It is a fun and easy.
Apple Painting
  • I also love to do apple paintings. We cut apples in half and use them as stamps. It is fun and encourages so much language. We talk about half, whole, together and separated while we stamp them. My articulation groups have used the apples to stamp articulation pictures rather than coloring. My students love when we use paints instead of crayons.
Fall Tree
  • Another fall craft I have been using this month is making a tree with construction paper. We draw a trunk on a piece of paper and then cut out construction paper leaves. As we drill our articulation and language targets we glue a leaf onto the tree. At the end they have a cute craft to take home.
TpT Products
  • Finally TpT is full of articulation and language crafts that are easy to use. I am using my scarecrow craft this week. Print it out and let you students do the rest. I like to print it on card stock so it is sturdier. At the end they have a project to take home.
 Scarecrow Craft
Scarecrow Craft

These are some of my favorite fall therapy ideas.  I hope everyone is off to a great start this year.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

All About Me Craft Characters


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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Using Mini Books to Teach Basic Concepts in Speech Therapy

One area that I target with my Kindergartners and first graders in Speech therapy is always basic concepts. I give my students the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts in the beginning of the school year. It test 50 commonly used Kindergarten basic concepts.  Understanding these concepts help my students follow directions and be successful in our district's Kindergarten Math program.  I select concepts from the Boehm that many of my students struggle with.


 FREE Mini Book
I created a set of mini books that allows me to target next to, beside, in front, between, left, right, over, under, above and below all year long.  I included monthly themes that my students really enjoy.  When we are done they get to take the books home, which they LOVE! I have gotten so many requests for more themes that I decided to make a FREE dog themed mini book.  I have also expanded all of my seasonal sets to include additional themes.

CLICK HERE to get my FREE Mini Book.

 I created seasonal mini books that can be used all year long.
  • Spring: The mini books target St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Bunnies, Frogs and Bees.
  • Summer:  The mini books target Camping, the Beach, Carnivals, and Ladybugs.
  • Fall:  The mini books target Scarecrows, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Turkeys.
  • Winter:  The mini books target Christmas, Snowmen, Groundhogs and Penguins.
Spring Bunny Mini Book
 All of these units include a progress monitoring sheet. I keep track of which concepts are mastered and which concepts need more review. I use this to monitor progress during the school year.

These additional mini books are available in a Basic Concept BUNDLE if your students need more practice.

I hope that your students enjoy learning about basic concepts and using these mini books.

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Monday, January 28, 2019

Using diologic Reading in Speech Therapy


 Fairy Tales
I love children's literature books, especially fairy tales. They are one of my favorite activities to include in therapy. A method of reading books called diologic reading was developed by the Stony Brook Reading and Language Project. This method of reading to children increases vocabulary skills, the mean length of utterances and teaches morphological structures. This is an easy way to incorporate evidence based teaching into something that you already do. When using this method you prompt, evaluate, expand and repeat (PEER).

 What is diologic reading? 
It is a method of reading where the teacher or parent helps the child tell the story. The adult does this by actively involving the child in the story. The adult prompts the child throughout the reading of the story. Five types of prompts are used: completion prompts, recall prompts, open-ended prompts, wh prompts and distancing prompts. These prompts also enable the therapist to differentiate instruction, when working with mixed ability groups.
 I love fairy tales. Diologic reading is one method I use to help my students activity engage with fairy tale. One of my favorite fairy tales is Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Completion, open-ended and Wh prompts are the easier prompts, while recall and distancing prompts are more advanced.
  • Completion Prompts: Mama bear said, "My porridge is to _____." Goldilocks said, "This ____ is to soft."  Papa bear said, "Someone has been ____ in my bed."
  • Recall Prompts:  What happened to Goldilocks in the story?  Can you tell me why the bears went for a walk?  How did the bears know someone had been in their cottage?
  • Open-ended Prompts:  Tell me what is happening in this picture.  Tell me what else the bears could have for breakfast.  Tell me where the bears could go.
  • Wh Prompts: What is this?  Who made the porridge? Where did the bears go? When did Goldilocks fall asleep?  Why was Goldilocks frightened?
  • Distancing Prompts: Make a real life connection to the book.  Remember when we had oatmeal for breakfast.  Remember when your toy broke.  Remember when you were frightened.
The first time I read the story I like to limit the number of prompts I use.  I like the children to hear the natural flow of the story.  In all future readings I prompt students on every page to help them begin retelling the story. 

I will often use parts of my Book companions to help.  I will use the vocabulary cards to help students with the completion prompts.  I might show the picture of the Goldilocks to help them complete the prompt "The porridge was to hot", said ___________ or a choice card for other students.
The story element sheets can be filled in using these prompts as well. A distancing prompt can be used to start the ask the students if they can remember where the bears lived. 
Throughout the reading the therapist should also be evaluating and expanding on the child's responses. Then I have the students repeat the expanded answers, so that they are improving their language skills. These prompts are a great way to help our students have conversations about the books we read to them.

This is one way that I incorporate evidence based teaching into my speech therapy session. 


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