A Completely Non-Speech Related Post

If looks could kill...

Nonverbal communication at it's best.

Sweet Articulation

Hello, Speechie Friends!  I am writing from the comfort of my bed.  The baby is sleeping, so I thought I'd get some rest as well!  Although I will miss the little man when my maternity leave is over, I am anxious to get back to working with students and to be able to share what we are doing in my speech room!

My goal this next year is to create more activities and games geared towards specific target sounds.  Although I think game based therapy can be effective and motivating (example: drill of 10 words, take turn in a game), I sometimes find my students more focused on who is winning in candy land, rather than focusing on the actual goal of working on target sounds.  I am hoping that by incorporating target sounds in the actual game, that productions will be more meaningful and focused.

With that in mind, I created a candy-themed game focusing on the later developing sounds: /s/, voiceless /th/, voiced /th/, and /r/.  Students try to fill their candy jar while practicing target sounds, but watch out for the broken gumball machines, you'll have to put some candy back!  Whoever has the most candy in the jar at the end of the game wins!

 

Check this game out at my TeachersPayTeachers store here.

Hope you enjoy!  How do you get students to focus on target sounds?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Well, it's beginning of week 5 of my maternity leave, which means I only have 3 weeks left to spend 24/7 with my little Liam!  Turns out that newborn babies sleep...A LOT...hence the creation of many new speech materials on my part.  A girl's got to spend her time doing something!

Over the past few days I decided to create an expressive and receptive language unit around my all time favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  When I say this book is my favorite, I mean it.  I'm already planning Liam's first birthday around this book!

In short, this unit targets: vocabulary, wh-questions, yes/no questions, following directions, sequencing, and categorizing through fun activities and games!

Check out the details here, at my TeachersPayTeachers store.

 

Hope you enjoy!  What is your favorite children's book?

Bug Prepositions!

I'm still dreaming of Spring weather, so I created a Spring related prepositional game that centers around bugs and insects!  And, the best part is it's free!

Learn and reinforce prepositions (above, below, beside, between) using adorable bug and insect themed cards.  Use the cards for drill, memory, a lotto game, or go-fish!  Great for Spring or for kids who are fascinated by insects!  Prepositions are shown in pictures with a fill-in the blank sentence below.

This Activity includes:

 2 Sets (9 Playing Card Per Set) of Above/Below

2 Sets (9 Playing Cards Per Set) of Beside/Between

6 Lotto Boards

Directions:

Drill- Use cards to drill and teach prepositional phrases (above, below, beside, between).

Memory- Turn playing cards upside-down on table top.  Take turns flipping over two cards at a time to find a match.  If you find a match, you keep the cards and get an extra turn.  If you do not find a match, it is the next person’s turn.  When flipping over card, state prepositional term by filling in sentence.  For younger kids, read sentence aloud or ask where the bug is located.  Older students can read and fill in the blank independently.

Go-Fish-  Shuffle playing cards.  Each player gets five cards.  Take turns asking partners, “Do you have…”  (ex: “Do you have the caterpillar next to the ladybug?).  If they find a matching card, set the match down and take another turn.  If there is no match, they must draw another card from the pile.  The first player to get rid of all their cards by finding their matches is the winner.

Lotto- Each player gets one lotto card.  Place playing cards face down on the table.  Take turns picking the top card on the table.  If it matches a card on your lotto board, place the card on top of the matching picture.  Fill in the blank or ask questions pertaining to prepositions on each turn.  The first person to fill their lotto board is the winner.

  

Get your FREE copy of Bug Prepositions here.

Clip art credit to http://www.scrappindoodles.com/ under license number #99159.

Garden Articulation!

It's the first day of Spring today!  It's also a whole 12 degrees!  It may not feel like Spring, but that doesn't mean we still can't dream about Spring weather, right?

To celebrate the first day of Spring, I wanted to share my first activity!  I am creating a TeachersPayTeachers account, but plan on sharing freebies once and a while as well. 

Garden articulation targets /l/ blends, /s/ blends, and /r/ blends.  This unit includes:

45 Initial /l/ Blends Playing Cards
72 Initial /s/ Blends Playing Cards
63 Initial /r/ Blends Playing Cards
9 Caterpillar Playing Cards
4 Garden Boards

 

Directions:

Each student receives one garden board.  Mix in caterpillar playing cards in with target sound cards of your choice and place face down on table.  Students take turns drawing a card and practice the target word on the card.  Once they have practiced the target word on the card they can place the card in their garden.  If the student draws a caterpillar card, they must put the number of flower cards specified back in the pile.  Who ever ends up with the most flowers in their garden at the end wins!

   

Hope you enjoy the game and I hope you are enjoying better Spring weather than I am right now!

Get the game for FREE here!

Clip Art Credit for this game goes to:  http://www.scrappindoodles.com/ under license number 99159

Speech and Language Samples

As a SLP working with kids preschool through 6th grade, it can sometimes be a challenge to find different ways to get speech and language samples.  There are several materials and apps I automatically go to when collecting samples, so without further explanation, here are my favorite materials and how I use them:

1.  Rory's Story Cubes

  

I have both these sets, but there is also a voyages set that I have not yet tried out.  My older students love these, I even had a kid ask his parents for a set for Christmas!  I have students roll all the die and create a story that includes each picture in order to collect a speech/language sample, or for articulation carry over practice.

2.  Tell Tale

  

Tell Tale is great for students of any age and is much easier for younger kids to use compared to the story cubes mentioned above.  There is also a fairy tale edition that I am dying to get my hands on!  To collect samples or for articulation carry over practice, I have kids pick 3-5 cards from the deck and tell a story using the pictures.  Each card is double sided, so possibilities are endless and you never hear the same story twice!

3.  Story Wheel App

 

I use this app all the time to collect samples and for carry over practice.  This app is currently running for $2.99 and is well worth it!  Students love spinning the wheel and technology always makes the activity more motivating.  To use this app, students spin the wheel and then tell a story pertaining to the picture they land on.  There is also a visual one minute timer on the app, so I tell students they must use the whole minute (or at least 30 seconds for my younger kiddos) to talk about the picture so we can avoid one sentence descriptions.

Well, there you have it,  my top three language and speech sample materials!  What do you use to collect language and speech samples?