March Articulation FREEBIES!

While looking in my March speech and language bin, I realized I only had about two activities in there for the month.  Yikes!  I quickly whipped up two general articulation games with a St. Patrick's day theme.

In this freebie, there is the classic "roll and cover" game that can work with any target sound.  You can work on targets sounds in isolation, words, phrases, or sentences.  For maximum production, I have my students say their target the amount they rolled on the dice.  They can then cover their number with a chip/eraser/etc.  Whoever covers their board first, wins!

 

The next game targets sounds at the conversational, generalization, and carry over phase.  Patrick the Leprechaun will be listening for how you use your target sounds while you answer these questions.  Students roll the dice to see which questions they will answer.  

Grab these FREEBIES here.

Happy Speeching!

-Courtney

What's in my Speech Bin: February 2014

1.  The Day it Rained Hearts:  This book is my favorite book to read around Valentine's day.  It is great for sequencing and inferencing.  I have my students guess who she is making the valentine's for while we read and then we discuss how we know it is meant for that character.  I also have a board maker activity that I use for categorizing and descriptive words where there are descriptions for each character and the students have to decide what characters the descriptions go to (long ears for rabbit, green for turtle, etc).  Find this book here.

2.  Foam Hearts:  I could not find the actual foam hearts I got online, but I found mine at Target (I'm sure Walmart, Michael's, Hobby Lobby will have them!).  The bag I got had a variety of colors, textures, and sizes.  I use these for many goals, such as categorizing (by color, texture, size), prepositions (put the little heart in the middle, between the big hearts, etc), concepts (pick a hear from the pair/several/many pile), and descriptions/directions (give me the glitterly medium purple heart).  It is also great for a reinforcer for articulation activities.  The kind I got had sticker backing, so after they said the designated number of target words/sentences, they would get a heart to put on their sheet.  We also make homework sheets by writing target words on several hearts that I put in a baggie to send home and they can stick them on a sheet of paper once they practice the words at home.

3.  Arthur's Valentine:  Most of my younger kiddos love Arthur books.  It's also a great book to discuss teasing/social issues since Arthur gets teased in the story by his friends for getting Valentine's cards.  We put "thought bubbles" above the character's head to guess what they are thinking in this story by using post-it notes.  Find this book here.

4.  Mail Boxes:  I don't know where to find these online, but I found mine in the dollar bin at Target.  I use these a lot to make categorizing and sorting activities more motivating.  For my "speedy speech" or 5-Minute Kids, I make drill more interesting by having them place artic cards in the mailbox after they practice the target word.  I have also used them with my Secret Articulation Sort, which you can learn more about here.

5.  Froggy's First Kiss:  What kid doesn't like a Froggy book!?  Seriously, name one, I dare you.  I use this as a general retell book, inferencing (who is Froggy making the Valentine for!), and emotional vocabulary (love, embarassed, etc).

What kinds of materials are you using in Frebruary?

Happy Speeching!

-Courtney

123TokenMe App for Speech Therapy

I am a speech-language pathologist who does use behavior systems and stickers charts with most of my kiddos.  I tailor each system to the child's specific need.  If a child has trouble remembering their speech folder, I reward them for remembering.   If I have a "runner" I reward them for participating in speech.  If I have a kiddo who does not like doing speech homework, I reward them when they do complete homework tasks.  Given, some of my kids are self motivated and the idea of "graduating" from speech is enough for them, so there is no need for a system to be put into place.  I am by no means a behavior expert, but I do believe in the power of positive reinforcement.

In the past, I have done positive reinforcement with penny boards for more of an immediate reward, as well as sticker charts for more long term goals.  Now that I am between four buildings, I am really trying to simplify as much as a can, which I am finding involves going as "paperless" as possible.

I had been searching and searching for an "sticker chart" app, but most the ones I had found can only manage four or less sticker charts at a time.  With a rather large caseload, this was not an option.  I finally bit the bullet and paid the $9.99 for the 123TokenMe because it was the only one I could find that could hold a whole caseload's worth of charts.  The good reviews also sold me on it.

I am SO happy I spent the money on this app.  I will never go back to paper sticker charts!  Basically, this app allows me to create an individual chart for each student on my caseload (at least the ones that need it).  You can pick from a variety of backgrounds and "tokens" to reward the behaviors.  If you are reinforcing a behavior in intervals (such as rewarding if they are in their seat or paying attention every 3 minutes), the app comes with a timer that will remind you to reward.  Since every student is different, you can control the number of token the student receives to get their reward.  There is also a place to document the behavior you are reinforcing, as well as a place for a visual for what they are working for.

Here are just a couple screen shots for some mock students:

I am loving this tool so far! I have used it for rewarding behaviors such as remembering their speech folder, completing homework, and being an active participant in speech.  I have also used it for speech production practice (for each correct production, the get a token and once all token are full they get a turn in a game).  I have also used for carryover for articualtion.  For example, while taking a conversational sample I have my timer set for every 2-3 minutes and if they are using their target sound correctly when the timer reminds me, they will get a token.

Check out more details about this app here!

Happy Speeching!

-Courtney