July and August Home Program FREEBIES!

I wanted to do a quick post sharing my July and August Elementary Language Home Program.  That was a mouth full!

These documents correspond with the Home Program Family Letter and the June Home Program for elementary language.  The calendars target general skills, such as: problem solving, categorizing, answering questions, sequencing, narratives, and vocabulary.  Because they are so general, I encourage you to supplement this home program with materials that are personalized to your students' goal(s).

Check out the FREE July calendar here and the August calendar here!

-Courtney

Mouse's First Spring

One of my favorite books to use during speech/language sessions is Mouse's First Spring.  It is a great book for easy sequencing skills and also great for the kiddos who are beginning talkers or have a limited vocabulary since it contains a lot of fun and noise mimicking phrases.

I created an expressive and receptive language unit pertaining to the book for PK-1st grade that focuses on skills, such as: sequencing, retelling, categorizing, vocabulary, turn taking, answering questions, and describing.  

Check out the details at my TeachersPayTeachers store here!

-Courtney 

Home Program FREEBIE!

Now that the end of the school year is winding down (or winding up, depending on how you look at it!), it is time to start thinking about home programs for the summer.

I have started to create a home program series for elementary language skills.  The program targets skills, such as: vocabulary, divergent naming, convergent naming, narratives, sequencing, answering questions, and more!  The home program is designed in a Monday-Friday format for four weeks.  The packet includes four weeks of activities already planned and a blank weekly calendar to fill in yourself for a 5th  week or to create your own activities.  Each activity can be completed in a matter of minutes!

This program is very general and I encourage you to supplement the program with materials that directly relate to your students' goals.

Grab the family letter for the home program here and the June Language (elementary) program here.

Keep a look out for July and August programs!

-Courtney

IEP at a Glance Freebie!

What a busy week this week!  I did want to share a FREEBIE at my TPT store while I had a minute.

This FREEBIE corresponds with my Speech-Language Pathology Organization and Documentation forms at my TPT store.  This single sheet document works as a quick overview of your students' IEP.  It contains information, such as: date of birth, IEP due date, IEP minutes, team members and their roles, accommodations, and modifications.  Grab your free copy here!

-Courtney

ToonDoo

Yesterday, one of the wonderful special education teachers I work with shared this wonderful website called ToonDoo.  This site is GREAT and FREE!  I have had so much fun playing around with it for the last couple minutes...okay hours.  It's basically a site to create your own comic strips.  But, for us SLPs, it is a great site to create social stories, sequencing activities, and even retelling/narrative activities.  Not only is it great for us to make materials, but it is a great (and fun) tool for the kids to engage in!

This is a screenshot of a social story I had worked on:

 

This website is great because you can pick from a high range of characters, change their facial expression and their posture.  You can also pick from different backgrounds, props, and speech bubbles.  One of the features I like most is that you can put your own pictures in there!  So instead of having a cartoon depict a social story, you can add a picture of the actual student!  They also have different cartoon strip formats, this is just an example of the four box plot.  

You can also create your own characters.  Below I have made my husband doing the Blue Steele look.

You do have to register to use the site, but no fee!  So check it out!

-Courtney

Beach Game Freebie!!!

Hello! As Courtney mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm joining in her blogging fun on The Talking Owls. We work for the same agency in different schools and both love spicing up our therapy to make it interesting and keep the kids engaged! Sorry for the delay in my first post, but for all you fellow SLPs out there, you know how it goes... Paperwork, visuals, lesson planning, paperwork, paperwork, did I mention paperwork! It's been a busy few weeks in my speech bubble, but I'm happy to offer you a free game set that can be used for any speech-language target as a reinforcer, Beach Games, that you can grab on my TPT store here! Enjoy!

~Lauren

SL Love

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

While I was on maternity leave, I had posted about my Very Hungry Caterpillar speech and language unit.  Now that I'm back into action, I was able to implement my materials!

The kids loved the directions and sequencing activity where they place the food cards into the caterpillars mouth.  I implemented this activity in several ways.  During the books, I had them feed the caterpillar as we read to keep them engaged and to brush up on their listening skills.  After the book, we practiced following directions while feeding the caterpillar.  For instance, I would give directions, such as: "Feed the caterpillar one apple after feeding him the pears."  My lower functioning students worked on labeling while feeding the caterpillar and requesting using the phrase, "I want (one apple)."  Note:  Kids love when you make the munching sound to mimick the caterpillar eating.  

However, some of my kids really needed something tangible and concrete to be interested and engaged.  Cue the panty hoes, googly eyes. and play food...

 

Before you ask, yes, that is a fish in the picture.  No, the Very Hungry Caterpillar did not eat a fish.  However, one of my kiddos would not come to speech without it today, so this particular caterpillar had a hankering for fish this morning.

It's not pretty, and it  may look more like a worm, not to mention that I am technically feeding the caterpillar food through his bum rather than his mouth, but the kids love it.  The tangible objects really keep them engaged and they love that they can see the food!  Not to mention it addresses language skills, such as labeling/vocabulary, requesting, sequencing, and directives.

Feels good to be back working with the kids, especially with fun activities like this!

-Courtney