Sticky Words Freebie

You know that feeling when you are giving the CELF to a student and you get to the formulating sentences subtest?  It's a mixture of dread and curiosity for me.  That subtest is not my favorite because sometimes scoring can be subjective, plus it takes forever.  But I'm always curious at how my student will perform.  It gives a great picture of how well he/she grasps language and its complexity.  Part of the reason, I'm thinking, is the word choices.  Targeting transition words and conjunctions forces them to have to think about how words and phrases link or stick together to create a certain flow and meaning.

So I'm trying to incorporate a little of these skills into my daily therapy.  We call them sticky words.  They help link or glue our different thoughts together.  I want my students to be able to speak and write cohesively.  I'm hoping that utilizing these will be a step in that direction.  This is why I made a sticky words board.

When we are creating sentences, retelling stories, writing, reading, etc., we talk about these words on the board and use them!  I love it when my kids find one while we are reading.  I have them pull it off the board and we talk about it and create sentences with it.

To make them I printed the words on bright orange paper and laminated.  Then I cut squares of magnet from this tape and affixed it to the back of the word.

Want some sticky words of your own?  Download them HERE!!

I've been going a little magnet crazy, lol.  I did the same thing with testing and classroom vocabulary.  I added visuals to give them something concrete to see, since these can be very difficult words.  We made it into a game, where different words are worth different amounts of skittles/m&ms/stickers.  We try to talk about them and define them.

Unfortunately, I can't share those with you because I don't have the rights to a lot of the images.  I just wanted to give you an idea of something you can do in your speech rooms!

Chicken Soup for the Soul Blog Hop!

I hope you have been filling up on sweet stories that are sure to make you laugh or cry.  Everyone needs a little inspirational posts once in a while, especially in our field.  I'm so thankful for all these amazing bloggers that are willing to give you a peek into their wonderful terrible speechie experiences.

Here's another story that I'm hoping warms your heart a little.

A few years ago, our growing school split and a new school was opened.  I was placed at the new school.  It was my first time to be full time at one place, and I was a little nervous.  Being itinerant has a way of letting you fly under the radar a little...maybe get away with not taking many of the tough cases or not having much focus on you.  I was about to get a lot more students with complicated situations and difficulties.

One of the students I inherited was a sweet, beautiful little boy that we'll call JJ.  He was autistic and nonverbal at six years old.  He loved swings and electronics and laughing at everything.  JJ's teachers and parents really wanted him to speak.  I just wanted him to communicate...to be motivated to communicate.  

At first I tried everything I could to get him to produce words.  I tried ABA techniques, whole language techniques, building his receptive language, and everything else I researched.  It wasn't happening.  He didn't want it.  JJ just wanted to stare at youtube videos and google images.  Yes, this kid was a computer genius.  That's when I decided to use his computer skills to my advantage.  

Scratch all the effort of getting him to speak.  I wanted to see if I could motivate him to communicate at all.  While watching him on the computer, I discovered that JJ could recognize words.  I began to put words of his favorite cartoons and videos on strips of paper for him to request what he wanted to watch.  He did great with it.  He'd even grab the word and take my hand and put it on the keyboard.  I always pushed for him to type the words himself, though he'd get frustrated at times.  

We kept at it.  He started to match words to pictures and built his vocabulary.  He would even write words or finish a written sentence on a dry-erase board.    

I really feel like this opened the door to communication for him.  Eventually, his parents and teachers got on board with alternative communication techniques, and he now does amazing things on his iPad.  He still has a ways to go, but he continues to learn and grow every day.  I'm so proud of him.

This experience really taught me that sometimes you have to think outside the box.  Think about what interests the child and go from there.  Also, it's ok to give things a try if what you're doing isn't working.  It might even give you great data to show parents on what their child is able to do.  

I love sharing happy stories!  Keep pushing through the blog hop and enjoy.  At the end of the hop, you'll have the chance to win some fabulous prizes!  Check out what we've got for you!

In order to enter, you'll have to add up all the numbers along the hop and put the total in the rafflecopter at the last stop.  Here's my number!

Head on over to the next blog by clicking the image below. 

If you need to start at the beginning, click on the following image to go back to the beginning.  Have fun and good luck!

An InLinkz Link-up

Lucky Speech Open-Ended FREEBIE

This product has come after several requests!  I'm so glad you are loving my open-ended reinforcement games that use real candies or snacks!  And because lots of you asked for a St. Patrick's Day themed one, this one's all for you.  :)

Lucky Speech was made to be played with real Lucky Charms cereal!  You could even use stickers, erasers, or even those little gold coins.

The game comes with 2 mats, clover number cards, and leprechaun wild cards.

I usually print out 3 number pages and one wild card page.  Students take turns drawing cards and collecting candies/objects as a reinforcement for any speech or language skill or card deck.  They really do love these and have so much fun with them!

You can grab this freebie at my TPT store HERE!  Don't forget to leave feedback and let me know how it's working for you!  :)  

President's Day in the Speech Room

Happy President's day!  Did you have to go to school today like I did?  Or were you one of the lucky ones that got a little break?  Weeelll, I kicked off a week of President's day themed activities today!  Here's what's up my sleeve for this week.

• My President's Day Speech and Language Packet!

This packet is coming in so handy this week!  It includes a game board and lots of activities that address both speech and language skills including main idea, inferencing, predicting, comparing/contrasting, grammar, worksheets, and more.

You can even download the game board for free by clicking the preview button!  Find it at my TPT store here.

• Duck for President

I scored these cute mini-books from a Chick-fil-A kids meal a couple months ago, and I was saving them for this week!  It's a fun little fiction book that has lots of good vocabulary for my older kids, pictures for describing, and other good opportunities for summarizing and sequencing.

• Nonfiction articles from Readworks.org

Have you heard of Readworks?  It's awesome for finding short articles (mostly nonfiction) based on grade or lexile level with comprehension questions.  You can even type in a key word and search for articles about that subject.  These are perfect for a therapy session or even RtI.

I typed in "president" and printed out several stories for my kiddos across grade levels.

• Lincoln hat craftivity 

Here is the cutesie craft that we'll be doing in my speech room.  It's super easy and only takes a few minutes.  Check out our Abe Lincoln hat!

We just cut out a small strip of black construction paper and a large square.  Then we glued them together to make a top hat.  Pretty easy, right?

My artic students colored and glued little picture squares from a workbook to the hat.  It makes a great "blank slate" for whatever skill the students are working on, whether it's fluency strategies, writing sentences, vocabulary, etc.  They could write, draw, and glue anything on there.  ;)

I thought they came out pretty adorable.  My kids liked them anyway.  Well, that's what my week is going to look like.  Do you have any President's Day activities planned?  

Oldies But Goodies: Winter!

Brrrrrr!  It's cold out there!  I hope all of you are bundled up and drinking something hot while you read this.  Sounds like it's colder than average everywhere today!

'Tis the season for winter activities for sure.  Don't worry...I got you covered for when you get back from your snow days (unless you still have to go in to work, like me)!  Check out these oldie but goodie activities all themed for winter!

They've definitely made back to school planning super easy!

1.  The Three Snow Bears Book Companion Pack

I love The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett.  It's a cute story that's a winter version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  This companion pack covers a variety of communication goals that I can work in with all the kids on my caseload.  Read more about it at this blog post.

2.  Penguin Preschool Language

Work on your preschool/kinder objectives with these cutesie penguins!  I actually use this pack all throughout the year because the content is really useful for my caseload this year.  Read more about this one HERE.

3.  Penguin Phonology

This pack is for your severe artic kiddos.  It targets several phonological processes using penguins and snowballs with visuals.  Check it out HERE.

4.  Do Not Break the Ice Blocks - Articulation, Preschool, Sight Words

My kids LOVE the game Don't Break the Ice.  It's great for this time of year as well.  Here is an alternative way to play while working on speech skills at the same time!  Check out the round up post with links here!

5.  Hot Cocoa Speech Freebie!

This open-ended reinforcer is made to be played with real marshmallows!  If you haven't grabbed it, go get it!  Read about it at THIS post.

Welp, hope some of these items help you this winter!  What are your favorite winter activities?

Stay warm!

2013 Favorites!

Oooh the last day of my break!  Why do holidays off school always seem so short?  Leading up to it they feel like they'll never get here, but when the holidays finally arrive, they always fly by.  Oh well, maybe a few freebies will help ease the transition!  

Last year was a great year!  I posted several freebies throughout the year, so in case you missed a few of them, here were my top 10 in no particular order!

1.  Love Bug Preschool Articulation

2.  Giant Game Board 

3.  Mardi Gras Mambo Freebie

4.  Lots of Biscuit Freebies!  Click on the pics to take you to each one!

5.  Easter Treat Speech

6.  Fluency Pinwheels

7.  BHSM Bookmarks

8.  Data Sheets

9.  Fluency Enhancing Behaviors Freebie

10.  Preschool Quick Probes 

Well, that's a few of MANY freebies that you can find throughout last year.  Hope you can use some of them!  Which ones were your favorites?  :)

10 Speechie Things I'm Thankful For

Since this is the time of year that people think about what they're thankful for in life (not that you shouldn't think about it every other time of year), I thought I'd share a little about what I'm thankful for at work.

I thank the Lord so much for a great job that I love.  Not everyone gets one of those.  Even though it can be stressful at times, there are a few things out there that help make my job easier!  Here are some of those things:

1.  TPT

I am super thankful for a place to find so many ideas and products specific for my kiddos' needs.  My therapy is totally not the same without it.  :)

2.  Amazing SLP Bloggers

I love reading my SLP friends' blogs and getting new ideas and inspiration from them.  Plus, I know I can contact them anytime I have a question or need advice.  Most of us are happy to help anytime you need something.

3.  Fabulous co-workers

I'm beyond blessed with coworkers who are happy and funny and ready to help our sweet students.

4.  Portable Therapy Center

Do you have this?!  It's awesome!  This fun little gadget has a mirror, dry-erase board, velcro board, pouches, and pocket chart.  SO helpful!  I use it all the time.  You can find it on Super Duper HERE.

5.  Flavored tongue depressors

Haha.  I wouldn't be able to fix /r/ without tongue depressors, and my kids wouldn't put them in their mouths if they didn't taste like popsicles.  :)

6.  Board games

Love my game closet.  The kids love them, and it's nice to pull out a game every so often when you want to bump up the motivation in therapy.

7.  Books

Of course, I am so thankful for children's books that are colorful and appropriate for working on language skills.  I love that I can adapt them for what I need and use cute TPT companion packs to work on a variety of skills.  :)

8.  Hanging file folders

These are perfect for anything.  I organize my paperwork, worksheets, or whatever in these.  This one is from the Container Store and is collapsable and portable.  Cute right?  And functional.

9.  Stickers and candy

Sometimes you need to bribe children.  It's real life lol.  ;) Sometimes you have to use something they want to get them to try harder.  Whether it's stickers, candy, or tiny toys/games, there are days that you have to use anything and everything to get them to work!  I am thankful for these things.  ;)

10.  My IPad

Last but not least, I am super thankful for my IPad.  All of the awesome speech and language apps make my life SO much easier!

That about wraps it up!  What speechie things are you thankful for?  :)