Clipboard Giveaway

Holly and I got together today to do some Mod Podging!  FUN FUN FUN! Holly wanted to mod podge some clipboards to use for this upcoming school year and here are the two we made today.We want to giveaway a free CUSTOM clipboard to you! Just enter through rafflecopter (below pics)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy 1st Day of Summer Vacation!!!! This is a much needed break from the life of IEPs, SLPs, OTs, PTs, APEs, SLDs, OHIs, S/LIs, SBLCs, OMGs!!!! So, what's on my mind??  How I'm going to decorate my room for NEXT school year!! uuugg....finally get a day off and all I can think about is my room for August....my lessons for August ... my kids for August! While I'm thrilled to have a break, I'm also very excited about the year to come. Check back here with us for some lessons Holly and I are putting together :)  Hope you all have a fantabulous summer!!!

Social Story - My New School

I can't believe it is already the end of the school year!  I have several students that are transitioning to a new school after the summer break, so I put together a social story about moving to a new school.  See our "Free Downloads" page to download the book.  Fill in names and add pictures to personalize the story for your students that are moving on to new schools.  I hope it helps ease the transition for your students with special needs.  Have a GREAT summer! 

App Review: The Social Express

Choo Choo!!! All aboard the Social Express!! Don't worry .. this train goes at your own pace. I love love love this app! The Social Express is more like watching a show on Disney than working on social skills on the iPad. I am so impressed with the work that went into making this app. Here's what Holly and I love:

• awesome graphics that keep students engaged
• fully animated
• lessons that are real life scenarios
• customizable to your each of your students
• printable lessons
• research based

According to iTunes "Some of the core concepts presented are based on the work of Michelle Garcia Winner and her Social Thinking® curriculum. More information can be found on the Social Thinking® website, http://www.socialthinking.com/. Users are encouraged to learn more about Michelle's work to gain the full benefit from the program."

Lily Pads

Check out our “Free Downloads” page to download the template to make your own adorable Lily Pads.  We love to use these Lily Pads as a behavior management tool.  It works very well for bigger groups that like to talk out of turn and get too loud.  Everyone has their own Lily Pad, but there is only one frog.  If the frog is on your Lily Pad, it is your turn to talk.  If he is not on your Lily Pad, you should be listening to the person that has the frog.  We also utilize our Lily Pads and frog to help teach conversational turn taking skills.  Enjoy! 

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

So you may be asking...who IS Harris Burdick??  Well in MY world, Harris Burdick is an inspiration and a great Language activity!!

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg (also author and illustrator of The Polar Express). This book only has an introduction which is followed by fourteen drawings. The introduction states that the author visited this children's publisher and viewed fourteen drawings each with a title and caption. Now here's where it gets interesting, the illustrator of these drawings is also the author of the stories that go with them, Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick reportedly dropped these drawings off to the children's publisher and was to return the next day but was never heard from again. So, Chris Van Allsburg published the collection of Harris Burdick drawings along with the title of each of the stories. The drawings are remarkable and have so much detail and wonder to each one of them.

So what can you do with this book of drawings?  LOTS!!! This is how I utilized this awesome piece of work. I chose to use this as a semester long activity with my fifth grade students.

• First, I had each student pick a picture he/she was interested in
• Then I had each student use a blank piece of paper and color pencils or whatever inspired them to brainstorm a story to go with their picture. Brainstorming has to be taught to these kids; utilize what they are doing in the classroom. If they use bubble maps, use bubble maps; if they use writing robots, use the robots....we do NOT want to confuse them by adding in something different...use what is being taught in the classroom. Help the students by scaffolding and cueing them to things that are needed in a story: characters, setting, events, ect.
• The rules were:
• they had to use the title the picture came with
• they had to incorporate the picture's caption in their story
• The next session we discussed the parts of a story: Beginning, Middle and End and what each entails. I use stories I know the kids KNOW and know well....movies are also good examples to help students understand Characters, Setting, Initiating Events, Problems, Attempts at solving the Problem, Resolution and Feelings.
• Then we move on to actually writing out the Beginning...as I said, I used this as a semester long activity. Rome was not built in a day, neither are good stories!
• By the end of the semester the students should have a completed short story. Their reward?? Well, you read them the actual story that belongs to each picture ... where do you find these alleged stories you ask?? Well in the recently published book The Chronicles of Harris Burdick ... fourteen well known authors each wrote a short story to accompany each picture.

I know there are so many more activities you can do with these books, if you have an idea please share! I just love the illustrations and imagination Chris Van Allsburg has!

App Review: Articulation Station

Articulation Station is a great app to use with any articulation student. The app utilizes colorful, motivating pictures that the students can relate to. Stimulus items are organized in three groups: Words, Sentences, and Stories. These are the things we love most about the app:

• Students can record and playback their own productions (promotes self-awareness/self-monitoring)
• "Check" and "X" buttons on each page/sound can be used for student feedback and therapist data
• Data can be saved to individual students
• You can work on multiple sounds with multiple students, each with their own data being stored for each sound
• Stories are followed by comprehension questions

This is a must have app!! Check out the author's blog at: http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=1711

Reward System

Here’s how it works…  At the beginning of the school year, my students are given a “speech card”.  I write their name on the card, and they are allowed to color and draw on their card.  Each card has a Velcro tab on the back.  The cards are kept in the pocket chart (see picture).  When the students come to speech, they find their card in the pocket chart and place it on the green strip with the smiley face.  Students move their card to the yellow strip with the straight face if they receive a warning for any undesirable behaviors.  If the student continues to misbehave, the card is moved to the red strip.  If the card stays on green or yellow during the session, the student will get a sticker in one square on his/her card.  When all five squares have a sticker, the student is allowed to select a treat/prize from the treasure chest, stickers are removed, and the student begins the cycle again.  My students love the system and the response has been awesome.  They really want to get those stickers and get treasure chest!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to get my students and one says, “I only need one more sticker so I’m going to get to do treasure chest today!”  Check out our "Free Downloads" page to download the template to make your own speech cards!  J

App Review: My PlayHome

My PlayHome by Shimon Young is an excellent app for language therapy.  It’s a doll house with five rooms (kitchen, bathroom, living room, backyard, and bedroom) and five “dolls” (mom, dad, baby, brother, sister).  The app is very interactive.  Users can move the dolls around and have the dolls perform activities such as eating, drinking, watching TV, sleeping, showering, brushing their teeth, etc.  Users can open the curtains, turn on the TV, change the CD in the CD player, bounce a ball, swing a swing, etc. 

We love using this app to teach skills like….

·         Vocabulary that is functional for young children

·         Simple commands like turn on, turn off, put in, take out, open, close, put on, take off, etc.

·         Multi-step directions

·         Basic concepts like fully, empty, all-gone, clean, dirty, dry, wet, opened, closed, colors, quantity, etc.

·         Pronouns

·         Associating sounds with objects (the clock ticks, the stereo plays music, hear the faucet running water, hear the toilet flush, hear the tea kettle whistle, hear the microwave, etc.)

·         Categorizing

·         Social skills needed for the home environment (role play requesting, conversations, playing, etc.)

·         And so much more!!

We love this app and would love to see more like it (maybe a school with a classroom, library, cafeteria, office, playground)! 

Welcome!

Hi! We are Pamela and Holly, speech/language pathologists working in the school setting. We created this blog to share our ideas and activities with fellow slps out there. We know times are tough and with budget cuts, who can afford to buy new materials each year? We hope you enjoy and feel free to share your ideas as well!