Tuesday, January 29, 2013

One Day Left! Enter To Win the Multiple Choice Articulation App


There's just one more day before the lucky winner is determined! Erik X. Raj's Multiple Choice Articulation app is one of only a few apps that give opportunities for numerous repetitions of the target phonemes in structured sentences and spontaneous speech.

Click here to go to my previous post and use the Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. 

Good Luck!!!

Diana

© 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Multiple Choice Articulation - APP GIVEAWAY!


I don't have to have my own version of Erik X. Raj's app Multiple Choice Articulation to know that elementary and middle school boys would love this app. And, face it - most of you have caseloads made up of primarily boys.  I'm not being biased, but I was a "listening" carpool mom throughout my children's school careers and while the girls might like it, the boys will love it. 

Questions, such as What would you rather have – a rhino horn growing out of your face or a rat tail growing out of your rear-end? Why? and What kind of sandwich would you rather eat - a sandwich that fell on the floor or a sandwich that a fly landed on? Why?, will definitely get your students interested. 

This app gives opportunities for numerous repetitions of the target phonemes in structured sentences and spontaneous speech. With over 500 questions, I could see using this for several sessions and know that students would ask to repeat the lessons. 

Although designed for articulation, this is a great app for language therapy.  Use to practice answering and asking questions and forming sentences. Once students get the hang of it, have them create questions with their science or social studies vocabulary. 

Erik gave me an app to give away - see the Rafflecopter below. I no longer work with a traditional caseload so didn't try it, but read rave reviews at many, many speech blogs.  For more information about this app, check out the demo on Erik's website and read the reviews at one or more of the following blogs:                                                                              

Read Erik's blog.  He has a lot of good ideas that will get your students thinking and talking. 

To win the app, simply comment or like my Facebook page using the Rafflecopter below. 



Diana

© 2013

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Snow Day! - Apps and More

It snowed yesterday - we had about two inches and that might be all that we get this winter. It's hit or miss where I live. When I had a caseload in elementary schools, I remember that my students loved talking about their time playing in the snow. So, if you are coming back from a snow day here are some apps to use in your therapy sessions.



Snowflake Station
By Mrs. Judd's Games, LLC


This app is a "math app"and was designed to teach symmetry, but could be used to elicit language from students of all ages. You can create your own designs or trace a snowflake. Older students could collaboratively create snowflakes. Some students might need a rubric or simple task card. 

For early childhood students, cut the snowflakes and add the student's pictures and/or vocabulary pictures to allow students to "make it snow" on each picture.  Follow-up by saving each picture to PowerPoint or whiteboard presentations, making a class book, or printing pictures to send home. 




Snow Man (free iPad version)  *
By Olivier VASSET

This is a matching activity. Students have to replicate the snowman pictured. Similar to a barrier game, one or more students could tell another student (or the SLP) how to replicate the snowman. Some students would benefit from the visuals pictured below. 


This would also be a good activity for a student who cannot physically access the iPad. Make a screen shot of the pictures on the app and enlarge to make visuals for an eye gaze board, communication device, etc. OR, download these visuals that I made and posted at BoardmakerShare.com







Snow
By MoZapp Creations    *



Randomly touch and snowballs appear. Use for cause and effect or even for articulation (sn blends or for other phonemes, count the snowballs). 




Need more snow day activities? Check out The Snowy Day for Speech and Language Therapy

Diana
© 2013

* As of 2016, Snow and Snow Man are no longer found in the app store. 

Monday, January 21, 2013

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts! Speech and Language Activities for Valentine's Day

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts


One of my all time favorite therapy resources is the book, Object Rhymes, by Jean Warren. Jean published this book, and many other sought after books, when there were no Internet resources.  Object Rhymes has illustrated predictable rhymes in book format. You will find rhymes to go along with most of your monthly themes. My early childhood students loved the books. Some could "read" each book and all received a copy to take home. I used props to introduce the rhyme and many of the props (a barn, cars, a house, pumpkins, etc.) became another part of the therapy session.

Often with this young population, the goal was to increase utterance length; however, these rhymes could be used to reinforce plural nouns, the preposition "on," articulation, vocabulary, and simple where and what questions. 

The rhyme that I used many times in February is as follows:


Hearts on the mailbox. 
Hearts on the door. 
Hearts on the window. 
Hearts on the floor. 
Hearts on the cake. 
Hearts on the box. 
Hearts on the shoes. 
Hearts on the socks. 
Hearts on the table. 
Hearts on the chair. 
Hearts on the wall. 
Hearts everywhere!

A few+ years ago, my students helped me recreate this rhyme using photographs. I gave the book the title Hearts, Hearts, Hearts and, with heart shaped erasers from a dollar store, took pictures of the hearts with the items described in the rhyme. I created a PowerPoint using the photographs. Jean Warren kindly gave me permission to post my version of the rhyme as long as it was free so click here to get your copy. It would be much more relevant to your students if you took pictures in their therapy or classroom environment and replaced my pictures. Show it as a PowerPoint, print it as a full sized book, or print the PowerPoint as handouts to make mini - books for your students. 


As an extension of this activity, use my Valentine Spatial Concepts found at BoardmakerShare.com. Students choose a card and tell (or sometimes show) where in the classroom they will put a heart. Once the heart is in the appropriate place the student tells another child to get the heart from that location and that child chooses his or her own card and repeats the process. 


If you have an iPad, Draw With Hearts can be used along with the rhyme (Thank you to Lisa for this idea!). Take pictures of the items (door, mailbox, sock, etc.) without hearts and insert the photograph as a background. Students touch the screen to add hearts to the photograph, reciting "Hearts on the ___." Add new vocabulary by taking pictures of other items in the classroom, classmates, family members, etc. Take screen shots to save the pictures and print or add to a PowerPoint or whiteboard presentation. 


Thank you again to Jean Warren and Warren Publishing House, Inc. for allowing me to share the activity.  Visit her wonderful website, Preschool Express, for many additional learning resources.   

Diana


© 2013

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WH-Questions Island Winner


Thank you for all of the nice comments. The winner of WH-Questions Island is TCS Kennedy. Watch for another giveaway at the end of the month as I have an articulation app to give away. 


Diana

© 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

WH-Questions Island Giveaway - Wednesday at 9:00 PM

Only one more day before the winner is chosen to receive the WH-Questions Island Giveaway by Virtual Speech Center Inc. 

Click here to see my post. Comment on the post to have a chance to win. 

The winner will be chosen randomly, using Winning Ticket, at 9:00 PM on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. 


Diana

© 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

10+ Speech and Language Resources for Groundhog Day


I always found it hard to introduce Groundhog Day activities to my youngest students with language delays as they never had enough time to learn the vocabulary before it was time to move on. So, instead of creating a separate thematic unit for these students, I included Groundhog Day in my winter unit. Here are two ideas:
  • Download my book What Did the Groundhog See? at BoardmakerOnline.com. In this printable book, the groundhog sees the shadows of the same animals found in Jan Brett's The Mitten. Use the pull-offs to retell the story, play a matching game, or respond to questions about the story. Use to teach past tense, possessive -s, WH questions, early predicting, negations (it's not the rabbit's shadow), and increased utterance length. 

Find 30 additional groundhog activities at BoardmakerOnline.com. Included were Where is the Groundhog? (spatial concepts), a Groundhog Mad Lib, a simple sequencing activity, stories, a poem, and Groundhog Day vocabulary pictures. 





Check out the  17 free downloads at Teachers pay Teachers targeted for speech and language therapy. 



Last year, Speech Lady Liz posted Groundhog Prepositions, an irregular past tense activity, Groundhog, Groundhog, What do you Wear?, and 6 More Weeks of Winter/Spring is Right Around the Corner Articulation Game



At Speech Therapy Tool Box, find WH questions and prediction questions to go along with the book Go to Sleep Groundhog! by Judy Cox. Follow-up by playing the WH question game, Help the Groundhog Find his Shadow, found at Speech Time Fun. 



There were several Groundhog Day suggestions at Speech in Motion, but I liked Make Your Own Groundhog Burrow. This was created to target turn-taking, Groundhog Day vocabulary, prepositions, following directions, and understanding facial expressions and emotions. Take photos or videos of the activity to share and use for retelling and vocabulary reinforcement. 



For SLPs with readers and writers, read Groundhog Day by Gail Gibbons to learn about Groundhog Day, its origins, and facts about groundhogs. At Finally in First a circle map and post-it notes were used to organize facts. 




The Groundhog Day Ask and Graph, found in the Groundhog Mini Unit at 2 Teaching Mommies, would be good practice for those learning to ask questions or  for carry-over articulation or grammar skills. This could be used as home practice or during therapy. As a part of the therapy session, it would be fun to take a walk with students to visit "prepped" participants throughout the building to ask the questions.



The poem and groundhog puppet found at Preschool Alphabet would make a good, but simple vocabulary lesson. Teach the vocabulary groundhogaroundbrightcloudy, and/or fright. This poem might also be a nice introduction to a phonological awareness lesson about rhyming.



For more therapy ideas check these links:




Diana

© 2013                                                                            

Groundhog graphic from sweetclipart.com

Saturday, January 12, 2013

25 WH Question Resources & WH-Questions Island Giveaway

Last month Beata, at Virtual Speech Center Inc., gave me a promo code for WH Questions Island to give away on this blog. I don't have a traditional caseload so can't really try out this app, but it does have some great features - real-life pictures, flashcard and board game formats, and tracking responses for multiple students.  

iTunes hasn't had enough reviews to rate the app, but good descriptions and reviews of this app can be found at Consonantly Speaking, Speech Time Fun, and Speech Room News.

If you want a chance to win this app, simply comment on this post. The winner will be chosen randomly, using Winning Ticket, at 9:00 PM on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. 

Websites and blogs with more and wonderful WH resources:

Free at Teachers-pay-Teachers
1. Snowy "WH" Questions
2. "Wh" and Yes/No Question Supplement for Candy Land
3. Winter "WH" Questions for IDD
4. WH question wheel homework
5. Who Question Cards

Speech Time Fun

Let's Talk SLP    
10. Football Frenzy

LiveSpeakLove, LLC

11. Question-able Material

Sandbox Learning
12. Activities for Teaching Children toAsk and Answer Questions


Technology in (SPL) Education

Ms. Petersen, Speech/Language teacher

Let's Talk Speech Therapy

Liz's Speech Therapy Ideas

Sublime Speech

Speech Room News

BoardmakerShare.com



Diana

© 2013

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

My Favorite Pin!

It's been just over a year since I started using became addicted to Pinterest.  My closets and cabinets are better organized, I now use mason jars for a number of storage solutions, and I have purchased the paint for my next furniture project. Before searching Google for home and work ideas, I search Pinterest.  And, when searching a topic for this blog, I search Pinterest first! 

My absolutely favorite pin is pictured below. Dana Nieder, author of the blog Uncommon Sense, put a glove, minus the index finger, on her daughter's hand so that desired buttons on the iPad could be pushed without accidentally pushing other portions of the screen.  

Last week, I saw this work beautifully in a preschool class. The glove was too large for the student so the teacher taped the fingers down and the child, who could only randomly activate actions by swiping, purposefully pushed buttons to see favorite TV characters. 

Picture with permission from Dana Nieder at Uncommon Sense

What is your favorite pin?


Diana

© 2012

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Increase Utterance Length with Winter Bingo for Early Childhood

Winter Bingo is more like a lotto game than a bingo, but my students loved saying "bingo" when they filled the cards so bingo it was!

I conducted whole class lessons in my early childhood special education classes twice weekly so four pictures per board were the perfect number for a short, but effective game. Each board was different, but many pictures were similar so students had to look for differences and use more detailed sentences to describe the pictures. My verbal students helped those with less verbal abilities and I was able to take data on a variety of goals.  The sample questions below could elicit a simple "I do." or, with modeling and questions, elicit -ing verb endings, increased utterance length,  prepositions, conjunctions, negations, plurals, and so much more!

  • Who has the red mittens?
  • Who has the boy that is snowboarding? 
  • Who has the boy making snow angels? 
  • Who has the blue coat with a hood and fur? 
  • Who has the coat with the blue sleeves and a blue hood?
  • Who has snow on a fence? 
  • Who has snow on a house?
  • Who has skis? 
  • Who has a boy skiing? 
You can download my nine card Winter Bingo set at BoardmakerOnline.com

If you don't have Boardmaker, you can download free Winter Bingo Cards (and more) at DLTK. These cards can be printed in both color or black and white. 

To customize a bingo game, go to UNCW.edu/EdGames and download a Bingo Card Generator. I used the 3x3 generator to make the cards on the left. The actual download uses words, not pictures. The generator is made with Microsoft Excel so I copied and pasted pictures from Microsoft Clipart on top of the words on the Excel document. 


This Bingo Card Generator has a shuffle feature. Replace all words with pictures (include the words below the two boards) and push the shuffle button to make a multitude of boards. 





Happy New Year! 


Diana

© 2012