How are you connected?

I work in a large school division with about 90 other speech-language pathologists. All SLPs have a laptop and Boardmaker V6 Plus as well as access to other software. Most of the SLPs have iPads.  All of our schools have interactive white boards and many SLPs have these boards in their therapy rooms. 

I have been reading comments on Facebook pages and blogs and have learned that some of you don't have easy access to technology. My blog posts often contain items related to technology, such as apps, Boardmaker visuals, and web sites to use in therapy sessions. I assumed that most people reading the blog posts have easy access to technology in their settings, but now know that my assumption might be false. 

I thought that it might be interesting to know about the state of technology in our profession. Please complete the quick survey below. I will compile the results and publish them on this blog in two weeks. 

Thank you for taking your time to do this!

Diana

© 2013

Tuesday's Treasure Box: A Matter of App

It's back! A Matter of App, a children's educational app review blog has been silent since October of last year. With seven thought provoking posts so far this month, Dr. Cynthia Chiong, is back on my must read blog list. 

She reviews and rates apps in four areas; developmental appropriateness,  balance, sustainability, and parental involvement. 

In her post, Trend Alert: Apps that encourage you to take your eyes OFF the screen, Dr. Chiong referenced several apps. I tried Alien Assignment by the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College.  It required the use of the camera and would fit in well with other classification activities. 

Check out Dr. Chiong's blog for great app reviews and posts that keep you coming back!

Diana

© 2013

Oceans of Fun!

For those of you who are still working or working through the summer months, here are some ocean themed activities for your speech and language sessions. 

This first link, Oceans of Links and Apps, is actually a link to one of my first posts so many of you may not have seen this one. You will find 

• 12 links to activities and resources, 
• seven FREE Apps relating to oceans and sea life, 
• AND a free PowerPoint, A Fish Book, created to help with /f/ and /sh/ practice as well as increasing sentence length. 

Find Biscuit's Beach Day Freebies at Speechie Freebie, a mini companion pack for the book Biscuit's First Beach Day.  It includes vocab cards, comprehension cards, basic concepts, sequencing sheet, and coloring page.

Ruth at Chapel Hill Snippets recently posted Beach Fun Prepositions Bingo. 

I found this Sand Castle Freebie, that targets multiple meaning words at Speech Room News. 

As of today, there are 61 FREE ocean themed activities are available at Teachers pay Teachers. Here are a just a few of many that can be used for speech and language therapy. 

• Ocean-Themed Articulation Homework - includes a starfish pacing board. 
• Under the Sea - Naming Items In Categories - Freebie
• Synonyms in the Sun Freebie   
• Ocean Plurals: Freebie

Diana

© 2013

Tuesday's Treasure Box: How Katie Got a Voice

A few weeks ago, I purchased  Pat Mervine's book "How Katie Got a Voice (and a cool new nickname)." I love the story and the illustrations are wonderful. I took it to work and haven't seen it since. An SLP in my office took it home to help her children understand her job.  A teacher has it now to read to her "Katie" and one of the schools in my area is considering using it for a book club next year. 

This would be a great story to read when talking about disabilities or use during BSHM. Pair this with Making Everyone Feel Welcome - Lessons in Disability Etiquette, a You Tube Video featuring Katie.  A PowerPoint, of the same title, can be purchased at  Pat's TpT store for $4.00. 

Also at Pat's TpT store, download the FREE Reader's Theater version of "How Katie Got a Voice (and a cool new nickname)."

You can purchase the book at Pat's website, Speaking of Speech.This is not one of my typical budget priced materials. The book is $18 (no shipping charges), but well worth every penny! 

Diana

© 2013

Some Family History for Better Speech and Hearing Month

Myrtie Marie Bryan (1901-1986)

Aunt Marie was born in 1901. I met her as a very young child and don't really remember her. My father once told me that she had a "speech problem" and that her father, my grandfather, took her from Texas to Oklahoma by wagon to see a speech correctionist. Dad said that Marie's speech was unintelligible as an adult  and that only close friends and family could understand her. I spent time looking for information about Marie recently and my father's statement was the only mention of her speech issues. 

Woodsman Circle
Marie is in the center, directly in front of the tallest girl. 

As an adult, Marie attended church regularly, liked to paint, and played bridge. As a young girl, she belonged to the Woodsman Circle, the BYU - a Baptist youth organization, and, according to her 10th grade report card, had excellent deportment and received good to excellent grades. 

On a cousin's Facebook page, was a picture of Marie titled, "Aunt Marie, World's Greatest Cook" and next to her senior picture, in her high school yearbook, was, "Marie - If her work counts, success is hers. Her record shows no trace of blurs."

When I asked family about Marie, no one talked about her unintelligible speech until I asked specifically. I don't think that Dad would have even mentioned her speech if I had not chosen this profession. 

The visit or visits to the speech correctionist were obviously not enough to help Marie and I am sure that her articulation disorder had some kind of negative impact on her life. I am happy to know that family and friends didn't define Marie by her disability; however, I wonder how different Aunt Marie's life would have been if given the opportunities that our students and clients have now. 

Diana

© 2013

Tuesday's Treasure Box: Tech Tips, a Free App, BHSM, and Phonological Processes

Richard Byrne, who writes Free Technology for Teachers and iPad Apps 4 School, had two valuable posts last week. 10 Time-saving Tech Tips from David Pogue had some seriously simple tips.  I can't believe that I didn't know about the space bar. On iPad Apps 4 School, Richard introduced Disney's new FREE app, Story. Use pictures and videos from your camera roll to easily create photostory books. 

BHSM Water Bottle Wrappers from Activity Taylor.com are an inexpensive idea. 

Last week was Phonological Process Week at [simply speech]. She passed on some good information from Mommy Speech Therapy, reviewed an app, and created four phonological process activities for a budget price - I used to pay more for stickers!!

Enjoy!

Diana

© 2013

Bugs - Just Crawling with Ideas!

Spring is here and the bugs have arrived in full force. Bring some of those bugs into your therapy sessions with these links and activities.

Download Bugs, a PowerPoint book. Target verb tense, plurals, and increasing sentence or phrase length. Show this book on a computer or whiteboard and make the bugs move fast or slow. Click here to get a printable version of the book. 


Tell locations of bugs found during a bug hunt. 

Use a magnifying glass to look at toy bugs while describing. 

Sort “insects” and “not an insect”

Visit You Tube for insect videos for all ages:

• Icky Insects by SillyBus
• Frank Leto's LadybugLadybug Song
• Bill Nye The Science Guy on Insects (Full Clip) 
• Bugs and Insects | PBS Parents Picks
• Jim Parsons on Sesame Street - "Arachnid"

Check out Vocab Bugs, Bug JarCravftivity and Caterpillar Craftivity from Crazy Speech World


Touch and Born! Moving paint by Atech inc. Touch the screen
and bugs and worms appear. Great for cause and effect.


Sing or Read along to The Bugs Go Marching by Creative Teaching Press, Inc. Build a bug, tell what's missing, and more.

Free downloads from Rachel Jones (Let’s Talk Speech Therapy Blogspot)

• Articulation Bugs
• More Articulation Bugs
• Bug Out! A multiple meaning word activity

Miami – Dade County Public Schools has a Cheaptalk 8 overlay  and a TechSpeak overlay for The Hungry Caterpillar. If you are talking about spiders, find Visuals for the Itsy Bitsy Spider here. You will need Boardmaker to download these. 

Story props, at Kizclub for Bugs, Bugs, Bugs and The Very Hungry Caterpillar can be used as visuals, in whiteboard activities and more!

Printable books Ladybugs Everywhere and Ants Everywhere are found at Chapel Hill Snippets. 

More books for language lessons:

• The Giant Jam Sandwich Book  by John Vernon Lord
• I Like Bugs (Step-Into-Reading, Step 1) by Margaret Wise Brown
• The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

Diana

© 2013

Graphics from My Cute Graphics and Microsoft.com.

Tuesday's Treasure Box: Free Apps - Collins Big Cat

Read and create simple stories with eight FREE Collins Big Cat apps by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. 


Billed to develop children’s reading and writing skills, these apps have endless possibilities for speech and language therapy sessions. Read the story, have it read to you, and create your own version of the story. The text is simple. Note that these stories were created in the U.K. so there are few vocabulary words that will need to be explained for those students using U.S. English. Click on the titles below to see more about each app.

It Was a Cold, Dark Night

Playing 

The Farmer’s Lunch

In The Garden

My Bike Ride

The Steam Train

At the Dump

Around the World

Diana

© 2013

Some clip art from Microsoft.com

Forty Fabulous Flower Activities for Speech and Language

April flew by and May flowers are here! Below, find 40 links to flower activities to use in your speech and language sessions. 

1. Grow a flower at Starfall.com. Use -ing verb endings and practice sequence vocabulary (first, next, and last). 

2. Arrange flowers at Chateau Meddybemps and practice carry-over skills. 

3. Grow a flower, keep a photo journal, and tell about the sequence. 

At SesameStreet.org 

4. Watch a flower open and close.

5. Talk about Snuffy's Magic Garden.

6. Watch this clip to plant a flower seed with Ernie.

7. Try simple craft activities at Preschool Express. 

8. Find visual supports for gardening, flowers, and spring at SET-BC.

9. Create a spring flower. Label the parts.

10. Plant artificial flowers in brown play-doh or make "dirt play dough" and put your flowers in the dirt. Use appropriate verb tense and practice position words such as next to, beside, in front and in back. 


11. Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Visit The Dynamic Duo to read how this book was used in therapy. 

12. Read and discuss Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert. 

13. Recreate the articulation garden at Simply Speech.

14. Find Category Flowers at Let's Talk Speech-Language Pathology.

15. Download the free companion activity to Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce at Teachers pay Teachers. 

16. Sort artificial flowers by size, type, or color. 

17. Make comparisons while making and / or reading a seed book. 

18. Talk about Dottie's Garden. 

Pretend play to elicit spontaneous speech, practice answering and asking questions, following directions, taking turns, making predictions, and more!
19. Flower Arranging 101 - Dollar Store Style
20. Pretend Play on a Dime - Garden Center
21. Let's Build a Flower Shop!

22. Free Printable - Spring Flower Matching Game. Use for describing or add target words. 

23. Tell the steps of growing a strawberry plant at Happy Little Farmer Lite. 

24. Plant a garden at DuckieDeck.com. Express spatial concepts, color words, and increase sentence length. 

Download books from Chapel Hill Snippets
25. Flowers Everywhere - Teach under. 
26. What's on the Flowers? - Increase sentence length. Teach is + on. 

27. Visual supports and more at Boardmaker Share. 

28. Check out Learning Vocabulary While Growing Plants at Bilingual Therapies.

29. Plant seeds and care for plants at Dora's Magical Garden. 






30. Read and discuss Flower Garden by Eve Bunting.

Play in the garden at PBS Kids.
31. George's Busy Day
32. Arthur's Groovy Garden
33. Caillou's Garden

34. and 35. Play a tulip color matching activity and expand sentences while reading the Tulip Color Classroom Reader at Make Learning Fun.

36. May Flowers File Folder Game, a blank game to use for any skill, from Little Learning Lovies. 

37. Make Crazy Speech World's flowers and add your own target words. 

38. Wonderful printables for sequencing, phonemic awareness, and retelling at Home School Creations.

39. Choose a flower and change the color, number of petals, and size at HelloFlower. Great for describing, expanding sentences, and following directions. Label the parts of the flower, talk about the concepts top, middle, and bottom, and practice verb tense. A good app for your older students. 

40. Visit Tar Heel Reader to find many books, about flowers, to print, read on-line or download to your tablet. 

Diana

© 2013

Mother's Day Activities and a FREE App

I just saw that Oceanhouse Media's app, Just Me and My Mom is FREE. I don't know how long this one will be free, but grab it! It's a perfect story for Mother's Day!

I love this book by Mercer Mayer and posted some freebies on my blog post, Mother's Day - Some last minute ideas, to use with the book. Visit my post to download comprehension questions and see other Mother's Day book ideas. Download my PowerPoint, Mom on the Go, targeting why questions and make a mini-book for your students. 

Enjoy! 

Diana

© 2013