MaGic BeaNs MaDneSS

At the beginning of the year, my number of targets were relatively low. I wasn't sure if my activities weren't producing enough responses or I was letting the kids distract me too much. Either way, I knew I needed to reassess some things. Back to ol' trusty Pinterest for some awesome ideas! I discovered an incredibly SIMPLE.. seriously--It's so simple that I wasn't sure how it would go over--game! The name is "Magic Beans" (aka Pinto beans in a Dixie cup). Have I mentioned that I just LOVE Heard in Speech's blog?? Here is where I got the idea... http://heardinspeech.weebly.com/1/post/2012/04/magical-beans.html

Basically, the jest of the game is this: I pick up a handful of beans. If you get a target correct, a "magic bean" goes in the "Great" cup. If a target still needs some work, a "magic bean" goes in the "Needs Work" cup. At the end of the session, every 10 beans in the "Great" cup is worth 1 sticker. The "Needs Work" cup is just a reminder. If they self correct after I put a bean in the "Needs Work" cup, I give them a bean in the "Great" cup. Making this a competition always provides a little extra incentive! This will go on for the next 2 weeks. (I may need to reorganize their stickers! But for now, they were just so excited to decorate their side, I couldn't tell them to put them in a straight line!)

After DAY 1.....

510 CORRECT TARGETS!!!!! I was able to elicit well over 100 targets/session.. even with sentences! I was close to 150-160 with most that were at the word level. It also provides a great opportunity for auditory discrimination between what needs work and what sounds great!

Easy Breezy!

The Pirate Who Couldn't Say Arrrr!

I just absolutely LOVE a good children's book! I think literacy is incredibly important for so many different reasons, so I love any way I can incorporate a good book into therapy!

I worked this summer on creating some new therapy materials and ended up stumbling upon this book online... The Pirate Who Couldn't Say Arrrr!

Since "R" (and particularly the dreaded... VOCALIC "R") are so difficult for a large number of children on my caseload, I thought I would order the book. I can't give this book enough thumbs up! "Red Legs Lamar" even reminds the kids of the techniques we have been learning!

Angie Neal did a GREAT job! Check it out...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pirate-Who-Couldnt-Arrr/dp/1617777269
Angie Neal's site

Recast Challenge!

How important is it that parents are involved in therapy??

Let me answer that question for you..... VERY!

I am challenging my parents to take part in a recast challenge! (Particularly my kindergarten parents)

For one week for 30 minutes/ day, I am asking them to recast their child's sentences that contain incorrect productions. For example, if their child has a frontal lisp and says, "Thee the thee-thaw over by the thlide?" The parent would say, "Yes, I See the See Saw over by the Slide," placing emphasis on the S sounds.

Such a simple task can go a long way with a lot of kids! This also takes out the element of correcting every utterance they produce incorrectly.

Will you challenge your parents with the Recast Challenge??

Here is a list I came up with of other ways parents can help their children at home with their articulation:

Batter Up: R(un), S(lide), L(ine drive)!

Some boys want to be too "grown up" to play a lot of the games that I use with most Kindergarten and First graders. Cindy Meester has a link to this game that has LOTS of target R, S, and L sounds as well as vocabulary! With just a little bit of time cutting and laminating...we were ready to PLAY BALL!  Her directions are so easy! Such a fun game for your sports lovers who can sometimes just be "too cool" :)

Here is the link:
Batter Up

Common Core Craziness

Well, as a new SLP, I have discovered that teachers follow standards that I did not know about.. Common Core. It's not something they tell you about in grad school. I was SO lost my first day of work!

One of my goals for the year was to incorporate as much as I can from the classroom- even if their ruling is articulation. Thus... I have to learn more about Common Core! I have been collecting a few resources! (p.s. there are some awesome therapists out there who have made these resources available!)

So.. here they are:

Common Core Online Resources
Crazy Speech World Common Core
Miss Thrifty SLP:Common Core for Kindergarten
Miss Thrifty SLP: Common Core for 1st Grade
Miss Thrifty SLP: Common Core for 2nd Grade
Miss Thrifty SLP: Common Core for 3rd Grade
Miss Thrifty SLP: Common Core for 4th Grade
Miss Thrifty SLP: Common Core for 5th Grade
Common Core App

Hope these help!

Adventures of Mr. MIGHTY MOUTH!

I found an old mouth in the closet at the county office before school started. No one claimed it.. so I picked it up and brought it to my classroom. I had a specific child in mind. I try to use multiple types of cues with him so I thought I would let him show me where Mr. Mighty Mouth's tongue would go to make certain sounds. Turns out... most every child on my caseload has fallen in LOVE with Mr. Mighty Mouth! It is specifically helpful with children who use a retroflex r.

The funniest thing is the hard work the children have put in... thanks to Mr. Mighty Mouth! I don't know if you can see in the picture, but Mr. Mighty Mouth comes with a toothbrush (which I thought nothing about). A lot of my kids have begged to brush his teeth. Please please please please! So.. I have figured out that stickers or trips to the treasure chest are not the best reinforcement for a lot of my children. What is? A good brushing for Mr. Mighty Mouth so he can "freshen up" the next time he comes to visit!

**One child even asked if Mr. Mighty Mouth could take a turn in the activity we were doing that day. My reply? Sure- if you say his sounds for him! He was so excited about saying Mr. Mighty Mouth's targets! (Mr. Mighty Mouth just happened to have the same goals as that student! ;) )

Bowl Away!

The infamous bowling during therapy usually consists of taping words or sounds to the bottom of the pins. Whichever pins are knocked over are the words/sounds the student must say. Since I have too many kids on caseload and need this game to be a little more versatile, I let the kids bowl. However many pins they knock over is how many target productions they must make. Since I only have Kindergarten and 1st graders, they are still at the age that they want to knock over all 10 pins even if it means a little more work!

(I found the bowling pins on clearance at Wal-Mart, so a $3 therapy game that the kids want to play more than once is always a plus!)

Artic Tower Success!

Of course.. another Pinterest find! (How did weddings, babies, therapy, LIFE function before Pinterest?)

I have seen this idea used in multiple ways on Pinterest. Due to the large majority of my caseload being Arctic, I adapted my idea from Sublime Speech's Blog. 

I require 3 target productions to earn 1 Dixie cup! It's a great way to increase productions! 

This tower... 108 production! Awesome for boys who love constructing things! And the reward if you build it AND don't complain about working on your target productions?? You get to blow it over and Mrs. Powell has to pick it up! Lucky for the teachers beside me... they are paper cups instead of blocks and don't make much noise tumbling over! 

Awesome Parent Handouts

It is so hard to find good handouts for parents!

heardinspeech.weebly.com is an awesome site!

She has several great things, but my favorites are her artic handouts! She has created handouts for /s/, /sh/, /ch/, /k/, /l/, /th/! I am definitely going to keep check to see if she has more!

S Handout
CH Handout
K Handout
L Handout
SH Handout
TH Handout

Post-It Party!

So I bet you're wondering... what's the worst part of being a school-based SLP??

So I'll just be honest... SCHEDULING! Hands down. Terrible.

I knew there HAD to be someone out there smarter than me! There had to be a better method! And thanks to my Pinterest and blog addiction since becoming a school based SLP... THERE WAS!!

A POST-IT PARTY! GENIUS!
(Huge thank you to http://slpity.blogspot.com/2012/08/schedules.html for making my life much less stressful!)

So what's a Post-It party you ask? Well, I put all of my "groups" and all of my "individuals" on Post-it notes. So...If the group was seen 2x/week, they had two Post-its. If an individual was seen 4x/week, he/she had four Post-its.

I put envelopes in all the teachers boxes full of Post-its with their kids' names on them. (If a group had kids from different classes, I gave one teacher the Post-it and wrote on the note telling them which teacher to collaborate with.)

I then sent out the e-mail invite for the next Monday at 2:30 (gave them plenty of time to get rid of their kiddos and regroup!) The buzzing in the halls began....

I fixed a blank poster board up for my schedule. The TEACHERS were going to make my schedule for me! WHEW! The worst part of my job wasn't even my job any more!

The word in the hall was that certain teachers were coming early. So, I sent out an e-mail on that Monday and told them that I would let them come in at 2:20, but not a minute before. At 2:05, I had 10 teachers begging to come in! (Not sure if they REALLY wanted their time slots or if they homemade pound cake and cookies I brought for the Post-It party were that enticing!)

I stuck to my guns, and at 2:20- they burst through the door! The product...

My schedule was COMPLETE!  Since I am serving the kindergarten and 1st grade, I already have a whole list of initial assessments in the works, so I made room for the kids will be getting services starting in the next week or so! Ahhhhh.... time to work on more fun activities for therapy!