Spot It Jr.! for Speech and Language Therapy

Spot It Jr.! Animals is a cute and simple game from Blue Orange Games.  It is made for students ages 4yr+ and 2-6 students can play at a time. Blue Orange Games' website states that this game targets visual perception, focus, and reaction time. However, I believe it can be used to target so much more! Let me tell you how this game can be used to target speech and language skills!  One great perk you will notice immediately, is that this game is quick and easy to teach your students to play (saving lots of time for therapy)! Also, there are 5 different ways to play! The basic idea for all of the games is that your students need to find the matching animal between two cards (there is only one matching animal between any 2 cards).

Speech:  There are a couple of ways to use this game to practice articulation.

• Use this game for your students who are working on /s/ blends.  Every time the students sees a match, instead of saying the animal name, have them say "spot it." This allows for lots of practice on that /sp/ blend! It also, allows you to practice it in more of a natural environment as it is a part of the game.
• It is also a great game to add to your list of games to use as a general therapy reinforcer by having your students practice their speech word/sentence prior to taking their turn. Each turn goes by fast so you get lots of trials in!
• Spot It Jr.! also lets you see how articulation skills are carrying over into spontaneous speech. 

Language: Spot It Jr.! lets you target vocabulary, categories, 'wh' questions, adjectives, and sentence formation! Your students can work on each of these areas using the animal in the match they spotted. Let's take it one by one...

• Vocabulary, Categories: This game allows children to develop their vocabulary. Each card has colorful pictures of various animals.  If they see a match, they say the name of the animals that match. You can also have your student state the specific category the animal belongs in (pet, zoo animal, ocean animal, etc.) after they have spotted the match. 
• "Wh" Questions: Ask your students questions where the animals live, what they look like, how they move, etc.
• Adjectives: Talk about what the animal looks like using various adjectives
• Sentence Formation: Have your students repeat or create a sentence using the animal name. 

All of this in 1 affordable and tiny tin (which is great if you are a traveling SLP)! If you do not have Spot It Jr.!, it is a great addition to your therapy toolbox! My students loved it!

*Parents, as always, please consult with a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. 

Language & Literacy (and Speech too!)

One of the easiest and most beneficial ways to help your child can be found in one object...a book!  Reading books with your child has numerous educational benefits even in the world of speech and language development. In fact, a book is often my 'go to' item in many therapy sessions and is a great way to practice at home! With summer just around the corner, I wanted to share some simple ideas that you can do while you are reading with your child to encourage the development of their speech and language skills.

Speech Sound Development: There are many ways to practice speech sounds while reading! A few quick ideas are listed below. Please reference our post on articulation development and check out Mommy's Speech Therapy's website and document regarding the process of articulation therapy. It is important to be practicing at your child's level.*

Also, one of our fellow speech bloggers over at Consonantly Speaking made practicing speech sounds while reading a little easier!  She compiled a resource that groups books by speech sounds! Be sure to check it out, it is  free! Books to Work on Articulation Sounds. 

Language Development: There are many opportunities to encourage your child's language development while reading. Here are just a few quick tips! *

I hope this gives you some great ideas to start working on speech and language skills while reading with your child!

*As always, please consult with a certified speech-language pathologist prior to implementing. 

Happy Better Hearing & Speech Month!

May is "Better Hearing and Speech Month!!!

I wanted to share with you all of the exciting things we are doing to celebrate "Better Hearing and Speech Month" (BHSM)!



My students and I are thinking of lots of ways to use better speech! This week we talked about how water can help our voices. I work with the little kiddos - we keep it basic:) I brought in water bottles and taped these handouts on them. (These handouts were made by Jenna Williams and I found the idea on Speech Room News.) Then, the speech students delivered it to their teacher. It's a great way to get both staff and students involved and raise awareness. And who doesn't love a bottled water on a hot day?! :)



Next, my students earned a celebration for all of their hard work and GREEN behavior - to learn more about how the students earned this party and my classroom management system, check out this post: Classroom Management in Speech Therapy. I threw 2 pizza parties, about 15 speech kids/party. We listened to music, played games, and of course ate lots of pizza!

 

 

 

Lastly, check out our store! There is sale going on today - 20% off! Also, "Like" our Facebook page and click on Free Downloads a new freebie! We will be changing this weekly!

 

Happy Hearing and Speech Month! How are you celebrating??



Writing Social Stories

Social stories are a wonderful tool to help teach ALL students about social skills. They can can be used to teach expectations, teach new skills,  as well as prevent behaviors. Additionally, social stories are a great way to reduce anxiety and prepare your students BEFORE new situations occur. These stories allow for improved understanding of events and expectations, allowing you to be proactive and not reactive :)
  

Social stories are meant to be brief and descriptive. Here are a few tips to remember when writing social stories:

 
• Do not assume your student already knows something. Provide background information and describe explicitly what you would like the student to expect and/or do.
• Use 1st person language (I, me , my). The story should be written from the student's perspective. For very young students, you may want to use their proper name to begin with ("Jake will..."). To transition away from using proper names, always start a story with "My name is ________" and then use "I" statements.
• Pick only one behavior or skill to focus on at a time.
• Remember to be positive and state what you do want to the student to do vs. what you do not want them to do. (write "Mikey will keep his hands to his own body" rather than "Mikey will not hit friends").
• Read the story often even if your student has learned the new skill/behavior. 
• Share the story with the team (teachers, parents, papa-educators, and any other team members).
• Use visuals - photos and drawings are great to use!
• Be careful with the words (especially verbs) you use. Remember our students can be very literal. (write "Chloe will sleep at night" rather than "Chloe will fall asleep).

Here is an example of a social story I wrote to help one of my student's complete their work during writing workshop:

Sammy’s Quality Work

My name is Sammy. I am a smart girl. At school, it is important that I try my very best. I will make sure I use good quality work. Good Quality Work means:

•  I write my name at the top of my paper. 
•  I stand or sit by my table. 
•  I use a level ___ voice. 
• I (draw/write) with details.  
• I will turn in my work. 

It is okay if I need help. I may ask _______ for help if I need it. If I use good quality work, I will earn center time! If I do not use good quality work, I will not be able to play at centers. My mom, dad, and teacher are proud of me when I do my best quality work!

I hope you found these helpful! I have written a ton of social stories - so please let me know if you are in need of any help!

Summer Countdown!

The countdown until summer is on! Last week in my Young Fives group we made this fun and cute craft. As each student said their target word, they added a link to our chain. They were so excited to see how long it was.... me, not quite as excited :) This is a great visual for our younger students as we talk about the school year wrapping up!

Celebrate Autism!

April is Autism Awareness Month!

We would like to share some of the things we do to celebrate Autism at our school!

1st Annual Celebrate Autism Walk!

We are inviting our community to come out and show their support for all of our families that are affected by Autism in our community's 1st annual Celebrate Autism Walk! This is a family event and I am so excited my friends and family will be participating:)  It is a short walk (1/2 mile) that will end with a pizza party and prizes. We have over 300 people participating, all who helped raise $$ for our local Autism Society. It is so exciting to see how many people want to come out and support our our students and families.

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the walk! It was a cold day - but a huge success! We were blown away by the overwhelming support the community gave our students! Altogether there were over 20 teams, 300+ walkers, and lots of $$ raised!

Hallway Display

Look at this creative display one of our classrooms made! I LOVE this!! The classroom teacher is adding an Autism related fact/day to it. She also made these adorable pins for every staff member. She is one of the AMAZING teachers who work with our students with Autism. She walked around the school with her students handing these out. Have I mentioned how awesome my co-workers are?!

This is the hallway poster I made. I also surrounded it with facts.

 

Facts included information about prevelance, signs, meaning of the puzzle peices, etc. Email me if you would like specifics :)

 

I was also lucky enough to visit Chicago and see the beautiful blue lights.

Want to see more photos from cities "lighting it up"? Click here

 



How do you Celebrate Autism at your school?

Spring into Speech Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Spring into Speech" Blog Hop! 



We are so excited to participate in this awesome blog hop!
You have the oppotunity to win Teachers pay Teachers Gift Cards

 ... & download 17 amazing freebies along the way!

 

How to Enter:

• You must decode a secret message.

• In order to decode the message, you will need to visit each of the 17 blogs and find the hidden letters located somewhere in the blog post. You can find the list of participating blogs at the bottom of this post.

• Each blog you visit will also be offering a FREEBIE for you to download!   

• At the last blog, you will be asked to type in the secret code. You are then entered to win some TpT cash!

• The contest will run from April 9, 2013 - April 15, 2013.  

Prizes

1st place: $50 gift card to TpT

2nd place: $30 gift card to TpT

3rd place: $20 gift card to TpT

A Freebie from Us to You

We are so honored to be a part of such a wonderful blogging community! Speak Listen Play has allowed us to connect with so many amazing SLPs, teachers, and parents. Thank you to everyone who helps our blog! We would love for you to take a moment to "Like" us on Facebook!

I LOVE baseball (Go Tigers & Cubbies!) and made this game to celebrate baseball season! It was designed to be an open ended game when targeting multiple goals in a small group. This baseball game is sure to be a "home-run" with your students and is a perfect way to help you get through the home stretch of your school year! Click below to grab this freebie:

Batter-Up-Speech!

Now back to the blog hop... Here are your clues!

Hop on over to the next fabulous blog:

Have fun and enjoy blog hopping with us!

Participating blogs