Parent Handout

Well that time of year is here!!! You made it!!! Maybe barely :) but you did!
We don't want all of our hard work to be for nothing so lets get some free handouts for parents to keep the language going during the summer! 

You can use this hand out to give parents ideas on how to increase language during the summer!

Young children learn best through play- which means a summer full of learning opportunities! This packet is geared toward preschoolers and includes family friendly summer activities.


5 Learning through Play Activity Sheets

Beach, Camping, Park, Bubbles, and balls!

Each of the handouts features a different summer activity or ideas for a certain spot (like camping).

No prep- just print and send home with your preschoolers at the end of you treatment session!

Association Match Ups!

 

You can use these mats as a fun way to improve vocabulary in the classroom as a center or as a simple and fun activity in Speech Therapy!
Print, Laminate and cut only cut apart pages 3 and 9 leave the other pages as mats! If you have time (and energy!), you can use velcro too!
Use the mats for a center activity and put all of the pieces (pages 3 & 9) in the middle of the table.
Have the students choose the correct pieces for their mats and explain why they go together. For some of the questions there is more than one correct answer- accept any answer as long as they can properly justify it.
**There is 1 picture that includes a Canadian twenty dollar bill, Canadian quarter and penny. Although they are the Canadian version, they are still applicable for Americans as the bill is green. :)

Visuals for Preschoolers

 

When working with little guys, we need to help them understand routine, and what is about to happen.

First off: why visuals?


When children can see how ideas are connected, they realize how information can be grouped and organized. With visual learning, new concepts are more thoroughly and quickly understood when they are linked to prior knowledge.

Visuals help students understand and therefore, can more easily understand and retains information. Research tells us that the majority of students in a regular classroom need to see information to learn it. These strategies help students or all ages better manage learning objectives and achieve academic success. ... Paired with the brain's capacity for using
images, visual learning strategies help students better understand and retain information. The following are reasons as to why visual communication is essential. It is easier to process a visual signal quickly than to read a sentence of a paragraph full of text. ... Research shows that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than texts.

Using visuals with preschoolers and children with disabilities is a great place to start.

I recently purchased these Visuals, Cue cards, and I love them.


Using visuals is great for rules and expectations for the classroom and at centres, the bathroom, and another classroom etiquette.



    First - Then activities- for very simple/basic instructions.  To encourage and reward cooperation with this simple technique for helping students complete a required activity before moving on to a preferred activity.

Play To Learn Preschool has somce visuals that you can use in the classroom for expectations, centers and for a first- then visual schedule. I really like them but they are many different options available on TPT.

  

There are even some pictures that can be used at home :)

Tools for Kids

For all of my Albertan friends, I found a cool business that sells OT products. Now if you work with kids, you know that I like to incorporate OT in my Speech sessions. I have found so many interactive and engaging ways to use Mat Mat in preschool! You can talk about body parts, what they are used for, sounds, and the concepts of the pieces... Opportunities are endless.

Then we have Learning Without Tears- you can introduce the artic sound that the child is working on, then to use it in different ways you can have them make it with play-doh, writing it with the chalkboard, crayons, build it with the wooden pieces and use the stamp and see. I absolutely love that you can use so many multisensory activities that will keep the little guys involved!

 

 

Tools for Kids is a cost-effective way to get the LWT materials quickly and easily, especially if you live in Alberta.  

In their words- "Occupational Therapy Products at Tools For Kids Inc!

Tools for Kids Inc. is a home-based business supplying pediatric Occupational Therapy products in Canada. As Occupational Therapists in Canada, we know of the limitations for buying our “tools” locally and we hope to make that more convenient for therapists, parents, educational staff and all those involved with children who have special needs.
Tools For Kids Inc. carries some of the most popular lines of pediatric O.T. supplies, including Handwriting Without Tears®, Alert Program® and PDP products. We also carry those small items such as pencil grips, oral motor products, adapted scissors and hand fidgets.
As Occupational Therapists, we know that there are times when a child needs special tools to learn a skill or participate in an activity with their peers. Learning and participating in school should be fun and easy! Specialized scissors that spring open and require less muscle control can make the difference between having an adult precut an art project and a student being able to cut it out by themselves. Hand fidgets and wiggle cushions can help many children get to that just right speed to learn and listen. These tools should be easy to access for everyone."

Camping Theme

 

Kids love the camping theme!

I  love a dramatic theme for the kids to encourage free play and language skills.

Here are some of the toys I use to go with my theme!