Love it & List It Behaviour Management

Love it and List it!

Time for another Love it & List it hosted by Jenna at The Speech Room News.

This month.....

Behavior Management

The part we all love, right! NOT! Just kidding. If you're therapy kids are anything like mine then you don't really have many problems but every now and then.... the you know what really hits the fan.

I am pretty lucky, like I said, most of the kids like participating in speech, love coming, and love to do the work.  But there are those times when you have to "lay the law down", so to speak. Now keep in mind- in our area children with severe needs have their own aide so we don't provide speech therapy to them, their aide does it. I know we do have it a bit easier in that regard. But this is what I do...

1. My iPad - even when we do speech related games they love using it. I tell them "OK lets do this work then we can have a game on the iPad"- sometimes I pick the game- sometimes I let them. Even if the game is Angry Birds for a few minutes. I use this for behavior because if they don't want to follow the rules then they are not able to have iPad time. This works almost 99% of the time for me- even if the game is them working on their aritc. goals on the iPad. I have occasionally heard, I just want to play the iPad, and my response is "you don't get paid before you do the work!" lol! This has always worked for me.

2. My Treat Bucket- If I don't have the iPad I tell the kids "we are going to do these activities and if you have tried really hard then I will let you pick anything you want from the treat bucket." If they don't participate, or act goofy I will give them one warning and then I tell them no treat.  I am always very clear, you were doing this  or not doing that, and you've lost the privilege of choosing something from the treat bucket. They may not like it but boy do they remember. I have heard before "if I don't do the work I can't get something from the bucket, right Mindy?!" Yip, you said it! :) It is a little bit difficult sticking to your guns on this one, but you only have to do it one time and they never forget.

 

3. Empower the kids- Let them be in control- as much as possible. I don't like to dictate everything, I really want the kids to feel in control and have them practice making decisions. I am not big on the control thing (I hope!!!) I think I am pretty easy going during the sessions. The kids can sit on the chair, or stand, their choice.  When the session starts I  put the activities on the table and let them choose which one we do and in which order. I let them choose if they want to play a game at the end or get a treat from the bucket. When an opportunity arises for a decision to be made and it can be made by the kid(s), I always take advantage and let them choose even when I am in control of the choices. This really helps my sessions to run more smoothly. They buy into the activities because they have had some input and say into what was happening and in what order it happens.
Don't forget- I also take Sensory needs into consideration. When kids are misbehaving there may be a reason that you are not aware of. Some of the kids have a hard time focusing, and staying still. When they keep getting up and moving around remember it may have  nothing to do with you or the session, it might be them.  I like to have little fidget toys ready in case they need them.  This is why I allow them to sit, or stand,  let them move around (when it is possible) and change activities. 

My kids playing games 

doing some "speech therapy"

These are my kids trying out some of my speech resources. 

I buy stuff and try it out on them! :)

 

And hey, while were here don't forget about my giveaway!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cheers, 

Mindy

My New Verb Activity Giveaway!

My New Verb Package teaches verbs in past, present and future tense and it covers regular and irregular verbs. This pack also contains printing and reading practice!
Enter for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Speachy Feeback Linky Party

"Speachy Feedback Linky Party!"

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter!!!
Thank you Nicole!

 

 

I received some nice feedback for my Kindergarten Center.

I made it because I wanted a practical resource for teachers to use and something that all children would benefit from. For every month I have an activity and then I made a homework page to send home so that the kids could practice their skills at home for carry over and understanding. This particular product is from Sept- December but you can buy the entire package too!

  

I love "go to" activities that I can use over and over with a variety of students. I agree that the areas you targeted will correlate with many of the language goals I am covering. Thank you for creating this!

Thanks for the feedback and email me for a free product!

My email
creatingcommunicators@hotmail.com

Thanks!!

Cheers, 

Mindy

Good Friday!

It's not Good Friday, it's a GREAT Friday!

I hope you are all enjoying your day off and spending some time with your loved ones!
To celebrate I am having a 50% off sale on all of my items on Teachers Notebook.  Teachers Notebook is also having a sale of 10% of everything so that is a grand total of 60% off everything! 

 

Check it out!

Enjoy your day!

Monster Trucks

Hey everyone

I noticed I didn't have many "boyish" products so I purchased some cute monster truck clip art and thought what can I make that I need. A lot of my kids need to work on beginning and ending sounds, and diagraphs sh, th, and ch.

Here is the activity- monster truck sort. The kids choose a card and then  decide if the sound is at the  beginning  of the word or at the end. There are 3 different vehicles and each represents a different sound, you put the card on the corresponding vehicle. Depending on where the sound is in the word depends on where you put the card on the car- beginning or end.  You can also use these cards for articulation practice.

These are pictures of one of the kids working on it. We were working on artic. practice and he is at the sentence level. He was using the sentence- the "sh word" is in the monster truck. He did really well, and loved the trucks!

Until next time, 

Happy Easter weekend!

Mindy

Going with the flow......

Rolling with the punches!!

There I am all ready to go... I've got my activities and games all planned then wouldn't you know one of the kids throws a wrench in my plans. The first kid I go to get says I want to show you my ponies. And, being the flexible person I am, I say "sure go grab them."

Now here I am with a kid who has severe expressive language delay and doesn't want to play any of my games. So what did I do? Let me tell you.

* First of all she loves the ponies so she wants to talk about them- yay buy in!

* Next of all I get her to line them up and she tells me about them-their names, their picture, who is friends and why...awesome, she's talking.... A LOT!

* Then I get her to start sorting them- by colors, likes, dislikes, families,  and friends (because I don't have a clue about these ponies).

* Then I line them up and get her to tell me who is first, last, next, second...etc!

And there we go a quick little activity that targeted her goals in a way she liked and was very functional for her. 

This girl gave a little reminder- I need to be flexible and not always in "control." She got just as much, if not more, out of her activity than out of mine. 

Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches!!!

BTW- after we finished I did get her to do one of "my" activities which she was happy to do.

Cheers, 

Mindy

Giveaway!

Check out my new Giveaway! 

Its my new Spring Speech and Language Package. It has some great activities for pronouns, possessives, phonemic awareness, and following directions. Plus it is only $1.00 today! All of my product on TN are 50% off!

And don't forget about my FREE Calendar of Activities!

What Goes Together?

I just recently purchased a neat item from Lakeshore Learning. I totally love it!
It's called the Early Language Concept Kit- What Goes Together?


I love it because its something different and new (so do the kids)! I also used it to tackle more than just the vocabulary goal.

Here are some ideas I have of how to use it!

Phonological Awareness- have the kids choose an item out of the bag and then tell  the beginning and ending sounds and then have them segment the word into all of its sounds. b-a-t.

Phonemic Awareness
* You have them come up with a word that rhymes with the item
* have the kids clap out the syllables of the word. 


Language
*Verb tenses. I would use an action word and have them come up with the present, past and future tense. For example I would say z mouse eats cheese. 
Now he is......, yesterday he....tomorrow he......?

*Formulating sentences- choose an item out of the bag and have the child use that word in a sentence.

 *Wh Questions- have the child choose an item from the bag and you ask a question. Where does it live, where do you find it, what do you do with it...etc.

*Plurals- have them choose an item and then name the plural of that item. 1 mouse or 2 mice. 

*vocabulary- find a few "like" items and have the child name the category or attributes of the category.  For example the car and the train are both vehicles/transportation or the flippers and the fish are both things that go in water.

*Associations- and finally the intention it was used for. I have the kids match up the items and then have them explain why they go together. A mouse and cheese go together because mice eat cheese.

Do you have any ideas on how I could use this? Comment below.

Until next time, 
Cheers!
Mindy

Awesome Parenting Resources

When it comes to parenting I need all the help I can get! I have an 8 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. Boy, is it tough! I juggle work, kids, homework, parenting, my spouse, housework, etc. Sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed, and I wonder am I missing the boat on any of  this? I am always interested about learning more on parenting, behavior, recipes, development, and more! It occurred to me that it is impossible to know everything there is too know about kids, family, parenting, speech and language skills, behavior and everything else that goes along with the hardest job on the planet! So I thought why don't I put out a few online resources that are available for parents!

 Here are some pics of my peeps!

Here is my list of useful information- parent's style!

1. Healthy Parents, Healthy Children- The Early Years- This is an online book submitted from Alberta Health Services. It includes everything from feeding, health, brain development, and even how to choose the right child care provider from birth to age 5. I really like this resource. It is printable and you can use some of the printable exercises to discuss different topics with your spouse or do on your own.

2. Talk Box- This is also an online resource for parent to check and see what skills their child should have in regards to speech and language skills. There is also information on how to use specific toys to increase language, monthly activities and Good times with games (how to use games to increase language for older children).  You can look up your child's age and see specifically what skills your child should have! Easy and useful for all parents- especially if you are wondering if your child achieving their developmental milestones.

3. Kids Health- this is another resources that covers everything from speech, language to recipes, growth and development. There is a section for parents, kids and teens. Everything you need to know about kids.

Do you have any online resources that you always refer to or refer parents to? Tell me what it is in the comments section below.

Let's go Camping!!

This is a really cute and useful pronoun game that I found on TPT. It is called Pronoun Fun with Ranger Rick & Susie. It is from the Dabbling Speechie. It is simple to use, simple to print, cut out and laminate, and simple for the kids to understand. You can use it for possessives too! I love simple!!! You can use it with a camping theme or not. 

 Thank you The Dabbling Speechie!

Here are some of my camping theme items:

Camping book:

Camping for Language:

 If you click like on my Facebook fan page and leave your email- I will send you Camper, Camper for free! 
Do it now!!

Thanks!
Cheers,
Mindy

Creating Communicators Free downloads!

Creating Communicators Free downloads!: Fans can get exclusive downloads from Creating Communicators. Come and get yours!

My favourite games!!

I love games!  Picking a few fun games can make the sessions more fun and entertaining. I will choose a game for the day and after my "kid" has worked on their goals we will have a quick game. The great thing about games is you can use them with any kid for any goal. 

The first of my fave games is Pizza Pile Up. This is a cool balancing game. To play, you roll the die then which ever piece of food you get you put it on the pizza without tipping the pizza.  There are pictures of cheese, mushroom, pepperoni, or tomato on the die, and a chef (your choice) or all 4 of the pieces at one time. For therapy you can let them have a turn after they have said 5 words/phrases that target their sound or language goal. You can turn this goal into its own language activity by having the child target

Pronouns- he has cheese

Possessives- the cheese is his

Is verbing- he is lifting/carrying/holding cheese.

My other favorite, trusty,  game is Alfredo Food Fight!

To play, you take a meatball put it on the fork catapult and fling it to the cooks board which is made of Velcro. The meatball has string spaghetti attached so it will stick to the chefs board. Basically the same idea, the kids can have a turn after they have practiced their goal. Again, you can use it for any speech or language goal.