Articulation scenes!

I purchased Articulation Scenes by Jennifer Bradley SLP a while ago and really like it!!

The things I like about this pack are:

*No prep!! All you do is print and use a bingo dabber, markers, or chipper chats! Easy!!

*Black and white!! We all know that we go through so much ink we should be buying shares in it!! *I like the fact that this is....Cheap!!

*You can send it home for homework!! Again cheap and easy!!

*You can use it for spontaneous productions. The student finds the pick and uses the word at their level. 

*For the /f/ sheet I got my kids to say "I found a ...fire, etc."

On the /th/ sheet I got the kids to use he phrase "this is a.... Or that is a..." To target voiced /th/.

At the bottom of he sheet you can write a few extra words, phrases or instructions for Mom or Dad!!

Thanks, Jennifer, for a great product!!!

Speech Seeks and Language Looks -Pirate theme

Arrrrr, Matey~!

I found a wonderful free product on TPT its a pirate themed freebie. I love that it can be used for my artic. or language kids! It is free and black and white- both things that are great for the budget!

 

Speech Seeks!
You can print this off and have your students find as many things as they can with their sound. This product targets r, s, sh, l, th, f, v, k, g, ch, and j, so many sounds! And all you need is a little imagination if it doesn't use your sound. All you need to do is use your target sound in the phrase. Using the same word over and over helps with progress and motor planning. 

 

Language Looks!

For language, you can use the sheet for vocabulary or verbs. Have the student choose the item and then use an appropriate verb that would go with that item. For example, I found a treasure a turtle that is swimming & yesterday the turtle swam. This is more difficult so you may have to help with this target but it really gets them thinking!!

Reading A-Z and Speech

Using books in Speech!

Many kids struggle with reading, specifically reading comprehension.  I wanted to know how I could help my caseload with both skills. I thought about how I could use reading a-z. Reading A-Z is a good resource because many schools use it, is is not too expensive, and it has good books that are leveled! Here are some tips to help you use reading a-z (or any reading program with leveled readers) to help with reading skills and comprehension in speech therapy.

1.  Choose a book from their level and print if off. The great part of this is you can print it in black and white and send the book home, if it gets lost, no worries! It was just paper!!

2. Read the book together!

3. Target some phonological awareness goals from the story. You can ask the beginning sounds of certain words or segment cvc words (depending on their level), blend words from the story and have the child identify what word it is. Here the grade 1`s were circling all the words that started with the /r/ sound. See my tic tac toe game in the background, I used as reinforcement at the end just to spice things up!~

 

3. Sequence the story using pictures, words or sentences. Have the child relay back to you (or partner) what happened in the story then you can use a sequence the story sheet and work on it together or in groups.
Below are some examples from grades 2-6. 

 

4. Use vocabulary from the story and talk about it. Identify any unknown words and explain them, look them up on the pc, show pictures and, if you want, you can have the students print them out and explain them to other members of the group. 

5. Send the book home! Let the student(s) take home their own copy of the book and practice reading it and explaining it to a parent or sibling at home!!
EASY PEASY!!!

If you are a member of this or another level readers program, often they have activities that accompany the book ;)


All of the activities from this post can be found here!~

Easter Games

A year ago I did a post on some cheap Easter games I found for speech therapy. Now, the ones I found are not very "language" rich but they are good for reinforcement. I found them at Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store so they are a good price. Depending on how generous you are, you can give them away as an Easter gift!!

I found Easter themed tic tac toe, connect four, and hopping bunnies!

So get out take a look and see how much you can get for $15!!!

THAAA

The THAA (Therapy Assistants Association Of Alberta) welcomes rehabilitation professionals and teaching assistants to its 9th Annual Education Conference. There will be opportunities to learn more about speech pathology treatment, phonological awareness and apraxia of speech. Of ethos of you working either adults, there will be other sessions on aphasia.

If you have any teachers assistants who provide speech therapy, or help facilitate treatment online, they may be interested in attending. It will be at the Nisku Inn on May 14th!

For more information visit 

http://thaaa.ca/

What am I?

 

I am sure if you are anything like me, many of the kids you work with have trouble with vocabulary, and especially their functional vocabulary. I made something to help with this... I find that many times the kids have trouble with common vocabulary items and have an even more difficult time describing these items. The first step is to show them how to describe these items so I made this pack. I made it  to help with identifying which item we are talking about by reading the clues and attributes of each item. 
The bingo game in this pack is designed for you to read the attributes or a description of what the item is used for and then the student covers up the item on their bingo mat! Hopefully at this point, they will have more skills to describe more items and be able to give important information about what they are talking about. 
 

 What am I describing clip cards:

Bingo Mats!

You can use these clip cards as a literacy center or speech therapy for children who are reading (or you can read to them). Make the bingo game more fun by using fun manipulative like goldfish or gummy bears. The first person with a straight line or black out wins! 

Get it while it's free!!!
If you have any questions email me at mindyopcc@gmail.com
Thanks,
Mindy

THAAA

Did you know that you can nominate your favorite, hard working SLP, OT or physio therapy assistant?
 


Please consider nominating your co-workers for one of our six award categories, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of the many TA’s in our province. The Association must receive all nominations no later than March 31, 2016. The Award Nomination Form is available on the website or email the association for a copy to be sent to you.

*Leadership Award
*Long Term Service Award
*Student Mentor Award
*Outstanding Team Practice Award
*Student Award
*Outstanding Practitioner Award
 
The AGM, Awards and Comedy night will be the evening of Friday, May 13, 2016 followed by our 9th Annual Education Day on Saturday, May 14th. Both events will be held at the Nisku Inn and Conference Centre. Consider how this could be a great getaway weekend in Edmonton, plan to be entertained and educated!
Register for both events now!

Also, if you aren't currently a member of THAAA, sign up now! Click here for more information!

St. Patrick's Day Language Scene

St. Patrick's Day
 
I really like using holidays to use as themes for speech therapy! Using themes takes some of the thinking and planning out of getting ready for therapy!

In some of my schools I provide "language rich" activities to the classrooms. 

Recently I purchased this cute activity from my friend, (although we haven't met!!) and fellow SLP-A, Allison Fors.

I really love her products. They are useful and so visually appealing! Did I mention she does clip art too? Take a look, it is nothing short of awesome!!!!!

 I used her St. Patrick's day Language scene for my grade 1 class as a following directions activity. The activity was right at the perfect level - not too easy and not too difficult! They did well and loved participating in the group activity (I did it in groups of 4).

 

I also used the other activities in the pack for one on one therapy- I used the preposition pages to target pronouns, concepts and formulating sentences. Really cute graphics and easy to use. 

Thanks, Allison Fors! I would love to meet you one day, hopefully it is on a Hawaii trip!!!

You rock!!!

Luck of the Irish....

 

Hey Everyone!

Before I start, I just want to say thank you to Kassie at Designs by Kassie for my blog makeover! Doesn't it look great? I am so happy with it and grateful for all of her hard work! She is awesome, quick and so easy to work with! Did I mention it was a great price too? Love her!!! So much gratitude for Kassie! :)

 

Anyway, back to the show... St. Patrick's day is coming up and I have a few kids who are struggling with reading so I thought I would make a home reader. In it I've included a phonological awareness activity and  a following direction sheet. Most of it is meant to do independently (except someone may need to read the directions on the following directions sheet). You can download it for free here!

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Cheers,
Mindy

Alphapalooza review

 

This is my favourite activity from the Alphapalooza Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Fun.

I really like that this activity is a little more difficult than your average phono game!

There are a lot of letter  recognition games which are great for learning phonics. I don't use them that much though... I should have looked closer because she clearly says & Phonics!  (my bad!)

I really like all the hard work she has put into this but I do agree with others on feedback when they say there are a lot of pages dedicated to letter cards which means a bit of white space... It was $8. 

Deanna Jump must be doing something right, she has sold this product over 3000 times!! My gosh!

I think she was definitely ahead of her time when it comes to resources and creativity!

Thanks, Deanna!

What games and activities do you use for phonemic awareness?

March Calendar of Language Activities

 

Hey
Do you ever struggle with carry over and homework with your student? Well look no further than my free March Calendar that promotes all things speech and language! Great ideas for parents to encourage conversation and skills at home!! 
Just click here for a free copy!!

And may the luck of the Irish be with you!
Mindy

St. Patty's Day

 

A few years ago I made this March pack for St. Patrick's Day. I recently took a look at it and changed it a bit, made it a bit prettier and added a few pages. So if you've bought it in the past re-download it for new activities!

If you are looking for something quick, easy (no prep) and cheap to do in speech look no further!

It's only 50 cents! 

It targets articulation:

& Phonemic Awareness like beginning sounds!

Letter Identification Mats

Letter Identification Mats

  

As you can see, I've been on a play-doh roll (no pun intended!). I find it keeps

my little guys hands busy and engaged! I am working with some severe kids who need to work on reading, among other things. I have a grade 4 girl who doesn't know beginning sounds, and isn't able to identify letters. I made this for her but thought maybe you could use it ;)

 

Its a cute, fun way to learn beginning sounds and phonics using real photo's.
You can print and laminate and have the students cover the correct letter (that matches the beginning sound to the picture) with Play-doh, bingo chips, or any fun manipulative you have on hand.
The vowels and y are at the end- they are not in alphabetical order.

And best of all..... they're free! For now at least....