Early Intervention

I talk to so many teachers, preschool teachers, daycare worker and others who don't know speech-language therapy principles. Harsh, but true! Now I am not trying to be mean or critical, but many people I work with have very high, unrealistic expectations for our little guys.

 

First off, we need structure. You need to lay out routines, explain expectations, rules and basically show them the ropes. They need to know what to expect. The more time you spend on this at the beginning of the year, the smoother your class will run! Visuals are a great way to introduce and carry out this goal throughout the year.

Second of all attention span! Some people are expecting 4-year-olds to sit for as long as 20 minutes to practice printing! UGH!! NO! This is not what they should be doing! They need to play, play, play! And if you do want them to practice printing, use fun, hands-on activities that will engage them. Like writing in sand, using a little chalkboard, paints, beads, pom-poms, Q-tips, and foam paint. FUN, make it fun! Then it won't seem like work. They are happy, and so are you!

  
"A normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child's age. Therefore, a 2-year-old should be able to concentrate on a particular task for at least 6 minutes, and a child entering kindergarten should be able to concentrate for at least 15 minutes." according to https://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/library/pediatric_health/pa-hhgbeh_attention/


Last, of all, we need to know how to speak and interact with children that will encourage language development. Many times, as educators, we talk to our children in "testing" manner. "Where is it, what does it do, where do we go, etc.?" Instead of asking questions, make statements. This takes the pressure of the child and the expectation of a right/wrong answer. A good tip is to make 3 comments for every question you ask.


I made an Early Intervention pack that I will be giving to all of the Educators I work with. I am hoping they ready. If you think it would be helpful for anyone you work with, or yourself, you can take a look at it in my TPT store. It is a growing bundle. I have information for educators, and BUS Preschool Activities in it and I will be adding 3 more preschool themes. Its a steal at $5 - soon it will be $20 so grab it now!

 

In this pack are ways to encourage language through play with toys!

 If you are interested in the Preschool Theme, you can find it here!

 

 

Visuals

Check out a few quick videos on how to use visuals!

Tap the Sounds

  

  

Many students I work with (even in grade 5!) have trouble with segmenting words. 

I made this fun activity that you can use to:

• segment words
• identify beginning sounds
• identify ending sounds
• write CVC words

They can practice these skills using fun hands-on activities with blocks, cubes, pom poms, play-doh, crayons, beads, chips, mini erasers.

and bingo dabbers. 

There are worksheets for independent work or group work, and there are also mats so that you can turn this activity into a center. 

I have over 80 task cards that include 2-4 sounds and diagraphs.

Speech Trinkets-Freebie

If you are in the speech world, you probably have heard of Etsy! I love their clip art and all the other little gadgets they have for speech. 

Recently there has been a craze for speech trinkets. I bought my first pack, so I decided to make a freebie to go along with it. 

  

Here is a sneak peek

Need Something for Mixed Groups?

Try out my new TIC TAC MATS

These Tic Tac mats are an excellent game for speech therapy that targets many goals. 

You can use them to target 

*turn-taking

*social skills 

*wh questions

*verbs

*sequencing

*phonological awareness- including rhyming, syllables, segmenting, identification of phonemes and blending.

*concepts

*vocabulary

*multiple meaning words

They can be used in small groups or one on one therapy. Once the student has worked on it, you can send it for homework for extra practice!

It's only $1 for a few days then it will be $2.50!

 

Don't Forget- SLP Summit!

Don't forget to sign up for some SLP Summit courses 
        

Don't forget to sign up for some free courses!

Go... Now! I am :)

Respect

2019 is  agreat way to introduce social skills, respect or a sub unit for

 Growth Mindset. 

I found this freebie from Proud to Be Primary

 

This Showing Respect FREEBIE is perfect for when you teach your students about respect and the different ways they can show themselves, others, and their school respect! It has 3 pages of printable activities to go along with your social responsibility and character education lessons!

Shhh! I've got an idea Jan2019

Every month, near the beginning of the month, I am going to do a blog post on shhh! I've got an idea for you. It will give you an idea for therapy or the classroom that features a paid or free item that you can use. Hopefully, you haven't thought of before, and you find it useful.

This is my first post- January 2019! I wanted to start with a bang!

So this month I am going to post 3 free products!

Here is an adorable freebie from Sparklle SLP for carrier phrases. I also use thought about using it for articulation practice. You can use it for phrases and sentences using any sounds that the kids are targeting. 

For example, You can use 

She for the initial /sh/ sounds or

do you like- for initial /l/.

Check it out!! 

  




Another Freebie I have for you is from my store. Now we all know that language skills can start at home. If parents do a few, key things it can make a big impact on our kids. This freebie is for ideas for parents on how they can turn winter activities into language opportunities.  





And the last freebie is a great freebie for special ed or kids who have behavior problems. It's from Ann Murray- Teaching Exceptional Kinders. Now this book is not only for kinders but any age up to grade 4 depending on your student. I like this because it may stop a problem before it starts. 






Hope to see you back in February!

Mindy