50% off sale & Another Giveaway!

I am in the Christmas mood! My shop on Teachers Notebook is having a 50% off sale this week.

Check it out!

Plus I've added a new product to my shop! It is all of my Christmas products in 1 for the low price of $4.00 and if you buy it during my sale it will be 

$2.00

Articulation

Speech is a big part of what we do, and some think it's the only thing we do. In the beginning of my life as a SLP-Assistant I would lug around bags of cards. I don't do that anymore! I hated carrying all those cards and then searching through it for the right deck. Sometimes you would 3 decks for 1 sound - initial, medial, and final! Too many cards! 

Now I just bring 1 binder! I use my chipper chat pages to divide the sounds and then have a few extras  at the beginning for any other sounds.

This is what it looks like!

Let me know how you organize your articulation resources.

Cheers, Mindy

Giveaway!

Happy Friday everyone!     Quick, enter my give away before it ends!

 My SHOP

Targeting Speech Over Christmas

Hi!
I have heard it, and I am sure you have too...Often times parents tell me that they don't have much time to work on speech after a busy day. I get that! I am a parent of 2, I work full time and have a commute time of up to 1 hour one way. Lets face it, we are all busy! And if you say to a parent I have one more thing you need to squeeze in everyday, they may be ready to freak out! I know sometimes I am on the verge of an OVERLOAD! But when the steam stops pouring out of their ears and their face has turned back to its original shade, I have some tips that you can share with the parents you work with, or your own child, to practice some speech- over Christmas break, or anytime.  We all know that the key to attaining speech goals is practise, practise, practise.  

How Can I Make Speech Part of My Day?

Getting Dressed

•  Have your child say one or more sound/word/sentence for each item of clothing they put on (ex: put on your shirt and say “sun using your good /s/ sound.”)

• Hide picture cards in clothing items for your child to find as they get dressed (ex: in the sock, under the coat)

Preparing and Eating Meals

• Keep picture cards on the fridge with magnets to practice with your child as you prepare the meal.

•  Put picture cards on your child’s plate and have them practice with you as you prepare the meal and serve their meal.

•  Hide picture cards under items on the table and have them say the name on the card when that item is used (ie: hide a card under the cup, each time your child takes a drink say the name on the card) OR hide cards around the house and have them find the cards using the  word or phrase "I found a ___"

• Have your child help to think of all the words they can with their sound in them (ex: video, van, vampire, violin)

Driving in the Car

• Spot your sound in the environment (ex: car that has your sound /k/, library has an /l/)

• I spy items that start with your child’s sound (ex: I spy with my little eye something that starts with “f”. It’s a fountain”

•  Make up a silly sound story (ex: This is a story about Gabi.  Gabi is a goose.  Gabi goose loves to go)

•  Describe one of your child’s words and have them guess which one it is (ex: it’s long and white and you use it to tie things, it’s a string!)
• Let them use the iPad- there are many apps that target articulation check some of them out and have your child say 25 words while you are driving home, waiting to take their siblings  to dance, in the Dr.'s office, etc. (Webber Photo Artic Castle, Articulation Games & Articulation Station are some of my faves!)
  
  
   

Shopping

• point out items that start with your child’s sound (ex: soup starts with “s”, cereal starts with “s”).

• Rhyme items in your cart with your child’s sound (ex: eggs/beggs, milk/bilk, bread/head

Taking a Bath

•  Sing a silly sound song or tell a silly sound story (ex: tune of row row row your boat – Show Show Show your ship, show your ship to sheep, shop for shoes and shakes and shawls, show your ship to sheep)
• Have your child draw pictures of some their articulation words on the side of the tub and then let them repeat the words 4 or 5 times.
• With erasable crayons or paint, write some of your child's articulation words on the side of the tub and have them clean them off each time they say them correctly.

Getting Ready for Bed

• Say your cards once before bed

• While you read your child’s bedtime story focus on words that include your child’s sound(ex: Papa bear said “Someone’s been sitting in my (pause) chair? What word starts with “ch”? Wait...chair.  Yes chair, that has your sound at the beginning of that word.
• While you are reading a book have your child clap once for each word that has their sound in it- they will then have to repeat the word back to you. (Be Patient- this will take longer).

•  Paperclip picture cards to the pages of your child’s bedtime story.  As you turn to that page have your child say the name on the card.

check out these links for articulation resources.

CC Resources
Mommy Speech Therapy

Happy Holidays
Mindy
:)
 
 

Free for 24hrs only!

Hey 
Happy Sunday!
So today I am putting my new literacy package on for free! Today only!

Download it and rate it (I am always looking to improve) and follow my shop! Check out my Facebook page! Enjoy! :)
Thanks!
Cheers, 
Mindy

Video conferencing vs Services On Site

Hey Guys! Happy Saturday!
Ok, today I am touching on a hot topic for me and hopefully for you too, video conferencing. 

First a little about me and C.C.
Creating Communicators is a speech language consultation business that I started 5 years ago to provide speech and language services to schools on aboriginal land. It occurred to me that there is a huge gap in services to schools on aboriginal land and I wanted to fill that gap because historically children at those schools can be at the greatest risk for speech and language issues, poor attendance, and poor academic skills.
I am not a speech pathologist but I am a speech consultant. What a speech consultant does is they go into schools who require services and  provide materials for speech therapy and help teach staff how to carry out the treatment plans of their students.  A speech consultant can also go into classrooms and do activities on grammar, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, etc that students need help with. When in the class it also is a modelling opportunity for teachers to continue building on. All of this is under the supervision of a Registered Speech Language Pathologist. With my business I work with my favorite speech path- ShawnaLee Jessiman! She is the speech pathologist Creating Communicators hires to do all of our assessments, treatment plans, progress reports and supervision. Back to me- I have a rehabilitation diploma and a speech therapy assistant diploma through Grant MacEwan University. In addition to that I have been working as a speech assistant with Alberta Health Service for 11+ years. ShawnaLee Jessiman, who finished her doctorate in education this past February,  is a wealth of knowledge and a great registered speech pathologist with more than 20 years experience!

 Now let me give you a little background on our area. I live in rural, northern Alberta. The only services provided to most schools is through Alberta Health services, with the exception of Reserve Schools. Alberta health services has a wait time and although they are "free" they have limited number of staff. Through AHS you have receive services on their schedule and on their timeline.  So often times, schools contract out their own services privately. Schools on aboriginal land A.K.A reserve schools, do not receive services from Alberta health services but rater they have to contract their own private services. In our neck of the woods we serve a large and diverse area which can be hard to access in the winter months. Many schools have been contracting services through a speech business which provides services via video conference. To be clear, Creating Communicators does NOT provide speech services through video conference. I do understand why some business provide services via VC but remember just because it is an option doesn't  mean it is the only option, or even the best one! 

My views on VC.

Benefits of VC

• cost effective - no travel time
• they can hire staff from other areas
• can provide services to rural areas in a cost effective manner

Downside of VC

• not a natural communication style, missed and misinterpretation of social skills and social cues and no eye contact. Assessing communication styles is the backbone of what we do!
• you miss a lot of the children's behaviors, and communication through vc which can result in missed opportunities for diagnosis
• you find more conclusive results through face to face interaction and get a better "feel" of the clients/students when you are able to see them in classroom and face to face settings
• children and adults may have anxiety about being on vc
• video conference equipment is expensive and all sites have to have reliable and compatible software
• even with a good connection there is a slight delay- which can hinder communication. In my opinion there is a lot of interrupting and uncomfortable pauses.

In my opinion, especially when providing speech services there is no substitute for face to face communication, especially when that is what we are doing, providing communication models and support on communication style! I do understand why some business provide services via vc but just remember it is NOT the only option available and should only be considered if all other services are not accessible!

Cheers, 
Mindy

My New Christmas Product!

Hey Happy Thursday!
I really have to say I am looking forward to the weekend! I am tired and really looking forward to a rest! Like that ever happens with 2 kids, a full time job, a business, a blog, a website, etc! But I will stop complaining and let you know I am forcing myself to rest.

I made a new product for Christmas! Its the Christmas Literacy Book. It is great for beginning readers and focuses on beginning sounds, ending sounds, segmenting sounds, syllables, printing practice and coloring pages. I hope you can take a look, it is in my shop and in my store for only $2.50!

Check it out!

Cheers!
Enjoy your weekend!
Mindy