Play2Learn is an iPhone app created by two SLPs. The app targets auditory discrimination for a variety of sounds. The app is appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers.
The app plays a sound and presents a page with 9 pictures. The client listens and selects the corresponding picture. This skill would be great for auditory discrimination, language and vocabulary skills.
The app is available in iTunes for 99 cents! The developers of Play2Learn want to give two copies to Speech Room News readers. Enter using the Rafflecopter gadget below! Goodluck!
The folks over at Primary Concepts have let me pick out another great activity to review and giveaway! Since you all loved the Articulation Box, I know you will love the next item I picked! The Vocabulary Development Center is made up of 200 miniature items in 26 categories.
Speech Language Pathologists will be able to take this organizer full of items and turn it into hundreds of language lessons! The object organizer comes with labels for 26 different categories (i.e.: pets, vegetables, clothing, etc). The 200 miniature items are perfect for vocabulary development in preschoolers and early elementary clients. Just make sure you don't have students who mouth items.
The center also include sorting mats. Four laminated mats are included (mats that sort by 2-5 categories). The items can be used to work on vocabulary, categorization and classification, basic concepts, following directions and story telling. The possibilities are endless! Using concrete items will help our delayed language learners with the vocabulary plus it makes everything more fun!
The Realia book contains ideas for using the items in language lessons! It contains lesson plans plus story mat scenes.
Check these out to give you an idea of the lesson ideas! This activity focuses on temporal concepts (first, next, etc).
This example includes ideas and items to use for object/function activities. Also a great way to target verbs! I plan on making copies of these for my parents to keep on the fridge each week! A great way to remind them to be deliberate in how they play with their language delayed children. Of course we can use these items to target articulation as well! A list is included so you can run through the items and pick out the desired sounds!
The Vocabulary Development Center is currently listed for $189.00 on the Primary Concepts website. The very good news is that Primary Concepts is going to give the product to one lucky Speech Room News follower! Enter via the rafflecopter gadget below!
Phrase Stress is an app created by Artel Larson. The app focuses on using idioms. Idioms are a skill that's so important in the speech room!
When it's time to face the music and get back to school, doing it with new apps is the only way to go.
PhraseStress includes 350 idioms. SLPs can select the speed, difficulty and use the app to instruct and practice. The 'stress' factor in the name of the app comes from the speed at which your students are working. As your students become for fluent and experienced with the idioms they should be able to complete more questions in the allotted time!
Three play options are available. (a) See an Idiom: pick the right explanation. (b) See Idiom Explained: you pick the right idiom (c) Idiom Missing Word: You pick the right word.
This is the set up screen for SLPs!
My 5th graders are uber competitive, so having their name on the leader board is very exciting! Artel Larson is excited to give SLPs 3 copies of this app! Just enter using rafflecopter below! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Are you excited? College football starts this weekend! The Buckeye fans in Ohio certainly are ready for some football fun! Do you live in a city full of football fans?
I have a super cute and super fun freebie to share with you today. Megan Exner, MA, CCC-SLP is sharing her freebie Down the Field with us!
Down the Field is a reinforcer that you can use with students working on fluency, articulation, language and more! The game is played on this football field.
Students divide into teams and start in their respective end zone! Use the small football players or footballs as markers for each team.
On each turn players pick one of the play cards shown above. Read the card and determine where to move your game piece! If you draw a field goal, you earn 3 points! Once you make it to the opposite end zone, you earn 6 points.
After you score your touchdown, draw one of the extra point cards and determine if you kicked for one point, or went for two! Head back to your starting position after you score.
Keep playing until time is up! Use the scoreboard to keep score (laminate and write with a dry erase marker!) Reuse the play cards as you need them!
How cute is that?! You can grab it totally FREE thanks to Megan, at my TPT store! GO Bucks!
Next up in the SpeechRoomNews Candy Land series is Candy Land Phonology! This download is made with the preschool crowd in mind. The cards focus on final consonant deletion, mutlisyllabic words, stopping, fronting and cluster reduction. There is also a bonus set of articulation cards for /p/, /b/ and /m/ (sounds I use a ton with the preschool aged clients!) Each set of cards focuses on these phonological processes using picture stimuli.
Each game set comes with the cover sheet! This is what I put in the front of each ziplock inside my Candy Land game!
The double cards contain minimal pairs for the given phonological process. For example, these cards target final consonant deletion. The minimal pairs are: Tie/Time, Bee/Bean, Pea/Peach. The single cards each contain a words for practice.
Words lists are included for most processes in order to help SLP's identify the correct target words.
In addition to the 5 phonological processes included, a bonus game for the sounds /p/, /b/ and /m/ is included! I have used these sounds frequently for my preschoolers and wanted you to have them available! Initial /b/ cards are shown above.
The multisyllabic words range from 2-5 syllables as pictured above.
The special games cards are also included with each game, for and older and newer versions of Candy Land. The document is 66 pages in length!
I wanted to share two super simple ways I use mini pocket charts. You can find these in the Target Dollar Spot, at Michael's clearance aisle or any teacher store.
This week was the last week I saw my summer clients at clinic so I wanted to have a 'fun day.' First we played tic-tac-toe. I used articulation cards and printed x's and o's to cover them with. Grab the copy of the X and O sheet here.
We also used my Hot Potato game! First I filled the pocket chart with articulation cards. Then we turned on the Hot Potato! Once we caught him on our turn we each read 3 cards and pulled them out, then tossed the potato! Lots of giggles came from this one!
The circus is in town! Last week I asked what you would want in your next SRN download. A few of you mentioned negatives. That's when I came up with the Never Ever Circus! When my client and I played, we actually called it the Never Ever Ever Ever EVER circus :) We started by brainstorming items we would never see at the circus. Then we made a list of vocabulary words we knew for the circus. As we played the card game we continued to add words!
Each player starts with a big top circus tent! The tent is surrounded by negative words that are to be used to fill in the blanks on the playing cards!
Game play is done using cards such as the ones above! The students fill in the blank with the correct negative.
Just watch out for the elephant, who might knock down your big top!
The other game gives a sentence where the student needs to add the negative contraction to the helping verb!
There are also two posters included in the packet. One talks about negatives and the other items give information about negative contractions.
Also included in the download are writing prompts. They provide opportunities to practice writing sentences using the negatives!
You can find all these in a packet on TPT. I hope you find it useful! Leave a comment if you download it!
My low tech AAC devices are some of my most used therapy tools in the preschool population. They provide great support for all kids and can be used to make language lessons more interactive. In my class I have had many one and two switch items but I was excited to use a new item with a few more options. This is exactly what I found when I was given the Talk Bar to test out from Learning Resources.
The Talk Bar is a 6 button electronic device. Each button can record 10 seconds of audio.
What I love: The buttons are big - so my kids with poor motor control can easily operate it! The record function is easy to work. The power button slides between play/record/off. This will make it great to leave in classrooms where paraprofessionals and teachers can easily change out recordings without needed assistance. The other positive I see for the Talk Bar, is that it's will be perfect for story sequencing. I can't wait to have the kids work out sequences and then have them record each part. So many of my little guys can sequence pictures but can't verbalize those steps.
What I don't love: It's bulky. Although the unit it light, it is long and can't be easily thrown in my work back to move from building to building. I don't think it will replace my iPad for those traveling days.
So here's how I used it so far this summer! I brought out my client's favorite game: Don't Break the Ice. On my iPad I opened Custom Boards and made inserts for the game (ice, hammer, help, my turn, your turn.) Then I programmed the Talk Bar. We used it to play the game. My client clicked on the appropriate picture and then he attempted to repeat the phrase himself.
The other uses are pretty much endless! Following directions, AAC, sequencing, games, story creation, and more. You can even mount it to the wall (it comes with predrilled holes!)
The Talk Bar retails for $59.99. Learning Resources is going to give one reader their very own Talk Bar! Enter via rafflecopter below.
Disclosure Statement: Learning Resources provided two free products. One for review and one for a giveaway winner. No other compensation was provided. Opinions listed are only mine.
This week I did a guest post for my blogging friend Katie over at Playing With Words 365. Many of you email to ask how I create materials. Here's a little bit about my process!
One of my favorite parts of being a speech language pathologist is that it allows me to combine different things I love to do into one job. I love problem solving, working with people, and crafting. The way I channel those ‘crafting’ instincts into therapy are with home made therapy materials. If you follow my blog,SpeechRoomNews, you have no doubt seen these activities! They vary from remade toss-across andrepurposed Tide bottles to printable games.
When Katie mentioned doing a guest post about making treatment activities I thought that would help answer some of the frequent questions I get asked! So here’s the answer to that question… “How did you make that?”
The truth is…you can make great printable activities without anything fancy. Yes, those nice photo editing and graphics programs are on my wish list, but you can really do it with out them!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Welcome to My Speech Room!
Wait, it's mid August already? Wait, school starts on Monday? Although I can't quite believe it... it's Back To School time! I thought I'd show you my room and give you a freebie to get things started off on the right foot!
I went into my school a few times this week to work on getting myself organized! When I showed up I got some super news... I get my room all to myself this year! I'll miss my friend, but am SO excited to have the whole space. So my week started a little like this...
....unpacking everything! We have to have everything packed so that the custodians can move it out to clean over the summer. So with the help of my amazing custodians and secretary I moved out my friends desk and swapped my table for a kidney table.
I added my Chicka Chicka Tree and yellow letters saying "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in the Speech Room." I also added some of my most common artic sounds to the tree! Will there be enough room?!
My coconuts have areas of speech treatment on them. My groups and I always have a conversation about all the things we work on in speech. This especially helps those who aren't working on their 'speech' explain that I also help with fluency, language, etc.
This my the view from sitting behind the kidney table.
On our first day back I plan to have my kids fill out this sheet. We will talk about what they are working on in speech. For the articulation students we can tie in the talk about letters/sounds from the book. We will tape these sheet to the wall for a bit. At the beginning of each session, I'll ask the students: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, What are you practicing in the speech room?" Once they can independently verbalize that their goals are I will send the sheets home.
I also made some blank Chicka Chicka Boom Boom therapy cards. I left them blank so you can add whatever learning targets you want to them! I wrote categories on my set to review with one of my groups!
I had some Target finds I just HAD to share with you today!
First off, check out these sneaker pads! They have plain white paper inside! Aren't they a PERFECT complement to my In Your Shoes pragmatic language game?
I'm going to use them to have kids write their thoughts before sharing their answers for the shoe prompts! I found them in the party supply aisle.
The other great find you'll want to pick up are these Angry Bird Coloring Books found in the Dollar Spot. For a buck - they are perfect for therapy! Just ignore these terrible iPhone pics!
Check out some of the pages. This sheet has the kids identify the way each bird or pig is feeling based on the faces they're making.
Some more great pictures for discussing pragmatics!
This page has conversation bubbles!
You'll also find some great idioms and figurative language!
Plus you can use the other pages for Therapy Activities. Check out the link to refresh your memory about how I use them!
Have you scored any Target deals for back to school?
