Our year floated by!

My friend Kait Stevenson shared such a great craft for St. Patrick's Day. When I saw her this month she showed me her latest creation which was adorable!

For the end of the year, Kait decorated her hallway with these butterflies! She used hand prints to make the butterflies! You can work on any goal and write them on the fingers! Thanks for sharing Kait!

Articulation Box

This month the UPS guy and I have become really good buddies. He has been visiting my front door a lot, bringing therapy materials to test out and review for you! Today I've got something fun, that you might not have seen before!

The Articulation Box is made my Primary Concepts. They provided me with a copy of this item to review. They also gave me a copy for one lucky reader!

The Articulation Box contains 130 miniature objects targeting early developing speech sounds.

The objects are divided into initial, medial and final positions for the following sounds: /b,p,d,f,g,h,ng,k,l,m,n,j).  

The Pros: Tangible items are significantly more fun than articulation flashcards! The uses for these items are pretty much endless! This week I worked with a client working on getting bilabial lip closure for /b/. I put all the /b/ items into the sand bucket (from Target dollar spot!) and let her use the shovel to select items. I think we will stick them into my Ned's Head game next!

The Cons: If I had to chance to made additions to this item it would be increasing the number of sounds. These sounds are ideal for preschool populations, but I would love to see the addition of other sounds. In the meantime I've been collecting little items to make my own /r/ and /s/ boxes! I used some of the items in this box that were labeled for other sounds ie: took 'peas, pants, pencil' out of the /p/ bag into my /s/ bag for now!

Luckily the product comes with a sheet detailing the items for each sound and in each position. That makes it easy to find sounds you need. It also helped me go through and pull out multi-syllabic words quickly for a child! The possibilities are endless!

The Articulation Box sells currently listed for $69.00. Primary Concepts is going to give one of you a copy for free!! Just enter below!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

CandyLand Articulation

Candy Land is an old favorite of mine. It's just perfect for our non-readers. I can use it in diverse groups and kids are usually familiar with it! During last school year Rachel Arro from Albertville, MN, sent me a set of cards she had made to use with Candy Land for the initial /r/ position! I had also seen Mel's version for sight words and other literacy goal on her TPT store via pinterest! These ladies sparked my creativity!

With some extra time on my hands I decided to make a full set of articulation cards to accompany Candy Land. The card games are broken into different game sets. These include (1) S blends, (2) vocalic /r/, (3) /k/, /g/ and /f/ (4) /s/ /z/ and /l/ and (5) /sh/ /ch/ and /th/. I tried to group them into developmental levels based on my own students. You can mix and match the games as needed.

The cards contain look a like cards with either one square or two containing a target sound in single words. You can increase the complexity of the task by using sentences as appropriate. They also include the 6 special cards.

Each game comes with a title page. I recommend you put them into plastic bags and store them in your game box!

The 6 special cards match my version of the game. There are tons of version of CandyLand, but your kids should be able to make the connections.

The regular cards feature each sound mentioned in both the initial and final position.

You can grab these downloads all in one place on my TPT store! Let me know if you love them or not! If you like them I will make some language based versions!

Just in case you're the only SLP without Candy Land in your closet, you can grab it below using the amazon affiliate link!

 

Pop for Blends Review & Giveaway

Pop for Blends is a new game from Learning Resources. Some of the most fun games aren't created directly for SLP's but can easily be adapted from 'reading/writing' games into articultion games! Learning Resources provided me with copy of the game, but the opinions in this review are strictly mine.

The game in it's original form targets begining blends and digraphs. Students are given a spinner and popcorn kernals. They take turns drawing popcorn pieces from the popcorn box, saying as many words as indicated on the spinner. For example if they spin 3 and draw 'bl', they could say 'blue, blanket, black.' Students keep correct cards and seperate 'un-popped' cards (ones they can't complete!) If they draw a 'POP!" card - all their kernals go back into the box!

To use this activity with articulation clients, I first sorted the kernals. I sorted into Sblends, L blends, R blends and 'other.' The 'other' category included digraphs (sh, th, wh) and some other blends (ie: tw). Now I can easily create a game by only selecting certain sounds. For my student this week we played with just S blends and L blends. If I was working with older students working on the /r/ sound, I could use the R blends with the digraphs added as foils.

Pop for Blends retails for $9.99  but Learning Resources wants to give one reader their own copy for free! Just enter in the rafflecopter below. I will select a winner on Monday! Goodluck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ice Cream Monsters App Review

Last week I gave you a free download for a following directions ice cream download game! This week I'm sharing some sweet treats in app form! Ice Cream Monsters is a new app from Erik Raj.

This book app focuses on diversity and acceptance. Great activities for working on social skills with our little ones!

You'll love the graphics and interactive screens. The book uses repetitive phrases to help teach your youngsters!

Check is out in the app store here. You can find out about Erik's upcoming app at his website! Erik wants to give three of you a copy of his app! Just enter below! Goodluck! I'll pick a winner on Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Olympics

I have always loved the Olympics! While the Winter Olympics are fun, the Summer Olympics are my total favorite! So when some of you suggested them for my latest download I got right to work!

My TPT store has these two new items. The first download contains 4 different language tasks. The first activity is a Multiple Meaning Words activity. It names provides one word and the students need to provide a definition or use the word in two different sentences.

The second card game is a WH question activity. Students need to correctly read and answer the WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN questions to keep their card!

The next game is a synonym game for upper elementary aged students. The students must match the synonyms (ie: achieve/accomplish).

The grammar game included is focused on irregular verbs. Student need to match the girl and boy for each verb.

Each of the card games above comes with a set of medals. If a student draws a medal they earn extra turns depending on the rank of the medal.

The second download is a game that can be used with ANY set of flashcards. I used them with articulation cards, language cards and sight word cards! The game includes cards for 7 different sports. Each sport has a  boy and girl set of gold/silver/bronze metal winners. Place the cards face up in rows across the table. Cover each card with a face-down flashcard. 

As students uncover each card, they must complete the learning task correctly to earn the sport card. If they earn the card, they place it on their podium. At the end of the game, they earn points based on the number of medals they have won. 

Both of these downloads can be found in my TPT store. Thanks for supporting Speech Room News! 

Space Unit

Today Karen Parden is sharing another guest with us! You might remember Karen from her guest post about Elf of the Shelf! Take it away Karen!

Space Unit

I have always loved space and studying about the heavens. Living in Huntsville, AL, I can’t ask for a better city for delving into all things space and astronomy. I have visited the US Space and Rocket Center many, many times and I attended Space Camp when I was in 5^thgrade.  But, that wasn’t enough for me. For one of the best summers of my life, I was aSpace Academy Counselor.

I have an abundance of resources about space exploration and astronomy, but I’ve pulled together a few for you to use in speech class. Since this unit is heavy on books, the worksheets will be brief and easy to complete in a short amount of time. Your students will be so excited to read and books and look at the pictures, you are bound to get some great speech and language opportunities!

Books I recommend:

Dogs in Space by Nancy Coffelt

I recommend this for the younger grades.  You can download my book unit that goes with this book here.

The Universe from Scholastic

I recommend this for the younger grades as well. It is a really neat book with transparent pages that overlay pictures and has wonderful facts and history in it.

Destination: Space by Seymour Simon

This book I would recommend for older grades. It is heavy on facts, history, and trivia regarding all things space.

Galaxies by Seymour Simon

Again, this book is for older grades. It is a fascinating book with beautiful pictures that would be great for descriptive language.

Stars & Planets from Discoveries books

This book is an in-between book, perhaps for 2-5 grades.  It covers constellations and planets.

For therapy, I use these books mostly for language instruction. We ask a lot of –wh question sets and use a lot of reading concepts (main idea, sequencing the story, gaining information from facts). 

Homework pages that correlate with each book:

Dogs in Space

The Universe

Destination: Space

Galaxies

Stars & Planets

Hope this information is useful for you in your speech therapy and language activities! Please visit my blog at http://listeningtobeautifulspeech.blogspot.com/ for more resources regarding auditory-verbal therapy, speech therapy, language therapy, and technology.

Ice Cream Conditional Directions

 Can it already be the middle of June?! Hopefully you are using this time for some relaxation! I am spending a lot of time relaxing, but spent some time this week to make you a new download! 

This game provides a fun way to practice following conditional directions. Students draw a card that gives a direction. If they complete the action correctly, they keep their card on the truck. 

If they draw a sun card, they must give all their snacks back!

The conditional directions included are all one step. I've also included blank cards so that you can customize it!




ENJOY! Grab the Freebie over at my TPT Store!

S'more Speech & Language Activities

My first week of summer has been amazing. A weekend at the beach was exactly what I needed. Now I'm back to the grind. I wasn't ready to get back to work - but hopefully the summer will go slow and we can soak up the sun! I made some downloads this week. They are themed around the campfire! I just love s'mores! Grab the freebie and consider purchasing the other items!

S'more Articulation is a FREE game for students practicing the sounds /r/, /th/, /l/ and /s/.

S'more Grammar Games includes a game for both irregular plurals and irregular verb tenses. Each game is themed with the campfire and s'more themes.

 In the irregular verbs game, students create sentences for irregular past, present and future tense of verbs. They must collect all three to make a s'more! 

The irregular plural games is played using a campfire for each student. They take turns drawing marshmallows on a stick. Each stick names the singular form and students need to create a sentence for the plural form.

This download includes 24 cards of s'more themes category cards. Each card includes one category. Students need to name members of that category in order to complete the task.
The download also includes a page of blank cards, allowing you to customize the activity for your students.




Grab the free download as well as the grammar and category download in my TPT store! Thanks for supporting Speech Room News!

Articulation Scenes App Review & Giveaway!

Smarty Ears is the techy SLP's best friend! They've created another wonderful app to spice up your articulation therapy with their new app Articulation Scenes. Smarty Ears shared a code for me and one for a lucky SRN follower! The opinions in this review are mine.

Articulation Scenes is an app designed to target 1200 practice words using 72 scenes. The app provides opportunities to target articulation targets without the flashcard feel of most apps!

 Based on scenes, Articulation Scenes provides numerous opportunities for children to pronounce their sounds more clearly. The therapist can enter student's information in order to collect data over time. Once a student's information is entered the app prompts the therapist to select a consonant sound [ p, m , h, w, n, b, d, y, t, k , g, ng, f, ch, j , l , r, v, s, z, sh, th] to target.

There is one scene per sound per position. One of favorite elements is the attention to the /r/ phoneme. Instead of just one post vocalic scene there is one scene per each separate type of /r/ : [ pre-vocalic, blends, air, ar, ear, ire, or, rl ]. Can we all just give a sigh of relief!? Those vocalic /r/ sounds are so needed for my caseload!

Each scene contains 4 separate activities:

1.Find the hidden items: Allows children the opportunities to listen to targeted words and find them on each scene.
2.Tap and say it: Children tap on the items on the scene, which are isolated allowing the therapist to track and monitor their productions.
3.The movie theater: Children get the opportunity to listen to a story using the target words.
4.The production room: This is the activity that allows children to either create their own stories, record them and continue to practice

The app includes data tracking capabilities and a rewards shelf for each child. The developers have also added homework sheets containing the words included on each scene that can be sent home for further practice.  This could be a huge timesaver for you!

The app is focused on articulation, but can easily be used to simultaneously target language skills. Syntax can easily be targeted in the labeling activity by using sentences. The movie theater and production room are great for language skills including organization, narration and syntax. Target inferences by giving clues for the item you want them to find and say. Target fluency skills during both reading and spontaneous generation of sentences.

Limitations:
The app can only be used with one student at time and only with one sound at a time. Not ideal if you're looking for an app for larger therapy groups. I used carrier phrases to get around this limitation of the app. The other feature I would change with the app deals with ease of movement in the app. Once you click on an activity (ie: Tap & Say It), there is no feature to go back the activity selection page. You must start from the home page. I would love if updates allowed therapist to more quickly move from one activity to another for the same sound with a child.

Sounds great right?! I am so excited to be giving away a copy of this great app! The app is currently for sale for $34.99 but will be regularly priced at $49.99.  Enter the rafflecopter below! Goodluck! I will pick a winner Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Artic Chipper Chat Review

 Let's face it. Therapy materials are an expensive necessity. I bet many of you (like me) have a tiny materials budget. When Super Duper let me pick an item to review - I tried to pick something that could give you the most bang for your buck. If your a newbie building up your therapy materials closet I think you'll love Artic Chipper Chat. Chipper chat (I'm sure you already know!) is a game played with a magnetic wand and magnetic bingo chips. The boards contain scenes loaded with sounds. Players add chips as they find targeted pictures. When they fill their board they clear it with the magnetic wand!

Here's why I think it's so flexible:


-The app targets 12 sounds (with 450 cards). You can use the cards that come with the kit for any other game in your cabinet (Candy Land, Connect 4, etc.) If you're just starting out and don't own that awesome set of articulation cards yet - this can help you get by until you do!
- The magnet wand is like a magic wand. The kids will work for 15 minutes during a game just for one chance to pick up their chips
-You can use it very simply with preschoolers (find the rose picture) or with more complexity (name a flower that rhymes with nose) for your older students.
- There are 5 game boards for each sounds. Amazing for groups!

Artic Chipper Chat isn't just for articulation! Ways to target language include:


-Compare/contrast: draw two cards and name similarities and differences
-Vocabulary - label the word, give a definition, name the category, name the function
-Attributes: use 3 adjectives to describe your word
-Simple analogies - ie: a monkey eats a banana. A rabbit eats a ____.
-Phonemic Awareness - rhyming skills
-Auditory processing - give verbal directions for which item to locate.
-Social skills - turn taking, sharing information
-Grammar - sentence structure/plurals/verb forms/conjunctions


You can target many objectives with this one item! You know that's my #1 requirement before I recommend something to you!  Have you used Artic Chipper Chat?




The materials to complete this review were provided by Super Duper Inc, but all opinions are solely mine. No other compensation was offered for this review.

Expedition with Plurals App & Giveaway

The Expedition with Plurals app was released May 30, 2012 by The Virtual Speech Center. The app was developed for children with language impairments in grammar skills. The app targets both regular and irregular plurals in both receptive and expressive language tasks.

First add your students into the program. Select the students who will participate this session. For each student, select the type of activity is most appropriate for their learning objectives. Select from auditory bombardment, picture identification, fill-in, sentence creation as well as a memory game. I have found the sentence creation to be the most used part of this app. My students do well with receptive tasks, but struggle to carryover those skills into the expressive tasks. The sentence creation portion provides a picture and asks the student to create a sentence to describe the scene. The app allows students to create an audio recording. This feature is great for teaching self monitoring.  Therapists can select either all regular plurals, all irregular plurals, or mixed. Individual word targets can be selected as well.

The app is easy to use. Therapists can select multiple activity types creating flexibility within sessions. Data collection can be set to auto-scoring for certain tasks throughout. I appreciate that the therapists can select alternate counts for multiple students. It allows for multiple trials before passing the ipad to the next student in the group setting! Data results are saved within the ipad. They can be emailed with ease.

While the creating sentences was my favorite app feature, the memory game was my students' favorites.The memory game shows pictures of items in singular and plural forms. The students could say a sentence for each card they flipped.

Considerations before purchasing: The app provides limited flexibility. You can work on general sentence generation with syntax goals, but the app limits the activities you can work on in groups. Therapists won't find this app something they can use with every student all day long. It's likely best suited for those who work with kids preschool - second grade. The app is currently $9.99. I told the great developers over at The Virtual Speech Center how much you guys LOVE giveaways. So they threw a giveaway! They want to give 3 lucky people a copy of the Expedition with Plurals app! Just head over to their website to enter!