Happy Groundhog Day!!
Groundhog Day completely snuck up on me this year! I couldn’t resist sharing this with all of you though. This is one of the cutest books for those younger EI and elementary students:
Who Will See Their Shadows This Year?
I have used this book to target receptive, expressive and pragmatic language. Even though it is a shorter book, it has some higher level vocabulary words such as: famous, causes, foggy, frustrated, awakens, etc. It is a great book to not only focus on Groundhog Day, but also animals, weather, cause and effect and nonverbal communication.
There are a variety of animals in the book including some that may not be familiar to those younger students. The animals included in this book are: a chicken, a polar bear, a camel, a dog, a pig, a buffalo, a panda, a koala, a butterfly, a lemur, a peacock, and a groundhog, which are great for expanding that vocabulary.
The types of weather included are: a rainstorm, a blizzard, a sandstorm, fog, a hurricane, sleet, hail, wind, hot, muggy, misty, and a tornado. These concepts are great to use with some of those older elementary students. Some of the activities I have completed with the weather (and older students) are expanding utterances, creating complex sentences and describing. I printed out pictures of the different types of weather and played a memory game. Sequencing and matching the animals to the weather was another, which the students loved!
Cause and effect is another topic to focus on with this book. It is a great introductory activity to this concept, because there is the same cause for every effect. For example every time an animal attempts to see its shadow, some kind of crazy weather is the result!
Finally, I have utilized the nonverbal communication for pragmatic skills. The illustrator portray excellent facial expressions with all of the animals. Check it out to see what you can find.
I also found this website as another cute resource for an expansion activity:
http://fairwindsteaching.com/?cat=63
If you have any other ideas please feel free to share them, make comments, email me (chorakslp@gmail.com) or post on my facebook page: BusyBee SLP!
Happy Groundhog’s Day!
Thanks for checking out my blog!
January Freebies
Hello again! I hope you are all keeping warm, at least if you’re in the Midwest! I’m back again this month for our freebie materials.
I recently started with a new client. She is an older woman with severe global aphasia. She has increased her receptive language skills, and is currently able to produce just a few phonemes in isolation. She is one of the most dedicated women I have ever seen and has been such an encouragement and blessing to me. Because her receptive language skills are increasing, is able to identify pictures/objects and indicate yes or no consistently through gestures and word approximations, I thought it was time for her to start using a picture communication board. Because of the amounts of progress she has made, I don’t believe that an AAC device is necessary. I started creating a few picture boards with Board Maker and then decided to do a little research to see what else was out there.
I came across an amazing website: Amy Speech and Language Therapy, Inc. I found several communication boards that I was able to use; and, they are all FREE! I ended up creating a picture communication book for my client by laminating and binding the pages together. We can also add other pages as she continues to progress. I have attached a few files of Amy’s but be sure to check out her website!
http://www.amyspeechlanguagetherapy.com/communication-boards.html
If you have any other resources for free AAC picture boards, please share them!
Thank you again for checking out my blog!
January’s Book(s) of the Month
Welcome back! I thought I would do something a little different for my book of the month this month! Because January is cold, (at least in northeast Ohio!) I thought of things that I love this time of year. One of my favorite things is to sit by the fire with a cup of hot cocoa or coffee… and what goes best with cocoa or coffee? Cookies and Donuts!
This leads us to our book of the month, well, I actually couldn’t decide on just one, so we will have two books by the same author this month!
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
AND
If You Give A Dog A Donut
I’m sure many of you have used “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie,” and love it! (This is another reason why I have chosen two books this month.) There are so many areas that can be targeted in therapy with these books. Some of the areas include:
¥ Articulation
¥ Receptive/Expressive Language
¥ Auditory Processing
¥ Phonological Awareness
¥ Pre-literacy/Literacy
¥ Fluency/Stuttering/Voice
¥ Pragmatics/Social Skills
Articulation – Target sounds can not only be produced throughout reading, but auditory discrimination can be utilized. While reading, you can incorrectly produce target phonemes and instruct students to listen and determine whether correct or not. I have also created flashcards of objects/activities completed in the books with target phonemes and put them in order or used them for memory.
Receptive/Expressive Language – Prior to reading, go through the book and have students label and/or comment on what they see. Have students ‘read’ the book to you or tell you what happens if they are unable to read. Read the story and review vocabulary, expand utterances, describe objects, have students retell the story, write sentences about things they like/don’t like from the story etc.
Auditory Processing – After reading one of the stories, have students try to remember what happened and sequence the events. If they are unable to sequence from memory, introduce picture cards. Use the books as aides as well. For example, show a student the first page of the dog eating a donut, then ask them what he needs to go with his donut. If they are unable to remember, describe the apple juice to them.
Phonological Awareness – See ideas for articulation.
Pre-Literacy/Literacy – Have students follow along, by pointing to the words while reading. Encourage students to find words, letters, or sounds they recognize. I have also used words/letters written on index cards and have had students look for them on the pages. Phonological awareness can also be tied in to pre-literacy skills. Create a special session and have older students come as ‘guests’ and read to younger students.
Fluency/Stuttering – Review strategies students use for stuttering/fluency or voice. Encourage students to utilize these strategies while reading. These are great books for practicing these strategies because the sentences and phrases are short, but can be expanded while discussing the story with older or students with more advanced skills.
Pragmatics/Social Skills – These books are fantastic for topics such as attention, maintaining topics, choosing topics others are interested in. Conversation skills can be utilized after reading, or practice turn-taking skills while reading.
There are so many activities available for free to use as supplements with both of these books. Some good supplements I have found are:
- ’The MailBox,’ teacher magazine
- Beacon Less Plan Library: http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/Lessons /Lesson.asp?ID=1130,
- Speaking of Speech: http://www.speakingofspeech.com/Literacy_Materials.html
- Hubbards Cupboard: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/if_you_give_a_mouse_a_cookie.html
- Teacher’s Land: http://teachersland.com/if-you-give-a-dog-a-donut/
- Teacher’s Notebook: http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/jmoriconi/sequencing-activity-if-you-give-a-dog-a-donut-by-laura-numeroff
Thank you for checking out my blog and come back soon!
Game of the Month – Spell It Out
Looking for a new idea for your elementary speech and language students? I’ve used this ‘game’ for the past few years with my students and they love it!
Spell It Out by Ravensburger
I’ve used this activity with pre-k through fourth grade students. What is unique about this activity is that it not only requires various cognitive and fundamental skills, but it is also incorporates a self-correcting system. It’s great for both receptive and expressive language. You can incorporate vocabulary skills for basic language, and expand it into a higher-level language activity by describing, creating sentences and/or stories about each completed ‘puzzle.’ Target phonemes can be incorporated for articulation if the game is used as a reinforcement.
Another great activity is to create a ‘guess what’ barrier game with this activity, which is ideal for groups of older students. I place some type of barrier between students and have them work to complete a puzzle and have them give clues to the other students. You can be so creative with this activity! Please feel free to share any other ideas you may have!
Thanks for checking out my blog and check back next week for the book of the month!
Goodbye 2012!
I hope you have had a fantastic year! We have accomplished so much by working with both children and adults as speech-language pathologists. I’m eager to continue working with all of my clients this upcoming year and continue growing in my professional career. I just wanted to say thank you for all of the time and hard work you put into our clients each and every day. We are making such a difference in these individuals and their families as well and I want to encourage you to keep up the good work!
At this time, I’m going to change my weekly posts to monthly posts, to dedicate as much time as possible to meet the needs of my clients. Check back soon for my latest posts and Happy New Year!!
Book Of The Week – The Best Thanksgiving Ever!
The Best Thanksgiving Ever!
By Teddy Slater / Illustrated By Ethan Long
This book represents Thanksgiving with a twist! According to Barnes and Noble, this is “a sweet story about the importance of family, being thankful, and love–as told by a family of turkeys, with a hilarious surprise at the end!” It is great for many areas of therapy including receptive and expressive language as well as pragmatic skills. It is shorter in duration with wonderful illustrations, making it ideal for elementary students. Rhyme is used throughout the story which is essential for speech, language and literacy development. The story includes a wide variety of vocabulary as well as basic concepts. It is fantastic for students to interact while reading it. The story can also represent a ‘social story’ while it gives a picture of Thanksgiving dinner for the turkeys and can be used to discuss ‘being thankful’.
Speaking of being thankful, thank you to all of you who have been reading my blog! Be sure to share it with your colleagues!
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Check back next week for updates!
Fact of the Week – Hearing Loss in Children
According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), about 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. Nine out of every 10 children who are born deaf are born to parents who can hear. Also, 1 of 5 individuals who could benefit from hearing aids actually wear them.
What does this mean for us as SLPs? These statistics are only for newborns, and the actual numbers are significantly higher due to various causes, which may include otitis media, trauma to the ear, etc. As SLPs we work with these individuals and their families on a regular basis. There are various treatment approaches for clients with hearing loss. Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) is one approach in which children with hearing impairments learn to listen, process verbal language and speak. What are techniques/therapy ideas you have used with AVT?
Check out this blog from ASHA:
I would encourage you to continue your personal research to see what new treatment approaches are coming out!
