ASHA Leader Blurb

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was mentioned in this month's issue of the ASHA Leader! I've always wanted to be published - now maybe I can cross that off my bucket list. I guess the writers over at ASHA liked my post about the Story Champion Chart.  Thanks to Katie at Playing with Words 365 for hosting me on her popular and exceptional blog and allowing me to get a little recognition.

In my original post, I write all about how I make the chart, but I wasn't able to post the PDFs for it.  So I will go ahead and do that now - all the images were obtained from Microsoft Word and I'm pretty sure they are all on their website so I shouldn't be breaking any copyright laws.....Just click on the words and it will take you to a google doc where you can save or print!

1) Large Symbols (for teaching)
2) Small Symbols (print two - one for each flap on the book)
3) Trophy Image 

Check back soon for more ideas on how to teach narratives!

Referral Tracking Sheet

Did you know that I recently got a new job?  I work at a fantastic charter school one day a week.  I love the schedule, the environment, and all the people I work with.  I get to work with another SLP there, although we can't work on the same day since we share a small office space.  It works out pretty well but we are getting totally SLAMMED with referrals.  It's great that the teachers are so on top of it, but we found ourselves needing to get really organized.  No sense in having to brief each other on everything on a day when one of us doesn't work.  Thus my referral tracking sheet was born.  I figured if we can use it, maybe somebody else can!  Enjoy!

What is a Narrative?

Hey friends! Guess what?  I will be featured in a guest post tomorrow at Playing With Words 365! This is exciting news for a few reasons.  A) Because it has been a LONG time coming.  It's a little humorous how long it's been in the works.  We just ran into all sorts of small glitches that kept putting it off longer. B) It's exciting because that website rocks!!  Seriously I can't say enough good things about Katie - she is so smart and so clever.  C) It's about narratives!  We don't see that much info out there about the importance of narratives and how to teach them.  So check it out tomorrow and learn a thing or two.  Pick up some cute freebies too!

What Your 3 Year Old Should Be Doing

Right now I am working with a darling little boy who is turning 3 in a few weeks.  It's almost been 6 months since we first started doing therapy together and that means it's time to do some new language testing and see where he stands with hearing, language, and speech milestones.  As you can imagine, little kiddos change SO MUCH in a very short time so it's important to be constantly monitoring progress.  Every session should be diagnostic in nature, so no test results should be much of a surprise, but it's good to get a broad overview and look at standard scores, etc.  I made a little chart here of Speech/Language Milestones that should be reached between the ages of 2 and 3.  Just thought I would share it with you! Just click on the image to open, save, and print!


PS For all you moms who are like "What in the heck are phonological processes?" Never fear!  I will be doing a series on all things related to Phonological Processes very soon.  Be excited!

Preschool Matching Activity: Pets

Today I am taking my 3 year old to the pet store.  What a great place to use language!  Pets is always a fun theme for younger children.  Talk about the similarities and differences between each pet.  What do they sound like?  What do they eat?  What do they like to do?  Do you have any pets at home?  Here is a little activity I came up with.  Since most younger children can't read, it ends up being a good listening activity.  It also established the early foundations of defining words, which we talked about in detail a few weeks ago.

Preschool Sorting Activity: Farm and Jungle Animals

Hello reader!  Thank you for stopping by.  Are you a follower?  If you're not would you please become one? I would love some more.

My last sorting activity was pretty popular so I thought I would share another one with you!  Animals are always a fun and easy concept to teach to preschoolers.  It's important for them to start distinguishing that animals live in different places and have different characteristics. You can also use this activity to teach the animal sounds.  This activity could also be a great describing activity.  Instead of cutting the animals out beforehand, show your child the sheet with animals and describe what you're going to cut out next.  See if they can guess what you're talking about!  You can vary the difficulty level.  For example, "I'm going to cut out the animal that says 'Moo'".  Or you could make it more challenging and say, "This animal has a mane, a tail, and you can use a saddle to ride on it."  You can also turn the tables and let your child try to describe an animal.  Kids love being the teacher!  After the animals are cut out you can do the same listening/describing activity again as you glue them onto the animals' home.  Kids love repetition - don't shy away from it!  

Preschool Sorting Activity: Fruits and Vegetables

Here's a fun and simple activity for you moms/teachers of preschoolers. This would even work with K or 1st graders, depending on their language level. Below are two sheets for you to print:  Just click on the picture to go to the link.

Suggestions for Use:
- Cut out the shopping carts and each individual food item.  For added language stimulation, have the child listen to clues given by you on what to cut out next.  For example, "Cut out the fruit that is orange and sweet" or "Cut out the vegetable that is small and round and green."  

- Have the child sort the food by different categories.  Obviously you could do fruits and vegetables - always a great concept to rehearse.  You could also do it by color or size.  You could also sort by whether its crunchy or juicy.  Sort it by whether or not the child likes it.  Sort it by as many ways as you can think of!  

- You could also use this as a compare/contrast activity which is an important pre-writing skill.  Put a pumpkin in one cart and a carrot in the other.  Ask the child, :"How are they the same?" (Both vegetables, both orange with green stem).  How are they different? (One is round and one is long and skinny, one grows underground, one grows above on a vine)

- The possibilities are almost limitless!  It is simple but so much fun!  It also works on cutting skills and gluing skills which are also important for preschoolers.  I hope you like it!

Defining Words: Part 4

More fun ways to teach adjectives!

1) Darling activity from "Crazy for First Grade".  Check out her post!

2) Or this is a fun idea from "The Inspired Apple"

3) Here's a list of books that lend themselves to teaching adjectives.

4) And here's a quick list I made of adjectives categorized by size, appearance, shape, what it's made of, and how it feels.  A fun way to use it is to put it in a page protector and hand the student a dry erase marker.  Then, grab a bunch of objects with very salient characteristics from this list.  Show the student the object and talk about it.  Have them circle the applicable adjectives that describe it.  Erase and start again!  Who doesn't love a little dry erase marker activity?

Defining Words: Part 4

When your child has really mastered categories, it's time to move on to the second half of defining words.  This involves teaching attributes/adjectives and functions.  This is the worksheet I use for this.

However - you're probably going to have to spend a few times teaching these things individually before you expect the child to put it all together in one nice, cohesive definition.  Of course it depends on the child, but teaching adjectives is usually a great way to start.

I saw this on Pinterest which is a great way to get the wheels turning:

Isn't that adorable?  Last year I used a frog theme.  How fun would it be to describe a frog?  Slimy.  Green. Loud.  Slippery.  I think kids would love it!  

"Hairy, Scary, Ordinary": A great way to introduce adjectives to students.  Pictures are a riot and fun to talk about at the same time.  Could easily take a half hour with this book!

Since this is such a fun concept, I'm going to do another post on it tomorrow.  Be excited! :)

Defining Words: Part 2

When I did my student teaching, the speech therapist I worked with was pretty great.  Her name was Jacqueline.  She made sure to pronounce it "Ja-kwa-lynn" with the rounded 'w' in the middle.

Anyway.  She was a smart lady and I learned so much from her.  She made these charts and gave me permission to share, so today I shall do just that!  I like them because they are simple and straightforward, which is what I think these kids with language disorders really need.

I usually start teaching by introducing the concept of categories.  I give them this sheet and we discuss how each category acts as a file of sorts in our brain.  Then most any noun in English can be filed away into a specific file folder.  Imagine how many fun games you can do while teaching this!  The possibilities are quite endless.  I know you guys reading this have a million awesome tricks up your sleeves!

First we practice identifying categories.  I will read a list of 3 or more words and ask the student to tell me the category.  They often need extra help with 'appliances' and 'occupations' and 'vehicles/transportation'.  The app I use for that is "Name that Category" which is from Super Duper for $1.99

Then we practice listing things in categories.  For this I usually use "Let's name things" which is always free from Super Duper.  We also go the other direction and I read them a list of 3 or more objects and they tell me which category it goes to.

I also found this sorting game.  I don't even know who Erin Jackson is but I'll still give her a shout-out.  "Thanks Erin!"

What are your favorite ways to teach this? Next time I'm going to post a bunch of other available materials and apps to use while teaching sorting and categorizing.

My Data Sheets

Hey fellow speechies!  This post is for you.  I know, I know, you probably don't want another data sheet in your arsenal.  And that's ok.  Or maybe you are going through an "I hate my data sheets" phase like I did about a billion times.  But I made it through that phase and now I happen to think this data sheet is the best one out there.  It's simple, and I'm a simple gal.  Simple is my middle name.  Actually, it's Christine.  But that doesn't matter.  When it comes to paperwork, my mantra is: "No frills, just function." So I now present you with my Data Sheet:

I print out tons of these before each school year and put a couple of them in each student's tab of my binder.  Then I write in their individual objectives in the top right box.  This is also how I keep track of how many times they have met their objective.  Since I usually write goals with a phrase like, "...over 3 observations" then I can quickly glance to see how many times they have met that goal.  I just write the date in the box.

I like the data boxes because each row has 20 boxes.  Therefore I don't need a calculator because I know each plus is worth 5%.  And I hate math.  The less math the better.  Big factor in my career choice.

The HW column is homework.  I do an "R" if they returned last week's and an "S" if I sent out new homework.  I like the notes section because I can write any sounds or new vocab words we discussed which makes it easy for me to review the following week.

This next chart is my R Progress Chart.  This is what I use to keep track of my R kids' progress.  It goes with "The Entire World of R" very well but I know there are other similar programs that it would work with too.  I like it because I have learned that it is crucial to teach these sounds separate and make sure I don't go too fast in teaching them or in advancing them to the next level.  This helps me keep track and it also helps the student see their progress.  I just write the date they achieved at least 90% or more (or whatever their personal criteria is) in the box.

I hope you find these useful.  If you decide to use them leave me some love in the form of a comment so I can feel good about the time it took me to post this.:)

Good luck as you get ready for another year!

Learning Language Through Literature

One of the things I love about being a speech-language pathologist is that I get to teach language.  Lots of people think I just teach kids how to say their /r/ sound.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy that!  But I also love finding a child with language needs, figuring out what their core difficulties are, and then finding out how I can help them with those challenges.  It's a fun process and each child always presents with unique weaknesses.  On the other hand, I have noticed that many of my kids do struggle in similar areas, namely: synonyms/antonyms, multiple meaning words, describing and defining words, and predicting/inferring.  If you're one of my fellow speechies you are probably picturing some specific kiddos right now.  And if you're a fellow mom, I think you will like using this post to help strengthen those skills in your child, regardless of their language abilities.  I have begun a project I like to call, "Learning Language Through Literature" which I have found really helps these kids with broad language needs. Language is best learned in context.  Granted, there are times when it is appropriate to drill with flashcards.  But I also really like to emphasize the importance of learning and using these skills in the context of a book.   Reading comprehension is one of our greatest goals, right?  So I have selected some books on which to focus for each month of the school year (I'm only up to February).  It is a time in speech when the kids get to relax with me, read a book, look at pictures, ask questions without feeling scared, and show me what they know.  It's more relaxed, natural, and they don't feel the 'pressure' to give me the right answers.  Little do they know that they're still learning a lot! :)  I created a type of data sheet with the questions to ask in a pre and post test fashion.  The questions vary in difficulty, and probably are mostly targeted towards kids from 2nd through 6th grade but of course you can adapt it as you need to.  Here they are!  Enjoy!

September - Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London

October - Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

November - One is a Feast for mouse by Judy Cox

December/January - The Mitten by Jan Brett

February - Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Summer Language Worksheets

Ahhh....summer.  It's almost here!  Road trips, swimming pools, running through the sprinklers, ice cream and popsicles, it's all great!  I'm assuming you're as excited as I am.  And whether you're a fellow speechie or a fellow mommy, I've got a treat for you.  Summer Language Worksheets!  These are wonderful, short, and fun ways to keep your child's language skills sharp over the long summer break.  They're best for children K-4th grade or so.  Some may be easy, some may be a little more difficult.  You can make them more fun by putting them in a page protector and having your child draw a star or smiley face in  each square as they complete it.  Or you can cut them out and put them in a jar for them to draw from.  Or if you're on a road trip, make it a sort of a game while you're driving!  Be creative! And enjoy!

*I realize my blog needs more pictures.  And finding pictures online is a pain.  So I just used a family picture.  Hope you don't mind. :)

You Caught Me Chart

One of the greatest concepts I learned in grad school came from my fluency professor.  She was explaining how difficult it can be to raise a child's awareness of their own speech.  Sometimes they just don't listen to themselves, and they have to listen to themselves before they can fix their errors.  But before they learn to listen to themselves, they have to learn how to listen to other people's speech.  Thus the concept of a "You Caught Me" chart.  It works best with younger kids, like ages 3-8ish.

First, introduce the child to the chart:
"Hey, Josh/Kyle/Emily/whatever the kid's name is, sometimes I make mistakes while I'm talking too.  If you catch me making a mistake, say, "I caught you!"  Then we can draw a smiley face in the chart.  If you catch me FOUR times, then you get a prize!"

It's usually very motivating and exciting for these kids.  They kind of feel like they're the speech teacher, and what's not fun about that?!?  At first they may not notice any of your errors.  You might have to correct yourself for a while:  "Oops.  I forgot to say my /s/ sound.  Let me try that again.  Ssssstop."  Eventually they will start to notice something is wrong, but not be able to explain it.  That's ok!  It's a good start.  Pretty soon, they should be able to catch your errors 100% of the time and be able to explain what you did wrong 100% of the time.  Now you're one step closer to having that child identify their own errors.

 It's simple.  It's genius, and here's one for you if you want it.
It's basic and to-the-point.  Just laminate it or put it in a page protector so you can re-use it.