Hello wonderful new followers!
Lately, I’ve seen an influx of new followers and readers here so I thought I’d send out another reminder that I’ve moved my blog to a new site. Right now is a perfect time to go check out the new site as I’m hosting 2 big product giveaways that end this weekend! My new site is speechymusings.com and I would love your presence over there!
Thank you and stay awesome.
Shannon
Thank you for reading my blog! I have moved to a new site so please head on over to speechymusings.com to continue to receive updates!
I got an exciting ‘swapportunity’ with Carissa from Home Sweet Speech Room. I have been eyeing up this packet for a while, so I was thrilled to check it out and share my opinions!
The packet is called Direction the Action Social Skills. You can see Carissa’s blog post about the item here. She is great about posting a ton of sample pictures so you can really get a feel of what you’re purchasing, so I won’t do the same! If you want to see examples from each section please click the link above!
Contents:
This packet contains materials for identifying good vs bad scenes, correcting social scenes, identifying positive vs. negative emotions, idioms, getting somebody’s attention, turning a negative statement into a positive one, and tone of voice!
Below are some sample pictures to get a feel of the packet:
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this packet!! Being a material maker myself, I understand the challenge in coming up with relatable situations for social skills materials. I think Carissa did a great job of choosing situations, phrases, and scenarios that all of our students can relate to. I am currently working with some girls who are obsessed with acting and they LOVED the adorable graphics and the theme. I also think it’s a great theme for talking about social skills, because, honestly.. aren’t we all acting once and a while?? 🙂
Another great point about this product is that the social skills covered are different than ones I’ve seen in other packets! Sometimes I feel like I have 5 packets covering one specific skills, but this packet covers skills that I have less materials for (e.g.: getting the attention of others and turning a negative statement into a positive one!)
The only issue one of my students had was with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ scene sorting mats! She was confused why the people on the negative emotion and bad scene mats were smiling (it got a laugh out of me!).
How I Used It:
Exactly how it is intended! To me, that was the best part of this packet. It was organized well, explained well, and the activities could be used as is. After I did a couple of the activities with a few of my students, I would prompt them in other situations by asking them to think back to this game and turn their negative language into more positive language and how we have discussed getting another person’s attention. Sometimes I can even cue by just asking, “What would your actor do?” LOVE IT!
Overall, I would absolutely recommend this packet to anybody who works with students who need a little help with pragmatics! You can find it here.
You can find her post about my Phonemic Awareness Powerpoint here.
To support Carissa in her blogging adventures, you can…
Like her on Facebook here.
Follow her blog here.
Follow her on Pinterest here.
Follow her on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
I LOVE book companion packs! I needed one to address some vocabulary needs for a couple of my clients and thus, created one for ‘Bear Snores On’ by Karma Wilson. You can find it in my TpT Store here.
The packet includes:
Pages 2-3: Cover Cards: Helps to label each deck and keep you organized!
Pages 4-7: Comprehension: 18 comprehension questions on individual game cards.
Pages 8-10: Conversation Starters: 10 cards that spark discussion about the book and friendship.
Pages 11-13: Write Your Own: 8-quarter sheets for your students to make their own version of Bear Snores On in madlib style! Great for homework, narrative skills, and additional story retell practice.
Pages 14-30: Vocabulary Cards: Match the term to its definition. Contains blank cards for customization.
Pages 31-33: Sorting Mats for Vocabulary: Contains 1 blank page for customization. One page requires your students to sort nouns from verbs from adjectives.
Pages 34-41: Sentence Unscramble: Unscramble sentences from the book to find out how each animal arrived to the cave.
Pages 42-43: Simple cards for each character and item from the book. Can be used for sequencing, basic concepts, following directions, interacting during story retell, etc…
Pages 44-45: Sequencing: Sequence the events from the sentence unscramble!
See sample pictures for each section below:
Thank you! Again, if this seems like something you could use in your speech room, head over on over to my TpT store here and check it out!
If you wish to stay updated on my freebies, sales, and giveaways, ‘like’ me on Facebook here.
Welcome to the second installment of “In case you missed it…”. If you haven’t read the first installment, pop over to that post here to catch up!
The simple, quick explanation is that “In case you missed it…” strives to be a way for you to stay up to date with the last SLP news, blogs, ideas, and materials! If you missed it in the past two weeks, do not worry! Here’s the latest and the greatest from the past two weeks:
1) Is it selfish to feature myself?? I hope not! The past two weeks I have created some of the most exciting materials yet! I began a Powerpoint series that helps you, because it does not require any cutting, printing, or laminating! The first targets Phonemic Awareness and you can read more about it here. The second targets Social Skills & Social Language and you can read more about it here.
2) Katie, over at Playing with Words 365 has compiled a list of all of the SLP bloggers. Check out her post here on how to follow all of us on Facebook!
3) My favorite freebie of the past two weeks has to be from Ms. Jocelyn Speech. It targets categories and is ice cream themed. Hopefully it warms up soon so I can start to use it! You can find it in her TpT store here. Leave some kind feedback if you download it!
4) Maybe you have heard of this website before, but in case you haven’t I decided to feature it. Carls Corner is fabulous website with SO many language resources. If you haven’t seen it before, go here and click around for a while. I’m sure you’ll find something useful!
5) Looking for book companion packs? Look no further! I’ve been working to compile some of my favorites in my Pinterest board here. Or follow all of my boards here.
6) As of when I’m typing this, the amazing Speech with Milo apps are discounted. Some of them are down to .99 cents! If you have an iPad, go on over to the App Store and search for ‘Speech with Milo’ now!
So there you have it! I hope you found some new, and helpful links! See you all for the next installment of, “In case you missed it…” in two weeks!
I have absolutely loved using my Phonemic Awareness Powerpoint, and decided to create a similar one targeting social skills and social language. So here it is! Or you can find it right away in my TpT Store here.
This product contains 133 slides in a Powerpoint format. This means no prep work, printing, laminating, or cutting for you!! Each answer on this Powerpoint also links to a feedback page letting your students know if they got the answer correct or incorrect!
It covers 5 topics related to social skills and social language:
Perspective Taking: 25 slides that provide a short scenario and ask, “How is she/he feeling?” and provides 3 single word choices.
Expected vs Unexpected Behaviors: 25 slides with a scenario and two choices. Either, “That was expected” or “That was not expected.” Read this great blog post about this for more information.
Kind vs Unkind Comments: 25 with a quote on them. Each slide has two choices: “Those words are kind” or “Those words are not kind.”
Making Comments: 25 slides with a short scenario and ask, “What is a comment you could make?” There are two choices for each scenario.
Asking Questions: 25 slides with a short scenario and ask, “What is a question you could ask?” There are two choices for each scenario.
There is a homepage so you can easily navigate to the specific topic you need!
Head on over to my TpT store here to download the preview to see an example page for each section! (Note: the preview doesn’t link the answers to a feedback page like the real packet does!)
Below are some sample pictures from the file:
Thank you! Again, if this seems like something you could use in your speech room, head over on over to my TpT store here and check it out!
If you wish to stay updated on my freebies, sales, and giveaways, ‘like’ me on Facebook here.
I’ve been using these apps so much lately… They are great AND affordable, so I would recommend them to everybody, including the grad students reading this! They are worth it! I only have four Pocket SLP apps so far, but hope to continue accumulating them!
1) Describe It!Â
Describe It! is a great app that sort of reminds me of Catch Phrase. Except for several important differences. First, the items to guess are very child friendly. Second, there are prompts if the child cannot think of a description, and last, it is customizable. Below are some screen shots so you can see how it works:
When you open the app, the home screen looks like the picture below. I have checked two topics (food and animals) as examples.
After beginning the ‘Pass It’ game, the screen looks like the picture below. If your student presses one of the buttons on the bottom row, it reads a hint aloud. I always imagined this would not only be a great feature for those kiddos who need a little more help, but also for nonverbal kids who want to play too! Each small, red number stands for the number of hints available in each category!
You can also play this game using the ‘Guess It’ feature. That means the picture is not provided and your student must listen to the hints to try and figure out what it is! See the picture below for an example.
Overall: Both my clients and I love this game. I’ve actually had kiddos request to play this during their free time – a true test of how fun this game is! It’s laid out really well. My only complaint is that sometimes, if you choose too many categories, it can be confusing what the picture actually is. For example, if there is a person in a grocery store shopping, the child might think it was ‘shopping’, ‘clerk’, ‘grocery store’, or ‘food’. Other than that, I love this game and I would absolutely recommend it.Â
2) Pocket Artic
Pocket Artic is an articulation app that targets all of the phonemes seen below. When you open up a client’s page, you can select the phonemes they are working on.
After you’ve selected the targeted sounds, you will see a page that looks something like this. I love how the target sound is in red. You can see a place to mark each answer as correct, wrong, or approximated. You can also bring up the word in a phrase or a sentence. See the next three pictures as examples!
Overview: This app is a really great addition to your iPad because it really makes articulation therapy easier. For me, this app has allowed me to focus on cueing strategies instead of finding the right card, taking data on another form, and constantly switching between materials that use words, phrases, and sentences. This app allows you to fluidly move between all of those, target only the phonemes you want, and take data all in one place! I love it! It is also really intuitive, and allows for additional features such as recording your voice.
3)Â The “R” App
The “R” App is just like Pocket Artic except it only targets R. Who would have guessed?! 🙂 Below are some screen shots:
Overview: Because it is so similar to Pocket Artic, please read my review above for why I think this app is great. I do LOVE the visuals of how to make R in the mouth (shown above) because sometimes it is just easier to understand after you see it!
4) One Step, Two Step
One Step, Two Step is an app that’s primary purpose is for following directions. When you open the app, it looks like the screenshot below. You can see a variety of themed pages. There are even more than shown below!
After choosing a scene, a page similar to the one below appears.
As shown, you can drag and drop shapes onto the page (e.g.: Put the square on the cloud). You can also color specific parts of the page (e.g.: Color the trees green). You can also use preprogrammed directions; that is the box I have opened in the screen shot above. These correlate to the difficulty level you choose when you open a specific scene (either easy or hard).
You can take data on correct or incorrect responses on the page, and after you are done you can export a data sheet that looks like the one shown below:
Overview: I like this app a lot, although I will admit I use it less than the others. I have found that while this app is motivating for many of my students, some are more motivated by other apps that I’ve used to target following directions. The one thing this app does that those other apps don’t is take data and provide preprogrammed phrases!
Would I get these apps again?? Yes! Pocket SLP apps are priced right! They are functional, useful, and target useful goals! They have helped me immensely and tend to be very motivating for my clients. To read about more of their apps, check out their website here. Thank you Pocket SLP!
My newest product is an interactive Powerpoint targeting phonemic awareness, and I’m incredibly excited about it! You can find it here.
This product contains 129 slides in a Powerpoint format. This means no prep work, printing, laminating, or cutting for you!!
It covers 4 topics related to phonemic awareness:
Alliteration Awareness: 25 slides that ask, “Which one starts with a different sound?” and provides 3 picture choices.
Phoneme Matching: 25 slides that ask, “Which one starts with the same sound as _____”. The blank contains a picture. There are 3 picture choices for the answer.
Phoneme Segmentation: 20 slides that ask, “How many slides are in ____”. The blank contains a picture. There are 3 numbers as choices.
Phoneme Isolation (initial): 25 slides that ask, “Which is the first letter in ______”. The blank contains a picture. There are 3 letter choices for the answer.
Phoneme Isolation (final): 25 slides that ask, “Which is the last letter in ______”. The blank contains a picture. There are 3 letter choices for the answer.
Each answer, whether a picture, letter, or number, links to a page that tells your students if it was correct or incorrect! There is a homepage so you can easily navigate to the specific topic you need!
Head on over to TpT here to download the preview to see an example page for each section!
Below are sample pictures as well:
Thank you! Again, the link to the item in my TpT store can be found here.
If you want to stay updated on my giveaways, freebies, and sales, ‘like’ me on Facebook here!!
If you are looking for more therapy ideas and interesting speech related pins, follow all of my boards on Pinterest here.
I spent much of this past weekend uploading all of my products into my new Teachers Notebook store! So for those of you Teachers Notebook-ers, you can find my new store here. It is filled with the same speechy materials as my Teachers Pay Teachers store, in case Teacher’s Notebook is more convenient for you!
So what exactly is the difference between Teachers Notebook and Teachers Pay Teachers you might ask??
Really… not much. But below are the basics from what I can tell so far:
Teachers Pay Teachers
More traffic
The paying structure for sellers is a bit different (get paid in quarters, there is a premium and a basic account, etc…)
Personal opinion, but I think it’s visually less appealing
Compare my stores and see which you like better: Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook.
Enjoy, and happy shopping 🙂
If you want to stay updated on my giveaways, freebies, and sales, ‘like’ me on Facebook here!!
How many of you love reading SLP related blogs? So much so that you’ve decided to listen, and like ALL of us on Facebook, follow ALL of us on Pinterest, follow ALL of us on Twitter, and subscribe to receive updates from the blog websites themselves? Do you ever feel yourself getting slightly overwhelmed that now, your newsfeed has become 90% SLP posts, and 10% personal posts?
I get it. Since I’ve began blogging I have felt incredibly lucky to be a part of the amazing community of SLP bloggers that exists through social media. But, at times, all of this can become overwhelming, as I’m sure it is for all of you as well!
So here is my proposal… Every two weeks, on a weekend, I will write a blog post titled, “In case you missed it…”. This blog post will consist of links to what I consider the greats of the past 2 weeks: great blog posts, great TpT materials, great links, great apps, great anything SLP related! If I find things I consider ‘oldies but goodies’, I will include those as well! Maybe these posts can even be themed once and a while. 🙂
Why you should read these posts:
1) They will make the chatter during the week easier to manage. If you miss something, you miss it. You can catch it here later.
2) Less pressure to be on Facebook so much, and ‘catch up’ on everything you missed while you were logged out! Go ahead, log off!
3) I really believe that blogging is a great way for us SLPs to stick together and share great ideas. I don’t want to lose that by overwhelming you! So this is a great way to continue to stay informed.
4) By reading this every two weeks, you may find bloggers or sellers that you never have before! We can spread the SLP blogger love around a little.
5) It will lessen the number of ‘shares’ I do on Facebook. I will ‘share’ things I find great on here instead. You may not have to see the same article/freebie/post from as many of us any more!
If that all sounds compelling, READ ON, for the first installment of, “In case you missed it…”
First, I would like to introduce you to the Autism Helper. This week, she posted a great freebie called Logical Leprechauns. It is a St. Patrick’s Day, problem solving packet and I love it. She also has incredibly useful, interesting blog posts so I would go on over and check her page out!
Second, here is a great post by The Speech Bubble on making sure you consider the whole child and build off of children’s strengths!
Third, this is a great article from PrAACtical AAC titled Beyond Requesting. It is informative and gives information on a variety of ways to encourage competent AAC users!
Here is a great resource for iPad apps. The blogger behind Panda Speech took the time to compile all of her apps onto one resource. It includes the name, basic info, basic review, and the price for many apps!
Last, Jenna over at Speech Room News started SLP discussion boards. There is some great conversation happening over there, so head on over and ask a question, answer a question, or just read and learn!
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Also, if you’re interested in staying updated on deals, sales, freebies, and giveaways, ‘like’ me on Facebook here.
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