Friday, December 6, 2013

Holiday/Winter FREEBIES Round-up!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed the TpT Cyber Sale this past Monday and Tuesday!  I know I grabbed some great activities and clip art which I can't wait to use!  

Ok, now it is time for some awesome FREEBIES for the holiday/winter season!  A co-worker asked me if I knew of any freebies out there on TpT for the upcoming holiday so I had to find some for her!  With the help of many fellow amazing SLP bloggers, I have come up with a pretty great list which you will see below!!!  I hope you are able to use some (or all!) of these super awesome freebies!  Enjoy!!!!

First up, I personally have a ton of winter/holiday FREEBIES I want to share with all of (shameless plug! haha).....
Live Love Speech

Kids Games for Speech Therapy


Speech Time Fun
What is under the tree? A listening for details activity

Holiday Sentences: Open-ended board game with the task cards presented or with any other stimuli

Speech Universe
Winter People Sentences (Third Person Pronouns- he, she, they)helps students state sentences that contain the third person pronouns 'he, she, and they'.

Autumn Bryant
Building a snowman with Slide to Slide Animation (PowerPoint)Target sequencing skills as the pieces of the snowman come together 

Twin Sisters Speech and Language



Happily SLP

Expressly Speaking

Dean Trout's Little Shop of SLP

Carrie's Speech Corner
*Check out the blog posts below for some great freebies*

Crazy Speech World
*Check out the blog posts below for some great freebies*

Maureen Wilson

The Speech Bucket

Tech n' Talk SLPs


Schoolhouse Talk


Natalie Snyders

Speech Peeps

Kristin M

For more and more winter and holiday freebies, be sure to check out Lauren over at Busy Bee Speech's Linky party this Friday!!  

Saturday, November 30, 2013

What's in your cart? Linky Party!!!

This is my first time linking up to a linky party and I am super excited!!!  It was created by Jenna over at Speech Room News.  


This is a great way to get some ideas of popular items out there on TpT just in time for the Cyber Monday/Tuesday Sale!  

First, let me share a few of my items you may interested in that are in my TpT store (especially for the upcoming winter/holiday season!)....

Holiday Monster Semantics

Winter Inferences


QR Codes: Vocabulary Owls {Common Core Aligned}





Now, listed below are a few items I have "wishlisted"....







I hope you enjoyed reading what I have on my wishlists and hopefully it helps you find some items you may have needed yourself!



Kristine
Live Love Speech

Friday, November 15, 2013

Creating an Autism Support Group!

As some of you may know, I am expecting my first baby (It's a BOY!) and will be taking some time off from work and blogging before and after his arrival. During that time, there will be several guest bloggers/SLPs that will be featured on my blog. I am so excited to share all of the amazing, informative posts they have come up with. I can not thank them all enough for taking the time to write these posts! Just another one of the many reasons I love being part of the SLP world. I hope you all enjoy reading everything over the next several weeks. Please feel free to leave comments and post questions.

The next guest post is written by Kristine at Speak Listen Play! Enjoy!

Thank you to Kristine for allowing me to be a guest blogger! Speak Listen Play is very excited about the addition to your family!!

I recently wrote another guest post for playingwithwords365 about tips for working as a team when servincing students with Autism in the schools. A major component of your team are the parents and the relationship you build with them is SO important. I'd like to share some of the amazing things going on in my district to facilitate and support these relationships.

Create an Autism Support Group
This does not have to be official. Email and spread the word to your staff. Ask for volunteers. My school is lucky to be apart of a local group of parents, school staff, and others who are looking for ways to support students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. If your local district does not currently have  something like this, you can look into the Autism Society.

Life is busy - but if you can dedicate one night a month to the families of the students you work with - it will make a HUGE impact! Here are some of the events I participated in last school year:

  • Parent Seminars - 
    • Two times per semester we met and held workshops at the school. Topics included:
      • Safety: fire safety, drowning prevention, and ordering safety kits
      • Family First: Group discussion on how Autism affects parents, children, and the relationships within your family.
      • Therapy Panel: ask local therapists to share about the services they offer.
      • Other topics could include: make and take it, understanding the IEP, meet and greet, book club night.

  • Autism Celebration Walk!
    • Read more about the walk here. We invited our staff and community to join us one (cold) Saturday morning to help raise awareness and money for Autism. It was AMAZAZING

  • Babysitting night:
    • 2 nights during the school year, various staff members volunteered their time to babysit the families affected by Autism. We offered parents 3 hours of kid-free time!!
  • Support Group:
    • Once a month parents are invited to come to an hour long support group. We had an awesome volunteer help facilitate this. We provided childcare while parents were able to come and talk about anything and everything. Parent lead the discussion.

That sums up all the awesome things going on in my neck of the woods! What do you do to help build the relationships between parents and staff?? I'd love to hear!


These activities would not be possible without the dedicated and supportive staff I work with. I would like to say THANK YOU to all of you who give your time, energy, and money to our group. It is apparent you are committed to changing the way for Autism.

About the author
Kristine is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist that works in the schools in Grand Rapids, MI and coauthor of Speak Listen Play. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TeachersPayTeachers.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Monolingual SLP in a Bilingual World

As some of you may know, I am expecting my first baby (It's a BOY!) and will be taking some time off from work and blogging before and after his arrival. During that time, there will be several guest bloggers/SLPs that will be featured on my blog. I am so excited to share all of the amazing, informative posts they have come up with. I can not thank them all enough for taking the time to write these posts! Just another one of the many reasons I love being part of the SLP world. I hope you all enjoy reading everything over the next several weeks. Please feel free to leave comments and post questions!

 
The next guest post is written by Rachel at Queen's Speech! Enjoy!

Monolingual SLP in a Bilingual World

Yep, that’s me! I would love to be bilingual. I have tried to become bilingual. Sadly, I am not bilingual. I took 5+ years of Spanish throughout high school and early in college; however, by the time I actually needed to use it 6 or 7 years later, I had forgotten most of it.

Next came graduate school; I attended San Jose State University and had the pleasure of being the student of Dr. Henriette Langdon, Ed. D, F-CCC-SLP, the guru (in my mind) of Speech-Language Pathology in culturally and linguistically diverse populations. There was a considerable amount I did not know about bilingual language development and cultural issues. She has authored two fantastic books that I still refer to all the time. They are both great reads!




Which brings me to my current job… I relocated to San Diego and I work at a school where 86% of students are Spanish dominant.  Now if that many students are Spanish dominant, imagine the percentage of Spanish dominant parents! I can count on my fingers the number of parents that speak English well enough to have an IEP meeting without an interpreter.  I have to work with a bilingual interpreter for the vast majority of my IEP meetings and assessments.
Now if you have never worked with an interpreter or need some guidance,  here are…


Plan Ahead: Goodness I cannot stress this enough! At the beginning of the year I sit down and try to plan out all of my meetings and assessment times. Yes, ALL. Usually when a district hires a bilingual interpreter they are busy people and their time fills up fast. This also makes it easy to reschedule meetings if needed. Also, the interpreter needs enough time to contact parents when need be. 
 
Even if you send something home in writing,  have the bilingual interpreter call home to explain. Sometimes, even if the paper is in their native language the parent may have questions or may speak/read a different dialect. It’s best to just call ahead, tell the parent what to expect and what you need from them. They can also ask questions ahead of time this way. The last thing you want is to send an evaluation plan home and not get it back because they have questions or don’t know what the paper is.
 
Collaborate before and after every meeting/assessment. Always. We see the students and parents more often than the bilingual interpreters do. We need to share our insight (especially before assessments) with them about behavior (including parents’ behavior), what to expect, what the meeting is about or what kind of assessments you need. You don’t want the interpreter to be surprised by something you already knew but didn’t tell them. Collaborating after the meeting is over gives you a great way to talk about what the two of you would like to do differently next time.
 
Be flexible. Every bilingual interpreter does things differently. Get used to it. I had one bilingual interpreter whom I became very used to.  She then retired, was replaced by three interpreters, and they all did things differently. It took some getting used to. I had one interpreter who interpreted simultaneously. It was very hard for my brain to process two languages at once! I found I kept losing track of where I was and couldn’t think straight. Just like all SLPs conduct therapy differently, the interpreter has to get used to us and the way we run meetings and conduct assessments.
 
Watch your language! Okay, not like that. SLPs love to use big fancy words and acronyms. Try to use layman’s terms as much as possible, avoid figurative language, and idioms; you will end up having to explain in detail what you meant.  In addition, remember that jokes and some emotions (sarcasm) do not translate well.  Never assume the bilingual interpreter or parent knows what you are talking about.
 
Keep it short. Remember that ,with interpreting,  your meetings will naturally be longer. Try not to read your entire evaluation report or go through every single subtest score. Go through the main points. My favorite way is to use a standard bell curve (find one here) with my scores plotted on it. Numbers are a language everyone speaks. Then  you can answer questions or go more in depth if the parent needs more information.
 
Remember to look at the parent when speaking. Every once in a while I catch myself looking at my bilingual interpreter and not the parent when explaining something. It’s okay if it’s for clarification for the interpreter, but remember to return your gaze to the parent.  Now, do not expect all parents to return that courtesy, it depends on their culture and what they are comfortable with. 
 
Listen. You have to be patient. I don’t have to tell you that SLPs can be a chatty bunch: however, when working with interpreters you need to learn to sit and listen. Yes, your IEPs will likely take a bit longer, but you need to say a sentence or two and stop. It’s hard for bilingual interpreters to remember any more than that. It will be difficult at first. After you have worked with someone for a while; you will be able to tell how much to say before stopping.
 
Learn. I have learned so much Spanish that I consider myself to be almost receptively bilingual. I have learned about how my students acquire language sequentially versus simultaneously. I now have the ability to distinguish language disorder or typical bilingual language development. I know more about Spanish culture now than I ever thought I would.
 
Have Fun! This takes time, but you will be surprised how fast you will get used to having a bilingual interpreter around. Now when I have an English-speaking parent I get nervous because I don’t have that language barrier to provide me with extra think time. I have found I enjoy working with interpreters, and I think you will too! Have fun!

Want more? Check out Queen’s Speech’s: Facebook, Blog and TpT Store


Monday, November 11, 2013

The Importance of Narrative Assessments in Speech Language Pathology!

As some of you may know, I am expecting my first baby (It's a BOY!) and will be taking some time off from work and blogging before and after his arrival. During that time, there will be several guest bloggers/SLPs that will be featured on my blog. I am so excited to share all of the amazing, informative posts they have come up with. I can not thank them all enough for taking the time to write these posts! Just another one of the many reasons I love being part of the SLP world. I hope you all enjoy reading everything over the next several weeks. Please feel free to leave comments and post questions.

The next guest post is written by Tatyana at Smart Speech Therapy! Enjoy!
 
The importance of narrative assessments in speech language pathology
As speech language pathologists we routinely administer a variety of testing batteries in order to assess our students’ speech-language abilities. Grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and sentence formulation get frequent and thorough attention. But how about narrative production? Does it get its fair share of attention when the clinicians are looking to determine the extent of the child’s language deficits? I was so curious about what the clinicians across the country were doing that I created a survey and posted a link to it on various social media sites (e.g., Facebook). I wanted to find out how many SLPs were performing narrative assessments, in which settings, and with which populations. From those who were performing these assessments I wanted to know what type of assessments were they using and how they were recording and documenting their findings. Since the purpose of this survey was non-research based (I wasn’t planning on submitting a research manuscript with my findings), I only analyzed the first 100 responses (the rest were very similar in nature) which came my way, in order to get the general flavor of current trends among clinicians, when it came to narrative assessments. Here’s a brief overview of my [limited] findings. Of the first 100 clinician’s whose responses were analyzed, the two largest groups were composed of SLPs who had been practicing for over 15 years (39%) as well as those who had been practicing from 5-10 years (18%). Of course it was not a surprise that 76% of these practitioners were based in school setting followed by 23% of practitioners in private practice. Out of them only about 74% of clinicians had ever assessed narratives. These numbers went further on decrease when asked how often these narrative assessments took place: 40% of clinicians stated that they’ve done it rarely with <25% of students, followed by 28% who stated that they performed narrative assessments only some of the time with <50% of students. When asked if the clinicians favored standardized instruments, non-standardized instruments, or both, the responses were split. Out of those SLPs who performed narrative assessments (see above), 52% favored standardized instruments while a whopping 68% favored non-standardized instruments, indicating an overlap in what instruments were used by clinicians.
However, it was when I asked the question: ‘What type of narrative assessments have you administered?’ that I received the most interesting responses. More than 50% of clinicians preferred the Test of Narrative Language. Another 27% preferred non-specific dynamic assessments and yet another 27% performed a wide variety of other assessments, which included but not limited to: informal language samples analyses (e.g., One Frog Too Many), Peter and the Cat Narrative Assessment, MindWing concepts’ Story Grammar Marker (SGM), Developmental Sentence Score (DSS), Michelle Garcia Winner's Dynamic Assessment Protocol, informal story retelling analysis via SALT software, Assessment of Preschool Narrative Skills (McCabe and Rollins, 1994), The Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument (ENNI), as well as a numerous other instruments.
One thing which became immediately apparent by reviewing the survey results is that SLPs who used non-standardized instruments clearly used an impressively wide variety of assessments. Another was that some of the SLP-listed instruments did not actually assess narrative skills. For example some survey respondents stated that they used the Test of Word Finding in Discourse (TWFD). However, this test actually assesses conversational skills and not narrative skills. A few responders stated that they used “responses on the definitions subtest of the Word Test – 2”, as a narrative measure, however, those responses can at best count as informal assessment of spontaneous sentence formulation vs. a true narrative assessment. So what actually constitutes a true narrative assessment and why are narrative assessments so important? Well, in order for an assessment to count as a narrative assessment, an SLP must listen to some kind of prompted/unprompted story recounting some form of an event (instead of engaging in a back-and-forth conversational exchange with the child or listening to him/her formulate a brief response based on presented questions). There are several different types of narratives: Scripts -express knowledge of a familiar, recurring events Recounts - retell a personal experience when prompted and are shared by listener Event casts - explain an ongoing activity, report on a factual scene, or tell about a future plan Accounts - explain personal experience without the prompts and are not shared by the listener Fictional story retelling – involves the child retelling a story that he/she read or which was read to him/her Out of these narrative types, accounts of personal experience as well as retelling of fictional stories are used most frequently by researchers to assess children’s narrative competence. Here are just some of the reasons why these are preferred. Personal narratives constitute a large section of functional discourse commonly found in the spontaneous conversation of typically developing preschool and school-aged children. They are sensitive to narrative competence (Bliss & McCabe 2012). They require the speaker to organize an account or a recount of past experiences. They provide effective ways to tax the system due to unplanned discourse (Hadley, 1998; Hughes, 2001). Although they are natural to tell, they also require that the storyteller makes the story interesting to listeners so not to lose their attention (Hughes, 2001). Finally, they are important for connecting with family and friends as well as for literacy acquisition (Bliss & McCabe 2012).
Similarly, fictional narratives tap into the child’s knowledge of organizational framework and are sensitive to language impairment (McCabe & Rosenthal-Rollins, 1994). They have been routinely been identified as one of the single best predictors of future academic success (Bishop & Edmundson, 1987; Feegans & Appelbaum 1986). Poor discourse and narrative abilities place children at risk for learning and literacy-related difficulties including reading problems (McCabe & Rosenthal-Rollins, 1994). Narrative analyses help to distinguish children with language impairment from their typically developing peers (Allen et al 2012). Furthermore, language produced during story retelling is positively related to bilingual reading achievement (Miller et al, 2006). Narrative retelling bridges the gap between oral and written language and is important for appropriate reading and writing development (Snow et al, 1998). It provides insights into child’s verbal expression since it taps into multiple language features and organizational abilities simultaneously (Hoffman, 2009; McCabe & Bliss, 2003; Ukrainetz, 2006). This is not the case with standardized testing. Many children may evidence appropriate performance on standardized testing but still display significant difficulties in the area of narrative production. However, unless SLPs assess narratives in children specifically, they run the risk of overlooking weaknesses in this area of functioning. Finally, assessment of narratives is very important because poor storytelling skills are indicative of social pragmatic language impairment. In fact, part of the diagnostic criteria of social pragmatic communication disorder in the DSM-V™ is “difficulties following rules for conversation and storytelling”.
So what are some ways in which SLPs can assess narratives? When it comes to narrative assessment SLPs have many options available to them (as illustrated above). Depending on the age and type of the population they are working with (e.g., school-age vs. preschool) they can chose from a variety of standardized, non-standardized, or dynamic assessments. However, when choosing the assessment it is very important to ensure that it examines both microstructure and macrostructure domains of storytelling. When analyzing microstructure we are looking at the child’s grammar, syntax and vocabulary competence (content and form). In contrast, when we examine macrostructure we are looking at the child’s use of language. Is the story organized and cohesive? (Justice et al, 2006) Does it contain the story grammar elements commensurate with their age such as setting, initiating event, internal response, attempt, consequences, and reaction (Stein & Glenn, 1979)? For school children 5;00-11;11 years of age, the standardized assessment, Test of Narrative Language- TNL (2004) examines the microstructure and macrostructure elements, as well as measures the child’s ability to answer literal and inferential comprehension questions. It costs about $192, however, prior to purchasing it, SLPs should be aware that it does have some limitations. For starters, personally, I found it to be much more effective at identifying narrative deficits in severely language impaired children vs. children with more milder/subtler impairments. Additionally, on the TNL, test-retest reliabilities are not separately calculated for different ages. Thus, according to Baxter & Van Lingen, 2005, the test-retest data are based on a small, non-representative group and are not strong enough for clinical decision-making (p. 1041). TNL also does not equally represent all tested age-groups and SES levels. For example, the 5-year old group (n=83) was small and almost ½ of the number of the other groups and “upper-income” children were overrepresented in the sample (Baxter & Van Lingen, 2005, p. 1041). As many other standardized tests, TNL favors children with “mainstream” experience and is not recommended for use with multicultural/low SES children from “low print”/”low talk” environments. (Hayward et al 2008). To continue, if you are working with preschool/kindergarten aged children, then you might want to consider either the Narrative Assessment Protocol (NAP) by Pence, Justice, & Gosse (2007) or the Narrative Language Measures (NLM) by Petersen & Spencer (2012) both of which are available online for free.
 Let’s begin with NAP. Developed for children 3-6 years of age, it uses Mercer Mayer’s (1969) ‘Frog, Where are You?’ book to analyze the child’s story microstructure (e.g., sentence and phrase structures, modifiers, nouns and verbs). According to the manual, the macrostructure domain of the NAP is currently under development. However, since the most recent manual was last updated in August 2008, I am not quite certain how up-to-date this information really is. To continue NAP is fairly easy to use. The child is first shown a book then asked to tell a story using pictures as prompts. One of the advantages of NAP is that it does not require narrative transcription and manual utterance tallying, since the examiner scores the narrative as the story is being told. However, the lack of macrostructure analysis is a big disadvantage in my eyes, which is why I personally do not use this assessment when I analyze the narratives of preschool children. Next up is the NLM. Referred to by its authors as the free RTI focused assessment tool, the NLM has two developed versions: NLM:P and NLM:K for preschool and kindergarten children respectively. For the purposes of this post I’ll review the preschool version only, which according to the authors is the most researched one. The administration time per each subtest takes approximately 2–5 minutes. Subtests are scored in real time while the child is narrating. The scoring rubrics contain 0–2 or 0–3 point ratings and cover 2 critical subscales: story grammar and language complexity. Of course since this is a standardized test it does contain some limitations. Children who lack previous exposure to testing may do poorly, so cultural considerations are always an important factor. Authors also strongly urge that single subtest administration be avoided and if the child’s abilities are probed infrequently (e.g., seasonally), the administration of all 3 subtests is strongly recommended for validity purposes. However, to me the biggest issue is that the subtests lack norms or cut scores to help identify at risk children. Depending on the setting you are in, the administration of this test may make it difficult for you to qualify the child for services, which is why you might be better off with an informal assessment.
Personally, I prefer informal narrative assessments to the standardized ones. There are many advantages to informal assessments. They provide more detailed information regarding microstructural and macrostructural elements as well as child’s thought processes and socio-emotional functioning. They are based on least biased assessment principle (Goldstein, 2006), which means that you can make adaptations/modifications if you are using a standardized protocol, you can take into account cultural considerations, and of course spontaneous language sample measures that can supplement and clarify diagnostic information from standardized assessments (Rojas & Iglesias, 2009). Here’s how I perform mine. I use the books recommended by the SALT Software website because it offers convenient suggestions by age, ranging from preschool through 6th grade. I typically read the story to the child first then cover up the words and ask the child to retell the story based on pictures alone. I read the story first because: “the model narrative presents the events, plot structure, and words that the narrator is to retell, which allows more reliable scoring than a generated story that can go in many directions” (Allen et al, 2012, p. 207). As the child is retelling the story I digitally record his/her narrative for transcription and thorough analysis. During story telling I use the prompts such as: ‘What else can you tell me?’ and ‘Can you tell me more?’ to elicit additional information, however, I try not to prompt the child excessively; otherwise the child is producing prompted responses vs. telling me a spontaneous story. So what am I looking at when I am performing my narrative analysis?
 Well, in the words of Pookins from Helen Lester’s ‘Pookins Gets Her Way’: “Lots!”
  • Sequencing Ability
    • Is the story order appropriate or jumbled up?
  • Working Memory
    • Is the child using enough details?
    • Are these details relevant to the story?
  • Grammar
    • Does the sentence structure contains errors such as run-on sentences or incorrectly produced words
    • Is the child using temporal markers and cohesive ties to connect the story together
    • Is the child’s sentence complexity adequate for their age?
  • Vocabulary
    • Is it immature or age-level?
    • Does the child have word retrieval issues or is s/he maintaining lexical fluency?
  • Pragmatics
    • Is there story cohesion and coherence?
    • Is there adequate use of anaphoric references (pronouns identifying characters)?
  • Perspective Taking
    • Does the child have appropriate insight into character’s feelings, beliefs, thoughts?
I evaluate these areas using the guidelines set forth in Hedberg & Westby, 1993 “Analyzing Storytelling Skills” book, which offers a comprehensive guide to narrative analysis. After I finish, I include the transcription and a detailed write-up in the body of my language report, so parents and professionals could see it and understand the nature of the child’s errors/weaknesses. Another reason why I include the transcription in the body of my report is because it allows parents and professionals to compare past results with future gains and to see in which specific areas (e.g., story complexity, sentence structure, perspective taking, use of details etc) progress was made following therapeutic intervention. Because storytelling encompasses a number of higher-level language and cognitive skills (Paul et al, 1996), I believe that it should be an integral component of every language evaluation since no other assessment yields as much information about the child’s language abilities as the narrative one. Now that I’ve told you how I perform narrative assessments, I’d love to know how you perform them and what formal/informal instruments do you use? Helpful Smart Speech Therapy Resources:
Bio: Tatyana Elleseff MA CCC-SLP is a bilingual SLP with a full time hospital affiliation as well as private practice in Central, NJ. She specializes in working with multicultural, internationally and domestically adopted as well as at-risk children with complex communication disorders. For more information visit her BLOG, STORE, or follow her Facebook page. References:
  1. Allen, M, Ukrainetz, T & Carswell, A (2012) The narrative language performance of three types of at-risk first-grade readers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 43(2), 205-221.
  2. Baxter, A. & Van Lingen, G. (2005). Test review of the Test of Narrative Language. In Spies, R.A. and B. S. Plake (Eds.), The sixteenth mental measurement yearbook (pp. 1040-1045). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
  3. Bishop, D. V. M., & Edmundson, A. (1987). Language impaired 4-year-olds: Distinguishing transient from persistent impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 156–173.
  4. Bliss, L. & McCabe, A (2012, Oct) Personal Narratives: Assessment and Intervention. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education. 19:130-138
  5. Feegans, L.,& Appelbaum, M (1986). Validation of language subtypes in learning disabled children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 358–364.
  6. Goldstein, B. A. (2006). Clinical implications of research on language development and disorders in bilingual children. Topics in Language Disorders, 26(4), 305–321.
  7. Hayward, D. V., Stewart, G. E., Phillips, L. M., Norris, S. P., & Lovell, M. A. (2008). Test review: Test of narrative language (TNL). Language, Phonological Awareness, and Reading Test Directory (pp. 1-12). Edmonton, AB: Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy. Retrieved 9/2/13 from http://www.ualberta.ca/~lphillip/documents/The%20Test%20of%20Narrative%20Language%20(TNL).doc
  8. Hedberg, N. & Westby, C. (1993). Analyzing story-telling skills: Theory to Practice. Tucson, AZ: Communication Skill Builders.
  9. Hoffman, L. M. (2009a). Narrative language intervention intensity and dosage: Telling the whole story. Topics in Language Disorders, 29, 329–343.
  10. Hughes, D., (2001, Oct) Assessment of Narrative Abilities in Preschool and School-Age Children. Perspectives in Language Learning and Education. pp. 7-11.
  11. Justice, L. M., Bowles, R. P., Kaderavek, J. N., Ukrainetz, T. A., Eisenberg, S. L., & Gillam, R. B. (2006). The index of narrative microstructure: A clinical tool for analyzing school-age children's narrative performance. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 177–191.
  12. McCabe, A., & Rollins, P. R. (1994). Assessment of preschool narrative skills. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 3(1), 45–56
  13. Miller, J et al (2006). Oral language and reading in bilingual children. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 21, 30–43.
  14. Paul R, Hernandez R, Taylor L, Johnson K. (1996) Narrative development in late talkers: early school age. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39(6):1295–1303
  15. Rojas, R. & Iglesias, A. (2009, March 03). Making a Case for Language Sampling : Assessment and Intervention With (Spanish-English) Second Language Learners. The ASHA Leader.
  16. Stein, N., & Glenn, C. (1979). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. In R. O. Freedle (Ed.), New directions in discourse processing (Vol. 2, pp. 53-120). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  17. Ukrainetz, T. A. (2006b). Teaching narrative structure: Coherence, cohesion, and captivation. In T. A. Ukrainetz (Ed.), Contextualized language intervention: Scaffolding PreK–12 literacy achievement (pp. 195–246). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
    ------ Tatyana Elleseff MA CCC-SLP Speech Language Pathologist Rutgers University Behavioral Healthcare Smart Speech Therapy LLC 732-235-5829 office 917-916-7487 mobile www.smartspeechtherapy.com/blog/ http://www.smartspeechtherapy.com/shop/ https://www.facebook.com/SmartSpeechTherapyLlc

Friday, November 8, 2013

Video Taping Speech Therapy for Parent Education

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 As some of you may know, I am expecting my first baby (It's a BOY!) and will be taking some time off from work and blogging before and after his arrival.  During that time, there will be several guest bloggers/SLPs that will be featured on my blog.  I am so excited to share all of the amazing, informative posts they have come up with.  I can not thank them all enough for taking the time to write these posts!  Just another one of the many reasons I love being part of the SLP world.  I hope you all enjoy reading everything over the next several weeks.  Please feel free to leave comments and post questions.

The next guest post is written by Maria from Communication Station:Speech Therapy, PLLC!  Enjoy! 

I work closely with parents during therapy and I very much love the aspect of educating, training and counseling parents on various techniques that can facilitate success in all communication areas.  One very helpful way to do this is of course to video tape sessions or parts of sessions.  I do have several rules I like to follow when video taping and I thought I'd share them with you today.  These strategies are things I have learned over time, through trail and error, as the best possible way to effectively use video tapping.

Here are my 3 simple rules to using video in speech therapy:

1.  Only video tape for parents who have access to watching videos at home:  This seems so basic but I have made the mistake before, assuming parents have a computer to put a thumb drive in, etc.  So before you go video tapping make sure parents can have access to the video on their own time.

2.  Video parts of sessions:  I have found if I keep the recorder going the whole session, it is HIGHLY unlikely that a parent will have the time to go back and review the whole video for those 5 or 10 mins of great education and counseling.  SO, I have learned to be selective in when and how I video.  I DO NOT video every session. I tend to video in small increments of time (5-10 mins here and there).  I do not video for EVERY client.  I use video selectively for those clients that benefit from more visual input and have the time to do so.  If a parent is too taxed and too busy they will not be able to look at the videos anyway and I have found adding that stress and then eventually guilt the parent feels by not being able to watch video adds a whole new negative dynamic to therapy that is NOT worth it in my opinion.  So I try to weigh out the pros and cons of video prior to using it as a teaching tool.  Also parents that are very good at learning in real time and using techniques I teach week to week will not require video as they "get it" long before they will have a video to watch.  So what do I video (once I determine if video will be an effective teaching tool):
  • I always try to video parent interactions and hopefully PLAY with their child (this is not about telling the parent how "wrong" they are in the way they interact with their child, but rather it’s about making parents aware of the types of interactions they tend to have with their child.  For example, are they always asking their child questions?  Are they talking "at" rather than "to" their child?  This video review is non-judgmental but educational in nature).
  • Sibling interactions can also be very helpful as well if the sibling is older and can understand and learn to use various techniques to help the younger child.
  • Sometimes taping sibling interactions is a great way to teach parents HOW TO PLAY with their language delayed child.
  • I video intervention strategies and teachable moments (see below).
  • I make sure to video parents performing strategies and their child's reaction and improved communication in those moments.
  • I video tape "before" and "after" the use of strategies.  Parents love to see how far they themselves have come in therapy.  And I love to show them!
3.  Video moments of intervention AND teaching:  In my personal experience it is not effective just to video interactions, then use therapy time to go back and review interactions stopping the tape to discuss what parents should do next time.  This was how I was initially taught how to use this technique years ago.  The problem I find is that parents don't SEE how the technique can actually help their child AND they leave therapy feeling worse about how they interact with their child than empowered.  So I like to video for a few minutes uninterrupted then I jump in, and in real-time I am making suggestions to parents.  As they change the way they are interacting with their child, they can see, right then and there, how that particular technique will or will not work for their child.  After a few minutes, I stop the tape and review with parents how their ability to implement simple techniques and strategies changed their child's interaction. And parents can now take home intervention strategies THEY were able to implement (under guidance of myself) in therapy to change and facilitate communication growth in their child at home.  So a parent leaves therapy with examples of strategies on tape AND feeling empowered b/c they were already able to implement them!


So that is how I use video tapping in therapy.  I don't use it all the time, but when I do, it is very effective.

Do you use video in your therapy sessions?  If so, how do you use it?  Have any suggestions?  Comment below!




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Maria Del Duca, M.S. CCC-SLP, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist in southern, Arizona.  She owns a private practice, Communication Station: Speech Therapy, PLLC, and has a speech and language blog under the same name.  Maria received her master’s degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.  She has been practicing as an ASHA certified member since 2003 and is an affiliate of Special Interest Group 16, School-Based Issues.  She has experience in various settings such as private practice, hospital and school environments and has practiced speech pathology in NJ, MD, KS and now AZ.  Maria has a passion for early childhood, autism spectrum disorders, rare syndromes, and childhood Apraxia of speech.  For more information, visit her blog or find her on Facebook.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Sentence Expansion Activities for Students with ASD!

As some of you may know, I am expecting my first baby (It's a BOY!) and will be taking some time off from work and blogging before and after his arrival. During that time, there will be several guest bloggers/SLPs that will be featured on my blog. I am so excited to share all of the amazing, informative posts they have come up with. I can not thank them all enough for taking the time to write these posts! Just another one of the many reasons I love being part of the SLP world. I hope you all enjoy reading everything over the next several weeks. Please feel free to leave comments and post questions.

The next guest post is written by Jen at Speech Universe! Enjoy!

Thank you so much to Kristine for allowing me to guest post today!  I wish her all the best with her new little one!

I'm Jen from Speech Universe.  I work in a school that houses three self-contained Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) rooms.  We have students who are non verbal as well as some verbal students.  I am always looking for ways to increase utterance length in my verbal students.  Today, I am going to share three of my go-to activities.  I use them all of the time.

First, is a very simple activity.  I pull out a piece of paper (I used my new wipe boards for the pictures) and write a sentence starter on it.  Then, I place a picture under the sentence starter.  I love to use the Autism & PDD Photo Cards- Wh Questions by Linguisystems for this task. 

I usually use this for working on verbs, but it works for nouns as well.  The verb cards also target pronoun use.  You could also write, "The boy is ___." or "The girl is ___."





I have the students repeat at first, and then have them start to state the sentence without my verbal cue.  Next, I will erase the sentence and give them a phonemic cue to start the sentence.  This has worked really well with my students.  I usually parlay the success of these cards into using sequence cards to start creating stories.  With the simple three-step cards, the students are usually able to create simple sentences that contain a noun and a verb.

When I am working with students who have goals to increase nouns, I also like to use sentence starters.  I made a big binder of picture cues that I laminated and then put Velcroed.  I organized by page and made data sheets for each page.  I got the pictures from a cd I have called Picture This by Mayer Johnson.

I just write a simple sentence and then replace the noun card for each trial.



The third way that I target expanding utterance length with my students with ASD is to use a fun app called First Phrases by Hamiguchi Apps.  There is a full version of this app available for $15.99 and a $0.99 Lite version.  I have used both versions with my students, but quickly upgraded to the full version because of how much I found I was using it!


This app is great because it is very visual.  Students touch each word to create a phrase that contains a noun and a verb.  There are a variety of characters and verbs within the app. 

The activity starts with a narrator instructing the student to tell the character what to do.  ("Tell the mouse what to do.")  This prompt is faded after several trials.  The student must then touch each part of the phrase, in order.  As each word/part is touched, a pre-recorded voice says the words.

After the student touches all of the parts in the correct order, the character indicates that he/she will perform the action.  ("Ok, I will jump on the bed.")  Then the character performs the action in an annimation video.  The students love this part!

After the video, the student is asked to state the phrase.  The narrator says, "Now you say it."  This prompt is eventually faded back.  There are three shapes on the screen.  The student touches each shape and says the word on the space.  They record the whole phrase.  The student can then listen to the recording and watch the animation again.

Wow!  That was a lot longer than I thought this post was going to be.  Thanks for checking it all out!
You can find me on my blog, Speech Universe, Facebook and also at my TpT store.

Jen