Behavior Management Ideas by The Dabbling Speechie!!

 First off, I wanted to share my year long behavior system that I use with the students. Every time the students come for speech they can earn a raffle ticket to put in my raffle jar for a chance to win a prize each week (I pick two winners each week). They also earn 2 jelly beans or m'm's (whichever I buy) after their speech session as a small treat. Above you can see my behavior consequences if the students get warnings in the speech room. For some of my groups, we have to review before each lesson what will get them a warning on the board to help prepared them about what is "expected". I include visuals of "unexpected behavior" and "expected behavior" as a visual reminder.

 You can read my post on how I have incorporated the Dollar Challenge from Speech Room News into my therapy groups. Using the dollar challenge method has been very successful with keeping my both my articulation and language groups motivated!
 

 You can create a calm down space in your room that you can direct student's to go when they are upset or misbehaving. My OT gave me some bean bags and then I created a visual poster that I can use to help direct students to the space without engaging in arguments. You can grab that visual poster HERE. Create a stress ball that your students can squeeze when they are wiggly, upset or having a hard time focusing. I found this cool emotion thermometer on pinterest to help students regulate their emotions. You can grab a copy of that poster on Chapel Hill Snippets blog spot or you can grab my Mood Thermometer visual aid to which also helps with mood/emotion regulation.

My supervisor during my internships in the schools used Speech Bucks as part of her behavior management system. It worked really well and it inspired one of my first products! Students could earn $2 every time they came for speech. If they kept all their tokens (they got 5 each session), they received $2. If they lost 1-4 tokens, then they still got $1, but if they lost all their tokens they didn't get any dollars for the day. Students got to cash in their money at the end of the month for different prizes. You could give extra speech bucks for mastering a skill, bringing back speech homework, or remembering to come to speech without a reminder call! I have also used my speech bucks to have the group earn a speech party. As a group the kids have to have a perfect day in order to earn "bucks" for the group. Once we got $20 we would throw a cookie party or have a free activity day. This promoted working as a team and helped others to see how their behavior was affecting the group.

 Last up, here are some ideas for working with TEENAGERS! They can be a tricky, confrontational, hilarious, rude, unmotivated and endearing group of kids that can be a lot of fun to work with if you COULD only figure out what makes them tick! I remember it took me half a year to figure out how to work with 7th and 8th graders. To keep them motivated to come see me, I always had a box of red vines or a jar of jolly rangers that they could get after each session. They always knew they would get a small treat after seeing me. I also tried to find out their interests and hobbies, so that I could find articles, games, or materials around what THEY enjoyed doing. Incorporating media, music and you tube was how I got the kids interested in working with me. Students could earn watching a music video or funny you tube clip (appropriate for school) by doing their work. Some would also like earning a free day "off" from speech or printing up a picture of their favorite celebrity.

Hope this was helpful! Visit my blog, facebook, TPT, and Pinterest for more ideas and resources. Thanks again Kristine for having me!!

Ideas for Fluency Therapy by Jenn @ Crazy Speech World

I am so excited to be guest posting for Kristine to celebrate BHSM!  Thanks for having me!  I'm gonna share with you some ideas for fluency therapy!

Fluency disorders seem to be cyclical for me...some years I have very few and some years I have a TON!  This year has definitely seen a rise in fluency numbers on my caseload....mostly in my primary grades.  I have had to scramble to update some fun activities to work on building their confidence and fluency...favorite so far?  Turtles and bunnies!

I know many of us use a turtle image for representing slow, steady speech and the rabbit for bumpy, fast speech, so they were the perfect candidates.  I originally just had the turtles, but my SLP buddy Steph suggested the bunnies and it was such a great addition!  I found these cute guys over at My Cute Graphics.  You can grab the turtle HERE and the bunny HERE.  These are free graphics!  She also has color versions available, but I just copied them onto green and yellow paper.  I made 20 turtles and 10 bunnies.  So now are you asking what in the world am gonna do with these, Jenn???  Don't worry, I got some ideas too!

First, I made a trail of turtles and bunnies in my room, taped to the floor.  Then, the kids will go roll a dice and move around the circle, practicing the type of speech they land on.  I either give them the word, phrase, or sentence to say since most of them are not readers yet OR show them a picture card if they need less modeling support.  This is so great for getting them up and moving!  They love it!  

I know many of you may not be able to utilize the walking around due to space constraints (closet therapy, anyone?) so you could also put them in a box or bag and have students draw one at a time to practice the same way.

What else can you do with these graphics?

• Use the bunny to represent bouncing and/or turtle for easy beginnings and practice those specific strategies 
• Glue pictures or write questions on the back to practice spontaneous productions using fluency strategies
• Add points values to each one and if students use the targeted strategy effectively, they keep the animal...whoever collects the most wins!

Can you think of any other ways to use this activity?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Jenn is a school SLP in Florida, working with children PK to 8th grade, and the author of the blog Crazy Speech World.  You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TPT.

Articulation Station Pro App Review & {GIVEAWAY for 3!!!!}

Articulation Station Pro by Little Bee Speech

I am so excited to share my review of Articulation Station Pro with you!  A huge thank you goes out to Little Bee Speech for giving me this opportunity.  I’ve only be using Articulation Station Pro for a few short weeks but I must say, this is a must have articulation app. I am an SLP in an elementary school and this app has made my sessions more enjoyable and exciting.  My students are constantly requesting Articulation Station. 

This app can be used on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.  It targets 22 speech sounds at the word, sentence and story levels.  The images in this app are REAL photographs which makes them extremely appealing to my students!  There are also 6 different activities including flashcards, matching, rotating sentences, unique sentences, level 1 stories, and level 2 stories.  There is a great tutorial on the homepage of this app which is extremely helpful.  

Getting started:

First thing you want to do is set up your student's profile (name, age, gender, and notes).  You can also add pictures to the profiles! One great feature on this app is that you have the ability to do a group session rather than just using it with one student only.

Once you have entered the names, its time to pick the speech sound or sounds and activity!    

Words: Flashcards or Matching

You will need to choose the sound position (initial, medial, final, and blends) in the flashcards and matching activities.  Once you have chosen, press begin.  

Under the words feature, you can choose from either flashcards or matching.  I find the flashcards great for drill practice.  My students never get tired of the awesome pictures!  You can also record them practicing the words for instant feedback. 

Pictured above is the matching activity.  I have my students take turns or play together as a group.  Each time  a student turns a card over, he/she practices the word.  Another great feature is the auditory feedback.  Students can listen to the word and also record themselves saying it.  They always get a kick out of hearing their own voices!  As seen on the right side, the green check is for correct responses and the red "x" is for incorrect responses.  This app keeps track of all data for each of your students which is so beneficial when it comes to tracking progress.

Unique or Rotating Sentences

 The rotating sentences include three or more target words per sentences with picture prompts.  My students love pressing the "spin" button to change the last word of the sentence.  Just like the words activity, you can track correct and incorrect responses as well as record.

Each unique sentence also includes three or more target words.  This activity is perfect for readers and great for sentence recall.  

Stories

 Level 1 features silly sentences loaded with target words.  The picture prompts are an added bonus.  After reading through the sentences, you will see three comprehension questions.

 Level 2 is for your more advanced readers.  Each story includes multiple target words and ends with comprehension questions.  Both levels are perfect for working on reading comprehension.

Under the settings option, you have the ability to add custom images, change scoring options, sort by syllables and more.

Lastly, you have the ability to save, print, and e-mail all data.  I hope you found this review helpful and useful.  Be sure to head over to Little Bee Speech's website for more information on Articulation Station Pro.  You can try this app for FREE (P sound only) or purchase the Pro version (ALL sounds) directly from the iTunes store.  

The people at Little Bee Speech are so generous that they have given me not ONE, not TWO, but THREE codes to giveaway for Articulation Station Pro!!!  Enter Below!!!  The winners will be chosen on Thursday May 16th!!!!

Hope you all enjoy!!

Kristine

Live Love Speech

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Large Group Activities by The Speech Bubble

Part of the service I provide in my school building is for a self-contained LD room. There are 10 students in this room, so making sessions applicable and engaging for all their goals has taken some creativity.  First, personal white boards, dry erase markers, desks, and tissues will be your new BFFs.  Also, never underestimate the power of a good book.

1. Visit your library

Fun book that can target lots of goals

I like to use books a lot with large groups. Reading a story allows students to be introduced to new text in relaxed environment and a great way to target lots of goals in one session.  I like 'Plantzilla' by Jerdine Nolen a lot as well as fairy tales. It allows you to target predicting, inferencing, articulation, and grammar. I give each student a dry erase marker and white board. If you do not have enough white boards for each student then just have them write on their desks. Don't worry it will erase with the tissue. Give each student a tissue as well to use as an eraser.  As you read, pause and ask the students questions with two or three choices. Students will write their choice on their desk and you can check to see if it is correct and take data. This is great to do with grammar as well. You can locate a word in the story and have the students write a synonym, antonyms, correct verb tense, etc. If you are having students write on their desks,  allow them to put a tally mark, star, smiley face, etc in the corner to keep track of their correct answers. They don't have to but it usually motivating.

2. Teamwork
Never underestimate the power of teamwork. Divide students into teams and give each team one whiteboard and marker. Give students a category and one-two minutes to write as many items in that category as possible. You are pretty much playing Scategories.  Students must collaborate and come up with responses. When the time is up, have the 'writers' for each team come up and take turns stating their responses. If a team has an item listed that another does not, they get a point. If both teams have the same item listed it is considered a draw for that item an no one gets a point.

3. Get Crafty

This is not the activity my kids did, just a picture from Google. I couldn't find the pics from winter 

I love arts and crafts, so anytime I can have my students get hands on and make something I am all for it. Speech Peeps has a great example of a craft that can be used for a large group and uses the EET.  I find crafts work best with describing and/or sequencing tasks. For example, after reading Sadie and the Snowman (for some background information) we made snowmen. On each part of the snowman, I had students write a step they would need to do to make a snowman.

4. Station Rotation
If you have a lot of different goals in a room consider setting up stations. Three to four stations is best. Each station targets a goal.  I will have students sort synonym or antonym pairs and then write the pairs down on their white board for me to check. This is a great way to use book companions as well. They have so many activities that go with the story.  You can read the story and then arrange the activities into different stations. As students visit each station I like to walk around and monitor. After everyone has visited the station we do a 'check up'. I will randomly ask each student a question about something from one of the stations. These questions are related to their goals so I can collect data.

5. Be an Eggspert

There is a wireless version

This item will only work for groups of 6 or less. The teacher  in the LD room has this and I like to use it quite a bit. Each student gets a buzzer. Ask a question and the student who pushes their buzzer first has their egg light up.  I will let that student answer first and then ask the rest of the students a different question if I feel I am not getting enough data. You can also block a particular buzz if a single student keeps getting to answer.

To find more ideas stop by The Speech Bubble blog or Facebook.  To find some great materials to use for large groups stop by The Speech Bubble's TpT store.

Sales are EVERYWHERE!!

SALES! SALES! SALES!

In honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month and Teacher Appreciation Week, there have been many sales going on around the education world.  A lot of school districts and educators do not get a “budget” and instead have to purchase materials, games, etc. on their own.  For this reason, I really think the sales and TpT activities are amazing and very beneficial. 

Teachers Pay Teachers has a sale going on right now which ends TODAY.  When you enter promo code: TAD13, you will receive up to 28% off (depending on what the seller’s sale is).  Many of my fellow SLP bloggers are currently throwing sales for what we like to call our “Speech-er” Appreciation Sale!!   All activities in my store are currently 20% off with the additional 8% off through TpT.  It ends at midnight, so hurry over and check it out!! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kristine-Lamb

Check out below some of the AWESOME activities I purchased:

A Summer ofSpeech & Language: Calendars by Jennifer Shamberger

OceanAnimals Facts (Receptive and Expressive Language Activities) by Jenn @ Crazy Speech World

Common CoreRTI Assessments for Language K-2-Speech Therapy by Lauren LaCour

Common CoreTeacher Input forms for IEPs (K-5) by CC

A few different Clip-art/graphics sets by LittleRed to start creating NEW and EXCITING activities!!

Here are some other SALES going on in the “education/speech” world…

Super Duper Publications: Save 20% using Promo Code: Better, Ends May 31^st

                                         Super Duper Apps 25% and up off

Smarty Ears: All Apps are on Sale

Mayer-Johnson: Save up to 80% off (End of the Year Blowout Sale)

Articulation Station Pro by Little Bee Speech:  30% off May 6^th-May 12^th

Tactus Therapy Solutions:  All Apps are on Sale: May 1-15^th

I’m sure there are plenty of other sales going on that I have not mentioned.  Feel free to leave them in the comments below.  Also, don’t forget to grab lots of great activities during the TpT sale from your favorite SLPs!!!  Thanks everyone!

Kristine

Live Love Speech

Apraxia Ville App Review

Apraxia Ville by Smarty Ears Review

I’d like to start by giving a HUGE thank you to the company Smarty Ears for giving me the opportunity to review one of their AMAZING apps.  Apraxia Ville is the newest app from Smarty Ears.  If you are an SLP working with students with apraxia and severe speech-sound disorders, this app is a must have.  There is a great video tutorial on the website!

This app has multiple levels, vowel and consonant targets, and the ability to create custom words.  Apraxia Ville provides video modeling of consonants and vowels, word targets by syllable structure (CV, VC & CVC), customization of targets, and data collection.

One of my favorite features of this app is being able to customize words and images.  Teachers/SLPs can import pictures that are relevant to the student such as classmates, teachers, family members, etc.  After images are added, the target words can be recorded and will be saved to the word list.

Awesome features of this app:

Single or multi-player use (up to 4 players)

Can re-visit the session if the student has used the app before

Multiple students can work on different targets during the same session

Three areas/levels: The Sounds Window (sound production), The Farm House (single word production), and The Words Farm (multiple word production).

Visual and verbal stimuli

Easy to read data

Results can be printed/e-mailed or uploaded to The Therapy Report Center

Homework pages

How to use this app:

First, you will add players and choose avatars to represent each one.  Next, depending on what your student or group of students are working on, you will choose one of the activities below.

The Sounds Window

This activity is perfect for students working on sounds and syllables.  I love that there are animations in each window for that instant visual feedback.  You can also listen to the sound by tapping on the child.  Another huge bonus is that students can access the iPad camera to monitor themselves. 

The Farm House

This can be used for students working at the single-syllable word level (CV, VC, and CVC).  You can choose by sound groups, vowels, and syllable structure.

The Words Farm

This is great for students that need to practice multi-syllabic words.  This activity is also customizable by the number of syllables, sound groups, and syllable structure.

Once the activity is finished, you can check out all of your students’ data/scores!  The data collection feature is amazing and can be used with multiple students at the same time.  You can switch between students by touching the avatar.  The data collected includes: date of practice, target phoneme, syllable structure level, percent accuracy and number of words attempted.  You can also see an overall percentage.  All the data can be seen in a graph which is perfect for easy monitoring. 

Finally, you can create homework pages for your students!  This is a huge bonus!  All you have to do is select the specific phoneme and syllable structure that you want your student or students to work on and TA DA…Homework pages!

Overall, I highly recommend this amazing app if you have students with apraxia.  The fun graphics and amazing features will not let you or your students down!  You can grab this app at the iTunesStore.  Be sure to head over to the SmartyEars website for more information on Apraxia Ville and to check out all of the other apps they have to offer.

Don’t miss out on the Better Hearing and Speech Sale over at Smarty Ears!!!  Apraxia ville is currently $19.99 (originally $24.99).  All of their apps will be on sale until 5/12/13!  

Hope you all enjoyed this review!!

Kristine

Live Love Speech

May Crafts for Speech & Language by Teach Speech 365

I am happy to be guest posting for Kristine! May is one of my favorite months - spring-like weather and summer is just around the corner. I like to do crafts during my therapy sessions and try to have at least one planned each week to keep things interesting. Read on to see some of my ideas for May:

1. Candle craft: This could be a fun craft for Mother's Day. 

Step 1: Buy a little candle and some craft tape (I got some on clearance - you could also use ribbon, but you'll have to glue it on)

Step 2: Add craft tape in any design that you wish!

 Before:

After:

2. Frogs On The Lily Pad: I got these cute frog push pins (also on clearance) and thought it would a great reinforcer. If you have a bulletin board, you could cut out green "lily pads" and have your students put a frog on the lily pad every time they answer a question. See who has the most frogs at the end!

3. Giant Clothespins: 2 options! 

A) Decorate one for a Mother's Day gift.

B) Buy 3 different colors and label one with "Initial," one with "Medial," and one with "Final." Have your students use card decks with their sounds and decide where in the word their sound is!

4. Flower-y Fun: this could also be a Mother's Day gift or incorporated into therapy using target words, language concepts, etc.

And my favorite: 

5. Articulation Apron

This is more of a craft for you, though you could get little fabric bags and have your students make their own articulation bags. I used fabric markers to write a bunch of words all over the apron. This activity would be for students who can read - as they will be in a race to find words containing their sounds (and of course producing them correctly). For this apron, I did words containing "l, r, th, s" words. Your students will get a huge kick out of you wearing the apron. Give each student a copy of Speech/Language Stew (FREE) and target articulation and language goals! The student finds 10 words with their sound (or just 10 words - if they are language kids) and fills in the "recipe" for Speech/Language Stew. You can target sequencing, describing, retell, WH question, cooking vocabulary, etc. 

Hope you found some ideas that you like! Thanks again to Kristine for letting me guest post!

Visit my blog, Facebook, TpT store, or Pinterest! 

-- Teach Speech Blog: http://www.teachspeech365.blogspot.com TpT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teach-Speech-365 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TeachSpeech365 Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/teachspeech365/