St.Patrick's Day

We are about four weeks away from St. Patrick's day and the invasion of the color green.  However, if you're like me, you need to start gathering materials for that week so that it can be ready to go!  I've started re-vamping and creating materials to use and finding materials online.  Here are the documents I've created (the clipart was all found using google images).

St.Patrick's Day Artic. Cards for /r/: 

Print 1-2 copies of the cards (depending on number of students playing), shuffle, have students draw a card and say the word (isolation, in sentence, etc).  They keep the card and play continues.  If they draw the Leprechaun, they lose all cards.  The pot of gold allows them to draw another card.  The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.  Variation: Print 2 copies of the green word cards and play Go Fish with these cards!

 Click to Download St.Patrick's Artic Cards for /r/

St.Patrick's Day Game Board: 

Print the game board.  Students start at the space labeled "start" and roll the die to move.  If they land at the large end of the rainbow, they move along the rainbow to the space pointed to.  If they land on the red "Lose a Turn" space, they lose 1 turn.  The first student to reach the "finish" space wins. 

 Click to Download St.Patrick's Day Game board

Silly St.Patrick's Day Artic Fill-in-the-blank: 

Print the board.  Have the student draw 1-2 artic cards (from the artic playing cards) and place them in the white boxes.  They then say the sentences with their words included.  They end up with some truly hilarious combinations and we have written our favorites on my whiteboard throughout the week.

Click to Download Silly St.Patrick's Day Artic

Other St.Patrick's Speech/Language resources: 

Speaking of Speech SPD Resources

livespeaklove.com SPD Printables

Speech Time Fun SPD Wh? Board Game

More to come as others start to create things for SPD 2012!!!

DIY of the week! Artic. Towers!

I can in no way, shape, or form take full credit for this great idea.  However, I modified it for my use with /s/ and /r/ in therapy and my kids LOVE it!  They are known in my room as Artic. Towers!

What you need for 1 tower:

 1 - Pringles Can (I got the tallest I could find which happens to be the Reduced Fat ones)

45 - 5oz (or smaller) Dixie-Type bath cups

The Can Labels and words can be downloaded HERE

How to make it:

Download and print off the can label and glue or tape it around the can (some trimming may be necessary).

Download and print off the words and either glue, tape, or write them on the cups (I used rubber cement because the cups were waxy which didn't allow a sharpie to write on them.

Stack the cups in the can and then follow the easy play directions!

How to play:

Take the stack of cups out of the can.  Have the student say each word a certain number of times, in a sentence, etc.  They then start to stack the cups.   After they have 3 in a pyramid, they start at the bottom until they have 6 in a pyramid, then 10, then 15, and so on until they have all 45 stacked in a pyramid!  It's harder than it looks.  However, for an extra hard challenge, have them turn the cups the "right" way up (upside down from what is pictured above) and try to stack that way.  I have yet to have a student stack all 45 this way and is great for the older students who master the "original" way shown above very quickly.

Thanks to Pinterest teachers for this idea I've seen floating around.  I hope the adaptation for Artic works well for you.  I also would like to adapt for grammar (present/past tense, etc), vocab, etc.  How about you?

Therapy Wish List - Under $25!

There are a lot of ideas running around on the internet, in my brain, and amongst my speechie pals that I simply can't afford right now.  However, I fear that if I don't gather them into one location, share them with you, and keep them organized, they'll simply be forgotten.  So, this post is as much for me as for you (sorry, it's not always about you :P ).  This will be an ever-expanding post as I think of new ways to use products, sites, and DIYs!

Using Road Carpets for Following Directions!

 Find a large road carpet (these are ALWAYS at thrift stores!) and some toy cars.  You can address vocab goals, language goals, etc.  For example, have the child follow directions like "Go to the police station after you visit the pond".  You can work on concepts like left, right, in front of, behind, first, second, after, before, instead of, colors, at the same time, etc.  This also helps to incorporate motor movements with language tasks.  You can also have the child give YOU directions.  This is also great for work with early intervention as this is a very popular toy for children (especially boys).

Rory's Story Cubes - LOVE THESE!

 Okay, I actually just purchased these after having them on my must-have list for a few months.  I use them for EVERYTHING and my students LOVE them!  Artic students get to use them for carry-over of sounds at sentence/conversational level.  My language students use them for grammar, vocabulary, memory, story-telling, and so much more.  I definitely recommend these for any SLP or parent!!!  (Right now they are 33% off on Amazon - $6.86.  I purchased them at my local Target near the decks of cards for $7.99)  Now that I have the original... These are on my Wish List:

Melissa and Doug Products:

We used these products with our Pre-K kiddos all of the time last year.  They have cutting food, kits, sets, etc.  I think this Sandwich kid could be used with my younger elementary students who are working on following directions, vocab, etc.  I'm thinking we could have a sandwich shop where I give them my "order" (I want a cheese sandwich with tomato on the bottom and pickles on top).  Food groups would be good for vocab, grouping, categories, etc.  Ideas?  What do you think?

Treasure Hunt:

I think it would be great for vocabulary building, following directions, maybe even artic (clues which have their sound) to go on a treasure hunt.  You could hide the treasure chest in a safe location in your room or in your school.  Then students can follow the map of "clues" you provide.  Maybe they start with one clue and at each answer they find the next clue until they find the treasure.  What are your ideas for this?  I love getting out of my room for therapy when possible...

Card Holders:

I don't know about you but my students do NOT know how to fan out their cards and waste precious time taking the front card, placing it behind the deck, and repeat until they make it though all of their cards.  This set of 4 holders is $16.99 at target so I'd love a DIY option for this.  Any ideas?

Leave your wish list below!

Random, but Sublime, Websites for Speechies!

I wanted a spot to compile great websites for use on computers, iPads, etc.  I can't always pin these to Pinterest if they don't have a large picture so I'm adding them here so that I can share it on Pinterest and with you!

This list will continually grow so please check back!  Please add your favorites in the comment section below to share with others:

Auditory Bombardment Site with Files for listening!

The Quiet Machine (Between the Lions PBS)

Sentence Structure Games

Exercises at Grammar Bytes 

Fun Brain - Reading Brain  (I love using the MadLibs for artic and to teach grammar)

Game Goo (I love using Squanky the Tooth taker for Antonyms and Synonyms)
Kiz Club  (user suggested)
Speaking of Speech (of course... so much here!)

 Vocabulary Games (PBS Kids)
Learning games for kids (Worth exploring for language, etc.)
PBS Kids Word Girl (Good for a change in language/vocab lessons)
Net Connections for CSD (Various resources, links, etc. for therapy)

***List in Progress, check back soon for more!***

BONUS DIY of the Week: Artic. Sticks

Okay, I admit, I like popsicle sticks, perhaps even a little too much.  And my kids seem to think they are magical as well.  So you can't blame a SLP for finding every way possible to use these beauties... and here's another:

To DIY you'll need about 60 sticks, a sharpie (fine point works best) and paint or paint dots.

As you can see, I simply painted each set of 10 sticks a different color (paint dots were used) and numbered.  So, I had ten pink 1's, ten blue 2's, and so on.  Then I placed them in my little $0.50 bag from Michaels and off we go.  Here are the games I like to play with it.  They love trying to beat me or their other group members!  Enjoy!

What is RtI to you?

This quick post is more of a question than a post.  The RtI concept was introduced to our district several years ago but never as a cohesive how-to.  Therefore, RtI became a typical speech therapy session without an IEP.  As I was new to this building this year, I have been piloting a new RtI program at my K-5 building which may be taken district-wide next year.  I was curious what, if any, RtI model your school does.  The big questions being:

• Are there grade-wide screenings done and if so, which grades?  Who does this?
• If no, how are students recommended for services.
• Do you follow a tiered system (3-tiers is the typical model with this) and if so, what does each tier look like.
• What are your responsibilities at each level of intervention?
• What else can you tell me?  Any resources on the web that you refer to for RtI?

In Missouri we can do Speech, Fluency, and Voice RtI as those are the areas which typically do not impact education enough to qualify a student.  We do not do Language RtI as that is an IEP kiddo.  ANY help would be very much appreciated.

The topic is RtI, discuss discuss...

DIY of the week! Pocket Games!

As I was emptying some leftover materials from the SLP before me, I ran across her handwritten "Pocket Games" on index cards.  I thought they were a nice idea for extra work in language and speech so I revamped them by typing them up, updating them (none of my students will know what a phonogram is!), and pasting them onto index cards.  I use Index card file boxes to keep them organized:

 Here's an example of the final product:

So... this is your DIY of the week.  Luckily for you, they're all typed up and ready to go on the following links!

3x5 PDF Files (This will save some glue and time!  Thanks for the suggestion!)
There are two links provided.  One, of course, is the free document.  However, as taking time to create and post materials adds up, I've begun uploading some documents to "Teachers Pay Teachers".  If you are willing to "purchase" that version instead of the freebie, I would greatly appreciate it.  If not, the freebie is available to you as well.  Either way, thanks for coming to visit Sublime Speech! 

Free Materials

Materials on Teachers Pay Teachers (Thank you!!!)

Let me know how you use them in your sessions and any edits that may need to be made.  I posted them in Word Documents so that you could change them if needed as well as the addition of PDFs this week. 

ENJOY and have a marvelous weekend!