To theme or not to theme...that is the question!

In two and a half weeks, I will be sitting in the auditorium of the school district's high school listening to an array of speakers. All of these speakers will have a goal in mind whether I am present both physically and mentally, or just physically! I cannot believe the summer break is coming to a close. It seems like yesterday, I was writing a blog post dealing with school beginning "in a month". Wow!


Well, I am having an inner debate. I am a HUGE planner. If you are new to my blog, you will learn that I am a person who is quite frequently described as a "Type A Personality" with everything organized and labeled to the max! I love to organize things. I love to provide a home to all trinkets in a way that is easy to decipher for anyone who enters my room. I feel anxiety when I am in the midst of a mess. Am I alone on this? =/ 


Get back to the topic, Courtney! Okay! Do you use themes? Do you like the idea of themed units? I enjoy creating tools to use in therapy and am currently working on baseball themed articulation and language activities. I sat down the other day and devised what could be a "plan" for themed units. 


I separated them out by month and it looks like this:
September - Back to School, Pirate, Apples
October - Columbus Day, Halloween
November - Thanksgiving, Turkey, Cornucopia
December - Christmas, Snowman, Penguin
January - MLK Jr Day, Snow, Eagles
February - President's Day, Valentine's Day, Hearts, Candy
March - St. Patrick's Day, March Madness, Dr. Seuss
April - Earth Day, Butterflies, Spring, Flowers
May - Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day


Random themes:
Food - Popcorn/French Fries/Burgers
Comics
Angry Birds
Disney/Pixar


I definitely don't have printables/activities ready for most of these, but I don't need anything dealing turkeys or snow for a while yet, so I will take it one day at a time! You know what I mean! =)


If you have other theme ideas, share them with me! I would love to hear what you are working on! If you don't use themes, do you plan out your weekly sessions or go on a whim? I know some building Principals require lesson plans to either be available or turned in. I do not have to do so, but I know if I am bored with an activity, my students likely are too! This allows for a little change up every once in a while!


Happy Monday!

Every child deserves the opportunity to be heard!

I love children! This is my passion! I am sure the same is true for you, which is why you do what you do! We are blessed! I spent another day in my space trying to get everything put together. I can now say I have almost everything unwrapped. I believe the only thing(s) I have left to free is/are the interactive computer games. What a relief! I am sure I spent at least two full days unwrapping plastic from the outside of board games and punching out pieces/trying to fold along the perforation provided for question cards. My fingers hurt! 


As I was putting the final touches on one of my file cabinets, I had an idea. I will be working with some precious little ones who are "nonverbal". This is a controversial term in my mind because I believe everyone is verbal. Some just may not use their voices to get the point across! Anyway, because the term "nonverbal" is so widely known, I will use it for ease. More can be said on my thoughts on that later! Back to the point! I, rather my school district, purchased something that looks like this at my request.

This contraption consist of music blocks. If you are interested in this product, and don't have one, you can find it at Amazon. 


I had placed this on a shelf in my cabinet and realized that I wanted to make something that could be used with those "nonverbal" kiddos. This is my thought...I took a picture of all six sides of the five blocks you can see. Each side represents a different shape. For those students who need that extra push in understanding their speech has meaning, provide a picture option for them to select. Once the selection is made for the red block, move on to the subsequent blocks. After all blocks have been chosen, the red button on the device can be pushed and a song is played. As you can see, there are magnetic pieces around the shapes. Each side of the blocks plays a different song, so multiple tunes can be formed!


If you have a student who is beyond the picture level, which I don't know if I have because I am new in the building, use color symbols and shape symbols from Boardmaker. I don't have access to that as of yet because I haven't been issued the laptop computer assigned to me, so I can't provide you with those, but I'm sure Microsoft Word/Google could do the trick if you aren't hooked up with Boardmaker! I will add those to the post when I get my hands on the computer and if I remember ;). 


If you have a student who is beyond the "picture symbol with word" level, then you can make this even more abstract by only giving word options. I love literacy!


This is what the blocks look like with the shapes on them in case you are interested...

This same activity could be used for those beginning PECS or AAC devices. As I already mentioned, this is another option when working with those children who are struggling to understand that speech has meaning.


I have not completed all the tools necessary, but this can be completed with the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads as well. If you withhold the pieces until the child selects a picture, provide the verbal expression to them, and give them what they have requested, then you have provided another way to elicit communication!


That's all for now!

In exactly one month...

I don't know about you and your thoughts on this summer, but I believe it has FLOWN by! I have spent many days in my "new home" trying to get everything in exactly the right place. I am a "Type A personality" as some of my friends would say, so my need for extreme organization has resulted in multiple hours spent typing labels for file folders, color coding, unwrapping plastic off of board games and then putting the pieces in small bags for safe keeping, and so on. Sometimes I think I am a little over the top, but it is what helps me feel like I am in control and have everything just the way I need it to be to be successful. Okay, I am over the top! 


Trips to see family members, in my mind, is always a blessing. The time spent in the vehicle going from point A to point B to point C, etc., I could do without. Anyway, since I put 1600+ miles on my car in the last 5 days, driving all over Oklahoma and Arkansas, I had a lot of time to think. I immediately became paranoid! Seriously...paranoid! I don't know if it is the shift from middle school to elementary school or the fact that school starts in exactly one month, but I don't feel ready. Not even a little bit! Do you?!


While I was in a different state, I bought multiple things that I found of interest. At the dollar spot in Target, I found personal sized pocket charts (sorting, grammar, anyone?!), lesson plan books for teachers (see...I'm over the top!), grade books for teachers (I plan on using them for attendance...maybe?), and icee cups (similar to the popcorn containers we have seen floating around for activities). At Wal-Mart, which is not my favorite place to go, but I am from "the home of Wal-Mart" area, so I feel obligated sometimes, I found m & m cups (same sort of thing as popcorn/icee) and folders. Lots and lots...of folders! I decided for 15 cents each, I would buy the 10 folders, with brads, in every color available. Needless to say, I bought 60 folders. Again, I confess! I am over the top!


Do you use folders for your students? Do you keep all of their information together in something besides a "working file"? In my middle school days, we did not use folders. I have gathered the importance of them for those in elementary school, but am beginning to panic when it comes to the implementation of all of these things! Is that weird? I suppose it could be. I plan on including a parent contact log, data sheet, etc. in the portion with brads. On the left, the worksheets they complete to show to parents during conferences. On the right, copies of notes or information sent home to parents. 


Maybe you use the "working file" for the parent contact information. If you do, can you tell me what all is included in your "working file"? I have yet to see any details. For the most part, these files contain assessment protocols, IEPs, and progress notes. I feel like that is all that should be included because the rest is just "fluff". Thoughts?!


Anyway, enough rambling expressing my thoughts! I will be spending my day in my room trying to get more accomplished. I hope I can close the door at the end of the day and feel like I have begun the decent downhill. 


Happy Monday!

It is finished!

After a long and busy week, I have finally completed the project I anticipated would take only a few days. I am excited with the end result and plan on creating a few more things in the next few days. For now, I wanted to let you see what I have created.


I have created a game board to be used with target cards covering multiple categories. The categories include synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, heteronyms, homophones, inferences, yes/no questions, categories, WH/How questions, cause/effect questions, and expressive language tasks. The game board looks like:

It is a little different than this, but it saved me from trying to copy/paste it all over again to create an image! The changes include changing the Start/Finish to "Go!" and you can see the characters in the rollercoaster cart.


The cards look similar to this:

If you are interested in seeing all of the category options, you can go to my TPT Store and see the preview document.


I have decided that 81 pages of cards was as much as I could take up to this point. I plan on creating some basic concept cards at the request of Deb at SpeechGadget in the next few days. I didn't forget about your request Deb!


A few of the language targets can be found in individual game form on my TPT store as well, if you are interested. At this point it is only the WH question target, but more will be added as the evening continues.


An articulation game is in the making as well! It will hopefully be done in the next few days, but I won't make another promise I can't keep!


Onto the freebie! I have created two activities that allow for sentence creating to take place. One is focused on adverbs and the other adjectives. As you can see, your students can make their way around the activity mat creating sentences. The student with the most accurate sentences, at the end of the session/activity time, is the winner. This is the created for adjectives:

The other activity is a sorting activity focusing on grammar. Sorting areas include: nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives. Tickets are included with some options for sorting, but I have a few other ideas to provide.
1. Have the students use a dry erase marker and write in the words they can think of that belong in those categories.
2. Have the students formulate sentences that include words in the categories. If you do this, you could have the students each use a different color dry erase marker and they could tally their score along with grammatically correct sentences.

To get your freebie! Click here! I hope you enjoy it! If you have any thoughts/comments/suggestions, feel free to leave them here! I would be happy to know what you think! 

That feeling of appreciation!

It has been a busy week for me. I have a friend who gave birth to a baby super prematurely in November. Actually, they emergency c-sectioned her at 26-weeks...on the nose. Her sweet baby is currently staying at our children's hospital getting over some version of the influenza virus. Poor thing! Beyond spending time there keeping sweet baby's parents company, I have been working in my new speech room and finishing up the summer school session in a neighboring town.


Do you ever discover you have a connection with a student, but fail to figure out why? Here is why I ask....I accepted a position in a neighboring town working with children in extended school year (summer school). I am seeing kiddos in the B-3 program as well, but that is definitely not the same time frame as ESY. ESY is a 6-week summer session working with children who have emerging skills or possibilities of regression/recoupment.


The particular student I made a connection with has cerebral palsy. She is verbal, yet struggles with expressive language. She does well with answering questions, participating in jokes/humor, and holding a conversation; however, she struggles with asking questions. She is a student that I can honestly say I didn't figure out in that short time frame. Most of the time, I have at least a little start on the student and their likes/dislikes. This one, I have nothing. 


The last day of summer school was yesterday. She wheeled her way in on her motorized wheelchair with a HUGE smile on her face. She said, "Courtney, we will work, play Price is Right, and then you get to open your present." *Sidenote* This girl LOVES the Price is Right, so I bought the Price is Right app for the iPad. Everyone needs a little motivation, right?! My response was, "Present?! I'm excited to see the present!" After the smile faded a bit and we were done with the middle school girl chatter, we got to work. At the end of the session, this is what I received.

A chocolate bar, a picture she colored for me, and a card. Here is a zoomed in picture of the card:

Now, remember, this student I only provided services to for 6-weeks. This card melted my heart. I suppose that is why I have love for what I do. This teenage girl is able to state more than some of my students, but she was so excited about this present. 


Do you receive gifts from your students? Even a thank you note from time to time? I know we, as school-based SLPs, don't make a lot of money, but I would take thank you notes over money any day. That is why I love what I do. I am making a difference! You are too! 

A look at my home away from home!

Happy Wednesday everyone! To say I am blessed is an understatement. I am switching school districts this year and have more positives already than I had all last year combined. I spent the majority of my day getting everything moved and organized in my new home away from home. I know fellow bloggers have posted pictures of their lovely spaces, so although it is a work in progress, I thought I would share where I will be spending a large portion of my weeks. 

Forgive the glare in this picture, but this is one of the bookshelves in my room. It is filled with Super Duper products that I can't wait to get my hands on! There are also some Lakeshore Learning games mixed in.

These two cabinet spaces are packed full of Super Duper and Lakeshore Learning products. Consider me excited! The one on the left is much more organized, but there are things all the away to the back of the shelf. I am sure that is how your spaces are too! I tried to keep them as organized by target category as I could, but then it was more of a priority of having it fit! The one on the right is organized on the bottom three shelves, but the top three need a little more help! It will come. 

You can't see the bottom row on this, but you will see why here in a second. This is another area of my room that is now organized. The more I look at these pictures, the more I wonder how long it will stay this organized. My neat freak mentality might have a battle with my exhausted self once the school year begins.

 And here is the mess. This is the reason you can't see the bottom shelf. It's a mess. I am at a standstill at this point because my file cabinet has yet to make it in my room. I am replacing a speech therapist who retired, and she was in a room across the hall. This room is bigger, which is great, but the furniture beyond the shelving has yet to be moved over. Until that happens, the domino effect cannot happen. That means, those file crates in the cabinet cannot be emptied and this stuff cannot be put in a home. Again, it will come in time. I just have to keep reminding myself!

I'm not sure I have a desk. I mean, I have a desk, but I don't really at the moment. Instead it's a shelf. I odn't really have a desk chair yet either. Deep breath in, deep breath out! 


Anyway, here is my space. I couldn't get a good picture of the entire room because there were people in the hallway at the time. Being the new one in the building, I didn't want to display my nerdiness for all to see. They will all be completely aware in time, but for now, I want to appear "normal"!

After I return from a going away party, I will continue my work on my massive project! I hope I can post it tonight! =)

Sneak Peek!

I have been working hard on a great theme unit with the carnival in mind. I am no where near finished with the project, but it is up to 48 pages. Phew! I thought I would give you a sneak peek into my progress. Let me know if you can think of anything you would like me to incorporate! My brain won't stop spinning with possibilities, but I know I need to stop somewhere or it might never be done!


Here is the first sneak peek:

My cropping skills to save as a picture caused a few of the graphics to be cut off, but this is the game board that will accompany cards that look like:

I have included multiple targets such as synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, heteronyms, homophones, inferences, categories, Yes/No questions and WH questions. That should be it...unless, of course, I come up with other ideas!


I have another language task that will be incorporated. Actually, there are two as of now, but I am just giving you a preview of one. Here it is:

I have many students on caseload that struggle with grammar and formulating sentences. Most don't understand the parts of speech and components that make up a sentence, so I have sorting tasks for working on these skills.


I hope this has peaked your interest in some way! I am excited to share the completed product!


Happy Tuesday!

Adverbs, anyone?!

I believe it is safe to say that I struggle with maintaining attention to any given task. I can't even count on my fingers and toes how many times I have tried to focus on things around my house today. Instead of completing the various tasks that await me, I find myself sitting and creating new tools for various targets. This was a light bulb moment I had while sorting my laundry, so after I had a load of light-colored clothes in the washer and a load of dark-colored clothes in the dryer, I began to create this activity focusing on adverbs.


Be creative and use it however you wish, but I plan on using it in the following way:
1. Give each student a different colored game piece.
2. Bring out the famous Super Duper die that only allows a student to roll up to 3.
3. Have the student roll the dice and the treasure map they land on provides a word that needs to be made into a sentence. For example, if a student lands on "always". The sentence could be "I will love you always." 
4. For every sentence that is formulated accurately, the student gets a point. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. 


This is a pirate themed activity. Side note, I found a lot of pirate-themed items at Party America while I was there collecting gag gifts for my mother-in-law. If you are a theme unit person, you might want to check out your local party store! =)


Here is where you can find the FREE download. Please let me know if you aren't able to access it for some reason.

A glance into my TPT!

I took a break on my current creative thought to continue completing a task I have been working on for a week, or so, now. The task has been revamping my TPT store. I decided to do this because of the clip-art terms of use and a few pieces of feedback I have received. I have just added a game that I worked on a month or so ago and have just completed my editing on. 


Ack! A Pirate Game for Language

My intentions with this game were similar to the game "Sorry!". Because of all the board games out there, access to game pieces seems to be extremely easy. I hope that is true for you! If not, I have a backup plan!


I created this game with a "home" zone for the pieces to start out in. I recommend that each player maneuver through the game board using the same route. For instance, if your students choose the "long route", then every player should take the long route. This is because the red/green and blue/black colors have similar routes. If you look at the board, the amount of spaces to go around the board is the same for those color pairs, but if all colors are needed, the amount of spaces is not the same. We have to keep it fair! =)


Every piece that lands in the "home" zone safely can be moved to the pirate ship. The player with the most pieces on the pirate ship at the end of a session/game time is the winner. Backup Plan: If you do not have enough game pieces for your players, then I have provided pirates that can be given each time a game piece makes its way successfully around the game board. The player with the most pirates at the end of a session/game time is the winner!


I have created cards for synonyms, categories, and rhyming. All of the cards are able to be printed with answers available, if desired. 


Without answers:

With answers:

Here is a link to my TPT store. Here is a link to the activity. Please let me know your thoughts on this activity! I have some more ideas on cards that could be created if this "game" seems to be of interest to you!

Have a great day!

Work in Progress!

Wow! I don't know about you, but my weekend flew by! My husband and I celebrated my mother-in-laws 50th birthday this weekend. That explains my being absent all weekend. It was a great time with friends/family out on the Missouri River; however, the only thing I have to show for my weekend is a little red skin. I should have brought the sunblock! 


Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I am working on an activity that has me pretty excited. I started working on it this morning and then realized I needed to focus on a few things around the house. Work before play, I suppose. I might just have it completed by the end of the day, but please be patient! I don't think you will be disappointed with the end product.


Happy Monday!

A very brief peek at my daily documentation!

Happy 4th of July! I hope you are spending your time with friends and family celebrating the independence of the fabulous US of A. =)


I am home for the day because, as of most of you, I don't have to work. My husband on the other hand is at work today. He is a physical therapist in a skilled nursing facility. Poor guy! 


This only means that I have some time on my hands. I just completed the update to the daily notes pages I use. They are super quick and efficient. I discovered them somewhere along the way, so if you are the original creator, let me know and I will give you credit! I have recreated them so they fit my needs in the schools and you can too! If you want the excel document to do so, let me know. I will be happy to share it with you! 


Here is how it works:

All it takes is putting the student's name, teacher, grade, ID # (I use the number associated with their IEP so it is there for quick reference), and goal. Then on the dates you see the student, put the date, circle the appropriate alpha/alphanumeric combination, and write in your bit of data. It takes a matter of seconds! 


Below is a full page view of the data entry portion without the key. The more you get use to the format, the less you will need the key! I hope you can use this, or gain an idea as to how to personalize your own data entry, so that data collection can be completed in a more time-efficient way!

If you have any interest in this you can download it here! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help this better suit your needs!


Daily documentation is tough! Let me know how you tackle it in the comments!

Happy 4th of July!

My husband decided to spend his evening on the golf course, which left me with a little down time. We can all use some of that every now and again! Can I get an amen?! 


Well, as I was sitting here on the couch looking at the latest terms of use for clip art across the web (more on this at a later date), I decided I would upload a 4th of July freebie. I know the 4th of July is tomorrow, but I didn't start blogging until today, so please forgive me for my timing!


So, here it is. A reinforcement activity with rockets and fireworks. The document is 6 pages, which includes the title page. There are 4 pages of rockets, with each page having 12 picture cards. 

That leaves one page, with 12 picture cards, of fireworks.

Set up is super simple. All you need to do is print out the cards, laminate them, and use them for whatever goal you are targeting. With all the cards face down in the middle of the table/work space, the students take turns answering language questions/saying articulation words. For every correct answer given, that student can select a card from the middle. If it is a rocket, they get to keep the card. If it is a firework, they have to return all of their rocket cards to the middle. The student with the most rockets at the end of a session is deemed the winner! 

I hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July. Click here for your download!

I'm taking the plunge!

Hello blog world! 
I am taking the plunge into the blogging world because I have a vested interest in speech therapy. I spend hours a week reading insight from some of my favorite bloggers. In doing so, I realized that I have some ideas to incorporate as well. I know there are a lot of blogs out there, so I hope you stick with me as we dive into speech therapy from my little corner!


A little about me:
My name is Courtney and I am living my passion as a speech therapist! I completed my undergrad and graduate degrees at the same university and in between those significant life chapters, I embraced the journey as a wife. I recently completed my CF year and am in transition to certified SLP. Whew! I spent the 2011-2012 school year as a speech therapist serving a diverse middle school population. I had students on caseload ranging from those with multiple disabilities/severe disabilities to those with articulation disorders, who are considered "gifted". Of all of these students, none warmed my heart more than those who caused me to think a little bit more than the average. Those students who required me to "think outside of the box" were my favorite and left me feeling extremely challenged! Who doesn't love a challenge? I find it switches up the monotony of the speech room when I have to take a student and tweak my typical treatment thoughts to better serve them! 


My hope is that you will find this blog to be a place you can come and gain insight. I look forward to working alongside you, all the while sharing tools I have created to switch it up in my little speech corner. 


Courtney