Peek At My Week 1/17

Graphics: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lindy-Du-Plessis

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This week involved a little of this and a little of that. With no snow in our area this week, I decided to hold off on the snowflake craft that I had planned on doing. I replaced it with a cute story called "The Mitten Tree" by Candace Christiansen. It's about an elderly lady who knits mittens for all the children in the town and puts them on a tree. I should've done this before the holidays, but oh well. I printed out a mitten page (see below) and we colored, cut them out, described them, and glued them on a tree. 

I found some great MLK freebies, like this one and this one that worked great with my older kids. I also used grade level passages from ReadWorks because I like to sneak in some curriculum based lessons as much as I can. This week, our schedule was really different since a lot of my kids were being tested. This resulted in me running around trying to find the kids, switching kids, etc. Needless to say, I'm happy it's Friday! And the start of a long weekend!

{Review} Using Commercials for Social Thinking

Graphics: Lovin Lit

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience.

I sometimes get sucked into informercials (Nutribullet and Total Gym anyone?), particularly when I have insomnia. That might be because 3AM is when those are shown. But back to the point. 

Commercials! In therapy? Yes! You can target many Social Thinking topics like "unexpected vs. expected behaviors, thinking with your eyes, and smart guesses." 

The above trademarked terms are part of the Social Thinking program. If you're unfamiliar with these terms, here's a brief rundown.

-unexpected vs. expected behaviors: expected behaviors are those that make other people feel positively towards you while unexpected behaviors are those that make other people feel negatively towards you

-thinking with your eyes: this encompasses eye contact and reiterates the point to that our eyes can provide valuable information in social situations

-smart guess: this are what we can make when we are involved in a social situation (opposite is wacky guess) 

*These terms are explained in the Thinking About You, Thinking About Me book and You Are A Social Detective! which are pictured below*

Some examples of video clips:

#1: You could use this one to discuss the following: name some verbs, what should you do in class vs. what shouldn't you do, vocabulary used like "toll, abyss, distance." Or "expected vs. unexpected behaviors" while you're in class. 

#2: This one can be used to make predictions about what will happen. Plus, there are cute polar bears.

#3: This one is for AT&T. I love these commercials! You can discuss how the kids are thinking with their eyes, expected vs. unexpected behaviors when working with a group, etc.

#4: This one can be used to discuss unexpected vs. expected friend behaviors, as well as what "sour" and "sweet" mean in this situations.

#5: These can help introduce the topic of thinking with your eyes. Have your students be looking at the facial expressions of the other kids. 

Make sure you preview these before using them with your students! Clips from TV shows could also be used, but that's a whole other post.

If you're interested in learning more about Social Thinking, click here. Some products were provided to me for review; however the opinions expressed are my own. 

{Review} Language Trainer by Smarty Ears

I was contacted with the opportunity to review Language Trainer by Smarty Ears recently and excitedly said yes. I have other Smarty Ears apps (Articulate It and Language Adventures), so I wondered what this one would be like. One lucky reader will also have the chance to win a copy, so keep reading!

*Disclaimer: I was provided with this app; however, the views expressed are solely my own*

Language Trainer is an app with 4 different activities including Picture Naming, Picture Identification, Divergent Naming, and Sentence Completion. 

I used it with my elementary aged students and it worked fabulously. It does look different that other Smarty Ears apps, but I actually really like the clean, simple layout. Sometimes my kiddos get a little TOO excited about the visual stimuli and it can be hard to focus them. With this app, I didn't have that problem. You can see a video of the app in use by on the Smarty Ears website here. 

Activity: Picture Naming

During this activity, an item is named and the student needs to touch the corresponding item. If the incorrect button is chosen, that picture disappears and the student can keep trying. I loved that!! You have the option to change how many items appear (2-5) in the settings.

Activity: Picture Identification

During this activity, the student has to name the picture. You can record the student and manually score (correct, incorrect, or cued). 

Activity: Divergent Naming

During this activity, a category is provided and the student has to name items within the category. If correct, you touch the check and the drop down menu moves to the next box. You have the option to change how many items need to be named (2-6) in the settings. I think this was my favorite activity - my kids loved checking the box and moving on - it was motivating for them!

Activity: Sentence Completion

During this activity, the student hears a sentence and simply has to provide a word/phrase that makes sense. This helped my students with word retrieval issues! 

What I Liked:

-clean, simple design

-not too much visual stimuli (graphics, etc)

-ability to use with a variety of populations and age ranges (I see preschool-6th graders and used it with almost all grades) 

-variety of activities

-Sentence Completion activity could be used to generate other sentences. I like that this activity helps kids think outside the box and come up with different things that fit!

What I Would Change:

-You can only use this app with one student at a time. This is not really an issue for me. I honestly don't really use data collection methods within apps (gasp). I actually blogged about that recently. It's something to think about if you like using apps with groups.

-Nothing else, really. If you like to have reinforcers right inside the app, that might be something you'd like to see added. 

Language Trainer is on sale in the app store for $14.99 if you think this is a good app for your caseload. If you are looking for an app that you can use with a wide variety of ages and populations, this is it. I can see it working well for several goals: describing, object functions, sentence formulation, AAC users, etc. 

Enter for your chance to win below:

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What Do You Do "Old School?"

I know that lots of apps nowadays have data tracking features, which are supposed to make our SLP lives easier. But it's time for me to confess:

I don't use them. 

Ever.

Gasp!

Once you've recovered from the shock, let me explain. For whatever reason, I still like pencil/paper. I think it's a habit from grad school. I always administered tests in pencil - and I still do! I like to take data in pencil in case I need to erase. 

So I still use good "old fashioned" data sheets and do all my data online during sessions. I don't ever use the data collection features in apps. Maybe it's because I like the security of knowing I have a paper copy of it in case the app crashes. Or maybe not. 

Are there any "old school" habits you have? Fess up! 

Peek At My Week 1/10

Going back to work after any break is hard. Like "I want to throw the covers over my head and stay in my nice warm bed" hard. We had a "cold day" on Tuesday, which broke up the week a little. I used my SPEECH in the New Year freebie a lot to see how my kids were doing after the break. It was a nice way to ease back into the routine.

I used Crazy Speech World's Super Hero Word Association cards with some of my kids. Huge hit! P.S. Did you check out her sparkly makeover?! You can do that HERE. Jenn was one of the first speech blogs I started following, and she's awesome!

I caved and bought Super Dupers Classifying Cards when they were on sale last week. They came in and I used them a lot this week for various activities. I'm glad I have a set of cards that can be used for many different things. I'll be sure to share some of the ways I use them.

I decided not to have a craft of the week this week, but plan to have one next week. Hint: I got some of the items for a whopping 30 cents after Christmas at Target. The kids enjoyed using some of the fabulous games I picked up at a local thrift store ($16 for all that loot):

Who had snow/cold days this week? What did you do in therapy?

Clinical Skills Confidence: Speech Therapy Materials That Won't Break The Bank

Graphics: Lovin Lit

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience.

I'm fairly certain that most SLPs have very little (if any) money to spend when it comes to therapy materials. During the jobs that I've had since graduating, I got used to purchasing or making my own materials. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing - mainly because if I leave the job, I get to take whatever I bought with me. 

But I don't have endless funds of my own to spend, so recently I've taken a trip off the beaten path to find some other low cost options for materials. Confession: I get bored with the same materials over and over, so I like to change it up just as much as the kids do!

Don't get me wrong: I frequent Super Duper and Linguisystems often. I REALLY miss Super Duper's 50% off weekly sales - as that was my go-to pretty much every week. There has been one weekly deal lately that is usually 50% off. Oh, and obviously TpT!!!

I thought I'd share some other websites that I have found some pretty awesome deals on (I was not provided any compensation for mentioning these sites and I have not personally ordered from all of them, they are simply ones that I've found on my own):

1. Educational Insights: Their $10 and below section currently has things like Hot Dots, Make Your Own Hot Dots set ($5.49), and phonics books. 

2. Speaking Of Speech Swap Meet: This website, created by Pat Mervine, allows SLPs to post materials for sale. All arrangements must be made by the individuals. 

3. Really Good Stuff: The Outlet section has tons of items, separated by category (under $1.00, under $2.00, language arts, etc). You might need to do a little more digging, but finding a deal makes it worthwhile!

4. Etsy: If you search "speech therapy," you can order from a shop called SENtoys or Felt Resources that have some items that I think would be great for therapy. I have lost countless hours of time just searching all the other great stuff on Etsy, like Dean Trout's Little Shop of SLP for totes that will hold all your materials! SLPMomma takes care of SLPs around the world!

5. MpM School Supplies: Their clearance section is amazing! Some things that caught my eye were Memory Boosting Mnemonic Songs for Grammar, Storytelling with Puppets, Props, and Patterns, and several books.

These are just a few websites that you might want to check out. I always like Oriental Trading, local consignment and thrift stores, Dollar Tree, and the Dollar Spot at Target. What is your favorite place to score a deal?

SLP Secret Santa Exchange!

What's better than a secret santa gift exchange? An SLP secret santa gift exchange! Some fellow SLP bloggers that I've gotten to know over the past year decided to try one out this year. I was super excited to take part. I did participate in my school's secret santa this year, but this one was fun because SLPs all over the place were participating!

Below are the gifts I received from the person who drew my name:

Whitney Smith of Let's Talk sent me a beautiful chevron infinity scarf and an adorable Rudolph ornament. I forgot to snap a picture before I opened the package...I think I was a wee bit excited about the whole thing! It was seriously like being a kid again! 

I have already worn the scarf a number of times and received compliments on it! The ornament is currently sitting on top of my TV shelf - it will soon be stored with my other ornaments and will take a place of honor on next year's tree. Thanks to Whitney for an awesome way to get into the holiday spirit! 

Definitely check out Whitney's blog, Facebook page, and TpT store! She has some really great book companion packets, plus lots of other ideas on her blog!