Quick Fix Therapy Idea: School Supply Lists

Background and graphics are courtesy of Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge and My Cute Graphics!

I was in Target today near the school supplies (eek, the new school year is coming) when something caught my eye. Well, ok so LOTS of things caught my eye, but one thing in particular can be used in therapy and it's FREE! Target provides copies of the school supply lists of nearby schools. So this little SLP grabbed 3 of them: Kindergarten, 2nd and 4th grade. It's interesting to see how different they are!

Where will I be taking them? To work with me to use in the first few weeks! How? With these FREE worksheets that I made. Articulation, language, grammar skills all rolled into one activity? Yes, please! I did leave some space to customize, as I'm sure lists will vary from state to state. 

What do you think? Will you try this activity?

Show Me The Data Linky Party

Jenn over at Crazy Speech World had an awesome idea to do a data collection linky! So far, a bunch of fabulous SLP bloggers have linked up to bring you their methods of collecting data. I decided to join in the fun. 

I must proceed with a word of caution. Due to moving a lot in recent years, I've had different methods of collecting data, depending on the state and setting I was in. One district had data collection sheets that we were all required to use. That was my Clinical Fellowship Year, so I didn't mind having something already in place. The next year, the district I was in didn't have a formal system, so I made up my own simple data tracking sheet. Then I was in a private practice, which was a whole different ballgame. 

Whew! This fall, I am excited to be returning to the school system. Based on past experiences, I created a sheet that I know I will end up tweaking as the year goes on, but at least it gives you an idea of how I like things laid out. I like to have a big space for writing goals/objectives and an open space to write data. I usually jot myself a note regarding the activity we did. 

Click on the picture below to grab a copy of my data collection sheet! If I change it later, I'll be sure to update it here!

How do you keep your data organized? 

Clinical Skills Confidence: Language Samples Part 2

Time for Language Samples Part 2!

If you missed Part 1, check it out HERE. 

I made a language sample checklist that can be used when taking language samples. It is not exhaustive, but should give you a good idea of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Grab it HERE!

While taking a language sample, I am looking for the following:

• Does the student speak in complete sentences?
• Are there a lot of grammatical errors?
• Can I follow what the student is saying?
• Does the student use age appropriate vocabulary?
• Are there any stuttering like behaviors?

This is where we have to quiet our SLP tendencies to talk too much! I find it hard sometimes too, especially with a student who is shy or not really saying much more than 1-2 words. Resist the urge to ask too many questions. If you do speak, use open ended comments or questions, such as "I really like to go to amusement parks. I don't like going on roller coasters though." This way, the student will hopefully open up and start a dialogue, rather than just answering your questions with 1 or 2 words. 

What do you use when taking language samples? Tell me below!

Quick Fix Therapy Idea: Screenshots!

I've talked about using apps like GoodNotes for activities like my Find A Difference: Farm Edition (free) activity to save on ink and time. Now it's time for another way to use this app for a quick and easy therapy idea!

First, you need to know how to take a screenshot. It's very easy: on your iPad, find a page that you'd like to capture. Click the power button and home button at the same time and voila - it saves the screen shot to your home page.

I decided to go to Pediastaff's pinterest page for verbs, which can be found here. I took a screen shot of some pictures that I liked.

Now, open the GoodNotes app. On the left hand side, there is a + sign. Click on that and retrieve the screenshots from your camera roll. 

Now you can use the pen or highlighter feature (found at the top of the app) to have some fun with your students. Have them describe a picture so you or a peer can guess which one they are talking about. Formulate a sentence about each picture and cross them out as you go. Follow directions (draw an X over the picture of the boy with the hat and circle the picture of the dolphin). 

The possibilities are endless!

Have you used the screenshot feature for therapy purposes? Comment below and tell me how!

Clinical Skills Confidence: Language Samples

Time to talk about language samples! 

I like to make sure I take a language sample when I do an assessment. Of course, this is not the ONLY time I take one, but it gives a good representation of a student's strengths and weaknesses, grammar skills, narrative skills, and overall language skills. 

This is where I'm eternally grateful to have an iPad. I can easily grab it to take a recording and go back to it later on. In a pinch, I can use my digital recorder. 

Sometimes, I have students who are not as easily engaged in a conversation. In these cases, I may pull out a book to have him/her narrate a story or watch a short video to help the student start. In an effort to save you some time, I created some language sample prompt cards that you can whip out instead of having to come up with a topic! Grab your free sample HERE. I also have the full product on sale in my TPT store, which you can grab HERE!

Stay tuned for a future Clinical Skills Confidence post where I will write about what I look for in a student's language sample! Let me know what YOU use to get a language sample from your students!

Love It and List It! Linky

I'm linking up with Jenna's Love It and List It! Linky - check out her post here.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links!

Jenna will be choosing a topic every 3rd Friday of the month. This month she'd like us to share our favorite games! Here goes...

1. Chef Cuckoo: Choose some ingredients to make the best or worst meal (salad, pizza, soup, etc). Students love to discuss how to make the ickiest dinner...the higher the yuck factor, the better! 

2. Funglish: This game has a ton of tiles with different adjectives. Your task is to describe an item by pulling various tiles. Better suited for the older, reading students! I like to use the tiles for sentence formulation and other tasks as well.

3. Melissa and Doug Felt Food: not really a game, but can easily be made into one using any cards/language task. First one to build a whole sandwich wins!

These are just a few in my arsenal!! What are your favorite games???

Quick, Get Under The Table!

"Quick, get under the table!" 

What?!?! 

Head on over to see my guest post on Playing With Words 365 and check out my tips for therapy activities you can do in an unusual place...

Thank you to Katie for allowing me to be a guest blogger! Please feel free to visit my blog, FaceBook, TpT store, or Pinterest page for more fun tips and tricks! :)