Wordless Picture Books

Graphics: KG Fonts, PrettyGrafikDesign

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience.

Using wordless picture books in speech therapy is a common way to elicit a lot of different language skills. Here are the links to some posts done by fellow SLP bloggers:

Smart Speech Therapy

Playing With Words 365

Let's Grow Speech

Miss V's Speech World has a list of wordless picture books on TpT

Why should we use these types of books?

-great for a range of ages, from the very young on up

-gives insight into a client's narrative abilities

-allows you to look at grammatical structures, sentence structure and overall vocabulary skills

-you can use the same book over and over again

-they can be great ways to help a child learn how to expand utterance length

-parents can use them at home

Amazon does have some, including the following:

 

The latest product to hit my store is one that I'm super pumped about. I've had the idea brewing for awhile, but it took a little bit to figure out how to best approach it. It is an expanding packet of short wordless picture mini-books. What does expanding mean? It means that if you purchase now, you get to download any additional updates for free! With each addition, the price will increase though.

Click below to be taken to the listing:

So, let's take a closer look. Right now, there are 4 stories included. They range from 10-12 half pages (to save on ink and lamination). The backgrounds are white, mainly because I didn't want to send my printer to an early death (haha) with really intricate backgrounds. I kept graphics simple and uncluttered because a lot of my kids get distracted if a scene is too "busy." Plus, I wanted to leave it as open-ended as possible. Additionally, there is a one page "pre-made" story that you can use if you wish to. They also are aligned to many common core standards!

The 4 stories right now are: 

1. The Sticky Spider Webs.

2. What Pet Shall I Get?

3. When I Grow Up!

4. My Community

Below are examples of what the pages look like:

The "pre-made" story is a full page. I used repetitive, but detailed, complex sentences because a lot of my kids struggle to formulate these types of sentences. Again, the use of the story is completely up to you. 

Enjoy!

Clinical Skills Confidence: Have A Life!

The latest installment of Clinical Skills Confidence doesn't actually focus on anything clinical. We all tend to eat, live, sleep, and breath speech - but it's important to have a life outside speech too! Recently I asked my Facebook followers what they like to do to stay in shape. It got me thinking about how it's important to have work/life balance! 

These are some of the things I like to do to make sure I'm living outside the SLP world:

1. Exercise: I make this a habit 6 days a week. It takes getting out bed early, but I feel so much better afterwards. Recently, I discovered The Gymbox through Amazon Prime. It also gives you access to a lot of Jillian Michaels' workout videos. I usually just run, but I know I need to mix it up with some strength workouts. 

2. Hang out with friends: I'm lucky to have close friends in the school that I work at. We routinely get together outside of school.

3. Get takeout and watch a movie: At least one weekend night, my husband and I get takeout and just watch a movie. It's nice to just relax and spend some time together. 

4. Do seasonal activities: Apple picking, pumpkin picking, ice skating, farmer's markets. Whatever it is, get out of the house and take advantage of the seasons. 

5. Find a hobby: For me, I actually really enjoy blogging and TpT activities, which has turned into my hobby - but that's speech related. Outside of that, I like to cook/bake, read, and do crafts.

What do you do to "have a life"?

Peek At My Week 10/12

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience.

Week #7: 3 DAY WEEKEND. Need I say more? But there are still 4 other days to plan for, so here it goes:

Preschool: I picked up a Lucky Ducks game during a recent thrift store jaunt, so that'll be making an appearance for this crowd. Ducks + Phonology Interactive Books = fun!

 

Autism and K-2: I just finished and posted a mini-book and activities for Batty Associations. Which will go perfectly with a book called Five Little Bats Flying In the Night by Steve Metzger.

 

The mini-book contains activities for fall/Halloween vocabulary, associations, following directions, and overall language skills. It will help these kids work on a variety of skills! Click the picture below to check out the listing.

The mini-book features bats who are missing associated items. 

 The pieces can be placed into the book:

There are WH questions with visual choices:

A cut and paste sequencing mat:

3rd-5th: Using this synonym freebie from Activity Tailor. 

I'm also using the October task cards from my Find and Fix Irregular Past Tense Verb Cards that was just posted. Plus, some of the activities in the football section of S.A.L.L. for ALL.  

Enjoy!

Tear Off Ads As Homework Or Carryover

An idea struck me earlier this week, so I played around with it to see if it would indeed work. We want our students to succeed in the therapy room, right? However, the progress that we are really aiming for is for them to succeed OUTSIDE the therapy room...that is, in the classroom, at home, or out in the community.

Homework and carryover are two things that I know I struggle with. The challenge can be getting students to return it...and in some cases, just to do it.

Have you ever seen those tear off ads? The ones with little strips of paper with a phone number or website that you can tear off to call/visit later on? Yep...they're getting "speechified!"

Cut out the whole rectangle, then cut horizontally so the words on the right are in individual strips. Your students leave with it and bring it back when the strips are gone, meaning they practiced saying the sounds (in words, phrases, or sentences) with multiple different people. It's based on the honor system, meaning you won't really know if Johnny just leaves the room and rips them off himself. BUT I'm hoping that because it's likely "new," it might be motivating to them!! 

I included 1 sheet (3 cards) for: initial /r/, er, or, ire, ar, air, and ar, plus a blank one so you can write in whatever targets you want. Click here to get yours!

Hope you enjoy this freebie!

Peek At My Week 10/5

Week #6! Amid testing, report writing, and meetings, I actually get to do therapy too! Here's what's on the menu for this week:

I did a little fire safety last week, but also found these great freebies (click the picture):

Fire Safety Vocabulary from Speech Therapy Games - I plan to use these to have my younger students formulate sentences. 

Color by number firefighter from Maria Manore: 

Preschool: Apple craft from S.A.L.L. and artic drill! Some will be using my Phonology Mini-Books for FCD and CR (now bundled if you're interested). They really liked the ones for FCD, so I have no doubt, they will like the CR ones! It's fire safety week as well. 

Autism: Continuing to focus on fall vocabulary, as well as expanding sentences with color/adjective using the included activities in S.A.L.L. I also frequently work on prepositions with these students, using actual items at first.  We'll also be mixing up the fall vocabulary with the above fire safety vocabulary. 

K-2: I'm still using my apples section of S.A.L.L  - being able to use it for multiple sessions was my overall goal for this. Mixing up some sessions with fire safety too! I plan to use the color by number firefighter for my artic students to color while others are saying their words. 

3-5: We'll be learning about apple types! Also using these apps for synonyms and antonyms:

I started a new monthly organizational system and will be trying it out over the next few weeks. If I like it, I'll definitely share it. I wanted something that would allow me to have most of the materials right at my fingertips, rather than having to shuffle through things or keep everything on the table. 

In case you missed it, I started something fun for the month of October. Read more details here! So far, feedback has been favorable for this! I designed it with the K-3 crowd in mind, but next month I may have 2 different mystery items (one for the younger set, one for the older set). Thoughts? I'm so happy that people are liking this!

Hope you have a great week!

If It's A Noun, Sit Down!

The other day, I was in the middle of a very well planned therapy session with some 3rd graders. We were using Nicole Allison's Nonfiction Fall Texts - the one about spiders, in fact. We had read the passage and were in the process of answering the questions. I happened to ask whether one of the words in the passage was a noun or a verb. I was met with blank stares. Now, that's not to say they don't know what a noun or a verb is. But at that very moment, I got nada. We were at a fork in the "therapy path." I'm being dramatic. 

I decided to forgo my plans and focus instead on nouns and verbs. I told the students to stand up, put their chairs against the wall, and stand in front of them. I said I was going to give them a word. They had to decide if it was a noun or a verb. 

"If it's a verb - an action - raise your hand."

"If it's a noun - a person, place, or thing - sit down."

And a "game" was born. I wrote their names on the whiteboard and said I'd give a point to the students who got it right. I also told them they had to close their eyes when I gave the word to reduce the chances of them simply following the lead of someone else. 

So it went like that! They were engaged and liked earning the points. Plus, anyone that walked by the room probably heard me chanting, "IF IT'S A NOUN, SIT DOWN" several times...

When have YOU been at the fork in the "therapy path" and decided to change courses? 

P.S. Nicole Allison's Nonfiction Texts are awesome in case you're wondering! I plan to return to the regularly scheduled therapy sessions next week. :)

October TpT Mystery!

Graphics: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ms-Jessica

Hello my faithful readers! September is officially over, meaning that we now are full steam ahead for the rest of the year. I think it's about time we had a little fun. What do you think?

I'm sure you all use TpT. If you don't...please start!!! I'm holding a fun little mystery this month. If it works well, I'll consider doing it in the future too. How do you get in on the fun? 

For the month of October, there will be a mystery product listed in my store. It is $2.00. I know, I know, you're probably thinking, "why would I use some of my hard-earned money and not know what I'm getting?!?!" 

Here's why:

-it's $2.00, which means the equivalent of a cup of coffee or very large candy bar

-it's timely, which means you can use it this month

-it can be used with a range of students, goals, etc. 

-it's kind of fun to not know! :)

If and when you leave feedback, please don't give the surprise away! To get to the surprise, click the picture above!

As an added incentive, if you purchase AND LEAVE FEEDBACK, you can enter the giveaway below for a chance to pick any product from my store (bundles excluded). You must leave your TpT username, so that I can verify the purchase. Happy October!

a Rafflecopter giveaway