Real Talk SLP

Welcome to today's episode, where we chat about sensory bins and the incredible benefits of sensory bins for your preschool and elementary speech therapy students. Whether you're a seasoned SLP or just starting out, sensory bins are a fantastic tool you'll want to incorporate into your practice. Kids dig them and once you know how to use them, you will too! What is a Sensory Bin? So, what exactly is a sensory bin? It's a tactile experience contained in a storage container filled with various materials that children can manipulate. Think of it as a hands-on way to engage kids and make learning both fun and effective. When choosing a container, make sure it's large enough for children to explore without spilling everything out— a good-sized storage container usually does the trick. Exploring the Benefits of Sensory Bins Sensory bins are more than just filler activities; they're powerful tools for learning and development. By engaging the five senses, they help children explore and understand their world. Language skills get a significant boost too, as kids describe items, tell stories, answer “wh” questions, and use verbs in context. Social skills also get a lift. Sensory bins encourage turn-taking, initiating interactions, requesting, conversing, and engaging in pretend play. They are excellent for fostering social interactions in a natural, playful setting.Cognitively, sensory bins introduce concepts like color mixing and gravity, supporting children's understanding through hands-on exploration. Additionally, they aid in developing executive functioning skills such as waiting, body awareness, attention, and focus. Practical Ways Sensory Bins Support Speech and Language Skills Sensory bins integrate motor movements and support the development of schemas, enriching pretend play scenarios. They provide numerous opportunities for kids to practice and improve their speech and language skills naturally, making therapy sessions more engaging and effective. Join the Sensory Bin Speech Therapy Webinar for SLPs Want to learn more? Join our live “How to Use Sensory Bins in Speech Therapy” webinar on June 11th at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST. Can't make it live? No problem—access to the replay will be available for 30 days. For just $9, you'll receive an ultimate guide with resources for creating sensory bins and $15 worth of sensory bin printables. Plus, earn CMH hours applicable toward ASHA CCC's and state licenses. Get Started With Speech Therapy Sensory Bins Sensory bins are an invaluable tool in speech therapy, offering endless benefits from language development to social skills and beyond. Don't miss our webinar to delve deeper into creating effective sensory bins and expanding your therapeutic toolkit.Stay inspired and keep making a difference! The post The Benefits of Sensory Bins In Speech Therapy appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

In this episode of the Real Talk SLP, Felice welcomes Daj Mitchell, a seasoned Speech-Language Pathologist who loves using artificial intelligence to streamline her caseload management tasks in the school setting. Daj shares her journey with getting started using AI tools for speech therapy to help her save time and brain energy with tasks like progress notes, IEPs, documentation, speech therapy planning, parent handouts and more! She encourages SLPs to get started using AI tools to get make some of their time and reduce stress! What We Discuss About AI Tools for Speech Therapy in This Episode: Daj's Journey to AI: Learn about Daj's professional background and her path to integrating AI tools into her school-based practice. The Challenges of the SLP Workload: Daj shares insights into the common hurdles SLPs face, from scheduling and planning therapy to handling IEPs and Medicaid billing. AI Solutions for SLPs: Examples of how AI tools like ChatGPT can revolutionize caseload management by automating tasks such as generating homework assignments, creating parent handouts, and collaborating with teachers. End-of-Year Reflection: Daj reveals her song of the year, “Work,” by Rihanna, which encapsulates her busy yet rewarding year. Key Takeaways About AI Speech Therapy Tools: Practical AI Uses: Daj provides tangible examples of AI in action, enhancing productivity and fostering better collaboration with educational staff. Advice for Tech-Anxious SLPs: Tips on starting small with user-friendly AI tools and overcoming tech intimidation. Upcoming LIVE Webinar with Daj! Don't miss Daj's upcoming webinar in June, where she will discuss practical AI applications for SLPs in more detail. Join the ChattED PD membership to watch her webinar and get your clinical maintenance hours with PD that will help you boost your clinical skills and confidence. Resources Mentioned: ChatGPT Difit Magic School AI Freebie and Resources Follow Daj on Instagram: @yourslpdaj Follow our podcast: @cotreatcorner Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts Closing Thoughts:   Be the SLP that every kid wants to see. Embrace technology to make your professional life easier and more effective. Join us next time on the Real Talk SLP podcast for more caseload management tips and therapy ideas! The post Getting Started with AI Tools for Speech Therapy With Daj Mitchell appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Today, on the Real Talk SLP podcast, we will discuss tips for picking speech and language therapy books for your caseload. Most school-based SLPs have larger caseloads, so finding a speech therapy book to cover every age and goal is tricky. I am going to help you narrow down the book selections so that every month, you can use 2-4 books to cover the majority of your speech therapy caseload. In episode 114, we talked about what to do before you start reading books in literacy-based speech therapy. This helps students with comprehension, increases engagement with new vocabulary, and extends the life of a book in your sessions. In episode 115, I share lots of ways to increase engagement in your sessions when reading books.  Add Your Heading Text Here If you work in the school setting as an SLP, you need professional development training that will help you serve your students well. We want to help support you with building your clinical skills! Get those PD hours done with practical strategies you can implement with your caseload tomorrow. Sign up today! For the month of May, here is our line-up of speakers on Instagram.  Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Speech Therapy Caseload Before you select a speech and language therapy book, consider what goals you are targeting with your students.Here are the list of questions I ask myself when determining what literacy-based speech therapy book I am going to choose:What are the goals you are trying to cover?How many goals can I address with this book?Would this book fit my student's language levels and attention span?Does this book have a lot of words with my student's speech sound?What does this book provide for supporting skills in the classroom environment?Does this book provide a new perspective or glimpse into another culture? Speech and Language Therapy Books Resources So if you love using a theme-based approach and need support with picking books, we provide book cheat sheets and book companions in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. We also provide Google Slides with links to songs, videos, and digital activities as well as speech homework, newsletters, task cards, non-fiction reading passages, themed flashcards and more! Here is a list of the books we provide activities for in the membership to give you idea of the themes and books.  To find books by themes, speech sounds, or types of language areas, here are the two resources I mentioned for finding books: Book Share TimeSweet Southern Speech If you are on a budget, try to find books at your school or local library. Check to see if your school will give you a free GetEpic account or check out half priced books. Speech Therapy Books for a Summer Theme Mentioned in This Podcast Episode In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, we discuss picking speech therapy books by target area or age. If using themes, pick your theme, then pick your books.Here are the books I mentioned in the podcast episode:Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. I receive a small commission when you use my links.Beach Day by Karen Roosa – great for wh-questions, describing goals, syntax and morphology goals, building background knowledgeLet It Shine by Maryann Cocca-Leffler – great for wh-questions, describing goals, syntax and morphology goals, building background knowledgeWhen a Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore – great for figurative language, perspective taking, inferencing, story elements, cause and effectA Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen – great for wh-questions, building background knowledge, story retell, making predictions, thought bubbleJabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall – great for students to make personal connections with going swimming, story retell, comprehension, grammar, sound-loaded for speech soundsThere Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell! By Lucinda Collandro – great for sequencing, AAC CORE words, sound-loaded for s-blends, SH, and L, answering “what” questions The post Top Tips for Picking Speech and Language Therapy Books for Your Caseload appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When it comes to reading books in your speech therapy sessions, it's hard to keep all the students engaged. And, your therapy time is short, so keeping kids attentive is important for therapy. Today, on the Real Talk SLP podcast, we are talking about 10 ways to increase engagement when reading speech therapy books. You will get practical tips for your literacy-based speech therapy sessions that you can use tomorrow! Join the ChattED PD Membership If you are a school-based SLP and want practical professional development hours that will help you boost your clinical skills, join the ChattED PD membership. We provide PD training that you can take action on tomorrow with your speech therapy caseload. Engagement Strategies to Use With Speech Therapy Books Here are the engagement strategies mentioned in this podcast episode to help with literacy-based speech therapy: Use iconic gestures – to help teach vocabulary, use it with predictive texts, allows another way to show the child understands the word if they are non-speaking.Shared Book Reading Strategies – pointing to vocabulary and giving kid friendly definitions of words as well as asking questions that help with making personal connections with the characters.Novel effects app you can use your phone or iPad. It has lots of our favorite books and would be perfect to use in your small groups or your whole class lessons. With this app, it provides sound effects and music when you read aloud.Bring in props for the characters, key vocabulary or items that help with sequencing or story retelling. If your students can handle having a prop, have them raise the prop when they hear a certain phrase or predictive text.Activate background knowledge – Before you read the book, you can activate background knowledge by taking them on a virtual field trip using a platform like Google Earth to see the setting of the book. You can show them some YouTube videos, sing a song, etc. I talk more about activities you can do before you read the book in episode 114. More Tips & Tools for Reading Speech Therapy Books 6. Kids retell the story – After you read the book, have students retell the story in their own words and use book creator to help them make their own story version. 7. Do think alouds – Using think aloud questions help with comprehension and staying engaged with the book. Use graphic organizers or anchor charts to talk about characters and elements in the story.8. Give each child a story element to hold up when they hear their story element come up in the story.9. Incorporate movement – stand and share, turn to your partner and whisper about the character.10. Ask an essential questions – Have an essential question that draws in their personal experience? We include book cheat sheets with essential questions in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. Resources to Help With Literacy Speech Therapy Units If you love using books + themes to plan speech therapy sessions, check out the Themed Therapy SLP membership. We provide book cheat sheets, book companions, and extension activities to help you implement a theme-based approach with less stress for your preschool and elementary caseload.  The post 10 Ways to Increase Engagement With Speech Therapy Books appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When you are pulling out a book in your literacy-based speech therapy sessions, it's natural to want to jump into reading the story with the group. But, there are some easy strategies that you can do before you begin reading the book to your speech therapy students. In fact, doing these strategies will help your students with understanding the content in the story better. Plus, they will have more engagements with vocabulary in the book. And, you can use a book for at least 2 sessions (often you can use it for 2 weeks or more). Need Actionable Professional Development Hours? If you work in the school setting as an SLP, you need professional development training that will help you serve your students well. We want to help support you with building your clinical skills! Get those PD hours done with practical strategies you can implement with your caseload tomorrow. Sign up today! Free Flower Themed Speech Therapy Guide Wanting to plan a fun spring theme for your speech therapy caseload? Use this free flower themed guide to get ideas for flower books, toys, games, sensory bins, and step-by-step visual craft and cooking activity.  What to do Before You Read the Book In Your Literacy-Based Speech Therapy Sessions Here are some strategies that you can do before you begin reading a story to your groups:Teach any concepts that would help their background knowledge on the topic or theme of the bookHave them start making inferences by asking students about the cover of the book and what they might think the book could be aboutPre-teach key vocabulary by showing them a photo of the word, giving a kid friendly definitions, and ask thme to share a time when that is important to them (we provide focused vocabulary task cards for all the books in the Themed Therapy SLP membership).Before reading the book, you can use graphic organizers to discus what they know about the topic and what they want to know after reading the book. Or, making I wonder statements to see if some of those “wonders” are answered during the story or if you need to plan an extension activity to find out the answer. Literacy-Based Speech Therapy Resources Mentioned in This Podcast Episode In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast we talked about what to do before you start reading a book. The book example in the episode was using Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson. To help activate background knowledge, you can do the following:-show a video of a bear waking up–sing a wake up song to talk about a bear waking up-watch a video about bears. A book companion and cheat sheet is included in the Themed Therapy SLP membership for Bear Wants More as well as all the books in the membership. The post What to Do Before You Start Reading Books in Literacy-Based Speech Therapy appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When it comes to lesson planning for your mixed speech and language groups, using crafts can be super effective! But, I know some of you may be thinking, “I don't do speech therapy crafts because it's too much prep and mess.” Now, I definitely agree with you that crafts can distract from sessions if they have too many tedious steps, or don't ensure enough practice on speech and language goals. But, these five speech therapy crafts that I am going to share in this episode are worth the prep! Because they are easy to adapt, can be sent home as homework, used as a therapy tool and something student's can pull out to practice in future sessions. Join ChattED PD Membership for School-Based SLPs ChattEd is a monthly membership that offers a blend of LIVE and on-demand webinars on topics you want to learn about. It will help you earn professional development hours for your state license and national certification.  We know the school setting is unique, so we are committed to finding speakers that aren't just gonna throw research at you but give you actionable ideas, therapy approaches, and relevant info to help you support your caseload well.  We want a community for SLPs where they can ask questions and get feedback so our platform will be interactive with discussion boards for YOU to get the support you need to build your clinical skills The Key To Choosing Crafts for Speech Therapy Sessions When considering making a speech therapy craft in your session, you want to make sure the craft is easy to adapt for different ages and goals.Low prep is a nice bonus.As well as a craft that can then be used as a therapy material to work on articulation and language goals.Can be re-used in your future sessions to review targets or skills.Something that can be sent home as the homework for the week.All the crafts shared in this episode can do all these things! That's why they are worth the prep. Articulation & Language Crafts Mentioned In This Episode Here are links to all the crafts mentioned in this episode:Windsock craftJellyfish craftArticulation Paper Plate Challenge CraftLanguage Paper Plate Challenge CraftArticulation Craft WalletsPaddle Paper Plate CraftThe Any Craft Companion is mentioned to pair with these crafts.There are themed crafts included in the Themed Therapy SLP membership with lesson plan ideas and step-by-step visuals for making that craft. The crafts included can be paired with books for the theme. Additional Crafts For Speech Therapy That Are FUN! When you are a crafty SLP, it's hard to only recommend five crafts you should do. So, here are some other fun crafts that you can do with your students:Rainbow CraftsPout Pout Fish CraftSummer CraftsTall Tall Grass Craft What Crafts Do You Love to Make With Your Students? Do you have a craft that you love to make with your speech therapy caseload? Let me know in the comments or reach out to me @thedabblingspeechie on social media to share easy, simple crafts you love that are effective and engaging for your students. Stay in Touch with Michelle If you have more questions about Easy Report Pro or assessment reports, you can find Michelle on Instagram. One of the coolest features of this tool is that you can schedule a 1:1 virtual onboarding call to get all your report-writing questions answered, and they will also help you work on a report while navigating the tool! = The post 5 Crafts for Speech Therapy That Are Worth the Prep! appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If you plan a spring theme for your preschool and elementary caseload, you will love all the spring toys and games shared in this podcast episode. When we think of spring, we often think of holidays such as Easter, insects, planted flowers, spring picnics, and outdoor activities. You will get a variety of spring toys and games that you can use to bring to life the concepts of your spring theme.This blog post includes Amazon affiliate links. When you use one of my links, I receive a small commission at no charge. Love Themes? But No Time for Planning Speech Therapy Lessons? Check out the Themed Therapy SLP membership if you love using themes for your speech therapy caseload but struggle to find the time and energy to plan your lessons. The membership is for busy school-based SLPs who serve Prek-5th grade students and want to streamline their therapy planning process.  When you become an SLP themester, you can access three themed therapy units a month! For speech therapy, the themes of March and April include fairytales, weather, frogs, spring, insects, and chores. An annual membership gives you access to 36 themes, including penguins, baking, space, and camping, to name a few! Need Themed Cheat Sheets for Using Spring Toys & Sensory Bins? We also provide toy guides for all the themes in the Themed Therapy SLP membership with links to toys, games, sensory bin items, crafts, or activities you could plan for hands-on or play-based lessons. In our spring-themed unit for April, we provide sensory bin cheat sheets for a flower garden sensory bin, toy companion cheat sheets for a garden toy set, and baby chicks sensory bin cheat sheets. Spring Toys for Your Speech Therapy Sessions Using spring-themed pretend play in your speech therapy sessions can target a TON of goals and keep your students engaged. Plus, you can build schema around spring themed activities your students may experience this time of year. Here is a list of different spring toys and games you can add to your speech therapy material stash when planning a themed unit:Headbanz – with spring vocabulary cards (use spring vocabulary and verbs)Mystery Word Game with Google Slides – Duplicate these Google Slides and add in spring vocabulary. You can also do mystery items in a paper bag with spring items.Verb charades with spring verbs (we have spring verb flashcards in the Themed Therapy SLP Membership)Flower garden pretend play or sensory bin. You can also make a garden shop like Pocket of Preschool. More Spring Toys & Games for Your Caseload Honeybee tree or honeybee comb DIY Jumping Jack Game by GoliathFarmer's market by Learning Resources, and Educational Insights Plush Vegetable GardenLittle people treehouse for a spring day of funInsect sensory bin – get the insect TOOBS to learn about the life cycFairy garden kit and pair with fairy TOOBS Picnic Toy Set from learning resources or the Sorting Surprise Picnic BasketsSpin to Play Picnic by eeBoo What Spring Activities For Speech Therapy Do You Use? If you have any spring activities or games you use with your preschool and elementary caseload, DM me on social media @thedabblingspeechieI would love to see what you have planned to support your student's speech and language goals.  The post Spring Toys You Need To Add To Your Speech Therapy Stash appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When we plan themed therapy lessons for our speech therapy caseloads we want them to help students make progress on their goals. In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast, we are going to be talking about how to play speech therapy themes by month and learning how you can theme smash two themes together! I will be sharing what theme smashing is, how to do it, and ways to think through the themes you are choosing throughout the year. Why It's Important To Use a Theme for 2-4 Weeks Before we chat about what theme smashing is, I encourage you to use a theme for longer than a week. At the beginning of this podcast episode, I share two of the benefits of planning only one or two speech therapy themes in a month.  Free Themed Speech Therapy Planner Trying to pick a theme for your speech therapy caseload can be overwhelming. When you have lots of paperwork and caseload management tasks, picking a theme can be the last thing on your list. That's why I created a giant list of 100 seasonal and nonseasonal themes you can use to get inspiration for speech therapy lesson planning. Use the free speech therapy themes by month calendar to get organized with what to plan! What is Theme Smashing? Theme smashing is when you work on two themes at the same time and infuse them into your themed unit.You can bring in concepts from your last theme into the new theme to increase opportunities with background knowledge, vocabulary, and concepts from that theme.Here are some examples of theme smashing options:Winter season and clothingCommunity helpers and transportationInsects and flowersWindy weather and kitesBaking and birthday partyDuring this episode I break down how you can plan out these themed unit back to back to provide more opportunities with concepts from the previous theme. In the March and April months of the Themed Therapy SLP membership, we have options for baking, weather, insects, spring, community helpers and chores making theme smashing easier! Links to Resources and Blog Posts Mentioned About Themed Speech Therapy If you are just getting started with planning themed therapy or have been doing it for a while now, but need fresh ideas, take my free Themed Therapy SLP quiz! It will send you LOTS of blog posts and ideas for whatever stage you are in currently.Here are some resources mentioned in the podcast episode:3 Tips for Choosing Themed Therapy MaterialsThemed Therapy SLP MembershipBee Themed Lesson Plan IdeasSpring Themed Lesson Plan IdeasPlant Life Cycle Lesson Plan Ideas4 Themes for Younger and Older StudentsMarch Themes for Your Speech Therapy CaseloadIf you have any questions about planning by themes or need ideas, feel free to reach out on social media @thedabblingspeechie The post What is Theme Smashing? – How to Plan Speech Therapy Themes by Month appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Using YouTube videos in your speech therapy sessions can be a great way to increase engagement and help you plan quick, effective lessons. Because YouTube is one of my go-to speech therapy material resources, I like to find tools and tech tips to make finding and organizing my videos easier. Today in this Real Talk SLP podcast, I am sharing my top tips for using YouTube videos in speech therapy to help save you time and stress for using them in sessions. Free Winter and Spring YouTube Video Google Slides One of the best ways you can save time looking for themed YouTube videos is downloading the list I compiled for free! Storing your favorite winter and spring YouTube videos on Google Slides can help you stay organized for your teletherapy or in-person sessions. Themed Therapy SLP Membership Finds the YouTube Videos for You If you struggle with wanting to use YouTube videos because it takes SO much time trying to find videos that match the themed unit you are planning, you don't have to waste any more time. In the Themed Therapy SLP membership, we provide Google Slides for Prek-1st, 2nd-3rd, and 4th-5th with links to YouTube videos for book read-alouds, songs, movement breaks, wordless shorts, science videos, and more! They are all organized like free spring and winter YouTube videos. Tech Tips for SLPs On How To Use YouTube Videos In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast we share these top tech tips:Use tools such as safeshare.tv or viewpure to block unwanted ads, comments, and suggested videos when showing YouTube videos to kids.On the YouTube video you can create a clip of the video right from YouTube. You can also clip videos using Google Slides. When you embed a YouTube video on a Google Slide, you have the option to put a start and end play time. So, if you want to skip the introduction or avoid a section of a video, you can do that!Make embedded questions and stimulus items directly on a YouTube video using EdPuzzle.Control the speed of the YouTube video so that you can slow it down for students who need more processing time with the words or movements in the video.Use Chrome Extensions like Webpaint to write directly on webpages and videos. So, if you want to visually cue a student for something to pay attention to while watching the video you can draw on it. Or, you can pause the video and draw on a specific portion of the video while discussing concepts. Create playlists of your favorite songs, books, wordless short videos, etc. for different treatment areas, themes or type of content to easily bring up again when you use with a new group or client. Plus, you can also search for public playlists and find videos quicker!For SLPs wanting to send homework or modeling techniques to parents, you can timestamp your video in the description so that parents or students can quickly get to a section of the video that they may need to rewatch. What tech tips do you have about using YouTube videos? If you have any tech tips for using YouTube videos in your speech therapy sessions, do share in the comments! Or, if you have a favorite channel you love to use in speech, let me know. For SLPs that have been following me a long time, you know I am a big fan of Simon Cat's Videos. The post Tips for Using YouTube Videos in Speech Therapy Ep 110 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast we are chatting about 5 things you can do to get stuff done for your speech therapy caseload. We manage a LOT of students in the school-based setting, which means we don't just do speech therapy sessions. Just to list a few of our speech therapy caseload tasks, SLPs are responsible for attending IEP meetings, taking in new speech referrals, billing Medicaid, writing therapy logs, collaborating with staff on implementing the IEP and doing progress reports for the student's IEPs. We are juggling so many things that it can quickly get overwhelming. That's why this episode is all about how to help you manage your day better so you can leave work knowing the important tasks got done.Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. When you purchase an item with my affiliate link, I receive a small commission. Stressed About Planning Speech Therapy Sessions? If you are stressed with getting all the caseload management tasks done and need some help with planning for your mixed groups, join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership. We help SLPs have engaging themed activities for your preschool and elementary caseload. Take the stress out of planning and let us do the heavy lifting with speech therapy sessions. In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast we talked about these 5 things you can do to get stuff done for your speech therapy caseload: Write down what you will do your entire day with strategies like writing must dos vs. may dos. You can use this free weekly Google Doc editable speech schedule to write in what you will be doing during your week outside of therapy groups.Block off time for those caseload management tasks where you do not fill that time with potential meetings or therapy groups.Look ahead at least three months. Map out all your IEPs, assessments, etc., so you know what is comingMake cheat sheets to check off the steps of big tasks. For example, write out all the steps you need to do for your progress reports so you know where you left off. With your assessments, checklists for booking a translator, calling parents, etc. Have systems specifically for your speech referrals and other things that take time. Checklists & Tools for Staying Organized With Your Week Here are some tools for writing down your most important word tasks and helping you stay focused with your speech therapy caseload:  Priorities to-do list large sticky notesWeekly Planner notepadErin Condren's petite planners have monthly calendars with daily schedule and to-dosHave speech therapy report templates so that you can write them more efficiently without errors. What tools or systems do you use to help you with managing your speech therapy caseload? I would love to hear what you use or do! Email me at fe*********@*****************ie.com The post 5 Things to Help You Get Stuff Done With Your Speech Therapy Caseload appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode 108, I share the top toys for teaching CORE words open and closed in your play-based speech therapy sessions. We want versatile toys when picking toys for our preschool and elementary caseload! That's why the toys I recommend can work on AAC CORE words for open and closed and other speech and language skills Why Teaching the CORE word Open & Closed Are Effective in Speech Therapy I am sharing some of my favorite toys to teach the CORE words open and close. We know that kids love hands-on learning and using toys. Training the core words open and close are great word pairs to teach in therapy for various reasons.First, it's easy to visually show the word pairs in play, especially if you use some of the toys I recommend later in the show. Secondly, coaching parents to model and work on these words during daily routines and in-play activities is feasible for their busy schedules. For example, you can teach how to open/close the door, a snack container, a toy item, and the clothes drawer.Thirdly, open and close can be paired with other nouns, so if you want to help a client begin using 2-word utterances, being able to communicate open or close can later be paired with nouns, such as open box, open door, etc. Toy Companion Cheat Sheets for Play-Based Speech Therapy If you enjoy using toys in your play-based speech therapy but struggle with adapting the toy for different speech and language goals, these toy companion speech therapy cheat sheets are for you! And, if you need help with coming up with targets on the spot, you can reference the toy cheat sheet while working with your clients. We provide wh-questions, at least 24 verbs to use with the toy, tier II vocabulary words, basic concepts, articulation sound words, adjectives, and ten ways to use each toy or game to target therapy skills. Grab your free bubbles toy companion cheat to try these cheat sheets in your play therapy sessions.  Speech and Language Toys Shared in This Podcast Episode for CORE Words Open and Closed In this episode, I shared about different sets of toys to teach CORE words open and closed. Here is a round-up of the resources and blog posts I mentioned (Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience):Surprise party boxes or picnic boxes – you can fit mini trinkets or mini printables to have kids open them. Or, stock up on Easter eggs during the holiday season and work on opening and closing. Critter Clinic – 6 doors to open and put animals, mini trinkets, or other smaller itemsFarm house – has doors to open and close.Toy cash register – open and close the drawer while working on pretend play.Piggy bank toy – open and close, in and out, and teaching colors. Another similar toy is a coin and drop box, which works well for one-step action play and teaches object permanence, colors, and simple counting.Melissa and Doug door puzzles. They have a hide-and-seek, a farm version, and wooden latches.Learning Resources has a variety of peekaboo sets for teaching open and close as well as colors, naming items, sorting, etc. Farm Peekaboo,  All About Me Houses, Peekaboo Learning Jungle are nice setsBattat Shape and color sorter What Toys Do You Use to Work on Word Pairs Open and Closed? If you have an engaging toys that you love to use to teach the AAC CORE vocabulary for open and closed, please share in the comments. SLPs are always looking for toys that can work on speech and language skills in a hands on way! The post Top Toys for Teaching CORE Words Open and Closed appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast I am sharing easy, low prep Christmas social skills activities to help you rock your pragmatic language groups without stressing. Between the IEP meetings, finishing assessment reports, progress monitoring and running groups, you have zero time for planning. That's why this round-up of Christmas social skills lessons will help you get to winter break with a smile! Planning Christmas speech therapy activities is easier with low-prep materials. Frameworks for Planning Your Group Social Skills Lessons When it comes to planning your social skill groups, it can get overwhelming. Especially if you are starting to run out of ideas. To help me with planning overwhelm, I always use a framework that I breakdown in this podcast episode. It will help you with some of the ideas mentioned and give you tips for how to structure your lessons so you can stretch out.  Click here to get your FREE Christmas Simon's Cat Speech Therapy Cheat Sheet Christmas Social Skills Activities With YouTube Videos In this episode, I shared about a variety of YouTube videos you can use to work on pragmatic language skills such as perspective taking, thinking bubble, social inferencing, and social rules. Here is a round-up of the resources and blog posts I mentioned:  Elf Movie Clips to work on social rules, and perspective taking (this blog post has a free Google Slides lesson plan)Christmas Simon's Cat videos to work on inferencing, cause and effect, emotions, predicting, and perspective taking. You can also discuss if you liked or didn't like the video.Work on perspective-taking, social inferencing, non-verbal cues, emotions, and what they could think with Christmas commercials. I will link a few here, but there are more in my Christmas speech therapy activities blog post.Amazon Joy Ride CommercialOne More Sleep CommercialFuzzy Feelings Apple Holiday FilmA Holiday to Remember Chevrolet Click here to get your FREE Christmas Simon's Cat Speech Therapy Cheat Sheet Christmas-Themed Social Skills Group Lesson Plans Other Christmas pragmatic language activities mentioned in this episode are working on gift giving through role playing how to respond when you get a gift, to understanding how to use a gift based on other's interests. You can use worksheets and the lesson plan for gift giving in my social skills lessons resource. Discussing the expectations when visiting family for the holidays and how to communicate during those events is another great lesson plan idea.For those quick days when you need something that feels like a game, using holiday social skills bamboozle games is a great way to go! What Christmas Themed Pragmatic Language Activities Do You Plan? If you have an engaging pragmatic language activity you plan with a Christmas theme, share the resource or activity in the comments. You can never have enough ideas to pull from when planning group social skills activities.  The post Low Prep Christmas Social Skills Activities EP 107 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Planning whole class push-in lessons for your special education classrooms can be stressful because you have a LOT of deadlines before winter break. In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, I share December special ed lesson plans you can do as a co-teaching activity. Planning engaging Christmas speech and language activities for the whole class doesn't have to be stressful because you walk away from this episode with fresh ideas for what to plan! Special Ed Lesson Plans for December Here are the December whole class special ed lesson plan ideas shared in this episode:Making DIY wrapping paper to use to wrap their homemade crafts or gifts for parentsHot chocolate activity – students can prepare hot chocolate for the school staff and work on functional communication when giving the hot chocolate.Making Christmas trees or winter tree art projects to work on speech and language goals. Read a Christmas tree boo, read a winter tree poem or learn about trees before doing the craft.Go on a gingerbread man or candy cane hunt to work on body in the group, inferencing, and where questionsDecorating cookies to work on speech and language skills. Make sure to listen to the episode to hear about my tips for using this as a social pragmatic lesson.Make cinnamon apple sauce ornaments and then they can wrap them up with their DIY wrapping paper.December can be a game theme where each week you teach the students a new game that they could play with their family over the winter break. Listen to the episode to hear my tips for how to pick games.Make gumdrop or marsh mallow towers to see who can make the tallest tower. Tips for Planning Special Ed Push-In Lessons for December Remember that some of these Christmas speech therapy lesson plans can be broken into smaller lessons so you can stretch the activities across two or three weeks. This will help you plan for December and not stressing about what you will do each week in your push-in sessions. Resources For Planning Co-Teaching Special Ed Lesson Plans The key to planning your co-teaching special ed lesson plans is knowing all the job roles of the educators involved. As you are planning your push-in lesson, consider how the activity will be set up. Reviewing different collaborative service models will help you with job roles and expectations. The post December Whole Class Special Ed Lesson Plans For Push-In appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When it comes to speech therapy report writing, most SLPs let out a huge groan because writing a legally defensible speech therapy assessment report can take hours! And, with large caseloads finding the time and the brain energy to analyze your assessment results can be very draining. That's why I invited Michelle Boisvert, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, RSP-ADHD, the co-founder of Easy Report Pro, to discuss ways to streamline your speech reports so that you can check that off your list with less stress and more time to do the other caseload management tasks. Why Are Speech Therapy Reports So Important? Michelle breaks down the importance of why speech therapy reports are so important for determining eligibility and areas of need in the school setting. The assessment report summarizes if a child meets Ed Code eligibility and the areas of need for services and accommodations on the IEP. Types of Speech Report Template Writers We discussed having templates for speech therapy reports is so helpful with saving time! Oftentimes, SLPs create a library of templates for assessment batteries and different portions of the report, which can take TONS of time to do. Or, we pull up a previous report and use that as a template, which leaves room for errors with having the wrong name, dates, or pronouns in the report. Must-Dos For Good Speech Assessment Report Writing During the episode, Michelle shares the MUST-DOS SLPs needed to be included in every report that they write for assessments. We discussed having checklists to help you with including all necessary information as well as making sure to include a thorough background and history section. Michelle also pointed out that the standard assessment results need to match the summary and conclusion of the report. It also is helpful for SLPs to explain the assessment results and how they impact the child's educational access. Easy Report Pro Can Help Save You Time with Report Writing Raise your hand if you would LOVE to shave off 2-3 hours to your report writing. With Easy Report Pro, you can use their dynamic assessment templates and upload your templates to craft a thorough speech therapy assessment report confidently! You won't have to worry about making name, date, or pronoun errors. And, you can save brain energy by not having to come up with descriptive wording because you will have a starting point with all the templates. You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial using my affiliate link and  my code: DABBLING to get an extra 30 days for free. That means you can use this speech report tool for 60 days FREE. Stay in Touch with Michelle If you have more questions about Easy Report Pro or assessment reports, you can find Michelle on Instagram. One of the coolest features of this tool is that you can schedule a 1:1 virtual onboarding call to get all your report-writing questions answered, and they will also help you work on a report while navigating the tool! = The post Streamlining Your Speech Therapy Report Writing Process Ep 105 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When it comes to making your speech therapy schedule in the school setting, the process can be overwhelming and ever changing. There is no PERFECT way to make your speech therapy schedule, but after making a schedule for many years, I do have some tips and tricks for you. In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, I share my biggest piece of advice for how to approach the speech therapy schedule as well as tools, tips, and tricks for streamlining the process. Tools and Software to Help You Create Your Speech Schedule Using paper and pencil can work really well for creating your speech schedule, but there are some digital tools that have speech therapy schedule templates to help with updating your schedule throughout the school year. Here are some of the tools mentioned in this episode: Swivel Scheduler by Maureen Wilson SLP SchedulerGoogle Forms for getting teacher requests (free Google Form for getting classroom teacher requests) Free Speech Therapy Schedule Template Put your speech therapy schedule on a Google Doc (there is a free one on this podcast episode) and make a copy each week to make any group changes, add in meetings, when you will assess students and other tasks you need to do. Steps for Creating Your Speech Therapy Schedule Get the master schedule from the school secretary for recessesFind out the teacher's schedules either by asking for a copy if they have that or send them a Google Form to fill out times to avoid pulling their kids.You can tell them to give 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices, but explain in your email that you have X amount of students on your caseload and cannot fit in 50 kids from 8-8:30 or 2:30.If you are considering doing co-teaching, take the time to meeting with those teachers to find the best times, discuss roles and expectations. Schedule those first.Your self contained classrooms tend to have a little more flexibility so if you run into scheduling shifts, maybe approach them.Get PE, RSP services and RTI schedulesBlock off your assessment and  paperwork time. We had a day to switch between our sites to do paperwork, testing, etc. Do not put students during that blocked off time.Get RSP schedules, RTI to reference and check in with those specials to see if there is anything they are doing with schedulingUse post its or some sort of system for documenting the students age, teacher and service minutes. Know when you CAN'T see students.Create your first draft of the schedule and either do a run through making notes of what worked/didn't work, or send it out to teachers via Google Doc for them to see if there are any issues with their student's speech time.Make changes as needed throughout the school year. Tips and Ideas for Streamlining Your Speech Schedule Speech is beautiful recommends color  coding students by feature in your schedule Try to group by classroom or age group. If you can group by similar goals that is a benefit or try to look at language goals to see which  ones are easier to do with other articulation and phonology sounds Consider having a scheduling party in the lunch room, bring donuts have them find times for their students. Whatever you do, send out the schedule to each teacher and let them check it out. They usually can help spot errors or issues that you may have not seen. If you have any tips for creating your speech therapy schedule share in the comments! The post Speech Therapy Schedule Template & Tips for How to Make EP 104 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

When it comes to speech therapy lesson planning, it can get a big overwhelming because we don't just serve one specific treatment area. We serve articulation, phonology, language, social pragmatics, fluency, narrative language, etc. So, today I wanted to share how you can use the book If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff to cover a LOT of speech and language goals. Updates and Resources Mentioned in the Real Talk SLP Podcast: Join the Themed Therapy SLP membership (doors are opening for the year next week of August 21st) New sets of the Simon's Cat Speech Therapy Cheat Sheets Growing Bundle will be added at the end of August or sooner! Where to Find the Book for Your Literacy-Based Speech Therapy Sessions Grab the book on Amazon, use the YouTube read aloud, get it on Scholastic, or hunt for a copy at a thrift store! You can also snag a If You Take a Mouse to School story retell prop kit on Amazon as well. Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Check out more details for how to set up your push-in lesson for If You Take a Mouse to School: Read the book on the carpet and split your groups into three stations. You can see this REEL with the group activities in action. While reading the book, include iconic gestures and shared book reading strategies. Station #1: Mystery Lunch Game, where you put school-related items into a lunchbox or backpack. You can pair with themed mini trinkets, printables (we have school printables in the Themed Therapy SLP membership), or school items around your room and house. Station #2:Sorting School Items into Categories with the printables from the back-to-school push-in language lesson plan guide. You can work on sorting playground, lunch food, toys, etc. Station #3:Pretend play packing your lunch activity using your play food and a lunch box to work on following directions, sharing opinion, targeting AAC CORE words like/don't like, modeling spatial concepts, sequencing the steps for packing a lunch, or play “What's missing?” by giving inference clues for what they need to pack next in their school lunch. Click here to get your Roll a Word Vocabulary Game Some more extension speech therapy activities for the book, If You Take a Mouse to School: Make a story prop kit with items from the story to help with story retell and sequencing. You can also buy this set on Amazon. Rock Chalk Speech Talk has some really fun ideas to go with this book like some Yoga poses, science experiment, and a DIY story prop kit for this story! Pair a craft with the story, such as this mouse writing craft, shape mouse craft, or paper bag mouse craft. You can also use a pencil or bus craft in the Themed Therapy SLP membership. Make up another version if you take a mouse to school and substitute it for a different animal, the child's pet, or something wild like a lion or dinosaur. With a plush mouse or the mouse puppet in the prop kit for this book, have the mouse visit different places and workers around the school. Work on where questions, who questions, and explain the jobs of the different school workers. For students working on syntax and conjunction goals, work on cause and effect with this story. You can teach connecting words such as “then,” “because,” “since,” etc. Look through your book and write down any key vocabulary or verbs from the book. Grab a die and have students roll to see what number they get. Use the roll-a-word game to have students practice depth of knowledge with vocabulary words from the book. Click here to get your Roll a Word Vocabulary Game What Activities Do You Plan with the Book? If you have any great activities or ways you incorporate speech and language goals using this book, share them in the comments or tag me on social media! Felice Clark (thedabblingspeechie) The post If You Take a Mouse to School Speech Therapy Lesson Plan – Ep 103 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If you are working during the summer months planning a 4th of July themed unit for your speech therapy groups can be easy with all the ideas in this podcast episode! Your students probably celebrated so it's fresh on their minds. Today, you will get some great 4th of July speech therapy activities that you can use with preschool to middle school students. Amazon affiliate links are included in this blog post. I receive a small commission when you use my affiliate link at no additional cost. Take the Free Themed Therapy SLP Quiz You can read some books that talk about the 4th of July such as The Night Before the Fourth of July by Natasha Wing or Hats Off for the Fourth of July by Harriet Ziefert Here are some more patriotic picture books you can use with your caseload.  Fourth of July videos for Speech Therapy To explain about the holiday, use YouTube videos with your students. These work really well to keep students motivated especially with your 4th-8th graders. You can upload these videos into EdPuzzle and add in stimulus items for wh-questions, vocabulary, etc. to pause the video and discuss portions of the activity.Here are some great YouTube videos for speech therapy about the 4th of July holiday:4th of July Facts Video for Kids by Hey! Guess What How it's made: Fireworks by Science ChannelHow Do Fireworks Work? By Concerning RealityFor your mixed groups, you need to use the Simon's Cat fireworks YouTube video because you can cover syntax, retelling, figurative language, wh-questions, and more. It's a lot easier using this wordless short video with my Summer Simon's Cat cheat sheets. Show your students a clip of real-life fireworks show to demonstrate tier II vocabulary such as gleaming, fascinating, crowd, shimmering, dazzling, flashy, burst, blast, blaring, or deafening 4th of July Crafts for Speech Therapy Using crafts in speech therapy can help keep your students engaged while working on speech and language goals. Plus, with certain goals, you can naturally target skills without your student knowing they are even working! Here are some crafts you can do: Fireworks or watermelon print n' paint or print n' glue tissue paper crafts in my summer themed push-in lesson plan.Fireworks popsicle craft Thumbprint craft that you can also do with dot markers Additional Speech and Language Activities for 4th of July Use the song Fireworks by Katy Perry to discuss synonyms, antonyms, etc. Brainstorm a word association map about the Fourth of July holiday. You can talk about the foods people eat, the activities we participate in, the clothes we wear, when the holiday happens, etc. Need some funny jokes? These jokes from Simply Speech are great for articulation sounds, answering questions, icebreakers, and explaining why it's funny!Use some of your leftover 4th of July-themed props from the day's festivities to work on spatial concepts in speech therapy.For pretend play, you could use your Little People and have students plan out a parade, BBQ 4th of July party, or going to watch fireworks.Check Bamboozle or Quizizz for games that work on answering wh-questions, vocabulary, and grammar with a 4th of July theme.   The post Easy 4th of July Speech Therapy Activities Ep 102 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If you are new to being an SLP in the school setting or have been trying to find an organizational system for managing all your students therapy materials and logs this episode is for you! I will be sharing the pros and cons of making speech therapy folders for your caseload, so that you can figure out if investing the time to make these will be worth it! Digital Speech Therapy Folders For SLPs that do teletherapy or want to make less trips to the copier, you need to check out the digital speech therapy folders that use Google Slide templates to help you create a speech folder for sessions. You can see a step-by-step tutorial for how to make a digital speech folder. Check out all the digital speech folders for minimal pairs and different individual sounds. Pros for Making Speech Therapy Folders for Your Caseload You have a system to find everything you need for the student, including data sheets, worksheets, and visuals that are specific to the student. You have a spot, so keeping things organized is easier.If you want to set up a home program with the family, having a speech folder to send back and forth is easy for updating the family.Students can take ownership of their speech or language therapy practice, and you can have them help with maintaining their speech therapy folder.It helps with revisiting previously taught concepts or using activities from the previous week as a warm-up. Cons for Making Speech Therapy Student Folders for Your Caseload It can be time consuming to set up 50+ speech therapy student folders with the individual needs of the students. Having a checklist of things you want to include in all the folders does help such as data sheets, IEP goals, parent contact form, and certain visual supports.Making speech therapy folders for your entire caseload can also be expensive especially if you don't get any money from your school. For example, if you have a caseload of 60 kids, and get a durable folder, you are looking at spending $60 plus dollars for your caseload.Finding your student's folder when that group walks in can distract from getting started with the lesson. Tips for Setting Up Speech Therapy Student Folders: Instead of using folders for every student, make folders for similar skills or goals. For example, if you have a lot of students with consonant cluster speech sound goals, create a folder with everything you need to target that goal. That way you can pull the activities, visuals and tools out whenever you target that speech therapy goal. I moved towards using a therapy data binder and then having folders for specific groups or skills.Use book holders to keep track of folders by your group times so that you can easily find the folders you need.The folders can get bulky quick with activities and work from the student. It can become a burden to clean out the folders and send things home with the student.Taking data can be tricky because you have to open each students folder to get to their data sheet. A solution to that is to use group data sheets, allot time at the start of the session to take data, so you don't have to flip back and forth, or implement a progress monitoring approach for updating progress on goals. Blog posts mentioned about Setting Up Speech Folders:How to Set Up Your Articulation Speech FoldersSLP Caseload Organization Creating Behavior Routines and Expectations The post Speech Therapy Folders Pros and Cons – Ep 101 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Whether you work in the school or private practice setting, many SLPs serve students with a speech sound disorder diagnosis. For many approaches for apraxia, articulation, and phonology, you need to get a high dose of trials in your sessions to see improvements in producing the correct sound in spontaneous speech. But let's face it. Keeping students motivated to practice 100 trials for speech therapy sessions can be hard. Kids can get easily bored or frustrated with getting 100 trials or more in a session. So, this episode is here to help you learn about some new articulation therapy tools and materials to ensure you get 100 trials for your speech sessions every time!Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. When you purchase an item with my affiliate link, I receive a small commission. 100 Trials Speech Therapy Materials Mentioned in the Episode: Abacus or DIY version to get 100 trials for speech sound goalsMagnetic wandHigh number die – play the points game and set certain numbers as bonus points, or amounts the child loses, multiples, etc. Whoever has the most points at the end of the session wins.Challenge sheets and timer – use a piece of paper with a timer and count how many trials the child gets in a minute. Then, do it for another minute to see if they can beat their score. If you need articulation worksheets, check out the sentence challenge worksheets.Tally clickers – if you don't want to hear clicking noises, get the digital set.Race to 100 game (free printable) or use the Race to 100 trials for speech games in the digital speech folders.Ultra fine dry-erase markers with any of your articulation therapy worksheets. Just place the page in a page protector and use it with the dry-erase markers. Students love using these articulation flipbooks. You can try the L articulation flipbook for free. Easy to Implement Articulation Therapy Activities for 100 Trials Picture scenes – Do I spy hunts for their sound and then have your students practice their sound in words or sentences.Jar and pom pom ballsPopsicle sticks – Zap it game, stickers, dots that's how many you productions you doDixie paper cups – build towers while you have students practice their speech sounds.Tiny decisions App – you can add your students speech sounds in words, and the spinner tells them which word they will practice next.Dot markers – use with crafts or on paper – draw their sound as a bubble letter, and then they dot mark it.Legos or blocksCars and cardboard What Articulation Therapy Activities Do You Plan? Do you have any articulation therapy activities or tools that you use to help keep your students motivated to practice their speech sounds? Share your favorite tools and activities for 100 trials speech therapy sessions to help out other SLPs. Check out this system for how to keep your manipulatives and tools together in one spot with a speech sound container. The post 100 Trials for Speech Therapy – Tools You Need Ep 100 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

During the summer,  you can have your speech therapy sessions outside to get some vitamin D. Plus, there are lots of great, easy water play speech therapy activities that keep kids engaged and cooled off from the hot sun. And if you are implementing a coaching model with parents or educators on the IEP team, doing water-themed speech therapy activities can be a great way to teach communication strategies. Kids are always entertained with water; in the summer, they are around water activities often! In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, you will learn 3 Easy Water play speech therapy activities that will inspire your students to communicate! Join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership for Your Summer Speech Therapy Units So many kids LOVE anything with water. And I have that on my brain because the July themes for the Themed Therapy SLP membership are ice cream and water activities.  If you are interested in having someone take lesson planning off your plate, check out the Themed Therapy SLP membership. You get access to a variety of digital and printable themed therapy materials to cover your Prek-5th grade caseload. Between book cheat sheets, speech sound word lists, task cards, themed vocabulary, and verb flashcards, along with a lot of great digital materials, you won't run out of fresh ideas for your themes. Join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership for Your Summer Speech Therapy Units Here are the 3 water play activities you can use with your preschool through 3rd-grade caseload:Water squirters can knock things down, such as plastic cups, bowling pins, or inflatables. Or, you can try to hit a target, or play tag and cooperative games.Grab different-sized cars and vehicles, add soapy water, and throw in some sponges to have carwash. You can adapt this for a pet and farm-themed unit by having the animals get dirty and need a wash!Teach the science about why some items sink and other items float using this YouTube video as an example. Then, let your students do the sink or float experiment with a tub, water, and items around your home. Blog Post and Resource Mentions for Water Play Speech Therapy Activities Water squirter activityCarwash Sensory BinPool Party Sink or Float activity The post EP 99 Easy Water Play Speech Therapy Activities appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If the weather is nice in the spring and summer months, taking speech therapy outside can be just what you need to re-engage your students! In today's Real Talk SLP podcast, I am sharing LOTS of easy outdoor speech therapy activities you can do that don't scrimp on targeting speech and language goals. It's okay to ditch the worksheets and target goals outside in a naturalistic setting. I hope you find some new outdoor speech therapy activities you can use with your Prek-5th grade caseload! Amazon affiliate links are provided for your convenience. I receive a small commission for purchases made with my link.  Summer Speech Therapy Activities for Prek-5th For SLPs working this summer with private clients or during ESY services (summer school) make therapy planning easier with ready-to-go summer speech therapy activities you can use with Prek-5th grade.   If you need push-in lessons to rock ESY services, this language lesson plan bundle has everything you need to love working summer school without stress!The Themed Therapy SLP Membership has themes for pets, beach, food, water activities, sports, and ice cream for June and July! Outdoor Speech Therapy Activities Shared in the Episode: Go on an I spy nature walk or a bug hunt (look for real bugs or toss some fake ones in the grass). Get some I Spy speech and language activities that you can do outside on the playground or yard. Get your free I Spy language games to use in therapy and to coach parents. Play Red light, Green light outside and work on fast/slow, AAC CORE words go/stop, teach colors, or pick words that have your student's speech sounds. For more variations, Empowered Parents has some good suggestions. Do art projects you can take outdoors to work on speech and language goals like this –windsock craftUse sidewalk chalk to do hopscotch, play chalk Boggle, write answer choices to hop to when asked, and more!Head to the school's playground to do beach ball prepositions, make an obstacle course and target basic and spatial concepts with the playground equipment. Who doesn't LOVE bubbles? There are many ways to adapt bubbles, and it's a lot more fun under the sun. Relay races or challenges to target basic concepts, wh-questions, spatial conceptsBring your toys outside. Do therapy at a picnic table or on the grass. You can do the same toy activities but just change up the scenery.Plan a pretend or real picnic for a whole class lesson.Go visit the school's garden or plant flowers outside. For more info on how to teach the plant life cycle, check out this blog post.   Do pool noodle tag to work on social communication, “who questions” such as “Who is it?” or every time someone tags a person, they have to say their challenge word that has their speech sound. What Outside Speech Therapy Activities Could You Plan? If you have any fun games or activity ideas for doing speech therapy outside, share them in the comments. It's always great to get more ideas for increasing engagement with your students. There is something about going outside that is motivating for kids. Plus, you can't beat the vitamin D, either! The post EP 98 Easy Outdoor Speech Therapy Activities for Elementary appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If you have students on your speech therapy caseload with language disorders, particularly with areas of need in vocabulary development, you can improve vocabulary skills by implementing a coaching model in the classroom setting. Oftentimes SLPs serve students in a pullout model to work on language goals. But, what if you did pullout sessions paired with a weekly or monthly coaching model to help teachers use iconic gestures while reading picture books to their class? In this episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast, I break down iconic gestures as an easy strategy to help students improve their vocabulary skills. What You Will Learn About Iconic Gestures in This Episode: What are iconic gestures? Examples of different types of iconic gestures Why pair iconic gestures with vocabulary words is such an easy and powerful strategy for vocabulary building Discuss the importance of vocabulary development for academic success Explain how iconic gestures can help reinforce vocabulary and comprehension Tips for how you can implement a coaching model in the classroom Coaching model Real Talk Episodes Mentioned:     Ep 67 Tips for Implementing a Coaching Model in Teletherapy Ep 27 Tips for Parent Coaching Ep 41 Collaborative Service Models Ep 43 Parent Coaching During Daily Routines   Research Articles Mentioned:   Vogt, S., & Kauschke, C. (2017). Observing iconic gestures enhances word learning in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment. Journal of Child Language. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000916000647 The post EP 97 Iconic Gestures Strategy for Coaching Teachers During Reading appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Taking a language sample for your speech therapy assessments can feel daunting because you are on a time crunch to get all your assessments done. And, if your students aren't the most chatty, it can be really difficult to get those 50-100 utterances. Even though informal language samples can feel like a pain, it is a great assessment tool that can give you valuable information about your student's language development. Today on the Real Talk SLP podcast, I have Allison Fors on the podcast to share her best tips for collecting a language sample! Language Sample Tips Discussed in This Episode: Language samples are critical for assessing one's speech and they allow us to gather a variety of data to look at a student's syntax, morphology, semantics, comprehension and narrative language. Tips for taking language samplesHow to encourage student participation during a language sampleTools and materials for collecting language samples Need Support with Grammar Intervention for Your Prek-5th Grade Caseload? If you have been struggling with where to begin with grammar intervention and how to embed evidence-based strategies into your therapy activities, come attend the LIVE webinar “Effective Grammar Strategies for Language Therapy” with Allison Fors and myself! You will get one hour of Clinical Maintainance Hours, resources and tools for where to start in therapy, and LOTS of therapy ideas you can implement tomorrow (we are giving you ready-to-go resources with your ticket.) Get on the waitlist for the webinar and receive a promo code for $5 off when ticket sales open up. Tips for Taking Language Samples by Allison ForsGrammar Development Handouts by Allison ForsPicture Scenes for Speech Therapy Blog Post by Allison Fors Picture Scenes for Speech Therapy Blog Post by Felice ClarkBilingual Assessment Cheat Sheets Resource by Felice Clark Audacity How to Stay Connected with Allison Fors InstagramWebsiteFacebook The post Ep 96 Easy Tips for Collecting Language Samples appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

As SLPs, we are juggling A LOT! Especially if we work in the school setting. Between the high caseloads, piles of paperwork, and trying to stay up-to-date with best practices, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the job. And, staying inspired about being an SLP when you feel ineffective with the giant workload given to you is real. In today's episode of the Real Talk SLP podcast, I will break down an SLP inspirational quote by Arthur Ash that helped me push through when things were rough in my job. I hope that this helps bring new inspiration in dealing with some very difficult work environments.  Here are some points I share in the episode: Start where you areIt's okay to be a beginner at something. Working with staff on a new collaborative service model or trying to get them on board with trying a strategy takes time. It's okay to start small.Use what you haveDon't go prepping tons of materials when you are overwhelmed. Use what you already have prepped. Then, use it over and over again. Join the Themed Therapy SLP membership if you need Prek-5th grade themed-based materials to help you plan with less stress. Use your abilities to bring to life your sessions. Your students come to see you above all else.Do what you canWhen we serve high caseloads or heavy workloads with many different needs, it's easy to think you aren't doing enough for your students. Find small ways to make a difference in your students' lives.Sometimes we must think outside the box for creative ways to serve our students well.Advocate for your students, your workload, your space, etc., but during the process of that, remember that small steps lead to big leaps. The change will happen if you keep moving forward, no matter how small the step is. Do what you canWhen we serve high caseloads or heavy workloads with many different needs, it's easy to think you aren't doing enough for your students. Find small ways to make a difference in your students' lives.Sometimes we must think outside the box for creative ways to serve our students well.Advocate for your students, your workload, your space, etc., but during the process of that, remember that small steps lead to big leaps. The change will happen if you keep moving forward, no matter how small the step is. Need Support with Grammar Intervention for Your Prek-5th Grade Caseload? If you have been struggling with where to begin with grammar intervention and how to embed evidence-based strategies into your therapy activities, come attend the LIVE webinar “Effective Grammar Strategies for Language Therapy” with Allison Fors and myself! You will get one hour of Clinical Maintainance Hours, resources and tools for where to start in therapy, and LOTS of therapy ideas you can implement tomorrow (we are giving you ready-to-go resources with your ticket.) Get on the waitlist for the webinar and receive a promo code for $5 off when ticket sales open up. The post SLP Inspirational Quote When Overwhelmed appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

Sometimes, all the caseload management tasks come to a head as a school-based SLP. At certain times of the year, everything is due at once for you. Increased assessments and IEP meetings, progress reports, new student transfers, and Medicaid billing due around the same time leave NO time for speech therapy planning. In this Real Talk SLP podcast episode, I will share three easy speech therapy activities for your mixed groups to help you do effective therapy during those seasons of burnout.  Hopefully, you will walk away from listening to this episode with fresh, easy speech therapy activities that you can use with various ages and goals on your caseload. Boost Your Energy, Immunity and Brain Function with Renude! If you have been struggling with brain fog and low energy and want to increase your immunity, check out Chaggachino! It is keto-friendly, makes your coffee delicious, and gives you ANTIOXIDANTS, so you don't get sick easily! Use my affiliate code: DRINKUP for 10% off your order, and try their new Chaga Matcha! Easy Speech Therapy Activities Using YouTube Videos When things are bananas, pulling up a wordless short video or science video to cover speech and language goals is a low-prep speech therapy activity that keeps kids engaged.Check out the spring-themed YouTube videos for a free download or using spring Simon's Cat videos.Here are a few of my favorite videos to use during spring or any time of the school year: Simon's Cat April ShowersDoritos Dog Buries Cat CommercialThe Science of Spring by SciShowKidsCrazy Carrots Simon's Cat Speech Therapy Cheat Sheets Want to take the guess work out of using Simon's Cat videos with your mixed speech and language groups? I got you covered! Use these Simon's Cat speech therapy cheat sheets all school year long. There are 3-page lesson plan cheat sheets so you can cover a variety of language goals.  Grab the year-long bundle HERE. If you want to learn more about how to use Simon's cat videos in therapy, check out this blog post. Books Help Plan Low-Prep Speech Therapy Activities When you have mixed groups, you often target 3-4 goals in one group. That's a LOT! And, it prep individual lessons or having flashcards for every goal can be expensive or time-consuming. So, when you have to grab something and go into therapy, pick a book! You can use the pictures and text to cover many speech and language goals. In this spring speech and language activities blog post, I share a LOT of spring books to use with preschool through 5th grade. Ashley Rossi also has a cool feature on her website that you can search for books based on speech sounds, language goals, narratives, etc. Themed Therapy SLP Membership Need book cheat sheets that help you with pre-selected targets for speech and language goals for your themed units? Join the Themed Therapy SLP Membership, where we provide book cheat sheets for every theme and story maps too. Let someone else take lesson planning off your plate for your Prek-5th grade caseload.Leave a Review of the Real Talk SLP PodcastIf you enjoy the Real Talk SLP podcast, leave a review wherever you get your podcasts! And, reach out @thedabblingspeechie or email me at fe*********@*****************ie.com if you have requests for guests or topics you want to hear about on the show. The post Ep 94 Easy Speech Therapy Activities for Mixed Groups appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

If you have ended your day as a school-based SLP and wondered, “What the heck did I do all day?” you are not alone. Between high caseloads, speech therapy referrals coming in every other day, and trying to see all your students on your speech therapy schedule, it feels like we have NO time left to do all the other caseload management tasks. How To Use Your Speech Therapy Schedule To Stay Productive I am sharing my speech therapy schedule hacks to help you stay focused and productive on the must-dos for the week.By taking 20 minutes at the end or start of your week to plan out what you will do with your non-therapy time, you will find pockets of time available for important speech therapy tasks. When you write down when you will do your Medicaid billing, IEPs, assessments, etc. you will stay more focused during the non-therapy time.  Boost Your Energy, Immunity and Brain Function with Renude! Here is my affiliate link for Renude! Chaggachino is my favorite new deliciousness to add to my coffee, which is keto-friendly and gives me all the brain energy to crank out work tasks in higher focus mode! Use code: DRINKUP for 10% off your first purchase In this Real Talk SLP episode, I share the following:You will learn tips for how to up your productivity during the work day so that when you leave, the important things on your to-do list will be done. With this one small switch in how you view your work week, you won't get distracted by emails, phone calls, or overbooking yourself and actually have time on your schedule to get stuff done!How-to use Google Docs to create daily or weekly speech therapy schedules that you can duplicate to adjust your schedule.Make your copy here of mine HERE. Use this Google Doc for each of your sites. If you are at one site or need a full weekly schedule view make a copy of this Google Sheet. Print out your weekly speech therapy schedule after you edit it in Google Docs. I prefer to make a copy of my previous speech schedule and write a new weekly date for digital tracking.Once I fill it out, I print out the weekly schedule and keep it on a clipboard to take notes when I go around the school. This way, if I didn't have a computer on me while co-teaching, I could take attendance for Medicaid billing. The post Speech Therapy Schedule Tips For Staying Productive – EP 93 appeared first on thedabblingspeechie.

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