How to tell others that it's time for speech...

Hilarious...I'm sure many of you are familiar with this scenario. You ask so and so to get so and so from Mrs. Smith's classroom. He goes to the door, opens it up, and yells into the classroom, "We need xxx to come to speech now!" Here is a video model of what NOT to do:

And here is a video model of what would be better:

I had so much fun making these! I hope you can use these with your students to help them understand the polite way to interrupt class!

More to come soon!

Pragmatic Skills & Video Modeling

My coworker and I have started making videos of various pragmatic language skills. I can't wait to share these with you! First of all, they make me laugh. For all of them, we will show a model of what to do and what not to do. The first one (see above) shows you how NOT to initiate conversation when someone is working. Notice, my coworker doesn't even say my name to gain my attention. She's essentially talking to the back of my head.

In this next video, her initiation is a little bit better. She at least addresses me by name to gain my attention.

In this video, she provides a good model of how to initiate conversation....

I can't wait to use these with my students to show them what this looks like. I rarely have another adult in the room or a good peer model, so this is the next best thing! I hope you can use these too!

More to come...
*How to tell others to come to speech/language
*How to maintain conversation
*How to terminate conversation
*Turn taking
*How to change topics
*Making relevant comments
*Expected versus unexpected responses to questions
*Body language
*Eye contact
*Proximity
*Greetings/partings
*Gaining attention of others
*Watching the listener to gauge their reaction
*Polite refusal
*Good sportsmanship
*Joining a conversation
*Using an appropriate voice for the message

Enjoy!

Teacher Evaluations and the SLP

In my state (Missouri), we SLPs are evaluated as teachers. We have to develop SMART goals and timelines about how we are going to address various indicators of teacher effectiveness. This is how I'm writing my goals. I hope I can help others that are struggling to write these and apply them to our jobs. I've also linked to some resources for addressing these goals.

Indicator #1: Based on Assessment Data to Improve Learning

Goal: All my students will track their data on 1 goal (speech, language, or otherwise) and chart this data at least one time per month by the end of the 1st semester.

Resources to address this goal:

1. http://www.home-speech-home.com/put-a-smile-on.html (Free! Page of blank faces so that students can draw smiley faces for correct responses and sad faces for incorrect responses)

2. http://kcummingsslp.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html (Free! Student goal setting and charting sheet- see student data sheet)

Indicator #2 Classroom Management Techniques

Goal: I will use Kagan structures with all my students to improve engagement, motivation, and social skills during group lessons. 

Resources to address this goal:

1. Kagan training materials

2. Kagan structure posters (Free! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3cUNFBSXAdJdlVtZ3l2bng0dm8/edit?usp=sharing)

3. Kagan scripts for Fan N' Pick (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3cUNFBSXAdJZzlMRlJKWW5rcjA/edit?usp=sharing)

Indicator #3 Lessons for diverse learners

Goal: I will conscientiously vary activities with auditory, visual, and moto-kinesthetic learners in mind and explicitly explain my reasoning for an activity. 

Resources to address this goal:

1. Posters about different learners (Free! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Learning-Style-Posters-for-Visual-Auditory-and-Kinesthetic-Learners-1427347)

2. Learning style questionnaire (Free! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/How-Do-You-Like-to-Learn-Survey-293195 and http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Checklists-and-Surveys-Getting-to-Know-You-791304) 

I hope this gives you some ideas for goals to set! What are you doing for teacher evaluations?

Puppy Chow Recipe FREEBIE!

This week, I'm going to be "cooking" with my students from our transition rooms. Such an important life skill! We don't have access to a stove, so I'm limited to what I can do. This is the second time I will be cooking with them. Last year, we made ice cream in a bag and the kids LOVED it! I can't wait to try another recipe!

I decided to go with Puppy Chow this time- another easy recipe to attempt that doesn't involve a stove. You can get the free directions with visuals and communication board here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-and-Fun-Puppy-Chow-Recipe-with-Visuals-and-Communication-Board-1410525.

A little prep work is involved:

1. Measure out the ingredients if you think this will be too difficult for your students.
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave beforehand.
3. Put the confectioners' sugar in the Ziploc bag beforehand.

I used Boardmaker to make some simple visuals to increase student's comprehension. I'll be targeting following written and oral directions, verbs, answering questions, and commenting on topic.

Here's some preview images from my computer (sorry for the low quality):

Go to my TPT store and grab this FREEBIE now!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-and-Fun-Puppy-Chow-Recipe-with-Visuals-and-Communication-Board-1410525

Back to School Lesson Plan Ideas!

My creative juices are flowing right now! I'm so glad I'm not staring at my cursor with no idea what to do with my groups. It's been great to get that part of my brain going again!

I wanted to give you an idea of what I'm doing with my groups this first week back to school.

Here's what my lessons have been covering this week:

5 Minute Artic 1:1 Sessions:
We've been talking about summer (i.e. collected conversational baseline data on their targets) and also reading The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. I found this freebie on TPT for sequencing so we'll be doing that once we've finished reading it: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Very-Lonely-Firefly-991038  Right now, I'm taking data on productions while reading, answering questions, and conversation. Once we've finished, we'll sequence the events of the story and I'll have the students retell it using their best speech.

Speech & Language Groups:
We've been reviewing rules, procedures, and routines of the classroom. Then, we're having fun getting to know one another! I found these great (FREE) "getting to know you" cards on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quiz-Quiz-Trade-Beginning-of-the-Year-Activity-1273409).  The questions are easy enough for even my language-impaired kindergartners to answer! I'm trying out Kagan Structures in my room this year and these cards were perfect for that! Here's how I did it (completely ignored the directions that came with it):

1. I gave each of the kids a number (1-4) written on an index card.

2. I asked one of the questions from the packet and gave some think time (3-5 seconds).

3. I spun a spinner (numbered 1-4). If it landed on number 3, number 3 went first. If it landed on number 2, number 2 went first (etc.).
4. They were getting a little antsy by this time so when it was their turn to answer the question, I had them stand up. Get the blood flowing!
5. We did a RoundRobin, so every one had a chance to answer the same questions and we all learned a bit about one another! I answered the questions too! They all thought it was funny that I was 31 years old!

We did that until our 30 minutes was up and I heard no complaints!

Autism Classroom:
We've been reviewing school supply vocabulary with this fun freebie on TPT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Whats-In-My-Backpack-Adapted-Book-for-SPED-FREEBIE-1356100
I brought in a backpack from home and filling the backpack with actual school supplies and pictures as well. We've been answering function questions (What school supply do you use for writing?), following oral and written directions (put the X in the backpack, put the X under the backpack), answering "where" questions with and without PECS visuals (positional PECS), answering objective Y/N questions (Is there a pencil in my backpack?), asking questions (Do you have scissors in your backpack?), and using possessives (What's in John's backpack?). I love bringing in actual objects paired with pictures and drawings to help these students generalize skills across settings. Tomorrow, I'm taking this group on a scavenger hunt around the classroom to find various school supplies. You can grab a copy of my scavenger hunt for school supplies here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Scavenger-Hunt-for-School-Supplies-1402132

I'm excited to be back with my students! I love my job!

How do SLPs make their schedules?

Scheduling is hard, really hard. The first year I was an SLP, our reading specialist came in and helped me organize all my groups and figure out how to do it. It was a blessing! I don't think I would have figured it out without her! I want to share with you how I do it now (independently!).

First, print out or write out a paper copy of your caseload that includes the child's name, their grade, their teacher, and their minutes divided into 4 columns: articulation/phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.

So I would write out/print out:
                                                                           Artic          Semantics          Syntax          Pragmatics
Johnny Smith      K      Mrs. Alligator                    60                  30                   30
Mary Mellow     K       Mrs. Alligator                    30                 30  

etc.

Group all kindergarten together, all 1st grade together, etc.

Second, see what kind of groups you can make. I try to group 3-4 students together, all with the same goal area (semantics, syntax, etc.), all in the same grade. If they're in the same classroom, that's even better. If same grade isn't possible, I usually group K and 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and so on.

Third, block out times in your schedule over which you have no control (i.e. duties). I have morning duty, lunch duty, and dismissal duty.

Fourth, grab your school's master schedule and try to get schedules from every teacher as well. I try my best to pull from science and social studies. Our school does not allow us to pull from gym, art, music, recess, etc. Sometimes, I end up pulling from reading or math and that stinks. Sometimes, there are no other options. It's okay!

Fifth, make an excel spreadsheet. Across the top, I put days (we use an A-E schedule, but Monday-Friday would also work for some). Down the left-hand column, I write times. Our day starts at 9:00 and I usually have 30 minute groups. So I have 9:00-9:30, 9:30-10:00, and so on.

Sixth, start plugging groups in, cross-checking with the master schedule, the special education teacher's schedule, and the teacher's schedule to make sure there are no conflicts. I like to color code the groups as well- orange for speech, red for language, yellow for mixed groups, blue for plan time, evaluation time, and lunch, and green for supervision duties. I'm also very lucky because our special education teacher often works around my schedule.

You will inevitably have groups that have to start at odd times (2:20, 1:35). You will inevitably have to change it once it's written. You will inevitably have to have mixed groups. It's okay! You are creative and you will be able to address every one's goals!!

Good luck to everyone who has yet to start the year!!! Welcome back to all who have already started!

Back-to-School Scavenger Hunt!

My newest product is posted on TPT. I'm actually really excited to do this activity with some of my students tomorrow. I work in a room with several students with autism and some of them really struggle with category, function, and vocabulary. Tomorrow, we will be doing a scavenger hunt in the special education room to find various school supplies that they will be using throughout the year! I made two sets of clues, with both using "wh" function questions as hints. Here's a sneak peak at what it looks like:

I included clues without visuals for readers/higher-level kiddos.

I also included visual cues for those that need a helping hand to answer Wh function questions.

Check it out at my store! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Scavenger-Hunt-for-School-Supplies-1402132 

Tomorrow my store will be on sale (20% off)! Plus, use the code BOOST and get 28% off all your purchases!

For those who have started back, I hope your year is going well!

Grace

Newest product posted!

Check out my newest product for improving prosody in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS):

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CV-VC-Two-Word-Phrases-for-Treating-Apraxia-1394520

It includes 24 flashcards of CV-VC two-word phrases (e.g. "Do it!") that often sound "chunky" when produced by a person with CAS.

I've also found that targeting these can improve production of CVC words as well!

Check it out!

Beginning of the Year Slump

I don't know about you, but I always have trouble in the beginning of the year with lesson planning. I start providing services to students on Monday and am drawing a big blank when it comes to lesson ideas. It always takes me sooooo much longer in the beginning of the year!! By October, I'm a pro- knocking down a whole week of lesson plans in one hour on a Sunday night. But right now, I'm staring at the cursor with no ideas!! My first day, I have 4 students I'll see for "Speedy Speech" (5 minute articulation 1:1 sessions), 2 speech groups, 2 language groups with students with autism, 1 semantic language group, 1 snack group for students with autism, and 1 pragmatic language group.

I rather work on decorating my room...

I love my smallish classroom! My first year, I was in a huge classroom and it was too much space for me and my students. I had some trouble with students getting up and wandering, looking around, etc. In this room, students are better at staying seated when I need them to be. Love this room!

Help me with my writer's block!!! What would you do with my groups????

Motor Activities in Speech

On Tuesday, I was able to work in my room for a little bit and saw all the things I ordered with my budget money. This year, I purchased many things I can use to incorporate movement into my speech and language sessions. Here's a few things I purchased:

These are called River Stones and I think I purchased them from Office Essentials. These are going to be great for sessions! Say a word/phrase/sentence, go to 1 stone, balance, say another, go to the next stone, and repeat! I think my K-2 students will really enjoy this.

I also got these:

I plan on setting up a sort of (very) mini-obstacle course with these cones. I think I'll use my alien-print duct tape to define the path (love that stuff!).

I also got these:

I hope there are no fights over these. I purchased 3 ball chairs and sometimes have groups of 4...hopefully there will be no tears! I'm really interested to see if these help my wiggly students with their attention. I'll let you know!

I also got a bowling set, some bean bags, a 3D scene for spatial concepts, and tally counters. With all these motor activities, I plan on setting up small stations where students can work independently on their speech sounds and keep track of their productions with the tally counters. 

All these new items are getting me excited for a new year!! The kids start on Wednesday! I'm sad to leave my boys and last week I was kinda dreading going back. These purchases make going back a little easier!

Phonological Awareness Bundle Now Available!

I completed my 4th and final product targeting phonological awareness! It's up on my TPT store and you can buy it here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-Bundle-Rhyming-Manipulating-Sounds-and-More-1373610

Here's some preview images. This product is all about adding, deleting, and substituting sounds in all positions of words.



Here's an example of task cards for adding initial sounds



Adding final sounds



Adding medial sounds



Deleting initial sounds



Deleting final sounds



Deleting medial sounds



Substituting initial sounds



Substituting final sounds



Substituting medial sounds

My whole store is on sale until tomorrow so go now!

I also bundled ALL my phonological awareness products into a super-savings packet! It's 90 pages long and includes task cards for rhyming, blending/separating sounds and syllables, isolating sounds, and manipulating sounds. It's super discounted right now and you can buy it here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-Bundle-Rhyming-Manipulating-Sounds-and-More-1373610

Enjoy that TPT sale!!!

More Phonological Awareness!

I've been working so hard on this next product! It's taken me a long time to complete but it's finally finished! Yay!

This phonological awareness packet focuses on isolating initial, final, and medial sounds from words. It really works on listening skills and the ability to hear sounds in different positions of words. Included are 16 different task cards for each of the following skills:

*Discriminating initial sounds
*Discriminating initial sounds with choices
*Isolating initial sounds independently
*Discriminating final sounds
*Discriminating final sounds with choices
*Isolating final sounds independently
*Discriminating medial sounds
*Discriminating medial sounds with choices
*Isolating medial sounds independently


Here's a preview of what it looks like:



These cards focus on deciding if two words start with the same sound
 



For these, the student is given a sound and asked to pick which word starts with that sound



Here, the student is asked to say with which sound a word starts

This will give students lots of practice with listening for sounds! I'm excited to use this my students very soon!

Go to my TPT store to buy it today: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-Isolating-Initial-Final-and-Medial-Sounds-Part-III-1351297

OR win it here:





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kagan Cooperative Learning in the SLP's Classroom

Last week (or was that 2 weeks ago...summer brain!), I went to a Kagan training offered through my district. I absolutely loved it!

Do you ever find yourself in this scenario:

You have 5-6 students in a group and you're playing some sort of game. You are collecting data with each student's turn, but at the end of 30 minutes you only have 6 data points/student! That's not enough to get a true picture of how the student is progressing with his/her goals!

Kagan Cooperative Learning solves this problem!!!!

How??

If you have four students, assign each one a shoulder partner (person sitting next to them) so that you have two groups of two. If you have five students, have a trio and a 2-person group. If you have six students, arrange them in three groups of two. Each person is also assigned A or B in each group. You may want to label their seats: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc. They also have some neat mats shown here:

This works best with 4 desks pushed together.



I have a kidney table, so that arrangement doesn't quite work for me.

Anyway, for each question during a game, you can have the students do Timed-Pair-Share. This structure works best for open-ended questions (e.g. "What was your favorite part of the story?"). They get with their shoulder partner and you say, "A's are going first. You will have 30 seconds (or whatever time works for you) to share your answer. B's can only listen and ask A's questions during this time. When the 30 seconds is up, B's will respond with their answer. A's may only listen and ask questions at this time."


Another structure, Rally Robin, is perfect for list responses (e.g. "Name as many pets as you can."). Students get with their partners and you say, "B's are going first. B's will name one item and then A's will name another item. You will keep taking turns until I call time."

The wonderful thing about Kagan structures is that students are engaged. There is no hiding! Students must participate! There is more opportunity for data collection! I can't wait to try it this fall!

I will post more about this soon but I just wanted to give you a couple ideas to use when your school year starts!

Win This!!

I decided to do another giveaway! I love winning things, though it rarely happens!

Do you work on phonological awareness skills with any of your students? I created a product to work on counting, blending, and segmenting sounds and syllables. You can enter to win it here!

Here's some preview images:

To learn more about the product go to my teacherspayteachers store.

Enter the raffle here!! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Give away! Enter to win!

I'm doing another give away! This time, I'm giving away a FREE copy of my TPT product: Phonological Awareness RTI Kit: Rhyming. It's Part I of a many part series targeting phonological awareness.

Check it out here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-RTI-Kit-Rhyming-1302334

Enter to win it here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Phonological Awareness: Counting, Blending, and Separating Sounds & Syllables

Just posted Part II of my Phonological Awareness intervention kit. Here's a sneak peak for you:


Task cards for counting the number of syllables in words



Task cards for counting the number of sounds in words



Task cards for blending syllables



Task cards for blending sounds



Task cards for separating compound words



Task cards for separating 2-3 syllable words

Go to my TPT store to grab this! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-Counting-Blending-and-Separating-Sounds-and-Syllables-1305922



Phonological Awareness Skills, Rhyming, and RTI

I just posted my newest product on TPT! This product targets the phonological awareness skill of rhyming. It breaks it down into a hierarchy of tasks from discrimination up to independently generating rhyming words. In my last post, I talked about how these skills can even be missing in 5th graders. Please! Screen your 1st grade+ students and make sure they have the foundational skills needed for reading!

Rhyming is one of the earliest forming phonological awareness skills and should be developed by age 5. You would be surprised how many 4th grade students we found last year that could not rhyme! Imagine how difficult it is for these children to learn about word families when they cannot even identify words that rhyme!

So, with this product you have four tasks to choose from. The first task is a discrimination task ("Does x and y rhyme?"). Two images are shown and the child is asked to determine (Yes/No) if the two words rhyme. Because the focus is on phonological awareness and not phonics, no words are shown. Here's a sample page of 8 flashcards:

 

 

 

The second task has the child identify a rhyming word with choices. One image is shown at the top of the flashcard and two images are shown below a line on the bottom of the flashcard. The student decides which of the two images at the bottom rhymes with the word on top. The foils are words that start with the same initial sound, but do not rhyme. Here's a sample of what that looks like:

 

 

 

 

The third and fourth tasks have the student generate a rhyming word with and without clues. Pictures are provided to help lower the working memory demands of the task. After every task set there is an answer key so if you are unsure what the picture is trying to depict, you can look for it there.

 

 

At our school, we have had secretaries and clerks administer this treatment after we screen. It's easy for them to do, and requires just five minutes/day. When we piloted this last year, we were shocked with how quickly the kids picked up on these skills with targeted instruction. This RTI program can really strengthen a child's foundational literacy skills.

 

Download this today at my TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonological-Awareness-RTI-Kit-Rhyming-1302334

 

Look for my next phonological awareness packet that will focus on counting, blending, and separating sounds and syllables! I hope to have that up by Thursday!

 

 

Grace



 

What I'm working on...!

A little background...

We piloted an RTI program for phonological awareness at our school this year. We (the SLPs) screened 2 children in each classroom based on the teacher's concerns using a screener a colleague developed. If the student scored lower than 80% on any section of the screener, they would be placed into an RTI program for those weaknesses. We looked at rhyming, blending syllables/sounds, counting syllables/sounds, identifying sounds, adding sounds, deleting sounds, and manipulating sounds in words. We didn't screen kindergarten students because most of these skills are emerging at that age anyway...everyone would end up qualifying!

Which brings me to developmental norms:

• Rhyming: should be developed by age 5
• Discrimination is easier than identification which is easier than generation
• Separating words into sounds and syllables: should be developed by age 5
• Counting syllables and sounds: should be developed by age 5;6
• Blending word parts, sounds, and syllables: should be developed by age 6
• Isolating sounds in words: should be developed by age 6
• Initial sound is easier than final which is easier than medial
• Manipulating sounds in words: should be developed by age 9
• Adding sounds is easier than deleting sounds which is easier than substituting sounds

Because of these norms, we started screening 1st grade through 5th grade. You would be amazed at how many 4th and 5th graders lack these skills.

Wait...my student is 10...Does this really pertain to me?

YES!

• Poor readers ages 7-12 years were given direct phonological awareness instruction and showed gains (Williams, 1980).
• Poor readers ages 8-10 were given instruction in phonological processing and showed marked improvement not only in reading accuracy, but also in reading comprehension (Gillon & Dodd, 1995).

The brain research says it all:

When phonological awareness instruction was direct, explicit, and systematic, the resulting brain patterns of struggling readers became similar to those of children who had learned to read without difficulty (Berninger et al., 2003).

So...what am I working on?

A phonological awareness product with lots of awesome graphics to engage students who are struggling with these skills!

Can't wait to share it!! I'm 1/4 of the way done!! Here's a preview of a rhyming discrimination page:

Do any of you have a program like this in your school?

 

 

Category Fun! Sorting, Describing, and Making Associations!

I have another product!! I am really excited to use this one when school is back in session!

How many students do you have that are working on categories? I have a TON! Category naming, naming items in categories, making associations, describing with category and function, etc. The list goes on and on!

This product is an easy way to address those types of goals. Here's one page of objects with adorable graphics:





There are 24 different object cards that belong in 6 different categories. For this product, I included zoo animals, insects, tools, ocean animals, fruit, and school supplies. There are sorting mats to work on sorting items into categories and task cards to address various goals. The task cards ask students to name items that belong in a particular category, name something that "goes together" with an object, or describe 1+ element of a particular object. Those cards look like this:

This is my first product that I am actually offering for sale. It's $1.30, BUT you can win a copy by entering my Rafflecopter Contest! Enter today!







a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 4: Monster Emotions FREEBIE!

I work with many students with autism who find it difficult to make connections between the emotions they are having and the vocabulary to express it. Today, I have another free resource for you: Monster Emotions. I must say, I ADORE these monster graphics. They are so cute! I will be using these cards to help my students learn more about emotions this coming school year. I can imagine some pretty funny role-playing/charades-like activities with these cards!

Here's a preview for you:

Hope you enjoy! Download it here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Monster-Emotion-Vocabulary-Cards-1294536

I also have had several students that can identify emotions in pictures, cartoons, and others, but cannot label it when it comes to their own emotions. In the past, I have used a mirror, so that whenever they are having a feeling, I can show them what they look like to help them recognize what they look/feel like when happy, sad, angry, or mad. Does anyone else have some ideas for helping children learn how to identify emotions in themselves?

Have a wonderful day!
Grace

Day 3: Free Vocabulary Cards for School Supplies!

Another day, another freebie for you!

Today, I made some cute vocabulary cards to help students learn school supplies. I've included 12 different supplies, surrounded by a colorful polka-dot border! Here's an example of what one page looks like:

 

 

I have many students working on categories, guessing objects from clues, describing, naming, etc. I plan on using these cards when school starts...

 

Speaking of which...my countdown app says summer is over in 40 days!

 

 

I'm really enjoying my summer with my two boys and don't want it to end. We go back August 5th. How about you?

 

Here's a link to my vocabulary cards for school supplies: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-Cards-for-School-Supplies-for-Back-to-School-1292834

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Grace



Articulation FREEBIE! Day 2!

I have another FREEBIE for you! This is a fun, summer-themed articulation product for S, R, L, and TH. I have a lot of first and second grade groups with these target sounds. I never have an all R group or an all S group so I like to have these games that have many different target sounds. I hope you can use this now if you're doing summer school or if (like me) you are back to school in August.

I made 30 /s/ cards, with 10 cards in each position of a word. All the /s/ cards are red beach balls and look like this:

 

I also made 30 /r/ cards, 30 /l/ cards, and 30 voiceless and voiced TH cards, all color coded for sounds! I hope you can use these with your students!

The second to last page is a sorting mat to help students hear their sound(s) in words. It can also be used to organize your cards and make it easier for you to select a target for a particular student. The last page is a simple board game:

What do you think? What could make this more useful for you? Do you have suggestions for improvement?

Go to my TPT store and check it out! Download the game here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Themed-Articulation-Game-for-S-R-L-and-TH-Sounds-FREEBIE-1289856

And, last but not least, thank you to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs for the very nice rainbow beach ball clip art!

FREEBIE! My First Freebie- Visual Directions for a Craftivity!

Today I am sharing with you my very first freebie!

Back in May, I made these adorable Mother's Day cards with my transition room students.

I used a free product from TPT to create a paper flower craft. You can find that product here: Flower Bouquet from Therapy Fun Zone's TPT store. The file includes templates for various parts of a flower that you can print onto pink, white, red, and green paper to make different designs. Yay! No color printing! Therapy Fun Zone is allowing me to post a complement to their product: visual directions to help students follow simple 1-step directions involving cutting, gluing, sizes, and colors. (Thank you Therapy Fun Zone!)

I made a Prezi with pictures of me completing each step to help the students follow the directions with as few verbal prompts as possible.

(By the way, Prezi is an awesome app to use! You can make beautiful presentations on your iPad with minimal time/effort!)

The students were required to read the directions aloud (if able) and then follow them without prompts. We worked on requesting, following directions, fine motor skills, sequencing, event retell, and receptive understanding of shapes, color, plant parts, and size. AND we had fun doing it! Here's an example of one of the pages:

My transition room students all made beautiful flowers for their mothers and required minimal assistance from adults to complete this project. With these students, we are always striving to decrease their dependence on adults for prompts, assistance, and cues. What a great way to do that!

How could you use this product? Who will you use it for? Go to my TPT store to grab it!

Grace