Speechy Sunday: Follow Your Students' Interests

So many of my elementary aged students love more than anything to tell me about their pets.  One little girl tells me about her rabbits before she even says hello to me on days I see her for speech!  So it seemed only natural to follow my students' interests and create a "Pet" unit for our literature-based speech-language therapy sessions.  For this unit, we read these 3 story books over and over: 




Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion,
Stray Dog by Marc Simont, &
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

Each time we read the books, I teach specific vocabulary and concepts.  Here, I'm going to highlight the vocabulary and concepts I teach for the "Harry the Dirty Dog" book.

Key vocabulary:
except - but not
bury - to put in a hole and cover over with dirt
filthy - very dirty
changed - became different
recognize - to know who someone is
exhausted - very tired
expect - to think something will happen a certain way
disappointed - upset or sad that things didn't go how you expected
confused - not understanding
relieved - no longer upset, glad something stressful is over
comfortable - cozy
scrub - to wash by rubbing hard with a rag, sponge, or scrub brush

The first time I read this book with students, I often discuss the idea of changing from clean to filthy and back again, and create a craft illustrating the similarities and differences between clean Harry and filthy Harry.  For concepts, I like to point out the endings of these words:  dirty, dirtier, dirtiest-- and how "er" means more, and "est" means most.

The next time we read the book, I often encourage my students to create complex sentences using the sentence frame shown in the picture (ex:  He feels disappointed because he expected to go inside and eat dinner, but he can't.). 

The last time we read the book, I encourage my students to tell the story to me, using all of the vocabulary and concepts we've discussed throughout the times we've read the book already.  I take data on which vocabulary words, concepts, and complex sentence forms they can now use on their own.  I used to think that these types of story book activities worked only for "language" students, but I have to say that after using them this year with all of my clients, I will never do articulation sessions without a book to serve as a context for the words we are practicing again.  It takes some planning ahead, but is really useful for getting to spontaneous use of target words really quickly. 

This is also a great book for students on the autism spectrum, because it sets the stage to talk about different people's expectations, thoughts, and perspectives, and how they might be different depending on the situation.  In the book, Harry the dog gets so dirty while he is out playing that he changes from a white dog to a black dog.  Then, sadly, his family doesn't recognize him when he gets home.  Some good high-level questions to ask students include: 

 -Why is Harry disappointed when he gets home?  Because he expects to come home and eat dinner after playing all day. But instead, his family doesn't recognize him and won't invite him inside.
-Why don't they recognize him?  Because they expect him to be white.  But he is black.
-Why did Harry change colors?  Because he got so filthy.
-How did he get so filthy?  He played in filthy places. 
-Why did Harry want a bath at the end (when he hated baths so much at first)? Because he wanted his family to recognize him.
-Do you think Harry will ever get that filthy again?  (prediction-- maybe not, because he doesn't want to come home and not be recognized again!)

This book can be challenging for some students, especially students who are on the autism spectrum and might have difficulty considering other people's perspectives and thoughts.  But I have found that if I repeat the book enough times (3-4 times), my students understand the concepts by the end of the unit, and really enjoy being experts on the book by the last time we read it together.  I have also been blown away by the multisyllabic words that some of my articulation students begin pronouncing correctly after we practice them within the context of the story over and over.

our new little dog!

And funny story--the first week of this unit, as I was reading "Stray Dog" to my students, guess what I found?  My very own stray dog!   Who is now a wonderful member of the family!  So hooray for children's literature for planting a seed in my heart to have compassion on a little dog alone out in the world! 

What's your favorite book about pets?  (I also love "Hondo and Fabian" by Peter McCarty--a great book about a day in the life of a dog and a cat that my friend Dana gave Flanna one year.)

Just Add Music

Flanna's favorite artist right now--Lorde from New Zealand

Last Friday, I walked into a fourth grade classroom to pick up a student for speech therapy, and guess what?  The student did not want to come to speech.  Not even with temptations of all the fun we would have.  Not even with the mention of all the games we might play.  Not even with the possibility of earning iPad time.  Not even with his teacher threatening him with losing recess if he wouldn't go.  (I promise I wouldn't have let that happen!) He did not want to come to speech.  He did not want to, Sam I am. 

Somehow, magically, I coerced him into just walking with me for a few minutes in the hallway.  I used my handy dandy emotions thermometer (see below) and had him tell me how he was feeling.  Turns out he was "tired", he grumbled.  His morning had been rough.  He just wanted to go to sleep.

Well, I have a soft place in my heart for kids who like to sleep.  I myself wish sleep was a recognized hobby or competitive sport, because I would get the gold medal.

But back to my story.

TJ's Emotions & Energy Thermometer:
Print it, laminate it, and let kids use a dry erase
board to "check in" about their emotions/energy level.
If too high, help them use a self-calming strategy.
If too low, help them use an energizing strategy.
(Calm/relaxed is ideal.) 

On the back of my handy dandy emotions thermometer, I showed this fourth grader some ideas for how to "energize" himself a bit so that he could move his thermometer from "tired" up to "calm," so that he could get in gear for learning.  There are all kinds of energizing options like, "jump up and down, listen to music, go get some water, stretch," etc.  This kiddo picked "listen to music."  Luckily, I have iTunes radio on my cell phone.  My client requested his favorite song, which miraculously I found within a few seconds.  

The transformation was instant.  His face brightened.  He smiled and danced a little in his seat.  He sat up straight.  He completed his speech work without needing a single redirection.  What had been an exhausted, defiant, upset fourth grade boy, became Mr. Cooperative Student of the Year, just like that.

So, you've got a cranky kiddo?  Just add music.  You've got a grumbly 4th grader?  Just add music.  And hey, if you yourself are feeling overwhelmed and tired and heading home from work to pick up your child from childcare and trying to remember if you defrosted the chicken last night and feeling guilty that there is no way you're going to the PTA meeting tonight…well, maybe, just maybe, you can Just Add Music.   And let the moment be transformed.



What about you?  Do you find that adding music to your day makes it better?  And what's your favorite music right now?  

Speechy Sunday: Activities for Karma Wilson's Bear Books

Don't all you teachers and SLPs (and parents/aunts/grandparents!) just love Karma Wilson's wonderful "Bear" books?  She has written so many lovely rhyming books about Bear and his friends (the raven, the wren, the mouse, the hare, the mole, etc.).  My favorite of her books is "Bear Snores On," which is about a hibernating bear whose friends come by while he is sleeping and basically have a potluck party in his cave, and the craziness that ensues when he wakes up!  It's a great little book, and my daughter Flannery has loved it from the time she was 1 1/2, and she still enjoys it (and she's almost 6 now!).

I love these books because they typically include some wonderful more challenging vocabulary for young children (ex:  cuddle, heap, howl, flutter), and the books are usually very sweet stories about a group of animal friends being kind to one another in different ways.

But best of all, I just discovered that Karma Wilson has some free teaching materials and ideas for how to tie her book into other activities throughout the school day.  She lists some really great activities such as an imaginary potluck, a glitter activity to help children learn about how germs are spread, a seasons coloring page featuring Bear, and many more cute ideas.

Check them out, and let me know how it goes if you end up using them with your own students or kiddos!



What resource have you just discovered that you're excited to use or share?

Speechy Sunday: Read a Book a Hundred Times if they Ask

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(Oops...this somehow didn't post yesterday, so I'm posting it now, on...er, uh, Speechy Monday. I know you'll forgive me.)

I remember when Flannery was tiny, she always wanted us to read the same book to her every night.  The one about the dogs.

And so, we read it.  And read it.  And read it.  And pieces of it got torn.  And we taped them on.  And they got torn again.  So we bought another copy.  And then another copy.  I'm pretty sure we  bought 3 copies by the time she was 2.  And every time we read that dog book, she was just so happy.  

I remember at the time, that there were nights when I'd secretly want to hide the dog book.  I wanted to read some beautiful rhyming book like "Moon Song," or something with gorgeous illustrations like "On the Night you were Born."

But what kept me from hiding the dog book, is that I knew the research on sharing books with infants and toddlers.  Favorite books are a learning device.  Reading the same book repeatedly to a child helps the child develop strong and secure understandings of the vocabulary in that book.  Instead of learning a little about a lot of books, Flannery--by asking us over and over to read the same book to her every night--was learning a lot about one book.  She was learning (in great depth!) about all the things that dogs do, the different types of dogs, sounds dogs make, types of fur dogs have, etc.

And if I had hidden her beloved dog book, if I had insisted on novelty--a new book every night--then she would've missed out on forming those lovely deep and strong connections to the vocabulary in her favorite book.  She wouldn't have had umpteen experiences pretending to "howl," or "scratch," or "shake" to dry off after a bath.  She wouldn't have had a gazillion chances to pet the "fluffy" dog or to scrunch up her nose when the author pointed out that "all dogs poop."   Maybe she wouldn't have realized so quickly that cats and dogs are usually "enemies," by lifting the flap a zillion times to discover a cat high up in a tree trying to "escape" from the dogs.

So, there you go.  You have my permission--as a speech language pathologist, birth to three specialist, language & literacy coach to early childhood teachers, and also just a regular mom--to read your child's favorite book to them as many times as they ask.  To think of it as "building depth of knowledge" for your child. To stop feeling guilty that you're not exposing them to something new and different and educational every night.

Because, really?  The best education your child will ever get?  Is when a caring adult sets aside his or her own agenda, follows your child's interests, and settles in to read their beloved "dog book" the fifteen hundredth time they ask.





What book did you just love to read over and over again as a child?  

Social Skills Activities

Our students brainstormed expected versus unexpected behaviors, and
how others think of us when we engage in unexpected behaviors.

This past school year, I've been using the Superflex Comic Book curriculum by Michelle Garcia Winner to focus on social skills topics with my students with autism and pragmatic language deficits.  The students have increased in confidence in their ability to monitor and modulate their emotions and energy level, to begin and maintain conversations, to participate in classroom discussions and collaborative projects, and to use appropriate body language and facial expressions in conversations with peers and adults.  I've had such fun with this curriculum, and I'm grateful to the Public School Foundation (who provided us with a grant to purchase these materials) for their generous support in helping the idea come to fruition.

The Unthinkables are "bad guys" who send our brain the ideas to behave in "unexpected" ways.  

Our students read about how the hero, "Superflex," uses strategies such as positive self-talk, calming deep breaths, thinking about what others are thinking about, and matching our reaction to the size of the problem, to defeat the Unthinkables.

Our students learned about each bad guy "Unthinkable," along with ways to defeat them.  They used calming strategies to reduce their emotion levels on the emotions thermometer from angry/exploding down to calm/cool. 

Our students figured out which calming strategies worked best for them when they were frustrated. 

Our students played egg-hunt games in which they used strategies to defeat the Unthinkables in each egg given a variety of situations.

Who has helped you meet your goals?

10 Ways I Used My iPad/iPhone This Week

As a busy mom and pediatric speech language pathologist, I can't imagine my life without my iPhone and iPad.  They make life easier for me in so many ways every day.  Here are just a few ways I put them to good use this week:

1.  iPhone "Clock" feature:  as a countdown timer that buzzes after 1 minute, to see how many perfectly enunciated /r/ loaded sentences a 5th grader could produce.  He loves trying to "beat" his own time in this type game.
2.  iPhone "Notes" feature:  to jot down 2 exciting blog post topics that popped into my head so I don't forget them immediately.    I also keep a shopping list in the notes section.
3.  iPhone "Maps" feature:  to find a shortcut from a daycare to a client's home when there was yucky traffic.
4.  iPhone Camera:  to record a "movie" that a student wrote about Michelle Garcia Winner's social skills superhero, "Superflex"
5.  iPad with Google Forms:  to record individual student data from a reading comprehension collaborative group.  The cool thing is that this Google form just asks me a few multiple choice questions and then uploads my responses into a spreadsheet that keeps track of the student's performance on each goal for each date.  This process is so exciting for organizing my therapy data that it deserves its own blog post.  (Let me just jot that idea into my iPhone notes section.  Done.)
6.  iPad Toy Story Book App:  to motivate a 3rd grader with autism to identify narrative structure elements and write them into a graphic organizer in complete sentences with punctuation and temporal markers.  Kids will write anything for me if I make it engaging enough.
7.  iPhone as a calculator:  several times each day to calculate accuracy percentages for my speech therapy clients during therapy.
8.  iPad Math Pop App:  to encourage two students with social skills goals to work together to solve problems and to take turns quickly and automatically.
9.  iPad Zoola Lite App:  as quick photo references of a variety of animals for a lesson in using "descriptors"/adjectives in writing
10.  iPad Cupcake Matching app:  as a reinforcer for a student for 2 minutes at the end of a productive therapy session

The funny thing is, that I think I only used my iPhone as a "phone" maybe 4 times this whole week!  Hah! 

I really don't know how I got along before touch screen technology.  It can be daunting at first, but ultimately, it makes me happy to master new technology. 


How has technology made your life easier?

Grateful for Opportunities

I'm feeling so blessed right now. 

I've been job-hunting in preparation for our upcoming move to Georgia this summer, and I can't help but feel a little guilty.  I have friends and family who've been out of work for a long time, whose job searches have gone round and round and landed in a dead end.  Wonderful, hard-working, intelligent people, who would make outstanding employees--but opportunities are just slim these days for so many. 

And so, as I set up interviews, and draft pro/con charts to compare job offers, and chart possible work sites on google maps, and read up on super-interesting information that I might be asked at an interview, and meet wonderful possible coworkers who all care so deeply for Georgia's children, I try not to take all of it for granted.  This wonderful career I have.  The amazing opportunities out there for an SLP. 

I'm humbled that I have a career that is so rewarding and continually challenging.  My priest used to say, "onward and upward," about how we just keep learning more and more, and refining ourselves more and more in this life.   He'd say that our journey never ends, it's all "onward and upward."  

And I see that in my career, too.  Onward and upward.  Each experience, each client, each book or article I read, each continuing ed course I take, each child or teacher or parent I learn from, they propel me on as I become a more reflective and careful practitioner.  

Boy, did I ever get lucky in this whole career thing.

I'm grateful, indeed.   



What are you thankful for today?

Speechy Sunday: 10 Ways to Motivate the Unmotivated Student

My oh-so-clever cooperation chart.  Students earn
a prize when they reach the star. 

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” -- unknown

As a speech language pathologist for grades 3-5 in an elementary school setting, one of the challenges I regularly face is trying to make good progress with students who are unmotivated.  You know, students who don't want to be in speech, don't want my help, and generally don't want to try anything I want them to try.   Students who cross their arms and try to avoid making eye contact with me out of fear that I’ll try to get them to--(gasp!)--actually DO some sort of speech work.   

I admit it, sometimes I'm tempted to just give up, dismiss them, and say, "Well, when they WANT to make progress, they can come back to speech."  But, really, it’s my job to motivate even my most unmotivated students. 

So, what's an SLP to do?

Here are some strategies I've found useful:

1.  Use visual behavior tracking charts.  – That’s right, reward charts aren’t just for preschoolers anymore.  I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload.  Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity.  Of course, a chart alone won’t do the trick unless the student wants the reward he’s working toward, which leads me to my next point.

2.  Allow students to earn a "work free" speech session.  – What does the unmotivated student want most?  To be left alone!  I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session "off" from speech work and just "play" on a computer or iPad during speech.  (What they don't realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)

3.  Challenge students to beat their own "record" for a certain task. -  Let’s face it; drill work is awful.  It’s hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun!  For example, I'll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect "r" words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I'll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best "record."   (I got this speed challenge idea from the "Superspeed" Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students' goals.)  Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.

4.  Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students.   -  If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing.  This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says. 

5.  Make tasks more hands-on.  -  One of my third grade students recently said to me, "I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff."  This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!).  Good thing I wised up!

6.  Make tasks more physical. - Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as "Simon Says," "Mother May I," "Hot/Cold," "Lego Creator," "Charades," or "Pictionary."  These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others' perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more.  I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don't need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me--they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me!  And then, boy, we can make some progress.  

7.  Catch the student cooperating. - Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked --ex:  "Great job using “although” in a sentence!")  I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by "whispering" to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student's demeanor out of an unmotivated funk.   (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)

8.  Treat a few students to a special lunch "party" with you as a reward/motivator. – Our time is limited as school SLPs.  But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students.  For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward.  I've had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that).  You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.

9.  Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. - If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence.  And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.  

10.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  - Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating.  You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won’t work even for a huge reward.  But persist.  Give it two weeks.  Then, if it's still not working, you can chat with the student's learning team and try to modify your plan.  

So, the next time you're in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child's learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student.  Then, come back and leave a comment to let me know how it went! 

What have you discovered that motivates your most unmotivated students?  I'd love to hear!

Why I Wake Up and Drive in my Cold Dark Car to Work Each Day

Check out this video about the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose for motivating us in our work lives.  

Wow, do I ever feel lucky to have the job I do.  I think that these 3 qualities are just inherent in my job as an SLP.

Plus, my coworkers started a fabulous mentoring program at my school and are constantly finding ways to do inspiring things for our students.  Talk about adding purpose to my work.

I've got a longer post about this brewing in the back of my brain, but for now, I'll just let you watch the cool video.



What needs to change in your work life so that these 3 factors can fully motivate you?

Halloween Phonics Fun

This week, in my speech class, I made some "Bat Books." First, we cut out the bat from construction paper. Next, we glued the "at" on one wing. And just in front of the "at" block, I stapled about 12 rectangles of construction paper to make a little flip book. The kiddos enjoyed making their own "-at" family words. And because the books were cute, they were motivated to sound out the words to me several times over and over, and to their teachers several times, as well.

I also had them write the real words they created on the other wing of the bat in pencil. You probably can't see it here, but the kids were able to create lots of -at words like, "mat, hat, fat, cat, pat, etc."

Flip books are a fun way to work on word family patterns, and I'm using these not only with my speech kiddos, but also with Flannery at home.





What fun halloween decorations do you display at your house?

Get Organized

I'm on an organizational kick at work right now. I organized the resources on my shelves. I organized the files on my computer. I sorted my art supplies. I cleaned all the stray papers from my organizational notebook that holds all my session notes.

And the cool thing I noticed is, that when I organized my resources, I used them much more frequently. It was as if just organizing them, touching each one, reminded me why I had loved that resource in the first place, and planted a seed about how I might put it to good use with a particular client.

So, on that note, I've decided to share my favorite online resources here, in an effort to motivate myself to use them more. Here are some of my favorite links for various topics:

For students with autism:
The Gray Center - Social Stories - social stories info and ideas, a great newsletter you can sign up for
Boardmaker Share - I just found out about this last week from my friend Ruth, and oh my goodness, it's very exciting, and I've used it every day since.
Cathy Binger - my brilliant AAC professor from back in the day is now a big wig who shares wonderful ideas and resources for download
Ladders - Autism support and research - Margaret Bauman is my hero, very smart and passionate lady
Autism Games - really good ideas of simple to more complex games to teach a huge variety of skills


For bilingual students (Spanish/English):
Bilingual Therapies
The Bilingual Early Language Assessment (BELA)
Mama Lisa's World - Spanish Songs & Translated English Songs



For reading/writing:
Reading Rockets
Assessment of Children's Narratives - an article by really great researchers
Handwriting Worksheet Maker
Kathy Ganske - all of Ganske's books are great, but I especially use "Word Journeys" most often


For general teaching strategies:
Super Simple Songs
Whole Brain Teaching/Power Teaching and A Video of Power Teaching/Whole Brain Teaching
Storytime Songs - simple kids' songs with guitar chords
Thinking Maps

If I had more time, I'd describe each link, but let me just tell you that I use all of these links pretty much weekly for either my clients or my daughter. I'd love to hear what resources inspire you in your field!


How does getting organized affect your happiness and productivity level?