Five in Five: Five Benefits of Daily Speech Services

For the last few years, I have used a daily articulation service delivery model, providing services for five minutes per day.  Initially, I panicked a bit (well, ok, maybe a bit more than a bit!), wondering how in the world was I going to provide services any differently and be effective.  I was used to the 20-30 minute groups 2x/week.  I was able to see several students and get quite a few trials in during that time IF the students came to their sessions independently.  IF they were able to attend to the activity.  IF I had my data tracking and activity set up and ready to go.  IF I ended on time with the previous group.  IF  I didn't get pulled in to a meeting, have to problem solve with a student, answer a classroom teacher's question...you know!

As I reflected on the way I was delivering services, I realized that my time was not as effective as I had planned and hoped.  Despite my best intentions and time spent prepping and organizing, it just wasn't happening.   So,  I decided to try out the "new" model and LOVE it!  Here's why!

EASIER TO SCHEDULE
Yes!  My scheduling is so much easier, with speech, that is.  First, I group students by location in the building.  I calculate five minutes per student and then take the number of students in that location to determine the "chunk" of time I need to provide services.  Grouping students by the same location is necessary so that I can pull students from their classroom into the hallway to work and then make my way to the next room.  Yes, that's right.  I work with students in the hallway!  I don't assign students a specific time, but I tell them I will see them during a window of time.  It alleviates several issues:  students coming independently and on time and wasted hallway time walking to and from therapy.  The best part of this all?  That problem with those few 10 and 15 minutes increments I can't use to see a group of students that I typically have to use as fractured prep time?  Problem solved!  I schedule two or three students for services!

LESS TIME OUT OF THE CLASSROOM
One of my initial concerns in trying out this type of service delivery was decreasing the quantity of service, but on the flip side, the frequency of services increased.  Generalization always seems to coincide with the frequency of practice, so it wasn't too hard to convince me, and the parents really like the idea of having daily contact with their student.  Even more so, they like the idea that their student misses only five minutes of class everyday.  The teachers love it too!  I have far fewer conflicts with scheduling students' speech sessions using the five minutes versus 20-30 minutes.

1:1 SERVICE
Yes.  I almost always see students 1:1 with a caseload of 50+.  At times, I put two students together for conversation or if the students seem to have a friendly competition that is motivating.  I feel like I really know the students and can give them quality time even for the short amount I work with them.  I also find the quality of my feedback is much better, more concise, and more effective.

JUST DRILL-NO FRILL
Can I really meet all of speech needs in the hallway?  Will the kids still enjoy speech?  Won't they get bored with just drill?  Yes.  Yes.  No!  I was surprised at how easy it was to grab a few materials and just drill.  The key is finding the right resources and having a few of those "gems" that target multiple speech sounds.  I use a lot of HELP for Articulation or Super Duper's Webber Articulation lists.  I put them in a small binder, and carry them with me.  Once you find your materials, it's a breeze!  (I also have access to a personal iPad, so I have several apps that I use, so I can just carry it with me instead.  It's a perfect option if you have it.)  Drilling is so much easier than having to worry about whose turn it is to choose a game, who gets to go first, setting it up the game and putting it away, etc.  All of that wasted time!  Instead, the students know the drill (pun intended), and the "game" is trying to see how many trials or the quality of trials they can get in their five minutes.  They enjoy that challenge and become motivated by "beating" their previous percentage.  It all depends on the student and his/her needs.  They still love speech.  It is all about the relationship that I build with them.  I find I get more trials in the five minutes than I did in the 20-30 minute sessions.

EASY MAKE-UPS
I always dreaded when I had to miss groups of students, especially if happened a few times in a short period of time.  There just wasn't time in the day to make up the times!  This service model alleviates that stress.  If I miss a session, I can easily put students together for 10 minutes to make up times. If students are absent, on a field trip, or whatever the situation, they only miss five minutes, which mathematically and logically is far less missed service time.  

The transition was so much easier than I expected and was well received by the parents.  I had much more data to share, and the students really made more progress!

Target Treasures

Sometimes I feel like I could have a weekly post on the dollar bin treasures at Target, but then I would have to commit to spending too much money on a weekly bases and not an "occasional" basis.
Too many Target treasures seems to be detrimental to the ultimate purpose, so for that matter, I'll limit my posts...maybe.

Treasure Find #1: Story Starters
A quick page flip left me grinning at few of the quarky writing prompts in here.  It makes me curious to see how the students will respond to them during their creative writing time.

Treasure Find #2: Crazy Chalk

Crazy Chalk!  It's the answer to my younger speech and language students.  Practicing articulation words on the sidewalk with nontraditional chalk and describing objects on a nice, sunny day seems like a nearly-perfect summer therapy session. 

Treasure Find #3: Cones

Yes, cones.  My daughter started playing soccer this year, so they can serve a dual purpose OR I could just buy a few more :)  They come in sets of two, so these four cost only $2.00.  I plan to use these for kids to practice speech sounds while expending energy, using them in one of two ways: place a card at each cone, collect the cards, and then practice the words OR set them up as goals and have the kids kick a goal, retrieve a card from the goal, and practice each word five times.   

Treasure Find #4: Conversation Starters

I'll be working with a few new kids this summer, and these seem to be the perfect ice-breakers!  They are also great for articulation carry-over, working on grammatical structures, or electing speech-language samples.

Treausre Find #5: Dinosaurs!

While I'm not a fan of dinosaurs, it seems that almost half of the boys who I work with are!  This book will serve as a great motivator, work on speech sounds and even the challenging multi-syllabic words, giving descriptions, memory recall (this book is full of facts), or again, to elicit  speech-language samples.

What treasures have you found?  We'd love to hear about them!

Our Five Favorite Games for Perspective Taking

This year, we have six social skills group, more than what we've ever had.  And of course, all groups have different skill levels.  It seems that no matter what bag of tricks we try, all students show needs with perspective taking at some level.  Some students need very structured scenarios in which to practice while others need to work on generalization.  Regardless of skill level, we (as in students AND staff) need a break.  A break with purpose, of course!  This is when we turn to some of our favorite perspective taking games, and in no particular order (drum roll please), here they are!

What's Yours Like
This game was a fantastic thrift store find at $2.99!  In this game, one player is in the Hot Seat, meaning the player tries to guess a word known by all other players.  Each player except for the person in the Hot Seat provides one word describing what theirs is like.  The player in the Hot Seat tries to guess what is being described.  We modify the game a bit for our fourth and fifth graders, but the end result is still the same!  (We also use this game with students in our articulation groups to facilitate carry-over!)

Whoonu

We love this game! A little competition with a lot of perspective taking is the key.  In each round, players try to guess the Whoozit's favorite thing.  All other players hold several cards in their hands and chose the card they think best represents the Woozit's favorites.  The Woozit mixes up the cards and ranks them from his/her favorite to least favorite, and the other players receive tokens with point values according to the card rankings.

Bubble Talk

This game is sure to to supply a fair share of giggles!  Students choose one player to be the judge, who in turn deals caption cards to each player, turns over a picture, and places it in the center of the players.  Next, the players look at their cards and select the funniest caption card that they think best matches the picture card and place it face down.  The judge mixes up the cards and picks the one that he/she feels is the funniest.  The player of that card is the winner of the round.

Password

Whatever version of the game you have, it's definitely an oldie but a goodie.  (We typically play using the rules for three players even if we have more students than that.)   One player, the giving player, gives one clue to the other players, receiving players.  The receiving players make one guess for each clue given.  When a guess has been made, the giving players determines if the word is the "password."  The first receiving player to guess the word correctly receives the point for the word.

Apples to Apples

It seems as if this game is in almost everyone's game closest, and why shouldn't it be?  For those of you who haven't played this game, you'll notice it's played similarly to Whoonu. A judge is picked; he or she deals five red apple cars to every player.  (Apple cards are nouns such as ice, zippers, and the President.) Then the judge places a green apple card, face up, on the table.  (Green apple cards are descriptive words such as dreamy, arrogant, and speedy.)  The players chose one red apple card that he or she thinks is most like the green card.  The judge mixes up the red apple cards, turns them over, reads them, and chooses the card he or she thinks is most like the green apple card.

We would love to hear what games you use to target perspective taking!  We are always looking to expand the "funness" and engagement factors in our room!

How Do You Use It? Paperclips!

Ah, yes.  Those little, ingenious pieces of metal and plastic, strategically looped and looped again to make our world of organizing that much easier.  But wait…they have so many more uses, which is why we are hooking up with Speech Time Fun to find out more.

• Fidgets - We are notoriously distracted, and we often find ourselves using paperclips as personal fidgets, so why not do the same for students?!
• Necklaces - We use paperclips as reinforcers for students during articulation drill or other language activities.  Using the fun, colored plastic paperclips have been big motivators for students!
• Game Markers - Just recently, we used paperclips as markers for the game Spot It, but they could be used with lots of other games.

• Following Directions - When we have a few extra minutes, students LOVE when we hide several paperclips around the room and give them hints as to where they are hidden.  This activity is great for following directions, using concepts, and attending.
• Bookmarks - We love using books in our room, so we let students make bookmarks out of paperclips at the beginning of the year by tying a piece of ribbon to the end of it.  

(Photo from The Weekend Homemaker)

These are just a few of our uses.  We're interested to hear what others are doing with them!

Multiple Uses for Blank Books

Right now, Target has these cool  books in the One Spot area!  For $3.00, you get three, 32-page hard-cover books which are approximately 5x7.  They also have larger books available without a hard cover, but these were too cute for me too pass up.

Last year, many of our language groups spent a considerable amount of time identifying story elements, finding evidence in the text to support their answers, and identifying themes and lessons.  (Sound a little like The Common Core, eh?)  These books would work great to take working on story elements a step further by having students write their own stories and illustrate them.  My mind is spinning with all of the possibilities!

• Vocabulary - Students write the word, its definition, draw a picture, and write the word in a sentence.
• Describing - Students draw a picture of the target object and then write multiple descriptive words on the corresponding page.
• Idioms - Students write the idiom and draw the literal interpretation on one page and write the idiom's meaning and draw the figurative picture on the opposite page.
• Hidden Curriculum - Students write hidden rules and draw pictures of them.
• Articulation - Students write/draw target words.
• Syntax - Students write the target word(s) on one page and write sentences using the target on the second page (i.e. "HE"…"He is my best friend.")
• Creative Writing - Students write prompt on one page and write a paragraph about the prompt on the opposite page.

What ideas do you have?  We'd love to hear them!

Attractive Fun with Magnets

This friday in summer speech we used using all things magnetic. They are amazingly great reinforcers for our young students. I was inspired after reading about a magnet unit from Faith Wheeler’s blog.  Here are some ways to use magnetic things to attract fun!

                                    

Wooly Willy: The original came out in the 1950s but this toy has staying power. It is filled with metal shavings so a child can make hair, a mustache or any kind of silly face they want. It is also a great for giving directions and or following directions. Such as “First give him a mustache then cover up his nose.” Or “Before you put his right eye brow on color in some hair.”

Classic Fishing: They make many versions of the classic fishing game. It can be done with cards and paperclips or with actual fish with magnetic mouths. In any case it makes for a great reinforce or a great game to incorporate into therapy.

Cookie trays: Go to the dollar store and get a few. They are great for creating a story scene for students as they retell a story or as a reinforcement tool for small kids. They also pack well when I travel around our school building.

Magz Construction Sets: These are fun for both sensory and for students to build with as they work. Today in practice when my students would say a target sound they would also get to add a piece to their creations. Some of my artsy students made jewelry while others built shapes or buildings. Hours of fun, and you can get yours here!

Magnetic Art: With a roll of magnetic tape and some glue, you can turn just about anything into a magnet including these glass stones.

 Sticky Scrabble: Take Scrabble pieces and put magnets on the back. Create a word wall or Play the game.

Magnetic Sensory Bins: This is a great idea for students to learn about what sticks to magnets while at the same time while calming. This idea and photo was take from: http://www.giftofcuriosity.com/fun-with-magnets/

How do you use magnets in your class or speech room? 

Why Review Parts of Speech?

The parts of speech can be boring, in fact a middle school student I see for private therapy (who does not really like giving up his summer swimming or baseball time) recently asked me, "Why do I need to know about the adverbs and pronouns stuff?" I don't love teaching it, but I have good reason. My answer to him was that he would need to know these parts of speech when he was writing, when he was taking state tests or if he wanted to learn another language (helping him to categorize the new words). I also like to incorporate this into therapy so that my older students understand how organize their sentences and correct their writing. I do a review of the parts of speech with 5th-8th graders primarily as they have already learned about most of the parts in their language arts classes. I don't cover all the parts of speech but like to review nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

1.) I start my review with this Poem:

2. Grammar Jammars App: 

We talk about each part and if they need more scaffolding I then review each part with an app called Grammar Jammers that is free put out by Pearson. They have two editions one for primary grades and one for later grades. It has cute and catchy videos like this one:

3.) Activities to Review

To make parts of speech more fun I have students create their own GrammarJammer Video or Flip book to remember the parts that are hard to remember (many times its adverbs). While we read a book together in therapy or when we are learning vocabulary we talk about the parts of speech and when I have students write a sentence.

I am interested to hear if you also find it functional to teach the Parts of Speech ? Why or Why Not??  

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. 

Fifteen Activities to Welcome-In The School Year

The school year is just around the corner for some and a little over a month away for others, but the bottom line is that it is coming and quickly!  There is so much chaos during the first few days of the school year, despite the best laid plans.  It's probably just the nature of the beast, but nonetheless, it just adds to the stress.  Despite the chaos, I try to focus on student engagement, set clear expectations, and start establishing a sense of community.  These are important to me from the get-go which is why I created the Back To School Activity Pack Bundle.

Included in this bundle are four activities: 

School-Wide Treasure Hunt includes 9 audio QR codes and an activity sheet that students use to record the places they find within the school.  Clear and detailed instructions are provided to make this activity easy to set-up.  I can't wait to use this with students this fall!

Friends Finds includes an interview sheet and a compare/contrast graphic organizer.  Each student interviews two classmates and records their answers.  Then, using the graphic organizer, they compare and contrast the information from the interviews.

Extra, Extra, Read All About Me!  Using a newspaper template, students give information about themselves such as their favorite movie, book, and hero and set a personal goal for the year.

Five About Me Students share five things about themselves using the numbers 1-5.  For example, a student may share, "I took one vacation this summer; I have two sisters; I have three pet fish," etc.

There are countless other activities everywhere that are great resources.  We listed a few for you!

Get-To-Know-You Yahtzee - FREE
This activity, found at The Middle School Counselor, is played like the game but with a twist.  Students share information about themselves when they roll a specific number combination!

Memory Wheels - FREE
This cool idea comes from Middle School Math Moments and More and is simple but fun!  Create a circle to look like a wheel.  Students write their names in the center and then write interesting facts about themselves.  Here is an example from the blog:

All About Me: A Back-to-School Lapbook - $5.00
This super cute activity is from Teacher's Lounge.  The foldables include favorite things, summer activities, who's in the class, facts about self, super powers, etc.

Multiple Intelligence Survey For Kids - FREE
I have had this activity in my back pocket for years, but I have yet to use it.  I vow to use it this year because I think it is such a great resource from Laura Candler!

Find Someone Who - FREE
This is a free activity from Sweet Integrations. It includes 20 boxes of fun "finds" so your students can begin to connect with their peers!

New Kids On The Block "Child Glyphs" - FREE

This cute activity is found at Welcome to Room 28.  It includes a printout for the head, t-shirt, shorts, and a key for the glyph.

Back To School - $5.00

This bundle of activities can be found at Nita-Marie's Classroom Creations and includes cute graphing activities, writing prompts, all about me pages, and other activities.  There are plenty of activities for different interest levels.

Back To School Math Number Hunt - FREE

This activity by Games 4 Learning is a great get-to-know-you math activity that has students ask each other about numbers relevant to their lives. 

Toilet Paper Pass - FREE

The Teacher's Corner offers a funny and cheap activity for the first day of school.  Students pass around a roll of toilet paper and tear off as much as they would like (without telling them why, of course).  Students separate the toilet paper into squares and tell one thing about him/herself for each square.

All About Me Paper "Bagpack!" - $4.00

Brooke Hilderbrand created this adorable activity which is also available in Spanish and provides a letter for parents to get involved, too!

Back To School Icebreakers - FREE

This download from The Primary Schoolhouse includes 56 question cards that students can ask each other or be asked in a large group.

Back To School GAME SHOW - FREE

This is a team activity by Tiny Toes that includes the following categories: Scrambled (students unscramble a word), AlphaBody (students use their bodies to spell), Make a List (a timed event in which students make a list of certain items), Main Idea (students determine how words are related), and DRAWiT (students draw pictures).  (This activity was reported not to work on Macs.)

The Riddle Book - FREE

Kristin Ketteringham (Yahoo Contributor Network) posted this activity in which students create their own riddle books.  They write four to five sentences about themselves with the last line reading, "Who am I?"  Once everyone is finished, students try to guess which riddle belongs to each student.

Back to School Thinking Maps

This bundle of activities is created by Sabrina Beg and includes a series of 11 maps/graphic organizers for students that can be done in groups or independently.

If you have any great ideas or resources that you have created to welcome in the school year, please leave your information in the comment section!