Happy Halloween! For those of you who will be greeting trick-or-treaters this evening, consider this advice that I found posted in a few different places (author unknown):
“Tonight a lot of children will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say “trick or treat” or “thank you” might be painfully …
shy, non-verbal, or selectively mute. If you cannot understand their words, they may struggle with developmental apraxia of speech. They are thankful in their hearts and minds. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have a life-threatening allergy. The child who isn’t wearing a costume at all might have sensory defensiveness or autism. Be kind, be patient, smile, pretend you understand. It’s everyone’s Halloween. Make a parent feel good by making a big deal of their special child.”
So, please remember that Halloween is for everyone, and help make each parent and child feel special this Halloween! Thank you and have fun!!
Anyone else wondering just WHAT is going on with Mother Nature? A recent earthquake, a hurricane, a blizzard? Here in Maryland, it seems a bit odd and armageddon-ish to be seeing forecasts for both a massive hurricane and a stormy blizzard. I’ve been hosting a slumber party in my living room for the little people who live here — all of us excited to be home from school and work obligations, but still rather in awe of the storm’s potential and what the night may bring. Here is a glimpse of our Storm Headquarters, a camp that has evolved a bit throughout the day:
Children love to talk about the weather phenomena that we experience each year. With weather events opening the door for incredible conversations relating to science, social issues and language themes, I have used many weather-related games and activities to address a variety of skills in speech-language therapy. And so, as I wait for the modern-day privileges of electricity and the internet to end, I am sharing my year-round favorite — Weather Bingo. Here is a glimpse at the set I have created:
Use the picture vocabulary to increase knowledge of specific vocabulary, then target a variety of language skills as you play the Bingo game in small or large groups. Picture vocabulary can be used to target wh question comprehension, use and comprehension of descriptive vocabulary, visual discrimination skills,
formulation of phrases and sentences and more! What you get: 6 unique Bingo boards, all containing the same picture vocabulary; 1 page Bingo stimulus cards (can be printed twice to create instant memory/matching game!) I hope you enjoy using this activity to support important structured and conversational learning that can take place using a timely, relevant theme.
Thanks for checking it out!
~Lisa, reporting to you love from Hurricane Headquarters 🙂
Grab this FREE DOWNLOAD – visual for simple wh questions. Provide visual cues and structured supports for answering simple wh questions in any therapy or classroom activity. Supplement auditory processing and reading comprehension tasks with this visual, and help increase independence during instruction.
As I’ve been working with graduate students and guiding them to incorporate strategies to increase their client’s spontaneous communication during therapy sessions, I’ve been covering some of the basics like:
Ask open-ended questions, avoiding questions that can be answered with a simple yes/no or other one word answer
Provide choices as much as possible, encouraging statements of preference
Try not to anticipate the needs of a child – allow them time to formulate their wants and ideas into their own verbal attempts
Set up the environment purposefully with preferred items out of reach
Use visual supports to increase communication independence
Provide modeling and expansion of a produced utterance– reinforce verbalizations and show them how to take it one step further
Beyond these basics, there are a few strategies I have blogged about in the past that people seem to particularly appreciate. My post on Communication Temptations is a steady favorite, along with my handouts for encouraging speech and language skills in the classroom and home settings. One particular blog post has been making the rounds again on Pinterest and Facebook — my Top Five Ways to Encourage Spontaneous Language. I do like this post quite a bit, not just because I still stand behind the content but also because it pretty much captures who I am. Reading the post gives you a glimpse at my therapy style (and my general personality, I believe,) and highlights what I feel is a real desire to connect with children in the moment. The techniques I recommend in the post are not necessarily natural for many people, especially new therapists, but I am encouraging the graduate student clinicians I supervise to give these five tricks (and many others) a try as they discover their own therapy styles.
Interested in my Top 5 Ideas? Here is the link to my original post:
Tonight I began compiling my “Thanksgiving Speech Therapy” series. I realize that we are not even past Halloween yet, but I know there are people out there diligently planning and expanding their treatment plans well into Winter. So, here you go!
Target Descriptive Vocabulary in a variety of receptive and expressive language
tasks with this activity set created by Lisa Geary from LiveSpeakLove. Skills
addressed include: Thanksgiving Food identification and labeling,
comprehension/use of color words in phrases and sentences, identification/use of
adjectives to describe object attributes, categories and word classes,
identification and description of similarities and differences…and MORE!
18 pages total including stimulus cards, visual supports, suggested activities, descriptive word banks and other visuals.
Color and black/white versions to meet your printing needs.
Target receptive and expressive language skills with this Thanksgiving Bingo Game that includes Thanksgiving Vocabulary generated (with permission) with Boardmaker software using PCS symbols. Use the Bingo game to target object identification/labeling, visual discrimination, auditory processing at the word/phrase/sentence levels, comprehension of wh?s and seasonal vocabulary, language formulation and use of vocabulary and related descriptive concepts…these open-ended boards are perfect for differentiated instruction of students in your small groups or larger classes.
What you get: 6 unique Bingo Game boards, each containing the same vocabulary words but in different positions on the boards.
Hope you are having a wonderful Autumn season filled with many reasons to celebrate!
Thanks for visiting and for supporting this labor of love!!
I’m so glad people are enjoying my resources and taking advantage of my new, lower prices and the Pre-Halloween Sale. Being new to the TPT scene, it is hard to gauge what price is reasonable for the work behind the product, and the potential the product has in terms of its application in your classrooms/therapy rooms. Thank you for being patient while I made some initial adjustments! Keep looking for more resources — seasonal favorites as well as practice management/clinical tools. Also, don’t forget that my Pre-Halloween Sale ends TOMORROW!!! Don’t forget to take advantage of my FREE downloads, too. Thank you for your support!
Due to the fact that I have decided to LOWER ALL PRICES in my TPT Store, and because it is down to the wire for those of you planning for fun, engaging activitities that incorporate what is on all the minds of little goblins everywhere….Halloween….I have decided to throw a multi-level SALE at my TPT Store! First, all prices have been adjustes to reflect a substantial decrease. Second, I am throwing a 20% off SALE on ALL HALLOWEEN RESOURCES until 10/24/12. You now have less than 4 days to stock up on your Halloween goodies! Thank you for checking out this labor of love of mine!!
I was supposed to be finishing my whole house cleaning and organization today! Oooops…after a long night of nearly NO sleep (due to the cutest owls ever) and a sick little owlet who needed some TLC in the wee hours of the morning, I haven’t exactly mustered the motivation necessary to get up and moving and find my bootstraps just yet. Ahhh, there’s still time!! For now, I am happy to bring you my next set of resources. Many of you may know I am a big fan of visuals. Aside from Universal Design for Learning standards, visual learning styles and the vast amount of evidence-based practice research that supports using visuals to increase communication competence and independence… well, here’s what I know. THEY JUST WORK. I’ve learned the theory, I’ve read the standards, I’ve seen the research and I’ve experienced the undeniable success first-hand, over and over and over. Are you using visual supports in your therapy room? In your classroom? With your whole class or only certain students? I challenge you to incorporate as many visuals as possible with ALL of your students. Here are a couple that you can use to help your students become more aware of their thinking, their self-reflection and their self-advocacy skills:
Road to Success Visual– With the implementation of Common Core Standards, it is now even more important to help students become independent thinkers and learners. Need a way for students to participate more in their learning and reflect on their progress? Increase student independence and help students persevere when “the road gets rough” with this Road to Success visual tool. This tool will also help students to advocate for themselves during instruction or independent work in a positive way. You can also use this tool to provide teacher feedback with a simple gesture without interrupting the flow of your teaching (pointing to yellow on the stoplight to indicate, “I know it’s hard, but keep trying.” ) Simple visual tools like this one become very powerful in the classroom!
The download also includes a printable with three visuals on the page — just cut out and laminate, then tape on each student’s desk for individualized feedback/student reflection.
Next, you will definitely want this visual tool created to increase students’ metacognitive skills. What are metacognitive skills??? Essentially, “thinking about one’s own thinking.” It is an important skill to develop in students for academic reasons, but also so that they will be successful in LIFE. To be successful in any situation, it is important to be aware of what you KNOW and what you DON’T KNOW. Start developing this critical thinking skill NOW using this visual that can be applied to any subject area – reading for learning, reading for memory, reading for enjoyment, mental math, basic math functions, independent seatwork, collaborative groups, and the list goes on!!! Read more about metacognition at education.com (for starters — this is a big buzz word and there is a growing amount of research and instructional materials dedicated to this area of cognitive skill.)
Laminate this visual and place on each student’s desk, make copies to post at learning centers or in 100 Book Challenge or reading folders, blow up to poster size to use as a visual/anchor chart…and more! Increase student indpendence by encouraging learners to become part of the evaluation process.
I hope you are finding these materials useful. I would love your feedback about the types of resources you would like to see, your impressions of my current pricing (I am new and apparently have a bit to learn in this area) and any other feedback you would be willing to share. Feel free to leave a comment or email me at lisa@livespeaklove.com.
If you have been around this blog awhile, you may remember my Creature Feature post inspired by my daughter’s sixth birthday party. For some reason, she ok, *I * was REALLY excited about the owl theme. We (ok, I) had a giant Mama owl cake with little owlet cupcakes, handmade owl masks, handmade owl goodie bags, handmade owl (insert whatever you could possible make using owls here.) The theme kept growing and growing, and in typical “me” fashion, I stayed up several nights leading up to her party wayyyy past my bedtime (and probably close to some most people’s waking up time) to get everything made and ready. Why do I do that? I’d love to know. My husband would also love to know! All I know is that when inspiration hits, time flies and my plans get bigger. Here are a few glimpses of that fun day where I saw more than a few mothers rolling their eyes at our (my) obviously over-the-top birthday extravaganza:
That last picture was in case you weren’t yet rolling your eyes either. 🙂 That is one happy, girl though! And the good news (for you) is that I STILL LOVE OWLS. I still don’t know why, either. BUT, given my new venture into creating clipart , I decided to try my hand at making some OWL CLIPART. How cute are these little owls??? And I have the set of owl clipart FREE for you to download for personal, educational or commercial use! Just click on either clipart pic to get to my set:
And of course I wanted to start using my clipart right away (even though it was nearly 2:00am,) so I created this WHO QUESTION activity:
Let me know what you think~ I hope that you love these owl resources ALMOST as much as I do.
Thanks for visiting and supporting LiveSpeakLove!!
Another Halloween goodie…a Halloween Graphic Organizer tool created to use as a visual prompt for organization, sequencing, recalling events and key details. Also target wh questions and story comprehension as well as critical thinking skills like inferencing and predictions using this tool. Know any teachers that might interested? Spread the word if you can! Thank you!!
I seem to be on a roll and out of my crazy busy dry spell. Remember the clipart I made all by myself??? In addition to offering it in a download for commercial use, I’ve also been making some new activities using the clipart. I think they turned out rather cute — do you agree?! Here are my latest creations:
FREE DOWNLOAD: Use these stimulus cards to make your own activities. Just add your own text or pictures and you are ready to go! Print on cardstock and add your pictures/text to the reverse side, and you have an instant Halloween game!
Next, presenting…Scare Pairs!Do you have students with phonological disorders? If so, then you will want to use MINIMAL PAIRS in your treatment/interventions.Target the most common phonological processes using this Halloween-themed set created by Lisa Geary from LiveSpeakLove. Print duplicate copies to create a matching/memory game, or simply use as stimulus cards to train students with discrimination tasks and verbal productions. There are 4 different sets:Cluster Reductions Set, Final Consonant Deletion Set, Stopping Set and Velar Fronting Set. Phonology Fun!
And finally (for today, anyway!) Witch Hunt Prepositions! Witch Hunt Prepostions targets location word vocabulary in a movement-oriented game that will target visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile learning styles. Your students will help the witch find her jack-o-lanterns (hidden in the classroom ahead of time) using preposition cards that tell them where to look. This activity can also be used in reverse–have students hide the jack-o-lanterns using the stimulus cards, and the person wearing the witch hat (not included) has to “search the room on their broom!” Great for large or small groups!
I’m so happy people are really liking the Halloween activities I previously posted! It’s such a fun time of year, and using seasonal activities is a great way to target skills while keeping children motivated. Because of the wonderful response I’ve received so far, I decided to post a few more little treasures for your Halloween stash. Trick or Treat!
This vocabulary tool can be used for a variety of activities and grade levels. Have students name two synonyms for each word given, and write the synonyms on the candy corn for a clever visual respresentation of a richer vocabulary. Display candy corn cards at writing centers or on a bulletin board to help students avoid using the same simple words over and over in their writing or discussions. Or, use this activity to target expressive and receptive language skills in your speech therapy activities. The activity can really be tailored to meet the needs of many students, and can even be used as flashcards for peer partner work or as a “May Do” activity:
Another great activity for your speech room or classroom..the Witch’s Brew! What will your students put into the cauldron for the Witch’s Brew? How about three kinds of reptiles? Five things that go “crunch?” Target categorical skills using this creepy, fun activity that will motivate your students to generate categorical items after they choose their Witch’s Brew card. Extension activities can be added for differentiation — adding descriptive words to their categorical objects, sentence formulation/expressive language trials, answering wh questions for comprehension tasks, etc. Use these stimulus cards paired with any game board, or use in a whole class activity as you role play creating a disgusting, vocabulary-rich Witch’s Brew with your little goblins!
And one last activity for you today…Spooky Spider’s /s/ Clusters! These Halloween-themed /s/ cluster stimulus cards are perfect for your speech therapy activties targeting /s/ in consonant clusters in the initial, medial and final word positions. Use in literacy centers, file folder games, independent and small group activities, and intervention groups targeting these tricky words/sounds. Print out a double set to make a matching game, use as stimulus cards during board games or at literacy centers…lots of ways to use this printable resource!
Enjoy these resources, and keep on letting me know if you are finding these activities to be useful. I also would love feedback on resources that you would like to see in the future. Thanks! ~Lisa, LiveSpeakLove
Halloween is one of my favorite times of year! Pumpkins, apple cider, costumes and crafts…there’s nothing like a little spooky fun to thrill students and engage them in their learning. Looking for ways to target a variety of academic and communication goals using a Halloween theme? Look no further! I have so many resources I’ve developed over the years that are tried and true winners. Check out my resources below, and follow the links over to my new TeachersPayTeachers site. Free downloads located at that site as well!
First, if you are looking for ways to target vocabulary, receptive and expressive language skills, turn-taking and visual discrimination, you will want to download my Halloween Bingo Set. Pair these colorful game boards with wh questions, verbal “mystery clue” descriptions, sentence formulation activities and more to target skills in a fun, creative way. Easily students’ activities to target IEP goals as you simultaneously work with a larger group — just vary the type of question or response that you are requesting as children take turns throughout the game. There a six different bingo boards in this set:
If you are looking for activities to target pragmatic language skills, try these Halloween Pragmatic Question Cards…definitely a hit with both students and other teachers! I always incorporate an activity like this into our pre-Halloween lessons and discussions — to target the social pragmatic skills that are often tested this busy time of year, but also to target Halloween safety. I have used this activity to do push-in lessons in the classroom setting, and all of the students in the class participate in very useful discussion generated by these questions. I have students draw the little cards out of a jack-o-lantern bucket, or hide them around the room for students to find while they get some opportunities for movement and kinesthetic learning in their day.
The next Halloween activity I have to share is Halloween Word World — an activity targeting /r/ in various positions of the word. This activity would also be great for students learning about /r/ controlled vowels, or for use as a simple seasonal activity. Have fun!
Activity for targeting /r/ in various positions
Here is a fun make-and-eat activity that my students (and graduate student interns) are STILL talking about, years later…making Spooky Spiders to eat! Target a variety of language skills including following directions, sequencing, sequential and ordinal vocabulary, basic math and literacy concepts and more. AND you get to eat these yummy little spiders!! I use the visual directions to also target comprehension and expression after the activity — summarizing the procedures, retelling the events in sequence using appropriate vocabulary, answering wh questions about the procedures…and then I send the recipe page home for students to make the spiders for their family…instant homework, generalization to the home setting, and very happy, proud little monsters.
You may be busy creating your own materials, resources or blog posts, and find yourself in need of some festive clipart. But if you are posting the clipart or distributing the images in any way, you need to make sure you are following the copyright laws. Not sure what to do? Not interested in paying the crazy retail prices for clipart packages or digital scrapbooking content? You may be interested in my latest endeavor — self-made clipart images. I won’t even go into the hours I spent makingthese in Powerpoint…creating each little critter line by line and shape by shape. I’m obviously not a digital image pro, but I think these images turned out pretty cute. And the images are designated for personal, educational and even commercial use. Please link back to my site if you do use these images in any way. I’m quite proud of my little creatures — labors of love, for sure!
I hope that you are now in the spooky Halloween spirit! You may have noticed that many (if not most) of my materials are seasonal or holiday-themed. There’s a method to my madness!! If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 20 years, it’s that children remember celebrations. Chilchood memories are often tied to holidays, vacations and school events. We are all wired to remember the extraordinary. So, why not make learning FUN and enjoyable? Even celebratory?? You can accomplish the same goals, cover the same material and reach the hearts and minds of children the same way — if not better- than with traditional classroom activities. Children remember celebrations…and they will likely remember YOU as well.
Wow, time really does fly when you are having fun– and when you are knee-deep in navigating a new position and new responsibilities! I am loving life as a new clinical faculty member at Towson University — teaching classes, supervising in the campus Speech-Language and Hearing Center and running a Pragmatic Language program for adults on the Autism spectrum. I wish I could list all of the things I’ve learned in the last few months! I’ve lost count. I feel blessed every day to go to work, and I love the variety my new position gives me. I feel this job is a noble and humble calling…training future speech-language pathologists through academic instruction and clinical experiences, also helping members of our community.
Beyond my new job, I do have a few updates for those who have been kind and patient with my recent blog neglect:
Team Living and Lovingdid it again! We supported a wonderful lady and raised over $2,300.00 with over 40 registered participants at the 2012 JT Walk to Stomp Out ALS! Here is a picture from our inspiring (albeit wet and windy) day:
Part of Team Living and Loving, lining up at the Start
LiveSpeakLove is now accepting appointments for consultations and assessments. Our ongoing therapy schedule is currently FULL; however, you may call and have your name added to our waiting list should a therapy time open up in the future. Feel free to call or email with any questions!
I now have a LiveSpeakLove store at TeachersPayTeachers.com! I am starting small and adding material as I go, but check out this site for more therapy and teaching materials, created by me! If you have used any of my materials in the past, you will not want to miss this opportunity for even more in-depth materials and supplies to target a variety of communication skills. Here you go! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lisa-Geary Don’t miss my FREE HALLOWEEN DOWNLOAD!!
Free Download!
I will be expanding my blog focus a bit to include topics and materials relating to my univeristy position. Coming soon: tools for mastering phonetic transcription, data collection and planning for therapy sessions. Also, topics in Autism across the lifespan, instructional technology in speech-language therapy and personal thoughts as I face the challenges of full-time work, an additional private practice, raising amazing children and more.
Product reviews are coming!! The months have flown past at an astonishing speed. In the back of my mind, have been several product reviews I still need to post. Of particular interest in the works–a review of a truly amazing book that I am currently using in my practice and at the university…Speaking of Apraxiaby Leslie Lindsay. More to come, but suffice it to say that this book is a gemand chock-full of everything any parent or professional needs to know about Apraxia.
I am sure there are more updates I’m forgetting, but at nearly 2:30 am, I will save them for another day. THANK YOU for your patience and for checking out LiveSpeakLove!!
