Initial R: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

If you like this free card set, you might want to check out the premium speech therapy kits now available in the Testy Shop. Kits include expanded card sets, illustrated minimal pairs, homework sheets and more in a single download.

Initial /r/ Card Set

(Initial /r/ is also referred to as consonantal /r/ and pre-vocalic /r/.)

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.

Description

This articulation picture card set is designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for this set is young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with initial /r/ at a simple, one-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in this set. The set pairs the initial /r/ with as many different vowel sounds as possible to maximize co-articulation variety.

Key Features

• This set includes 30 therapy cards with the target word and picture on the front, and the difficulty level and a carrier phrase on the back.
• The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape.
• The words are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
• Combines the target sound with a variety of vowel sounds.
• Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses this card set. Let me know if you find errors or there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Download/Print Free Speech Articulation Materials page. Other card sets include /p, b, t, d, m, n, h, f, v, k, g, w, j, s, z, l, r, th, ch, sh, ʤ, s-blends, and l-blends/ and more sets are being added regularly.

What kinds of activities can I do with this cardset?

1. 10 Card Set Game and Activity Ideas
   
2. Simple Speech Card Puzzles
   
3. Speech Card Stories
   
4. Speech Card Caterpillar
   
5. Speech Card Game: What's Hiding?
   
6. Speech Card Game: Speech Switcheroo (An Uno-Style Game)
   
7. Speech Card Set Activity: Magnetic Speech Cards
   
8. Speech Card Game: Speech Fours
   
9. Speech Card Game: Old Maid
   
10. Speech Card Set Activity: Bang!
    
11. Speech Card Set Activity: What's Hiding Behind Door Number...?
    
12. Speech Card Set Activity: Customizing a Homework Sheet
    
13. Speech Card Set Activity: Making a Simple Sentence Flipbook
    
14. Speech Game: Find-It
    
15. Speech Card Set Activity: Speech Art Collage
    
16. Speech Card Set Activity: Speech Crowns
    
17. Speech Card Set Activity: Simple Treasure Hunt
    
18. Speech Card Set Activity: Speech for Beads
    
19. Speech Card Set Activity: Easy Speech Sort
    

Candidly

My husband recently acquired our first "real" camera - a secondhand purchase from a friend upgrading to something better. Now, don't ask me anything about the camera. I just know that it's a lot bigger than my phone and I'm scared to touch it. All right, I know one other thing about it. My husband can take gorgeous pictures with it. Here are a couple of pictures he snapped of the children yesterday. I found these two gems sitting in a folder as I passed by the computer and fell in love with my children all over again. It's always their eyes that capture me.

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I also wanted to wish my mother a wonderful birthday. I am simply not eloquent enough with words to properly express how essential she is to our lives. Either directly or indirectly, she plays a part in every single day in our household. I love you, Mama.

To celebrate her birthday, here's a picture of her from...let's just say 50ish years ago. I think Ava looks a lot like her. What do you all think?

Back to Basics: Syllable Shape in One-Syllable Words

Learn why it is necessary to control syllable shape in your target words and how.

Why does syllable shape matter when choosing words for speech therapy?

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological speech disorder that disrupts the sequencing, transmission, and execution of the motor-planning commands of speech. For most people, this process is automatic and effortless, but for children with CAS, each sequence must be taught and then practiced over and over again until it becomes automatic.

Think of it this way. Pretend that children with motor-planning problems have a circuit breaker somewhere in their system between their brain and their mouth. If the demands on the circuit are low, the breaker does not trip and the word is produced correctly. If the demands are high, the circuit breaker is overloaded and word production fails.

Words with many sounds are more demanding than words with fewer sounds. Consonants put more stress on the system than vowels. A new sound or sound combination takes more effort (putting more demand on the system) than one that has been practiced many times. As a therapist, you always want to find that balance between stimuli that are demanding enough to teach new skills, but not so demanding that the circuit breaker trips and the student only experiences repeated failure. Controlling syllable shape is one way to create an appropriate list of target words for children with CAS and other children with a motor-planning component to their speech problem.

Children who have no motor-planning problems can learn a new sound like /p/, practice it at the beginning and ends of words, practice it in phrases and sentences, and then use it in conversation. Once taught a /p/, children with a motor-planning component to their speech disorder can say the /p/ in some one-syllable words, but not others. Why? Not all one syllable words are the same.

Understanding Syllable Shape

One-syllable words are words that contain only one vowel. "A" is a one-syllable word. "Springs" is also a one-syllable word. "A" is a one-syllable word comprised of just one vowel sound - /eI/. "Springs" is a one-syllable word comprised of six sounds (five consonants and one vowel) - /s/, /p/, /r/, /I/, /ng/, /z/. One-syllable words are not all created equal. A one-syllable word with 6 sounds has motor-planning requirements that are significantly more demanding than a one-syllable word comprised of only one or two sounds.

One-syllable words can have a variety of syllable shapes. Typically more sounds = more difficult. More consonant blends = more difficult. You can break down the sounds in the words into consonants (C) and vowels (V). There are also R-colored vowels or vocalic R sounds (like in the words car, fur, and air), but we will save discussing those for another time. If there is a vocalic R in your word list and you are working with a child with a severe speech disorder, discard that word for now.

The simplest one-syllable words have a vowel-consonant (VC) or consonant-vowel (CV) shape. Whether you are targeting a consonant or vowel, it is interesting to note that some children may find production easier in a CV context and other children will have an easier time with VC. Experiment to find out which is easier for the child you're working with. Remember that you're working with sounds - not letters. "bee" and "she" are both CV words even though the first is spelled with one consonant and two vowels and the second is spelled with two consonants and one vowel. You are looking for words that are pronounced with only two sounds regardless of how they are spelled.

In terms of complexity of syllable shape, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words are next. To keep things simple, you want to choose CVC words that include two sounds your child can make and only one target sound. For example, if your child has trouble with /k/ and /n/, and you're targeting /k/, do not choose the word "can". Choose "cab" instead. Another thing to remember when creating a CVC word list is word position. Again, the child may find words with the targeted sound at the beginning of the word more difficult or they may find words with the targeted sound at the end of the word more difficult. Adjust your word list accordingly. Remember to keep your focus on sounds. Words like "ship", "with", "cheat", and "those" are all CVC words.

One-syllable words with consonant blends come next in terms of complexity. If you're working with children who have a severe speech delay I would avoid these for now. Consonant blends are two or more consecutive consonants in the same syllable that are produced in a blended fashion. Your one-syllable word could have one or two consonant blends. CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC, CCCVC, CVCCC, CCCVCC, CCVCCC, and CCCVCCC are all potential one-syllable syllable shapes.

Guidelines for Creating Word Lists by Syllable Shape

1. Include only one target sound in each word. Make sure all the other sounds in the word are in the child's phonemic inventory. (Alternately, accept approximations of the other sounds in the target word.)
2. CV and VC words are the simplest. CVC words are more complex. Work at the highest level of complexity the child can handle to maximize speed of progress and generalization.
3. Avoid words with vocalic /r/ and consonant blends.
4. Experiment with words that include your target sound in initial position and words that include your target sound in final position. A child may find one position easier than the other giving you a starting point for therapy. As soon as possible, mix the word positions together to increase difficulty and improve generalization.
5. Remember to focus on sounds, not letters when searching for words to include in your list. All of your words will be two or three sounds, but may be spelled with more letters.

Moving Beyond CVC Words

If your child has mastered production of your target sound in one-syllable CVC words move to simple two-syllable words or focus on the CVC words in short phrases before trying to work on the sound in consonant blends. The simplest two-syllable syllable shapes are VCV, CVCV, and VCVC.

A useful technique when moving past CVC words is to introduce a simple carrier phrase that is used over and over again with the target words. ("Give me the _____." or "That is my _____.") Another strategy is to find a nursery rhyme, children's song, or children's book that contains some of your target words and use them with the child pausing to let the child fill in the target words at the appropriate times.

Motor-Speech Articulation Method (MSAM)

Controlling syllable shape is one of the fundamental underlying strategies I use when designing the illustrated card sets that are the core of my free and premium speech materials. Other strategies involved in target word selection in the MSAM method include controlling the phonemic complexity of the individual sounds that are the building blocks of the target words and maximizing co-articulation variety.

Mixed K Speech Song: Mucky Mucky Hockey Puck

Somewhere I came across an adorable book of word family songs. They were a collection of songs someone had written to the tune of familiar children's songs designed to work on word families. (Please don't ask me where I found the book. Or when. Or how. As I approach the grand old age of 40 I'm finding these sorts of details more and more difficult to hang on to.) Anyway, the point of this rather tangential story is that I was inspired to create a speech song. This is where you promise to not laugh!

Given that /k/ is apparently the target sound that will never go away in our household, I decided to make a mixed /k/ song my guinea pig. Here you go. It won't be winning a Grammy I suspect, but it should be amusing to little ones while providing a whole new way to work on the /k/ sound in initial, medial, and final position.

You sing the song to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I've provided the printable with a cute blue background and with a more practical white background (below - to save printer ink). Choose whichever you prefer.

Let me know what you think of the idea. Do you like it? Would you enjoy using speech songs during articulation therapy? Would it be worth my time to make some more?

New Survey: Help me choose which sound to target in my next Therapy Kit.

I put up a new survey in the right sidebar. The flurry of activity revolving around planning Michael's 5th birthday party and then our 10 day vacation is passing. Instead of focusing on all the holiday shopping I haven't done, I'm procrastinating by beginning to plan the next premium speech kit for the shop. I probably won't get to actually work on it until the new year, but I wanted to ask you all which sound you'd find most useful: /p/, /f/, or /l/-blends? Please take the time to let me know by voting. The poll will stay open through midnight next Friday.

Speaking of the speech kits, I wanted to thank those of you who have taken the time to write to me and let me know how the kits are working for you. I read every email and comment I get and although I haven't had time to respond to each of you personally, those letters and comments are extremely important to me.

I wanted to share a couple with all of you.

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"I am an SLP supervising college students in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I use the picture/word lists with our apraxic/phonologically impaired kids. We just used the /st/ words in therapy today!! I recommend your website frequently to the parents and students I work with. I LOVE your homework page where you specify watch, listen, say.! That is just awesome for parents to use!"
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"I really do love your kits and have vowed to not buy anything else from a store!!! I love your tips and reminders, I love the way they are organized. I send home the sheets and my parents LOVE the little books. I originally started viewing your site as I was searching for materials for my two new students with Apraxia..this was last year. NOW two are doing fabulous! I’m very impressed with everything you do as a working mom! Know you are appreciated! "

Visits Vs. Vacations

Until now, our "vacations" have always been visits. We take time off of work (and school if necessary) and travel to visit with family. We have family spread across three different states and we take our visiting seriously. I think family ties are gifts and I want our children to love their extended family the way we do.

Family visits are wonderful, but exhausting. We prepare to travel. Then we spend entire days in the car with two preschoolers. Next we visit. The spending time with family part is wonderful. The non-stop parenting while at someone else's house is... effortful. We are usually ready to be back at home by the time we get there. Then we spend at least a week trying to return our home to it's usual slightly messy and cluttered state from the disastrous state caused by packing and unpacking. It is all 100% worth it, but the experience isn't exactly restful and rejuvenating.

We just came home from our first ten day family vacation. Two of those days were spent on the road and one day was spent visiting. The other seven days were spent cruising with our two children. The best part is that we were accompanied on our cruise by 9 extended family members. It was truly the best of both worlds.

It was a lovely bonding experience for our children. They got to spend time with parents, grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, and godparents. A lovely time was had by all. They experienced their first ship, first beach, first magician, and first stage show. So much wonder found in one place.

Freed from all the mundane chores of daily life at home (laundry, meal preparation, school and work, etc.) the days floated along in a stress and schedule free manner. We spent more time with the children with almost no fussing. We snuggled, tickled, played games, and experienced new things together and there was no need or desire to watch a clock through any of it. The children stayed up late and I didn't care.

We took advantage of the free child-care on board to give us all a change of pace for a few hours most days. The children loved going to "ship school" and were rather disappointed to see us when we showed up to pick them up a few hours later. The cruise provided us with a cell phone so we could be reached if they needed us, but fortunately it wasn't necessary.

Our one extravagance was paying for an excursion to a private beach. It was going to be their first time at a beach and I didn't want to deal with huge crowds. I had this idyllic daydream of a gorgeous sunny day on a deserted beach and a happy, memorable family experience. Well, it was certainly memorable...

That particular morning was the only morning of the cruise that dawned significantly cloudy. I didn't let that worry me though. We dressed for sun and swimming and packed our preschoolers up for a day of fun at the beach. By the time we had followed the tour guide for a half mile (mile?) to where the boat would take us to the beach, it was raining. We were assured that rain never lasts more than 20 minutes in the Bahamas and our sun hats at least kept the rain out of our eyes.

The thunder, lightening, and rain gusts soaked everyone in the boat on the way to the island cove. Everyone huddled under their beach towels. We played up the "exciting adventure" to the children as we shivered under the towels. When we got to the island 20-30 minutes later the beach was closed due to weather and we huddled in the lunch area wringing things out and trying to dry off with wet towels waiting for things to blow over.

An hour or so later (the details of which are best left undiscussed) the rain had passed and the beach was open. It was still overcast, extremely windy, and freezing, but I was going to get my children in the water and they were ready to go. And you know what? We all managed to have fun anyway. The children loved their first experience at a beach. They loved the sand and the shells and the waves and the water. They didn't seem to notice how cold they were or the fact that their lips were blue. We squeezed as much fun as we could into the hour and a half we had left before catching the boat ride back from the island to our ship. We built sand castles, found shells, buried feet in the sand, and engaged in water horseplay. Ava even made "sand angels" on the shore. The children played so hard in that hour and a half that they were both tired enough to sleep through the rum punch/extremely loud music experience fellow shore excursion passengers were enjoying on the boat ride back.

It wasn't exactly the sunny, leisurly first beach experience I had been hoping for, but it was a memorable adventure that was ultimately enjoyed by all.

And so now we're back. I'm trying to hang on to a little of that vacation mentality. I want to focus more on snuggling my children than rushing through our bedtime routine.

I also need to focus on all the things that were postponed until after the trip (like holiday shopping - how many days are left?).

Usborne Very First Reading - More Printables and Teaching Tips

I have been continuing homeschool using the Usborne Very First Reading Set (and the extra UK only expansion) with Michael on his reading. I am still very pleased with the sets and the extras available online.

We finished the six books on my first progress chart so I needed to make another one. I just made the full set while I was at it. If you have any need for them, here they are.

I continue to fine tune the implementation of the reading program. This is what I'm doing right now.

Preparation

1. Print progress charts in this post.
2. Go to the Very First Reading Resource Page (US) and download and print the activity sheet for each book and the word bank for each book.
3. If you have the UK expansion set for levels 1-7, go to the Very First Reading Resource Page (UK) and download and print the activity sheet for the extra level 1-7 books. (If you're teaching UK English, just print everything from this page.)
4. Cut out the word bank cards.
5. (Optional: Pre-print child's name and answers to activity sheet questions on clear labels. Use a simple font in a light grey color. You can place these labels on the activity sheet for the child to trace if you're still working on handwriting/letter formation with the child.)

Teaching

Modify this to suit your needs. This is just what we do with the books and materials. We do this over three-four different days. Since we homeschool twice a week right now, it takes us 1-2 weeks to do each level.

Day 1 (and sometimes an extra day)

1. Read the book with the child. You read the words in the smaller font. The child reads the words in the larger font.
2. Do the first activity in the back of the book with the child.
3. Practice the word bank cards sorting into a "fast" and "slow" pile. Teach the words in the "slow" pile. Keep those pile separated for future use.
4. Do the activity sheet for the book with the child. I use my pre-printed labels and work on Michael's handwriting during this activity.
5. Put stickers in the appropriate spots on the progress chart.

Day 2

1. Review the word bank cards. I review both piles and move any cards Michael's learned from the slow pile to the fast pile.
2. Read the book a second time.
3. Do the second activity in the back of the book.
4. Put stickers in the appropriate spots on the progress chart.

Day 3

1. Review the word bank cards. I review both piles and move any cards Michael's learned from the slow pile to the fast pile. (Usually he's learned all the word bank cards at this point. If not, I sneak any leftover "slow" cards into the set for the next level.)
2. Read the book a third time.
3. Do the third activity in the back of the book.
4. Put stickers in the appropriate spots on the progress chart.

Notes

I am particularly pleased with the word bank cards. The "rule breaker" words (words that "break" the regular phonics rules) are outlined in red. High frequency words are outlined in green. The rest of the words are words chosen because they do follow the phonics rules introduced in that level's book(s).

Reading the books multiple times is essential for developing reading fluency and confidence. The multiple activities in the back of each book and additional materials online keep the child interested in multiple readings. Once they've learned the book, have them read it with an older sibling or a grandparent for additional practice and so they can proudly show off their reading.

Are you superstitious?

I do not consider myself to be a superstitious person. I do not immediately think of seven years of bad luck when I see a broken mirror. I am not concerned about... (hmm, what is it?) something negative when someone walks under a ladder. I am not worried about Friday the 13th, black cats, or opening an umbrella in the house.

I do, however, compulsively knock on wood. Whenever I make a statement aloud, or even in my own mind, that acknowledges good fortune I immediately follow it with "knock on wood" and I physically knock gently on some nearby object (although, oddly enough, that object does not literally need to be made of wood to satisfy my compulsion). It isn't, really, that I logically think I need to knock on something to avoid negative consequences. It -is- something more than simple habit though.

I think that, subconsciously, it is a way of acknowledging that I recognize my good fortune and that I am grateful for it and do not take it for granted - only in shorthand. I have to make a deliberate and not insignificant effort to refrain from the motion under circumstances in which it would be inappropriate.

I was thinking about all of this when I recently found myself knocking on the dashboard of the car when having a conversation with the children. To date, they've never asked me why I'm randomly knocking on things in the middle of a conversation but at some point they will ask. I'm not sure how I will answer. I'm not sure it is a habit I wish to pass on.

Do you consider yourself superstitious? What superstitions do you believe in? How do you explain them to your children?

Mixed V Printable Speech Fishing Activity

Practice V in Initial and Final Position While Playing with Speech Fish

Click on the image to open it to full size and then right click to save it to your computer. Print the sheet with a program of your choice on cardstock for durability. You might even want to laminate these. Put a few heavy-duty staples in each fish or put paper clips on them to use them in a fishing game with a magnetic wand.

Children might also enjoy lining the fish up, pretending to feed the fish or feed the fish to another stuffed animal, sorting the fish by color, using the fish to make patterns, or tossing the fish into a pond (small bowl, bucket, or blue piece of paper).

You can practice the words in isolation, in pairs, in phrases, or in sentences. You can use the words with or without cues. Adapt the stimuli to the level your student needs to work at.

This worksheet is modeled after Speech Fish worksheets included in the Simple Vowels Speech Kit and the /S/- Blends Speech Kit.

Enjoy!

A Coat Closet Remodel

We have a teeny-tiny, oddly-shaped coat closet near our front door. Think a triangle that you can just barely stand in upright. It had a wire shelf with a bar for hanging coats about two feet long. The bar went from the front of the closet to the back (rather than horizontally, so that hangers and coats in the front would obscure the ones farther back making them inaccessible). The bottom of the closet was a foot-high pile of shoes - some of which my children hadn't been able to wear for at least two years.

I detested going in the closet. It was almost unusable. I hated digging in an old pile of dirty shoes for the one pair I needed. I started having the children put their coats on a nearby seat instead of in the closet and their shoes in the hall so I could find them quickly. This just contributed to clutter. Not an ideal solution.

I came up with an ideal solution. Tear it all out and have my husband install hook style coat racks on the walls of the closet at varying heights for shoes and coats. It wasn't supposed to take more than half an our to tear out the old stuff and stick in the new ones....

As usual I vastly underestimated. It took two hours just to sort through the years of stuff we had crammed in there. Then coat racks were prohibitively expensive. Who knew those things cost $30 each? So my husband bought individual hooks and boards at a home improvement store and made his own. That took... well... a long time. Several hours at least. And then there was something about finding studs that I didn't pay a lot of attention to. I was busy entertaining children.

So, it is only half done. We ran out of screws, and hooks, and boards. But this is what it looks like so far. I LOVE it. It makes me very happy. The children love it. We all actually enjoy hanging up our coats and shoes when we come in the house. Eventually the baskets for hats and mittens will be hanging on the wall instead of on the floor, but it a wonderful, small-child friendly solution to a coat closet. I highly recommend it.

(The picture just shows the bottom half of the closet, but the top has another row of similar hooks. There will be an additional row of shoe hooks on the left below the current row and right below the children's coats. The baskets for hats/scarves/mittens will go above the children's coat hooks on the right.)

Non-Hallmark Milestones Pt. 2

Speaking of non-hallmark milestones, we had another one. Doesn't everyone look forward to the first time their young child almost gets run over by a minivan?

We were leaving speech. I've taught the children to wait until I open the minivan doors (via a button on my key fob) and then walk on the line to their door. This keeps them safe because I don't open their doors until I'm sure the way is clear. Walking the line keeps them close to the car just in case.

Ava completely abandoned both of my safety checks. The children were racing along the sidewalk to see who could get to the van first. The cars were parked perpendicular to the sidewalk. Ava just ran right into the empty parking spot on her side of the van. She didn't walk the line. She didn't wait for me to open the door. And, of course, there was a minivan pulling in to that empty (except for the body of my small child) parking spot.

I screamed, but I would have absolutely been too late. Thankfully, the woman driving the minivan was paying attention. She had stopped to let us across the crosswalk and was apparently watching the children race along the sidewalk to our van. She stopped as soon as Ava ran into the parking spot.

Once my heartbeat slowed and I managed to unwrap my arms from around her body, I had a talk with Ava about object lessons and how they applied to this particular situation. We very clearly reviewed our safety procedures and talked about how they are even more important when the spots next to our car are empty.

I'm ready for a hiatus from the non-hallmark milestones. Really. I am.


Somehow, this story reminds me of another non-hallmark milestone: remember that time my almost-5 year old tried to find out how many marbles could fit in his mouth?

Not all milestones are hallmark moments...

I've been breathlessly awaiting the first time my son would...

You know those milestones... first smile, first step, first laugh, first word, first "I love you," first mumbled "whatever" Hmm. Well not that last one so much.

My newly minted five year old responded to a perfectly polite request for him to hang his coat up in the closet with a "whatever" mumbled under his breath. It was delivered with perfect sitcom accuracy in insolent tone. Where on earth did he pick that up?

I'll admit. I overreacted. Now it was like I was acting the sitcom moment. I, completely on autopilot, responded with, "What did you just say to me, Michael ______ _______?!?" He instantly knew I was pissed and that he had committed some major transgression. He just couldn't figure out what he had done. He froze in his sulky tracks and looked back over his shoulder at me inquiringly.

I repeated my incredulous "What did you just say to me?" question. He responded with a much more tentative "whatever." I vehemently explained that using that word was unacceptable in our house and that it was extremely rude and I never wanted to hear it again.

He wandered over for a hug and some reassurance and looked up at me and asked, "What does that word mean, Mama?" -- He didn't even know what it meant!!

In retrospect, he was experimenting. He had heard the term used at some point (possibly at preschool?), and made some fairly accurate assumptions, based on context, about when and how to use a new vocabulary word. He just didn't really understand the specifics. He decided to try it out at what seemed to him to be an appropriate moment.

I explained that using the word "whatever" tells the person you're talking to that you don't care about what they are saying and that using that word hurts people's feelings and is extremely rude.

I'm pretty sure he won't use the word again for a while and that he mostly understands why. Still, not a conversation I was expecting to have with my five year old.

Busy Bags Revisited

We are gearing up for another long car ride. We're driving 12ish hours down to New Orleans and then back. I dug out the busy bags yesterday. The busy bags were a mess after using them several months ago and needed to be sorted and refreshed.

I made a few new ones to replace some that didn't work well for my children.

Key Match

Go to a home improvement store and politely ask the key guy if you can dig through his discard bin. Choose as many keys as you can that have differently shaped heads. Gently place the keys on a photocopier and made a copy. Now you have a key matching activity. (You might want to wash the keys. They'll be pretty dirty.)

Lego Patterns

Make some towers out of basic lego bricks. Form a pattern with the colors. Then draw pattern cards leaving the bottom block blank with a question mark inside. Take your towers back apart and toss the individual bricks and pattern cards into a bag.

Dry Erase Tracing Cards

I printed some alphabet cards and some tracing activities and slid them into card protectors held together by rings (bought at Wal-mart). I stuck the set of dry erase tracing cards into a bag with some dry erase markers and a piece of felt for erasing.

Cutting and Drawing

A pair of scissors, crayons, and some cutting and drawing activities from a book of reproducibles went into this new bag. They will just sort through the pile of activities until they find one they like and then go to it.

Organization

Once all the bags were refreshed and ready to go I just "filed" them in appropriately sized boxes. (To see detailed descriptions of the contents of the rest of the bags, click busy bags.) I pull one from the front and when they're finished with the bag I move it to the back of the box. I keep one box at my feet so I can easily pull out another bag whenever one is requested.

I also made some lap trays lined with felt. Lots of the bags have multiple parts (beads, legos, keys, etc.) and they just open the bag and dump it into their tray. The felt keeps the small pieces from sliding around too much. This gives them some working/play space when they're buckled into their carseats. When they're done, they have to return all the parts to the bag before they can give it back.

The trays are also useful when feeding the kids in the car because they minimize crumbs and spills everywhere. I just pull out the felt during the meal and shake the crumbs out of the box and return the felt to the bottom after the meal.

If you like these activities, you may be interested in more.

• Car Ride Activities Set 1
• Car Ride Activities Set 2
• Car Ride Activities Set 3
• Car Ride Activities Set 4
• Car Ride Activities Set 5
• Car Ride Activities Set 6
• Car Ride Activities Set 7

Not as planned

Have you ever noticed that some projects just never go as quickly as you anticipated? Then, four hours later, you give up - less than half done - brimming over with irritation at the wasted time.

In my mind's eye, I had an hour-long project in mind. I'd do the project (getting something I needed to get done for the children at school) and then I'd write a nice blog post about how well it went. The project? Making 5 holiday cards for each child to send to a local nursing home.

I had recently gotten an email from Cricut about buying holiday card templates for $0.99. The plan was:

1. Purchase template instantly online.
2. Print 10 cards.
3. Print 10 liners.
4. Print 10 envelopes.
5. Assemble cards.
6. Have children draw picture and write names in cards.
7. Finish project. Take pictures. Write lovely blog post about project.

Reality:

1. Realize the cricut machine is not actually plugged in and spend 45 minutes digging behind desk for unattached cords.
2. Spend 30 minutes testing a free template before deciding it won't work.
3. Forget password and spend 15 minutes changing password so that I can log in and buy template.
4. Spend an hour printing (very nice) cards.
   
   
5. Spend 10 minutes designing liners. Print first one. Realize that the center of the "e" and "a" will have to be glued in to every single card.
   
   
6. Spend a half hour trying to fix that problem. Decide it can't be done and that you don't care if the center of the "e" and "a" are missing on the final cards.
7. Print two liners and decide to assemble those two cards for some positive reinforcement. The cards look great. Feel slightly better.
   
   
8. Vow that you will finish this project if it takes you until midnight.
9. Run out of glue.
   
   
10. Quit with only 2/10 cards done and no envelopes done.
11. Simmer in resentment that you will have to return to this project another day.
12. Write a slightly whiny and venty blog post about the frustrating experience.

Initial H Speech Worksheet

Make classroom teachers happy, reinforce phonics and handwriting, and practice speech all at the same time.

This worksheet is pretty self-explanatory. You might enjoy sliding it into a sheet protector and using dry-erase markers during your session. Then you can use this same sheet all day long. Alternately, at the end of the session, slide it out and let the child take it home for homework.

Younger children will just enjoy identifying the pictures and working on clear initial /h/ sounds while letting you fill in the letter "h" for them. Slightly older students can work on their handwriting and fine motor skills by writing in the letter themselves.

As always, you can practice these words in isolation, in repetitions of two or three, with carrier phrases, or in short sentences. If you're sending the sheet home for homework, write in extra directions if you want the parents to practice at a particular level.

This worksheet is modeled after The Missing Vowel worksheets included in the Simple Vowels Speech Kit.

Enjoy!

Slightly Crafty Birthday Party Favors: Felt Crayon Carriers

I am not the birthday theme sort. We choose a nice venue and invite friends for company. We have a cake and candles. We sing happy birthday and open our presents at home. (I've found that asking a crowd of 3-5 year olds to sit and watch someone else open presents for 15-20 minutes while they'd rather be playing is just painful.)

I do like the relatively new tradition of having small gifts/party favors for the guests - particularly when those guests are very young children. This year I, rather ambitiously, decided to make something. I didn't want to do the party favor aisle stuff this year. I know from experience most parents end up throwing that stuff out. I also liked the idea that I could make something more unique that the kids and parents would like out of materials I already had lying around from my busy book days (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

I'm making little felt crayon rolls in a variety of colors. I'm going to include a small piece of paper that says "Thank you for coming to Michael's party!" with cute clip art. I'll attach balloons to each one and use them to decorate the table. Then each child can choose one they like and take the crayon roll and balloon home. The crayons in each roll will coordinate with the color of the felt.

I took 9x12 pieces of craft felt and cut 1.5 inches off length-wise. Then I cut the remaining piece in half. Fold that piece over by about 2/3. Also cut a 18 inch long piece of ribbon or cord of some kind, fold it in half and stick in in-between the fold on one side. Sew a U shape around one side, the bottom, and other side making sure to securely attach the string/ribbon. Then just make four evenly spaced lines from the bottom to the top of the pouch to form the pockets for the five crayons. Insert crayons, roll-up, and tie. Repeat 14 more times. (I didn't get very many RSVP's from Michael's classmates so I want extras just in case.) Done.

Well, then make the thank-you for coming notes on the computer, print out 15 of those, cut them out and insert them in the rolls. Then remember to actually bring the favors to the party and attach balloons to them and place them on the table. But then you're done.

Ok, fine. Then you have to set up the cake, loosely supervise children and chat with parents, orchestrate the gathering of children and singing of Happy Birthday, cut and serve the cake, take pictures, pay the venue, gather all of your things, and get out of there before the next party. Then you're really done.

Hmm... well, I can actually think of a few more things, but I think you get the idea. :-)

(Inspiration found here.)

The Weekly Review: Week 84

SLP Resource of the Week

I've always felt isolated as a school SLP. Almost always, you're the only SLP at a school. Often you're the only SLP at several schools. Particularly when you're new you have questions and no easy way to get answers from other professionals. Even once you have more experience, you're always encountering a new type of client (apraxia, fluency, hearing impairment, anything less common than language and straightforward articulation) or a client who just isn't responding well to typical interventions. I've often wanted to find an active message board. One where you can post a question or comment and get several replies in a timely manner and I think I've found one. Speaking of Speech has a message board set up and it appears to be pretty active. Check it out. If you know of any other active message boards for SLPs, link to them in the comments. I'd love to check them out.

Weekly Michael

Five!!! Michael turns five this weekend. I am just so lucky that I am one of the people that gets to watch him grow into the amazing person he's already becoming. We are so excited to have my husband's parents coming in to town to help us celebrate. Michael is also having some school friends at his party for the first time. It should be a great weekend.

Weekly Ava

Ava has an under-appreciated generous streak. I say this because she's a bit of a drama queen and is quick to play things up when she feels slighted. This dramatic behavior distracts from her consistent, unsolicited generosity with her brother. She automatically thinks of him when she gets a treat. If he finishes eating first and is still hungry, she will offer him some of her food. If he wants a turn playing with her toy she will often hand it over (Although she will qualify, "Just for 3 minutes DD!"). I love this about her. I have difficulty finding words for the feeling that spreads through me when I watch my children truly care for each other.

Weekly Weight Loss

It's been three weeks since my last check-in here. I'm 3.2 pounds down from that week. Of course that week was so bad that I didn't even report a number. :-) The stress of getting the vowel therapy kit done on such a tight timeline wreaked havoc on both the weekly-review and on my diet. I broke out of low-carb for about a week and haven't gotten fully back in line yet. I'm working on it though. I learned a lot from working with a low-carb diet and so even when I'm indulging in some carbs I'm still not eating like I was before. That helps a little.

I'm down almost exactly 25 pounds from where I started. I am a little miffed that no one seems to have noticed! How is it that I can lose 17% of my body weight and no one notices? (Grumble, grumble.)

Weekly Speech Resource Kit Update

Close your eyes and imagine me doing a happy dance. That's how I feel about having the vowel kit done. The next 6-8 weeks are going to be crazy. During those weeks I'm handling three major holidays, two school breaks, one birthday, one family vacation, and one surgery on a close family member. New speech kits are going on the back burner. I am going to try to do some edits and revisions to the first three kits. If and when I get a revision done I'll either send everyone who has already purchased the kit an email (or just do a post here on the blog) letting you know a revision has gone up so that you can contact me if you want a code for a free copy of the revised kit.

Places to Get Free ASHA CEUs Online: Part 1

ASHA requires 3.0 Continuing Education Units every three years. That is the equivalent of 30 contact hours. The state of Missouri requires 30 hours of continuing education every two years. (Check your state's SLP continuing education requirements.) If I get 15 hours every year (or one every 3.5 weeks) I should be covered. Of course, last year I only got 10. That means I need 20 more by December 31st. Next year, I'm setting a reminder on my calendar. Every three weeks I'm going to spend an hour working on continuing education. That will put me a little ahead by the end of the year so I can take the holidays off. Or, alternately, being slightly ahead will make up for the occasional time I can't actually keep my self-imposed CEU appointment. However, next year's responsible plan does not save me from this year's last-minute mess. I went searching online for sources of free SLP CEUs. Here's the first place I found and tried.

Places to Earn Free Speech-Pathology CEUs Online: LinguiSystems

LinguiSystems
First, you have to sign up for a free LinguiList account in order to take their free courses (sign up). The plus side is that if you provide them with your ASHA account number, they'll report your continuing credits to the ASHA registry for you as you earn them. Their FAQ states that it can take up to six weeks for the courses to show up in your ASHA CEU registry. If you're not participating in the ASHA CEU Registry and keeping track of your CEUs yourself, you can also print a certificate to keep for your records to send to ASHA or your state if you get randomly audited. (As a complete aside, getting chosen for a random audit one month after the birth of your first, constantly screaming, child and four months after moving into a new home was soooo much fun.)

1. LinguiSystems has three ways to earn credits. You can take one of 19 short courses that range from .15 to .3 CEUs each. You read the contents of the course presented in slideshow format and then take a written exam. You can keep the course up in another window while you take the exam so that you can refer back to the content when choosing your answers. One small tip. Use the search function (ctrl-F) to search for a key phrase in the course quickly when taking the exam. Some exams are simple multiple choice (the two I took were 20 questions) and you get your results (and your CEUs) immediately. You need 80% to pass.
   
   Some exams are a mix of multiple choice and paragraph-style responses to open-ended questions and you have to wait up to 24 hours to find out if you passed and earned your CEU. They say you may re-take a course you fail. Unfortunately, you can't tell which style exam a course will have until you click on that exam to take it. However, you can save a half-finished exam and come back to it later. I have taken three of their short courses and I thought they were all nicely presented with good information.
   
   The courses cover a wide variety of topics including attention disorders, AAC, typical development, counseling skills, dysarthria, evidence-based practice, and more. I took the Developing Communication Skills in Young Children and Communication Milestones courses (multiple choice exam) and the Changing Behavior to Change the Child's Voice course (multiple choice and short-answer exam).
   
   I particularly liked the Communication Milestones course and intend to print it out and keep it handy for easy reference. I also thought the voice course was well-done and well worth reading if you have a voice client. However, the short-answer exam took me a long time and if you're looking to get a lot of CEUs done quickly, save the voice one for later.
   
   I intend to take several more of these courses and will update in the comments if there are any I thought were particularly well done or particularly poor.
2. If you own any of LinguiSystems "Source" books (I have the Source for Apraxia Therapy, for example.) you might be able to take a free online assessment about the contents of the book and earn anywhere from 0.4-0.8 CEUs if you pass. (Not all of the Source books have an online test available.) The test for the Source for Apraxia was a 20 question multiple choice exam. I was already intimately familiar with the contents of the book so it didn't take me long to complete. I earned 0.4 ASHA CEUs for taking the exam. I know this post is about earning free CEUs, but purchasing a source book (some of which can be purchased on CD and therefore would be a searchable PDF), is a pretty price efficient way of getting CEUs and you are left with a well-written reference book on a topic that interests you.
3. The third way to earn free CEU's from Linguisystems requires that you have 5 SLPs in the same place and must be registered 30 days ahead of time. If so, you can request a DVD course. There are currently 14 to choose from although two are being discontinued at the end of the year.

I took three short courses and one test on a LinguiSystems Source book I already owned and earned 1.0 CEUs in one (admittedly long) morning. That is half of the total number of CEUs I needed to earn between now and the end of the year. And that was my experience earning free CEUs with LinguiSystems. In the next installment of this blog series on earning free ASHA CEUs online I'll talk about the next place I found to earn free ASHA CEUs online. If anyone has tried any of the other LinguiSystems short courses and wants to share their favorites or mention which ones had which types of exams, please share with us in the comments. I'll be taking some more shortly and I'd love to know which ones you liked. Also, if anyone has seen one of the LinguiSystems DVD courses, I'd be interested to know what you thought of that method of earning free CEUs.

Speech Card Set Activity: Simple Speech-Math Games

During my RightStart Math lesson with Michael yesterday I was inspired. I love thinking of new activities that combine speech practice with academic skills. It is even better when the activities are simple and quick to prepare and result in "play" that is heavy on productions.

Simple Speech Card Games - Math Versions

Prep

Print out 5-10 free or premium illustrated speech cards. Write the numbers 1 through 10 on the cards. Prep time if you already have some cards printed - 10 seconds. If you have cards you want to use that you do not want to write on, use removable stickers or small pieces of post-its. Write the numbers on those and stick them to your cards.

Ways to Play

Use 4 or 5 cards with younger children and 10 cards with older kids.

1. Up the stairs. (Or down the stairs.) Mix up the cards. The child must put the cards in order practicing the words as he goes. Then, mix them up again and have the child put the cards in descending order.
   
   
2. Find the swap. Once the cards are in order, ask the child to cover his eyes while you switch two cards around. He has to find the swapped cards. Once found, he says the pair of words that were swapped. He can simply practice a phrase (X and Y) or use the words in a sentence (X and Y were swapped).
   
   
3. Who's Hiding? Have the child close his eyes while you turn one card over. When the child opens his eyes ask which number is hiding. When he turns the card back over, he names the picture on that card.
   
   
4. Who's Missing? Have the child close his eyes while you remove a card and shift the others over so there is no gap. When the child opens his eyes, he must identify the missing card. You return the card to him and he practices the word on it.
   
   

Playmobil vs. Lego?

Lego. The word takes on almost mystical significance in our home. My husband and I are huge Lego fans. We played with them when we were children and both have fond memories. A starter set of Duplos were in Michael's hands well before he turned two. Michael has mostly graduated from the larger Lego Duplo line to the smaller Legos. We have an embarrassing number of Legos and Duplos in the house and Michael's imagination for building with them well surpasses mine.

Our brand loyalty to Lego turned us "Lego blind". We always preferred them to all other building toys. I still think they are extremely high quality building toys and I haven't changed my mind on that point. However, I was realizing that the children weren't really engaging in imaginary play with them. They were great building toys, but the creations didn't facilitate true imaginary play. Michael would play with his car/truck/spaceship/rocket/other random creation until it fell apart, but there was no interaction between characters, no setting of scenes, no dialogue, no group play with his sister, etc...

Neither my husband or I ever had any experience with Playmobil and due to the previously mentioned "Lego blindness", had never considered branching out. I had somehow gotten the impression that people were either Lego or Playmobil, but not both, and we were already committed.

Then I started researching great toys for facilitating imaginary play and Playmobil came up again and again. We purchased our first sets a few days ago and I am impressed. The price was very reasonable, the level of detail is extraordinary, the minifigures are more appealing and detailed than the Lego ones, and the sets create an entire scene that can be played with in an imaginary way.

Ava got the Vet Clinic Carrying Case and Michael got the Pirates Carrying Case. They were only $10.99 each and they have played with them for hours waking up again the next morning to run to those toys as their first choice. We created elaborate scenes where the four animals in the vet clinic set needed splinters removed, antibiotics on their scrapes, bandages on cuts, medicine for tummy aches, etc. We borrowed a few gold coins from the pirate set that make great pretend pet food. Michael loves the cannon included in his pirate set. In his imagination the pirate and soldier are friends and can often be found raiding the vet clinic to capture a dog for a pet. The vet, of course, has to use the cannon to hold off the invaders.

I have discovered that both Playmobil and Lego hold an important place in our household. Lego is wonderful for building, following directions, and visual-spatial skills. Playmobil is definitely my new-found love for facilitating independent and cooperative imaginary play. I think we'll be seeing more Playmobil over this birthday and holiday season.

I have, however, been frustrated when trying to research Playmobil sets because I felt like their product pictures didn't provide a lot of detail about the contents of the sets. I couldn't get a true feel for what a Playmobil set was actually like. Here are some pictures of the contents of our new sets.

Playmobil Vet Clinic Carrying Case (5970)

Playmobil Pirates Carrying Case (5894)

I think these small, Playmobil carrying case sets have a lot of potential for the therapy room as well. They are priced well, come with their own (well-made) storage, and are appealing to children ages 3 and up. There are a wide variety of themes available (vet, pirates, pony farm, school, knights, firemen, dragonland, police, princess, holiday). They would be great for facilitating dialogue, turn-taking, attention to detail, and all of the other skills that can be developed through in-depth imaginary play.