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?
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, November 26, 2012
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.
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.
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
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.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
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:
Reality:
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:
- Purchase template instantly online.
- Print 10 cards.
- Print 10 liners.
- Print 10 envelopes.
- Assemble cards.
- Have children draw picture and write names in cards.
- Finish project. Take pictures. Write lovely blog post about project.
Reality:
- Realize the cricut machine is not actually plugged in and spend 45 minutes digging behind desk for unattached cords.
- Spend 30 minutes testing a free template before deciding it won't work.
- Forget password and spend 15 minutes changing password so that I can log in and buy template.
- Spend an hour printing (very nice) cards.
- 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.
- 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.
- Print two liners and decide to assemble those two cards for some positive reinforcement. The cards look great. Feel slightly better.
- Vow that you will finish this project if it takes you until midnight.
- Run out of glue.
- Quit with only 2/10 cards done and no envelopes done.
- Simmer in resentment that you will have to return to this project another day.
- Write a slightly whiny and venty blog post about the frustrating experience.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Initial H Speech Worksheet
Make classroom teachers happy, reinforce phonics and handwriting, and practice speech all at the same time.
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!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
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.)
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.)
Friday, November 16, 2012
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.Thursday, November 15, 2012
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.
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.)
Places to Earn Free Speech-Pathology CEUs Online: LinguiSystems
LinguiSystemsFirst, 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.)
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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. - 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.
- 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.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
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.- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Speech Therapy Kit: Simple Vowels Card Sets and Resources
Simple Vowels $26.95
- Check out additional speech kits in the store!
- Automatic discounts of 20-30% apply when buying 2 or more sets.
Need to teach a child to make simple vowels?
- Tired of buying card sets and resource books that don't work for your students?
- Need the convenience of printing resources from your own computer?
- Want to find a wide variety of therapy resources in a single, instantly downloadable, source?
Motor-Speech Articulation Method:
Simple Vowels Card Sets and Resources
Simple Vowels Card Sets and Resources
This comprehensive therapy kit and manual has been designed from the ground up to take a motor-speech approach to speech therapy. Target words are simple in syllable shape and avoid consonant blends and vocalic /r/ sounds. They are sortable by increasing difficulty of phonemic complexity. Begin with the easiest cards and work your way up to harder ones. Every set includes phonemic variety in order to practice with different coarticulation effects and maximize carryover and generalization.
All therapy cards are illustrated in color. The resource is written to be accessible to both speech therapists and parents working with children at home. This therapy kit is ideal for targeting simple vowel productions when working with children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Phonological Disorders, Simple Articulation Disorders, Hearing-Impairment, and any other population that needs work to remediate speech.
Printable Resources Included:
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Additional Resources Included:
- 22 Games and Activity Suggestions
- Sample Therapy Sequence from Isolation to Generalization
- Overview of Speech Disorders
- Guides to Understanding Simple Vowels and Consonants
- Key of Gestural Prompts for all Simple Vowels
- Word Lists
- Modifiable Therapy Variables Chart
- Multisensory Cues Chart
- Glossary of Terms
Sample Pages
Simple Vowels $26.95
- Check out additional speech kits in the store!
- Automatic discounts of 20-30% apply when buying 2 or more sets.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Move It! - A Printable Final N Speech Game
The simple vowels speech kit is done except for final edits. Expect to see it in the Testy Shop Monday morning. This kit is a monstrosity. It is 168 pages with a section for each simple vowel. You are provided with a visual / gestural cue for each vowel. There is a discussion of the characteristics of vowels and consonants and why understanding those characteristics is so important to planning speech therapy from a motor-planing perspective. The vast majority of the kit is, as usual, printable resources to use in your therapy sessions. Each vowel has syllable level worksheets, an illustrated card deck, illustrated minimal pairs, homework sheets at three difficulty levels, a story booklet, and a unique game or activity.
Here is a sneak peek of the game I made for the /u/ section modified for Final /n/.
Here is a sneak peek of the game I made for the /u/ section modified for Final /n/.
Final /n/ Speech game: Move It!
Setup
This game comes with four mini card decks (red, blue, green, and yellow). You only need two decks at a time. Choose two decks and place one deck face down on the table. Give a game card to each child. Distribute the other deck between two children and have them place those cards face up on the game board. Tell the children the first person who helps the movers move the cards into the house wins the game. (If you need to play with four children, print an extra copy of the game board page and then use the extra two card sets with another pair of children. After both pairs of children play, have them switch cards for another game with an entirely new set of words.)Gameplay
The first child chooses a game card from the table and says the word out loud. They then say all the words on their game board looking for the rhyming word. If they find the rhyming pair they move both cards onto the house. If not, they return the card to the table. Then the other child takes a turn. Play continues in this manner until one child moves all their cards into the house.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
A day is not starting well when...
(a countdown from mild to !*--!*)
And how have your mornings been lately?
- You realize you are so far behind schedule on a project that you'll have to beg, borrow, and steal childcare every waking hour in order to catch up...
- The time change results in your children waking up in the 5am hour and they don't want to watch tv when you're willing to make a special exception to the "no tv before school" rule...
- You see the city has kindly left you this:
at the end of your driveway and you wonder how you're going to get your rather large vehicle from your garage onto the street... - A child drops an iPhone you didn't know they had into the toilet...
And how have your mornings been lately?
Monday, November 5, 2012
Roll It!: Printable Initial M Speech Activity
Thanks to the generosity of my parents and my husband, who are doing extra childcare duty, I have been working pretty intensely on preparing a vowel speech kit. One of the activities I created for that kit is a set of printable speech dice. Roll multiple dice at the same time to work on simple phrases or one at a time to work on single words. Here is an Initial M version I modified for you guys to check out.
Gather some glue and scissors and print this activity on cardstock. Cut out the two dice templates. Fold on the solid lines, glue where indicated, and assemble the dice.
Initial M Printable Speech Activity: Roll-It!
(Click to open image to full-size then right-click to save to your computer. Then print using a program of your choice.)Gather some glue and scissors and print this activity on cardstock. Cut out the two dice templates. Fold on the solid lines, glue where indicated, and assemble the dice.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
An Opportunity
I had an opportunity pop up for some publicity for a card set in a couple of weeks. There was a catch though. Isn't there always? In order to take advantage of the opportunity I have to make a new one. They wanted a vowel kit. So, I'm working doubletime on trying to get a vowel kit ready by the middle of November. Posting may be a bit more sporadic over the next couple of weeks while I get the vowel kit finished. As soon as it is done, I'll make it available in the shop for all of you as well.
