My four week and counting streak of completing these CEU courses on time was nearly derailed by the winter storm that kept my children and most of the city home yesterday, but I managed to squeeze in some CEU time while my husband entertained the children with after dinner driveway clearing. I took the HFA, AS, & NVLD: Differential Diagnosis by the SLP course at LinguiSystems and received 0.3 CEUs or 3 hours of Continuing Education Credit. (HFA - High Functioning Autism, AS - Asperger's Syndrome, NVLD - Nonverbal Learning Disorder)
I completely forgot that this is the one course in the 7-week free CEU curriculum that is 0.3 CEUs instead of 0.2 CEU's. I was also rushing things a bit due to having to squeeze this into the evening rather than "leisurely" engaging with the material while my children were at preschool. Therefore I struggled a little more with this course than with the others. However, this course is interesting. Even if you have no need to actually diagnose autistic spectrum disorders, you will find the material interesting and useful if you have some children on the spectrum on your caseload. The author of the course discusses similarities and differences between the three disorders, gives examples, and discusses treatment.
I found the HFA, AS, & NVLD: Differential Diagnosis by the SLP interesting and full of detail. I will certainly bookmark it as a useful reference to return to if I need to review the specifics in the future. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was more frustrating than some others, but to be fair the course is intended to be longer/more complex. I had to dig deeper into the material and sift through rather fine details to figure out which of similar seeming multiple-choice answers was the correct choice. I received a lower, although still passing score, on this course than on any of the others. I earned 0.3 additional continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year. At this point, two more courses will allow us to reach our goal of 1.5 CEUs.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 6: Reading Comprehension in Secondary Students: Assessment - 0.2 CEUs for next Friday!
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch up on my Week 2 review: Evidence-Based Practice - 0.2 CEUs. If you're still going strong when you finish that one, check out the Week 3 review: Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch the Week 4 review: Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology - 0.2 CEUs.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Checklist Version of Missouri State Teaching Standards for Kindergarten
Here's a summary of the background that led up to this post in equation format.
Decision to Homeschool + Type A Personality Driven Homeschool Planner = Desire to Understand and Organize the Missouri State Teaching Standards.
As a brief aside, for those of you familiar enough with current events in teaching standards to wonder, Missouri has indeed adopted the Common Core Standards in Language Arts and Math. I did consider using the Common Core standards instead of the Missouri specific state standards in those areas. However, after reviewing both the common core standards and the Missouri State standards in those two areas I decided that the Missouri standards were fairly well aligned with the common core standards and gave more specific guidance and more detail. They worked better for me and so I decided to make my checklist from the Missouri State Standards across the board.
When I dug into the standards I realized that the format provided online (multi-grade level chart spanning 10 or more pages per content area) was not super user-friendly. I needed a simple checklist of the standards pertaining to the grade I would be teaching - kindergarten. So I read through the standards, organized and synthesized the content, and created checklists for each content area: communication arts, math, social studies, science, health education, music, visual arts, dramatic arts, and physical education. I added the checklists to my homeschool planner for easy reference during planning and intend to check off each standard as it is mastered.
Just in case anyone else needs a copy of Missouri's kindergarten standards here they are. Honestly, aside from small details here and there, I would think they would work as a guideline for homeschooling in just about any geographical area.
Decision to Homeschool + Type A Personality Driven Homeschool Planner = Desire to Understand and Organize the Missouri State Teaching Standards.
As a brief aside, for those of you familiar enough with current events in teaching standards to wonder, Missouri has indeed adopted the Common Core Standards in Language Arts and Math. I did consider using the Common Core standards instead of the Missouri specific state standards in those areas. However, after reviewing both the common core standards and the Missouri State standards in those two areas I decided that the Missouri standards were fairly well aligned with the common core standards and gave more specific guidance and more detail. They worked better for me and so I decided to make my checklist from the Missouri State Standards across the board.
When I dug into the standards I realized that the format provided online (multi-grade level chart spanning 10 or more pages per content area) was not super user-friendly. I needed a simple checklist of the standards pertaining to the grade I would be teaching - kindergarten. So I read through the standards, organized and synthesized the content, and created checklists for each content area: communication arts, math, social studies, science, health education, music, visual arts, dramatic arts, and physical education. I added the checklists to my homeschool planner for easy reference during planning and intend to check off each standard as it is mastered.
Just in case anyone else needs a copy of Missouri's kindergarten standards here they are. Honestly, aside from small details here and there, I would think they would work as a guideline for homeschooling in just about any geographical area.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Making a Homeschool Plan Book
I wanted a homeschooling planner. Searching online I came across a huge resource of printables for creating a custom homeschool planner on the New Bee Homeschooler website. Their guide and free resources are amazing. They are absolutely the inspiration for the planner I made for myself. I wanted to customize the pages and since, as you know, I'm a more than a little Type A I made my own planner using Microsoft Publisher. First, I wanted my planner to be half-size. I knew that a full-size planner would be bulky when opened and I want to keep my planner handy at the table when I'm working with the kids. The New Bee planner sheets are all full size. Second, I just wanted to put my own spin on most of the elements. This is how my planner turned out.
After my attendance chart I inserted a single page protector that holds a daily and weekly schedule sheet. I figured that my daily and weekly schedule is quite likely to shift several times during the year, so I wanted to be able to pull this sheet out and replace it with a new version at will.
Next, I created a logging form. Missouri requires 1000 hours of instruction per academic year: At least 600 of the 1000 hours must be in core subjects (math, science, social studies, language arts) vs. other areas of study (art, music, physical education, etc.). At least 400 of the 600 core subject areas hours must be taught at the home location. I created a form to keep track of our hours with codes for the different subject areas and columns to keep track of core vs. non-core hours. Again, this first year logging isn't mandatory, but I decided to work with the system and try to develop a good habit of logging. Also, this gives me a chance to work out any kinks in the system before the logging is mandatory.
Making a Custom, Printable Homeschooling Planner
Cover
Here's my cover. It's fairly basic. I decided on an academic year that goes from July through June to match Missouri's school year. The cover includes the date of the school year covered, has an adorable picture of my children to remind me of -why- I'm doing this, and an inspirational teaching quote.
Section 1: Basic Records
The next page is an annual calendar I intend to use as an attendance record by highlighting or circling the dates when we have school. At the bottom of that page I have typed out the Missouri homeschooling requirements as a reference. School (and homeschooling) is optional in Missouri for kindergarten, so we don't need to adhere to these guidelines strictly our first year. A discussion of the homeschooling guidelines and tracking hours could easily fill a whole other blog post, so I'll leave it at that for now.
After my attendance chart I inserted a single page protector that holds a daily and weekly schedule sheet. I figured that my daily and weekly schedule is quite likely to shift several times during the year, so I wanted to be able to pull this sheet out and replace it with a new version at will.
Next, I created a logging form. Missouri requires 1000 hours of instruction per academic year: At least 600 of the 1000 hours must be in core subjects (math, science, social studies, language arts) vs. other areas of study (art, music, physical education, etc.). At least 400 of the 600 core subject areas hours must be taught at the home location. I created a form to keep track of our hours with codes for the different subject areas and columns to keep track of core vs. non-core hours. Again, this first year logging isn't mandatory, but I decided to work with the system and try to develop a good habit of logging. Also, this gives me a chance to work out any kinks in the system before the logging is mandatory.
Section 2: State Standards
If my children are going to learn everything they know at home, I'd like to make sure we're covering the basics. I went to the Missouri state teaching standards and created checklists for the kindergarten level standards. I put these checklists in my planner and intend to refer to them regularly and check off the standards we've achieved as Michael shows mastery. That will allow me to see at a glance what we've covered, and what I still need to focus on when doing my planning. Here is an example of page 1 of the Communication Arts Standards. I will do a separate post where I show you my checklists for all the content areas.
Section 3: Lesson Plans
I have a 2-page spread for each monthly calendar. I put in holidays and birthdays so that I could incorporate holidays and card making into our lesson plans. I also added a different inspirational teaching quotation to each monthly planning calendar page. After each monthly calendar I have 5 weekly plan sheets. Here is what a monthly planner and the weekly planner look like for us.
Section 4: Quick Reference
Near the end of the planner I put in a couple of quick reference pages I pulled from here and here. One is Bloom's Taxonomy and the other is a critical thinking reference sheet.
Section 5: Independent Reading Log and Notes
At the end of the planner I created an independent reading log. I want to play around with tracking the genre of the books read so that I can try to increase variety over time. This will almost certainly be a much more useful feature when the kids are older, so this form has room to grow. Then I just put in some pages for writing notes about how things are going or for jotting down ideas for things I want to cover in the future.
Back Cover
This is something I found online on the technology rocks. seriously. website and absolutely loved. She has a huge set of school signs available to download and print. I made my own version of my favorite for the back cover of my planner. I intend to use this as our homeschool rules to guide both the children and myself. I will refer to them regularly and therefore they make the perfect back cover for my planner.
Printing and Binding
And that's it. I printed them all out and used a binding machine to hold the planner together. I used contact paper to add durability to the front and back cover. I love the way it turned out.
Friday, February 15, 2013
CEU Challenge: Week 4 - Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology
This week I took the Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology course at LinguiSystems and received 0.2 CEUs or 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit.
I will admit that I was initially unenthusiastic about this one. However, as it turns out, I enjoyed it. I haven't done a lot of reading in the area of professional ethics, so it was pretty new to me. About 50-65% of the information covered in the course pertains to adult / medical speech-pathology practice, but the other half pertains to pediatric scenarios. I found the discussion about the four main tenants of professional ethical decision making (respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice) to be useful and keeping this information in mind during practice would definitely help in prioritizing and decision making.
In summary, I found the Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology to be an easy, interesting read. The information covered in the course is thought provoking and I believe easily integrated into improving the quality of professional practice. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year. At this point, I am over the halfway mark to my goal of 1.5 CEUs.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 5: HFA, AS, & NVLD: Differential Diagnosis by the SLP - 0.3 CEUs for next Friday! (The acronyms refer to High-functioning autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and nonverbal learning disorder.)
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch up on my Week 2 review: Evidence-Based Practice - 0.2 CEUs. If you're still going strong when you finish that one, check out the Week 3 review: Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children - 0.2 CEUs.
I will admit that I was initially unenthusiastic about this one. However, as it turns out, I enjoyed it. I haven't done a lot of reading in the area of professional ethics, so it was pretty new to me. About 50-65% of the information covered in the course pertains to adult / medical speech-pathology practice, but the other half pertains to pediatric scenarios. I found the discussion about the four main tenants of professional ethical decision making (respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice) to be useful and keeping this information in mind during practice would definitely help in prioritizing and decision making.
In summary, I found the Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology to be an easy, interesting read. The information covered in the course is thought provoking and I believe easily integrated into improving the quality of professional practice. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year. At this point, I am over the halfway mark to my goal of 1.5 CEUs.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 5: HFA, AS, & NVLD: Differential Diagnosis by the SLP - 0.3 CEUs for next Friday! (The acronyms refer to High-functioning autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and nonverbal learning disorder.)
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch up on my Week 2 review: Evidence-Based Practice - 0.2 CEUs. If you're still going strong when you finish that one, check out the Week 3 review: Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children - 0.2 CEUs.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Focused Elsewhere
Once I finally made the decision to homeschool, my attention has been completely focused on homeschool planning and my blogging has predictably decreased. I will try to find more balance. Of course, we've also weathered two stomach bugs, 4 colds, one case of croup, one episode of pink eye, and an ear infection that was only detected through a failed hearing screening at an annual checkup. I feel like I've been handling administering multiple doses of prescription and over the counter meds every day to multiple children for a solid month.
On the homeschooling front I've been busy. I decided that if I was going to homeschool kindergarten I should familiarize myself with the Missouri State Standards for kindergarten. I found them here: Missouri State Standards. One thing led to another and in my usual obsessive way I ended up making my own checklists. I'll post them for anyone who happens to be interested in a couple of days. I've created a printable checklist for Communication Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Art, Music, and Dramatic Arts. I spent way too many hours working on this, but I feel good about being familiar with the standards for kindergarten and having a checklist to make sure we cover everything over the course of the year.
I also made my own homeschooling planner, printed it, and will be binding it as soon as Amazon sends me binding combs of the proper size. Again, I'll be sharing process and pictures shortly.
I will be continuing to use RightStart Math Level A. I continue to be extremely happy with the program. Ava will start at the beginning and Michael and I will continue where we left off at about 1/3 of the way through the level. I've reviewed about a month worth of lessons, making notes on the lesson plans and preparing the printables/consumables to go along with them.
I will continue to work with the Usborne Very First Reading Set (read about it here, here, and here), but for a time I will take a break from those. I want something that teaches phonics and decoding in a more organized fashion and I've chosen All About Reading Level 1. I love this program. I've done several of the beginning lessons with Michael and I really like the program. He's ahead because of the work we've been doing with the Usborne books and so we're doing two lessons at a time right now. When the All About Reading program catches up with his current abilities, we'll slow down and take things at his pace. I've reviewed and prepared the supplementary materials for approximately the first month of All About Reading lessons. I'll do a more thorough review of the All About Reading program soon.
I'm still working on science, social studies, and related arts planning. I figure the first month or more will be experimental in nature. We'll have to find the right balance of structured lessons, pre-school style activities, life and chores, and free play.
And that brings you up to date on what's been keeping me busy these days. I am about 3/4's finished with the /f/ speech therapy kit. I will admit that I haven't touched the file for about two weeks. I'm about done (I think) with homeschooling preparations for the time being, so hopefully I'll have some more free time to pick up that project again.
On the homeschooling front I've been busy. I decided that if I was going to homeschool kindergarten I should familiarize myself with the Missouri State Standards for kindergarten. I found them here: Missouri State Standards. One thing led to another and in my usual obsessive way I ended up making my own checklists. I'll post them for anyone who happens to be interested in a couple of days. I've created a printable checklist for Communication Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Art, Music, and Dramatic Arts. I spent way too many hours working on this, but I feel good about being familiar with the standards for kindergarten and having a checklist to make sure we cover everything over the course of the year.
I also made my own homeschooling planner, printed it, and will be binding it as soon as Amazon sends me binding combs of the proper size. Again, I'll be sharing process and pictures shortly.
I will be continuing to use RightStart Math Level A. I continue to be extremely happy with the program. Ava will start at the beginning and Michael and I will continue where we left off at about 1/3 of the way through the level. I've reviewed about a month worth of lessons, making notes on the lesson plans and preparing the printables/consumables to go along with them.
I will continue to work with the Usborne Very First Reading Set (read about it here, here, and here), but for a time I will take a break from those. I want something that teaches phonics and decoding in a more organized fashion and I've chosen All About Reading Level 1. I love this program. I've done several of the beginning lessons with Michael and I really like the program. He's ahead because of the work we've been doing with the Usborne books and so we're doing two lessons at a time right now. When the All About Reading program catches up with his current abilities, we'll slow down and take things at his pace. I've reviewed and prepared the supplementary materials for approximately the first month of All About Reading lessons. I'll do a more thorough review of the All About Reading program soon.
I'm still working on science, social studies, and related arts planning. I figure the first month or more will be experimental in nature. We'll have to find the right balance of structured lessons, pre-school style activities, life and chores, and free play.
And that brings you up to date on what's been keeping me busy these days. I am about 3/4's finished with the /f/ speech therapy kit. I will admit that I haven't touched the file for about two weeks. I'm about done (I think) with homeschooling preparations for the time being, so hopefully I'll have some more free time to pick up that project again.
Friday, February 8, 2013
CEU Challenge: Week 3 - Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children
This week I took the Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children course at LinguiSystems and received 0.2 CEUs or 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit.
This course was really fantastic. If you're working with really young children who have limited verbal skills and are wondering where to begin, this course takes you through the basics. It begins by reviewing the pragmatic prerequisites that are necessary for verbal communication: joint attention and turn taking. Then the author reviews pragmatic acts that are essential in communication: greetings, initiation/requesting, and negating/protesting. All five of these pragmatic skills are often valid targets with nonverbal or minimally verbal children. Then she discusses vocabulary intervention in terms of what to target and how to target it. She offers many, many practical suggestions for how to structure therapy with this population. She provides links to internet resources that can be used in planning thematic therapy sessions and describes therapy activities to include in your therapy sessions. I strongly recommend reading this one even if you have no need for the CEU credits.
I know I have some parents out there that follow along. You would probably also benefit from reading this material. I believe that there are many suggestions you could use at home with your children.
The Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children course was well organized, well written, and easy to read. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 4: Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology - 0.2 CEUs for next Friday!
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch up on my Week 2 review: Evidence-Based Practice - 0.2 CEUs.
This course was really fantastic. If you're working with really young children who have limited verbal skills and are wondering where to begin, this course takes you through the basics. It begins by reviewing the pragmatic prerequisites that are necessary for verbal communication: joint attention and turn taking. Then the author reviews pragmatic acts that are essential in communication: greetings, initiation/requesting, and negating/protesting. All five of these pragmatic skills are often valid targets with nonverbal or minimally verbal children. Then she discusses vocabulary intervention in terms of what to target and how to target it. She offers many, many practical suggestions for how to structure therapy with this population. She provides links to internet resources that can be used in planning thematic therapy sessions and describes therapy activities to include in your therapy sessions. I strongly recommend reading this one even if you have no need for the CEU credits.
I know I have some parents out there that follow along. You would probably also benefit from reading this material. I believe that there are many suggestions you could use at home with your children.
The Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children course was well organized, well written, and easy to read. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 4: Introduction to Ethical Decision Making in Speech-Language Pathology - 0.2 CEUs for next Friday!
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs. Then catch up on my Week 2 review: Evidence-Based Practice - 0.2 CEUs.
Friday, February 1, 2013
CEU Challenge: Week 2 - Evidence-Based Practice
It's a good thing I committed to taking these online CEU courses once a week. I'll admit, I left things to the last possible minute this time. This week I took the Evidence-Based Practice course at LinguiSystems and received 0.2 CEUs or 2 hours of Continuing Education Credit.
This was a very nice course on why clinical decisions and therapy methods should be based on a combination of high-quality research evidence, practitioner expertise, and client preferences and values. The course discusses how to locate research and evaluate the quality of that research. It also discusses what to do if you cannot find high-quality research available to answer a specific question. I really do believe evidence-based practice is critical to efficacy in therapy.
Two years ago, when it became apparent to me that Ava's speech was significantly delayed in a manner consistent with a motor-speech disorder (apraxia) I knew that I didn't know enough about apraxia treatment to help her. I needed to know more. I dug into the online ASHA archives for any journal articles written about CAS. I purchased the Source for Childhood Apraxia of Speech and read it cover to cover. I came to understand that the evidence shows that CAS cannot be treated with the same treatment methods as a generic articulation disorder or even the methods most appropriate for children with phonological disorders. If you treat a child who has a motor-speech problem that way, treatment results will not be maximized. Therapy progress will be slow.
My research led to an increased understanding of CAS. Understanding CAS helped me to understand the best ways to treat CAS. Understanding the most effective treatment methods helped me to help Ava. As a side effect, I was able to share a lot of that knowledge on this blog. I have also been able to create therapy materials that focus on the unique needs of the CAS population. I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without digging into the research first.
The Evidence-Based Practice course was well written and easy to read. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and fairly quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 3: Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children - 0.2 CEUs for next Friday!
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs.
This was a very nice course on why clinical decisions and therapy methods should be based on a combination of high-quality research evidence, practitioner expertise, and client preferences and values. The course discusses how to locate research and evaluate the quality of that research. It also discusses what to do if you cannot find high-quality research available to answer a specific question. I really do believe evidence-based practice is critical to efficacy in therapy.
Two years ago, when it became apparent to me that Ava's speech was significantly delayed in a manner consistent with a motor-speech disorder (apraxia) I knew that I didn't know enough about apraxia treatment to help her. I needed to know more. I dug into the online ASHA archives for any journal articles written about CAS. I purchased the Source for Childhood Apraxia of Speech and read it cover to cover. I came to understand that the evidence shows that CAS cannot be treated with the same treatment methods as a generic articulation disorder or even the methods most appropriate for children with phonological disorders. If you treat a child who has a motor-speech problem that way, treatment results will not be maximized. Therapy progress will be slow.
My research led to an increased understanding of CAS. Understanding CAS helped me to understand the best ways to treat CAS. Understanding the most effective treatment methods helped me to help Ava. As a side effect, I was able to share a lot of that knowledge on this blog. I have also been able to create therapy materials that focus on the unique needs of the CAS population. I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without digging into the research first.
The Evidence-Based Practice course was well written and easy to read. The 20 question multiple-choice quiz was straightforward and fairly quick to complete. I earned 0.2 more continuing education credits towards the 1.5 I need to earn this calendar year.
Did anyone else take this course? What did you think?
Don't forget to complete Week 3: Intervention Programming for Nonverbal Children - 0.2 CEUs for next Friday!
See the complete 7-Week Free CEU Challenge here.
If you missed it, catch up on my Week 1 review: Counseling Theories and Skills for SLPs - 0.2 CEUs.