Cricut Envy

Michael and Ava got a wonderful surprise in the mail today. Ava's godfather (my cousin) sent Halloween cards to the children. They were homemade by his wonderful girlfriend who does amazing things with her Cricut cutting machine. (Thank you both!)

I have a Cricut. I use mine for very boring things like cutting out circles and squares for art projects. She uses hers and makes the most beautiful cards. See - here's the proof. Two super cool Halloween cards. My kids are so lucky.

The Weekly Review: Week 31

Website of the Week:

I love, love, love Play at Home Mom. I find the creative ideas inspiring. Since finding the blog a week or so ago I've done at least 5 activities from the site with the kids including making our own light boxes (post to come when they are complete), making textured paper to paint, and playing with glow sticks in the bathtub in a darkened room.

Weekly Victory over Procrastination

For weeks now (I kid you not, at least 5 weeks) I have been saying to my husband, "We need to start planning Michael's birthday party." This week I realized there was less than a month left and I finally set something up and sent out invitations. I'm excited. It should be fun. It is so hard to believe that nearly four years have passed since he became part of our lives and we became parents. Crazy stuff.

Weekly Summation

This week has been a week of contrasts for me. On one hand, I have been inspired to be more creative with the children building one or two extra activities into their days rather than simply running on autopilot. The activities are fun, help time move more quickly, and keep everyone active, engaged, and happy. Definitely a success and worth the energy I put into them.

On the other hand, I've been inexplicably grumpy at the same time. And everything else has gone down the drain. I haven't done any more busy book pages, I haven't returned an overdue library book, I haven't done this week's meal plan/shopping (a bit late now), and the house is an absolute mess. I think I'll blame the change of seasons, colder weather, earlier dusk, and week-long rainfall.

This Week's Pleasant Surprise

Michael caught a cold this week. For once, the early croupy cough and slight wheeze did not land us at the doctor's office or in the emergency room. The cold appears to be on the mild end of the spectrum. Now, if only saying that "out loud" so to speak doesn't jinx us...

The Weekly Ava

Ava is growing up before my eyes. I know, I know. They all do. That hardly makes her unique. But still... She's leaving the toddler behind and turning into a young preschooler at blinding speed. And she mimics her brother. It is simultaneously cute and annoying depending on which behavior she is choosing to imitate. Good manners - cute. The fake laugh - a little cute and annoying. Head butting mommy from behind and thinking it's funny - definitely not so cute.

Michael this Week

Michael has been a bit manic all week. He's been sick. Just a little, but sick nonetheless. Usually when he's sick he is calmer than usual, eats less than usual, and sleeps more. This week his appetite has been mostly typical, he's skipped every other nap, and when he is up he's running circles around the house - literally. This child prefers building with legos to going outside. This week he can't stay still. He sits for a few minutes then jumps up and runs off the extra energy. It's strange. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Easy Word Family Practice Cards (or articulation practice cards)

I saw this simple idea for making word family practice cards and instantly wanted to make some for Michael. All you need is some sample paint cards (one per word family) and some cardstock.

Take the paint cards and write a letter that makes a word when combined with that family on each paint color. Cut a small piece of cardstock and write the word family on the cardstock. Cut a small square out of the cardstock so that the letters on the paint cards will show through when you place the word family card on top of them. I also wrote the word family on the back of each paint card so Michael can match the paint card to the corresponding word family card.

I made all four of these in 20 minutes or so. When I was finished I called Michael over and he read 27 words all by himself. It was fun. He liked this better than the word family eggs I made a while back because the cards are easier to use.

I started simple because Michael is just starting out, but you could easily use more complicated families (-ill, -ake, -oy, etc.) and include blends on the paint cards to increase the difficulty of the activity.

Teachers could use this as a phonics center activity. SLPs could use this to work on final consonants because you could choose a family with a final consonant you are targeting. You could also target an initial sound by putting different word endings on the paint card and making the initial sound you are targeting on the cardstock. You get the bonus of working on reading and articulation at the same time. These won't work for speech practice with Ava because she's too young for reading, but for elementary students it would be great.

Spay

We had the kittens spayed yesterday. It's a pretty non-controversial procedure. It was, in fact, a condition of their adoption. We signed a contract that said that we would have them spayed. I understand that it is the responsible thing to do considering the number of unwanted kittens out there. I know that it can help prevent future health problems.

And yet, picking them up, I felt guilty. They were disoriented and groggy. There were minor complications with Grace's surgery and I need to monitor her closely over the next several days. I want what is best for them and I want to be a responsible pet owner.

I suppose I just need for them to both heal quickly and well. Then I will feel better.

One particular post-operative instruction was good for a laugh at least. Our vet would like for me to keep them calm and from moving around too much - for a couple of weeks. Hmm. These are kittens. Two of them. Sisters. When they're playing it sounds like thunder. I love that about them. How, precisely, am I supposed to keep them still for two weeks?

At the moment I have them confined to a bathroom. At least there they are limited by the square feet of the room. I'll do that for 24-48 hours and then we'll see.

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Word Flips

Therapy Materials Review: Word Flips - Flips for Learning Intelligible Production of Speech

This is a review of Word Flips. This flip book is published by Super Duper Publications. The flip book contains three identical 40-word card sets divided into sections by consonant placement (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and palatal). All 40 words are CV words.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Word Flips will usually be children with severely delayed expressive language typically between the ages of 2-5. The pictures on the cards are appealing to children. This book is ideal for children working on early emerging sounds in CV syllable structure.

Description of Word Flips

This product is a 11 inch by 4.5 inch spiral bound book with hard covers. The book has a built in easel so you can stand it upright. Inside you'll find three identical sets of picture cards divided by tabs into sections according to place of articulation (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and palatal). 40 words are included and they are all CV syllable structure.

Phonemic Breakdown

• Bilabial: /b/-4, /p/-3, /m/-4, /w/-4
• Alveolar: /t/-4, /d/-3, /n/-4, /s/-3, /z/-2
• Velar: /k/-2, /g/-2
• Palatal: /sh/-4, /ch/-1

How to Use the Word Flips book

• Simple repetitions. Choose target sounds that are appropriate for the child and practice them in repetitions of three. Work on sounds that share articulatory placement, or if increased difficulty is appropriate, alternate between different areas of placement.
• Alternating sets of three.
  
  • Same consonant, different vowel. Ex. "boo, bee, bee; boo, boo, bee; bee, bee, boo; boo, bee, boo; boo, bee, bye; etc..."
  • Same vowel, different consonant (same placement). Ex. "bye, bye, pie; bye, pie, bye; pie, bye, bye; bye, pie, bye; etc..."
  • Same vowel, different consonant (different placement). Ex. "pay, pay, day; pay, day, pay; day, day, pay, etc..."
• Random variation. Ex. "pay, key, show"
• Combine CV words to make CVCV words. Ex. "sew + pea = soapy" The book includes a list of CVCV words you can make this way from the CV words in the book.
  
  
  
• Combine CV words into short phrases. Ex. "Go zoo." The book also includes a list of phrase suggestions.
  
  
  

Pros and Cons of the Word Flips book

• Pros:
• The Word Flips book is compact and easy to carry around.
• The Word Flips book includes a fair amount of variety using real words at a very simple, CV level. You get 13 phonemes. All phonemes except /ch/ are paired with multiple vowels. This makes it a great book for working with apraxic children.
• The flip book format allows you to do many repetitions of the same CV syllable or many repetitions of alternating syllables. Again, this is a great format for approaching therapy with apraxic children from a motor planning standpoint.
  
• The book is sturdy and has a built in easel.
• The illustrations are well done and appealing to children at a wide variety of ages.
• Cons:
I really only see one con here. Overall, I like this resource a lot for children with a severe delay. The Word Flips book does not go into any one phoneme at great depth. So, for example, if you have a child who can only produce one or two phonemes, this book may not provide enough stimuli for an entire session of work. You might look into my free articulation cards which include 30 CV or CVC words for each phoneme if you need additional depth for a specific early emerging phoneme.

Bottom Line:

This book is great for children with a severe expressive delay who need work at the CV syllable level. The only caveat is that you don't get a lot of depth with any one phoneme.

You might also be interested in the following products:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Phrase Flips

It's All In a Self-Assigned Name

It won't come as a huge surprise that the variety of vegetables that Ava will eat is small. She'll eat canned peas, but not frozen. She'll eat raw carrots with ranch, but not cooked carrots. She'll eat sweet potato fries, but not mashed sweet potatoes. And regular fries of course. And that's about it. No corn, no green beans, no tomatoes, no broccoli or cauliflower.

I finally resorted to subterfuge. I went back to making baby food essentially. (I still love my Baby Cook.) I steam and purée vegetables like butternut squash and carrot in batches. I freeze the purée in ice cube trays. Then I defrost and mix the cubes into her food whenever it wouldn't be noticed. I can get two cubes into her morning yogurt, for instance.

A couple of days ago I was making a batch of sweet potato. I had steamed and puréed it and was in the process of spooning it into ice cube trays when Ava came by to check out the action. She observed in silence for a few moments and then demanded, "I want some icing!"

I thought for a moment about correcting her assumption that the puréed sweet potato was icing, but that just seemed a waste of a golden opportunity. Instead I said, "Well, you can have one taste." Then I let her try a taste from the tip of my finger.

She made a face and I thought that would be the end of it, but a moment later she piped up with, "Mama, can I have a bowl of icing?". You can bet that I scooped sweet potato right back out of the ice cube trays and put it in a bowl for her. She then proceeded to eat three small bowls (about 4 ice cubes) worth of sweet potato. I guess sometimes it really is all in the name.

(It probably helped that she was starving because she didn't like anything I served for dinner that night.)

Busy Book - Chalkboard 2-Page Spread

Busy Book / Quiet Book Chalkboard

This 2-page spread is my favorite so far. On the right is a chalkboard. On the left is two pockets. One contains an eraser I made out of three layers of felt and the other contains a piece of chalk. There are also drawing ideas on the left. There are nine different simple shapes and drawings made of combinations of simple shapes for the children to copy.

Busy Book - Apple Tree Page

Busy Book / Quiet Book Apple Tree Page

One of my goals in making this busy book is to include a wide variety of fine motor activities. One way to do that is to use a wide variety of fasteners.

• The Shape/Color Matching Page uses velcro.
• The Caterpillar Numbers and Patterns Page uses magnets.
• The Underwater Bead Maze Page involves moving beads along string and feeding the beads through loops.

This new page uses hooks and eyes. The apples attach to the tree with hooks and eyes and the children can also choose to put a couple of apples in the basket. It is simple in concept, but provides variety in execution. You could also do this exact same concept using snaps, velcro, magnets, or even buttons.

Another Scholastic Teacher Express eBook Sale

Scholastic Teacher Express is having another eBook sale through 10-21-2011. They have 250 of their teacher resource books discounted to $1-$4. You can also use the discount code Birthday50 for half off many of those titles bringing some of them down to as little as 50 cents.

The Weekly Review: Week 30

Blog Post that Made Me Laugh

I can't help it. I laugh at these kinds of situations while simultaneously being profoundly thankful that it wasn't me. Amalah had a solo parenting evening that could have been taken right out of a comedy.

Blog Post that Made Me Cringe in Sympathy for all Parties Involved

Problem Girl does a wonderful job of helping her little girl celebrate her sixth birthday, but nothing is ever simple.

Weekly Ticking Time Clock

In nine weeks Ava will be evaluated to see if she qualifies for services from the schools. In 20 weeks she will no longer be eligible for early intervention because she will turn three.

I feel like this timeline is the huge "but..." in our life right now. "Ava has great therapists, but..." "Ava is making beautiful progress but..."

I need to remind myself, yet again, to focus on today's blessings rather than on tomorrow's potential problems.

Weekly Pleasant Surprise

Jourdan at futureslps did a post about my free articulation picture cards. That post was seen by someone at Pediastaff which posted about the cards on their blog. Consequently my site traffic tripled for a day or so and, hopefully, the card sets have found their way into the hands of many more therapists who will find them to be useful. Many thanks to Jourdan and Pediastaff for thinking enough of the card sets to mention them to their readers.

Ava This Week

Well, I don't know what Ava herself would be most excited about this week, but I am most excited about finally being able to fix her hair some. She's letting me put in ponytails and pigtails and will even sit still enough for me to get a bit more creative. She's still too sensitive to stand much brushing or tugging, so it's a bit messy, but such progress. I really do credit OT.

The Weekly Michael

Michael has become a preschooler. He's just not a toddler by any stretch of the imagination any more. He's becoming just as interested in his peers as his parents, possibly more. He wants his sister to play with him and wants to direct every bit of that play. Fortunately Ava is pretty agreeable. "Come on Ava, let's go play sleepover." "Come on Ava, let's go to my room." "Come on Ava, let's go on a ghost hunt." And off they go. He never stops talking, but she doesn't seem to mind. It's lovely.

More Flip Books On Sale

For those of you who thought the Phrase Flips book looked interesting, there are three more Flip books on sale at Super Duper this week. (No, I am not affiliated with Super Duper, I just like some of their products and I monitor their weekly 50% off sales.)

This announcement is just for your information. I haven't actually seen these books yet although I did order them. I'll do reviews of them when they come in.

The three on sale (50% off through Sunday, October 16, 2011) are:

• Say and Do Sound Production: This one focuses on production of vowels and consonants at the sound, syllable, and word level and comes bundled with an activity book with worksheets and therapy activities and a CD-ROM of reproducibles.
• Turn and Talk Early Sounds: This one focuses on initial, medial, and final /p, b, m, t, d,n/. Contains 600 illustrated words.
• Word Flips: This one contains three sets of identical picture cards for single syllable words. Sounds are sorted into sections by placement (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and palatal).

Speech Sample - Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech - 26 months

This is an audio clip from a video we took on 5-14-2011. Ava was 26 months old. At this point Ava was about four months into receiving speech services. Ava was asking me to get something down from a shelf.

In the last audio sample, three weeks prior to this one, Ava produced 10 utterances in a little under half a minute. Those utterances included seven different words and ranged from 1 word (two syllable) utterances to 4 word (five syllable utterances). In this sample, Ava produces 13 utterances in a little under half a minute. These utterances include 12 different words and range from on word (one syllable) utterances to 5 word (5 syllable utterances). The average number of words per utterance in the last sample was 2.2. In this sample it increased to 2.42. More importantly, there was significantly more diversity to the utterances in this sample.

Here is the new sample:




In this audio sample Ava's utterances were:
What that?
What that?
This there.
Uh huh.
No I think get down.
No get down.
I think down.
Not think up.
Down.
No think down.
Down.
I say down.

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Phrase Flips

Therapy Materials Review: Phrase Flips - Flips for Learning Intelligible Production of Speech

This is a review of Phrase Flips. This flip book is published by Super Duper Publications. The flip book is designed to let you easily address target sounds at an easy level (single syllable) level, moderate level (2-3 syllables), and advanced level (4-5 syllables).

Target Audience

The target audience for the Phrase Flips will usually be children ages 3 and up although I can imagine using the easy level with even younger children. The pictures on the cards are appealing to children. This book would work well for children using a traditional articulation approach to therapy. In skilled hands, this book would also be useful for variety working with clients needing intense practice using a motor speech approach to articulation however the book isn't really designed with that approach in mind.

Description of Phrase Flips

This product is a 11 inch by 4.5 inch spiral bound book with hard covers. The book has a built in easel so you can stand it upright. Inside you'll find three sets of picture cards divided by tabs into sections according to place of articulation (bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, palatal, and velar). The set of cards on the left are easy (single syllable). The middle set are moderate (2-3 syllables). The set on the right are advanced (4-5 syllables).

Phonemic Breakdown
The main focus is on initial and, at the multi-syllable level, functional medial productions of these sounds. In general, the easy level introduces 4 single-syllable words for each phoneme. The moderate level introduces a second word or syllable targeting that phoneme and the advanced level introduces a third. That gives you a total of 12 words per phoneme most in initial position.

• Bilabial (/p, b, m, w)
• Labiodental (/f/)
• Alveolar (/p, d, s, n, l)
• Palatal (/sh, ch, J, r)
• Velar (/k, g)

How to Use the Phrase Flip book

In a traditional articulation framework this book would be a great set of stimulus materials to practice phonemes in initial and medial position at increasing difficulty levels. The book would also be useful for generalization and practice for children with motor speech articulation problems (such as Childhood Apraxia of Speech) for specific phonemes that have already been taught and established at the single word or syllable level, but need additional drill at multi-syllable levels.

Pros and Cons of the Phrase Flips book

Pros:

• The Phrase Flips book is compact and easy to carry around.
• The Phrase Flips book covers a lot of territory. It has 16 phonemes in initial and medial position at three increasing difficulty levels. It will not help you get into great depth on any given phoneme, but if you need to carry something with you that covers a lot of territory, this might fit the bill.
• The book is sturdy and has a built in easel.
• The illustrations are well done and appealing to children at a wide variety of ages.

Cons:

• The Phrase Flips book does not focus on phonemes in final position.
• The Phrase Flips book does not go into any one phoneme at great depth.
• The flip format is something of a gimmick in this particular book. I cannot see a huge therapeutic reason to address one phoneme at the easy level, a different phoneme at the moderate level, and a third phoneme at an advanced level simultaneously. The only advantage is that you can take a level completely out of play by turning the entire set over so that a blank card shows at that level.

Bottom Line:

Nice resource for a SLP who typically needs to address articulation targets at multiple levels of difficulty just be aware that the book focuses mostly on initial and medial productions and doesn't provide a great deal of depth on any one phoneme.

You might also be interested in the following products:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Now who's contrary?

I have been known, on occasion, to use the word "contrary" in reference to my daughter. I love her. In general I think having a strong will and knowing her own mind are traits that will serve her well in life. It can occasionally (often) make parenting challenging at this stage, but overall, I like her personality.

This week in particular I am reminded that she comes by those traits honestly.

For example:

• I complain they won't play independently... but feel guilty when they play together beautifully while I spend an hour straight cleaning and "ignoring" them.
• I complain that Ava's too much a "mama" girl... and then feel jealous when she wants Daddy to be the one to fix her hair.
• I complain that I never get to sleep in any more...then, when I have the opportunity to sleep in, I get up at 7:30 am anyway.

Speech Sample - Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech - 25 months (2)

This sample was recorded three weeks after the last one I posted (4-26-11). She's picked up two additional consonant approximations. She's approximating /g/ and /s/ in this sample. What is interesting is that both of those sounds disappeared later. We are working on /s/ now, but I have to remind her to make it. She isn't really making the /g/ sound at all any more.

More important than individual sounds is that she's moved to using multi-word utterances. In this sample she produces 10 utterances. 2 of those are one word (both two-syllable). 5 of those are three words (4 syllables per utterance). One utterance was four words long (5 syllables)! This is a huge increase in average sentence length in three weeks.

Transcript:
get down mama
get down mama
get down
get down
get down
uh huh
no mama get down
mama
mama scissors
dada scissors

Busy Book - Underwater Bead Maze Page

I'm very pleased with this one. First I made a background underwater scene. Then I made three interactive tracks.

The first track is for the plane. The plane moves from right to left getting higher in the sky at it goes. When it hits the cloud it has a little trouble and someone (either Michael or Ava) needs to help the pilot get through the cloud (by threading the bead through the loop).

The second track is for the boat. The boat begins by moving from left to right along the top of the water. Each time it hits a wave it needs help. After it hits the third wave it sinks down to the ocean floor.

The third track is for a fish. He starts at the bottom in his home by the coral before going on a treasure hunt. He works his way up to the top of the underwater mountain where he finds a treasure chest.

Here are the beads in their beginning positions:

And here they are in their final positions:

Sunny Articulation Test App - One Day Sale

I have been keeping an eye on an articulation test for the iPhone/iPad called the Sunny Articulation Test. I wasn't willing to buy it at the usual price of $49.99, but today (10/9/2011) it is on sale for $21.99.

It is a qualitative test, not a normative test, so it will not tell you how your child/student/client compares to other children his/her age. However, it will test all phonemes in multiple positions of words. It allows you to easily record productions of each test item so that you can go back later and listen again. It has a screening mode and a full test mode. The screening mode has fewer words and you simply indicate right or wrong for each target phoneme. The full test mode has more words and you enter the type of error for each incorrect phoneme. The test automatically calculates errors and does some simple analyses (how many voiced sounds were incorrect, how many voiceless sounds were incorrect, how many plosives, etc.). You can also automatically generate and email a simple report.

I will do a more complete review once I have had an opportunity to actually use the program, but I wanted to let you know about the sale in case you've been looking for an articulation test for the iPhone/iPad.

Busy Book - Phonics Pockets Page

I have finished a third page for the busy book. This page has six beads on strings. There is a boat, cat, fish, lion, plane, and zebra. There are six pockets. Each pocket is labeled with the first letter of one of the beads. Michael will be able to match each bead with the corresponding pocket. Ava will probably just hide the beads at random and use the page as more of a peek-a-boo page than as a phonics page.

The Weekly Review: Week 29

Weekly Super Cool Link

About a month ago I solicited ideas about what to do with a sensory table (thanks for the great suggestions guys). This week I found a great web page full of ideas for using a sensory table. There are at least 25 creative ideas here including ice rainbows, exploring spices, and using turkey basters.

Weekly Obsession

Now that I've started, I'm completely obsessed with making a creative busy/quiet book or two. I've completed page 1 and page 2 and have several more in the works. I'm leaving small details like how I'm going to bind the book to figure out later. I wouldn't want to slow down the creativity and enthusiasm with important finishing details. (Please let me not regret this decision later!)

Weekly Landmark Event

First overnight stay in the hospital with one of our children (not counting their births).

Michael's Weekly Adventure

Remember when too much silence resulted in discovering that Michael had half-disassembled the wooden dollhouse in the basement playroom? Well, this week while staying at his grandparents' house too much silence resulted in discovering that Michael had fetched scissors from his grandmother's drawer and used them to cut several holes in his peapod (a small tent he likes to sleep in at their house). We've turned the situation into a learning experience. He's gone on a shopping trip to buy a tent repair kit and they are going to patch the holes together.

The Weekly Ava

Did I mention the croup and the difficulty breathing and the ER and the breathing treatments and the overnight stay at the hospital? Hmm. I did? Enough said I suppose.

The Weekly Kitty Escapade

Remember the miracle where the cat that had been missing for months was returned to us? As we were just coming home from Ava's hospital stay and a brief trip to the grocery store for necessities, I left the door open. Ava was calling for help and my hands were full of groceries and I just missed it. 15 minutes later my husband noticed the open door and we just knew. Cleo was gone again. Just like that. I felt terrible. My husband walked up and down the street calling, but nothing.

We left some food in the driveway and then came back in to settle Ava down for her nap. We were depressed and a tiny bit angry. Why does she want to get out so badly? And why does she run so far away that she can't hear us so fast?

We got lucky. This time, when my husband went back out about 30 minutes later he found her. I am so grateful. But what are we going to do? Cleo is obviously an escape risk. The very first time a door was left open she disappeared again. We have two small children. It is just so hard to watch the door all the time, every time. We'll make sure she has a collar and a current microchip. We'll do our best with the door. Any other ideas?

Busy Book - Caterpillar Page (Numbers and Patterns)

Here is the second page I've made for a busy book. It is a caterpillar. Each segment of the caterpillar's body has a number (1-8). I've made the odd numbers brown and the even numbers purple. They attach with magnets.

When Michael uses the book I would expect him to put the numbers in order. I may also try to teach him the concept of even and odd numbers. When Ava uses the book she may put them on in any order that pleases her, or she could practice patterns. She might do one purple then one brown, two purples and two browns, or all four purples then all four browns for example. I may encourage Michael to play with patterns too.

Here are some brief comments on how I made the page:

1. I used the sewing machine to make the numbers. I did the number one and the number two with a zigzag stitch, but quickly discovered that my skills were not up to making a 3 with a zigzag stitch. So I switched to something easier. It looked fine, but I was not going to go back and re-do the first two numbers because I am simply not that much of a perfectionist.
2. Underneath the white circles I've hidden two paper clips. This is what the magnets are attracted to that makes the caterpillar work.
3. The magnets are sewn in between two layers of felt to make the number circles. Before attaching the two layers I sewed the number on the top circle and tacked the magnet down on the bottom circle so it wouldn't slide around when I was sewing the circle together.