Inspiration

My children inspire me. I don't mean that in a generic "I'm a better person." way. They inspire me to stretch a little and step outside of my comfort zone. Arts and crafts is a great example. Historically, I considered myself to be a decidedly non-artistic person. It doesn't come to me naturally. I don't have a good eye for color, design, or form. The only kinds of coloring I enjoyed as a child were color-by-number. As for crafts, I liked cross-titch. There was a pattern and I all I had to do was follow the pattern on a cloth grid.

Then I found myself staying at home with two young children. Partly from a desire to expand their horizons, and partly from pure self-defense (we all needed something to do) I began to do some simple arts and crafts with them. After coloring with crayons and cutting snowflakes with scissors I ran out of ideas. Through the brilliance and generosity of some talented bloggers (That Artist Woman and Art Projects for Kids for example) I have been inspired to do a wide variety of beautiful crafts with the children. I have learned a lot myself along the way and we all have fun together.

Again, historically, I am not great at keeping plants alive. I pretty much accidentally kill any houseplant that isn't a cactus or succulent in short order. The few plants I do manage to keep alive I tend to tire of caring for and give away. As for gardening, I'm not really outdoorsy. I also don't much like getting dirty. So, I have very little gardening experience.

However, I think I'd like to try some simple gardening with the children. I think they'd enjoy growing some vegetables and perhaps the experience would encourage them to consume a few. I have fond memories of eating cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots from my dad's garden when I was little. The children would have the opportunity to participate in a long term project with delayed gratification. It would force us all to get outside regularly. I am interested in perhaps trying cucumbers, carrots, and bell peppers with the children. Preferably in pots. Can you grow vegetables in pots? Specifically, can you grow those vegetables in pots?

That's the problem. I'm an starting with zero experience and knowledge. Online research should get me started, but there's a long stretch from reading an article on the internet to eating home-grown vegetables. It's kind of fun to take a leap and try something new though. And the project will be a learning experience for all of us no matter how it turns out. Online research here I come.

Initial Minimal Pair Rhymes: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

This articulation card set is designed to be an extension of my single-syllable cards sets. The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape and include no blends or vocalic /r/ sounds. This is a speech exercise of minimal pairs rhymes contrasting the initial early-emerging consonant sounds. The target audience for these cards are children with severe speech delays who need exposure to a minimal pair technique to emphasize that they need to differentiate production of two different words. Move to these exercises to add complexity and increase generalization after the child has achieved good accuracy with single word, single word repetitions, and simple alternating single words with these phonemes.(Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 12 therapy cards sequenced so that they form minimal pair rhymes.
• The words are CV or CVC in syllable shape.
• The words feature early emerging consonants.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.

Permissions

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

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

Looking for Feedback

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

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

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

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.

Initial L Minimal Pairs: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

This articulation card set is designed to be an extension of my single-syllable cards sets. The words are all CVC in syllable shape and include no blends or vocalic /r/ sounds. This is a set of minimal pairs focusing on contrasting the initial /l/ sound with four other initial consonants. Each different CVC /l/ word features a different vowel to maximize coarticulation variation. The target audience for these cards are children with severe speech delays who need exposure to a minimal pair technique to emphasize that they need to differentiate production of two different words. (Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 15 therapy cards. Three CVC /l/ words are contrasted with four other minimal pairs.
• The words are all CVC in syllable shape.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.

Permissions

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

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

Looking for Feedback

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

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

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

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.