Reading Eggs - An Online Reading Program

I am trying a free trial of Reading Eggs which is an online reading program. You can sign up for a free two week trial. After you sign up, you can add multiple children to the account. Then you can enter the code ABC1034 to extend the free trial by an additional 4 weeks (you can enter the same code for each child extending the program trial for multiple children). You have the option to have your child start at the beginning with letter recognition, or have them take a test to determine an appropriate starting level. Michael got 19 of 40 questions right and the program started him at the Level 4 Map.

Each map has about 10 lessons. Each lesson takes about 15 minutes to complete and has a variety of activities. The first lesson Michael completed was about the letter G and the second was about the letter L. He practiced letter recognition in isolation and in words. He practiced phonics with three letter words that included the featured letter in initial or final position. He practiced sight words featuring the letter. They even include an exercise that uses a connect the dots format to teach how to write the lower case letter. You can download a printable sheet of exercises for each lesson. He enjoyed the "game" and we've barely scratched the surface.

I haven't tried it yet with Ava, but given that the program starts with letter recognition, I may have her try it too beginning with the first lesson. She doesn't recognize all of her letters yet, so it might be really nice for her. She did enjoy watch Michael play through his lessons, so she might be interested in doing her own lessons.

If the children continue to enjoy playing with the program, I'll consider subscribing when our free trial is up. Has anyone else seen or used this program? Does anyone have recommendations of other online reading programs we should check out (particularly if they have free trials)?

Now I've Done It (Bad Speech Habit Acquired - Help!)

Ava has been doing so well with her blends. She went from simply eliminating the second consonant in an s-blend to being able to include both consonants almost every time. I was excited about that achievement and simply failed to notice that she began inserting a pretty prominent schwa to the end of the /s/. So, instead of saying "snow" or even "ssssssno," she's saying "suh no". (or "suh pin", "suh tep", etc...) I think it happened gradually and I just didn't catch it early. I really should have caught it, but I'm just not perfect. In fact, I'm only aware of it now because one of her speech teachers pointed it out to me. I was pretty embarassed. Now adding that schwa seems firmly ingrained in her motor planning for s-blends and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. Her therapist recommended shortening the /s/ and overemphasizing the second consonant when modeling, but that isn't helping.

Does anyone have any strategies they use under such circumstances?


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One year ago I reflected on my jealousy when watching other babies smile and the possible impact of oral apraxia on the infancies of my children.

The Weekly Review: Week 53

SLP Idea of the Week

Christie at My Ocean of Notions did a post on making alphabet picture sticks using pictures she cut out of old workbooks and popsicle sticks (one for each letter of the alphabet). Hers are adorable and definitely worth checking out.

You could easily use my articulation picture cards and do the same thing as an alternative to just using the cards flashcard style. With the popsicle sticks attached they could be used as puppets to tell stories. They could be distributed among the children in a group and they could take turns holding up one stick at a time for the others to say (at the single word, phrase, or sentence level).

Ava this Week

Ava's preschool has been incubating a dozen chicken eggs for a couple of weeks now. On Tuesday when I picked her up she talked her teacher into bringing me into the room where they've been keeping the incubator. Most of the eggs had little volcano shaped protrusions in the shells where the chicks were beginning to peck their way out. One chick had actually pecked a hole and you could see the beak through the hole. We were all quite excited. Two days later, when I went to get Ava from school, we checked on them again. Now there were 11 fluffy yellow baby chick. Michael had the opportunity to see too because he is on spring break this week. The children were captivated. I had them keep their voices low and their movements slow. I told them they could touch, just once, gently with one finger. They both reached into the box and followed my instructions perfectly. I was so proud of them for treating the chicks with respect even though they were quivering with excitement. They talked about how soft and cute the chicks were all the way home. I'm so grateful to her preschool for going through all the trouble to give their students such a wonderful experience.

Weekly Michael

Michael is maturing before my eyes. He's calling me "mom" more often than "mama" or "mommy". He's more confident and independent. He's had a busy week this week even though his school is out for spring break. He spent one morning with his grandmother and they had a wonderful time together. He adores her (rightfully so). We had a friend over another morning. The three children played hard all morning. Michael raced his older friend on his big boy bike (with training wheels) and won several times. He climbed his first tree. I must say that I wish that his first tree climbing experience could have been with a tree that had branches lower than five feet up (pretty much my head height). However, he was excited and proud and had to be peeled out of that tree. He went on his first unsupervised playdate. It was so strange to just drop him off. He had a great time for two hours and can't wait to go back. He and I went to lunch - just the two of us. I didn't realize until halfway through the meal that it was the first time we'd done that. It was nice to have that one-on-one time together. As much as I love/enjoy/need those mornings when the children are both at preschool, this week has actually been a lot of fun.

Ava's and Michael's Weekly Home Therapy Notes

All the sounds are the same (/f/ and /s/ for Michael and /s/-blends for Ava) so I won't go into that again. I've been doing a lot of experimenting. I tried moving all the cards to a binder system. I thought it was brilliant, but when actually using it during a session it was awkward and slow. The children were more focused on choosing their next marker than actually making their speech sounds well. I was focused more on helping them with the mechanics of the binders than on the speech. I know all of that would get better as we all became used to the new system, but I certainly didn't love it out of the gate.

On the other hand, I love the homework practice books (/l/, and /sh/). They integrate seamlessly into our evening book reading routine. She reads one or two of her articulation books to me, and then I read 2-3 storybooks to her. She loves reading her speech books and getting to put a sticker on the front of the book. She gets better and more fluent at the story with each repeated reading and that's useful too. I'm going to make several more when I get some time.

I also love the articulation rubric for working with /s/ with Michael. It's such a quick, efficient method of feedback and works so well for those sounds that have to be shaped.

Favorite New (to me) TV Show

I don't have the time to watch a lot of television. When I do have the time and desire to watch some I use Hulu on the computer (or my iPhone) to watch. I discovered a show that's showing exclusively on Hulu right now called Endgame. I am really, really enjoying it. It's a procedural in the sense that there is a mystery of some kind solved in each episode. The twist is that it isn't being solved by the police or a medical examiner. The characters are engaging and the interplay between them is fun. The main character, and mystery solver, is a chess grandmaster who is agoraphobic and stuck in a hotel due to a trauma in his past.

Just thought I'd mention it since I've been enjoying it so much. 12 episodes are currently available and the 13th and final episode will be available on Monday. The show was cancelled after those first 13 episodes, but rumor has it that the show has done so well on Hulu that there are talks of bringing it back.