Speech Card Set Activity: Speech Art Collage

Preparation
Print a page or two of a free articulation card set of your choice. (Printing on cardstock will make the cutting a little more difficult, but the gluing easier. Printing in draft mode will save a bunch of ink.) Either cut all the pictures out yourself (time consuming and only necessary if you need to be super time efficient during the therapy session) or just bring some child safety scissors and let the child cut the pictures out. Also grab some glue and a colorful piece of paper.

Activity
Explain the concept of a collage. Let the child cut and glue the pictures on their own, or provide them with the pre-cut pictures. Be sure to discuss and say the target words on each picture as they are chosen, cut out, and glued onto the collage.

Review and Choose
Once the page is complete, review all the words with the child. Then you can either have them hang their "picture" on the wall where you can review it later (great if you're a parent doing this at home) or if you're a therapist, send the completed worksheet home as homework.

Advantages
This activity is great for carryover because the words are used in a more natural setting (embedded in an art activity). The child gets to practice fine motor skills and strength (cutting/gluing). You get a built-in homework sheet / piece of artwork.

Save, Print, and Use Free Articulation Materials - A New Look

I've completely redone my free articulation resources page. You can always find the page when you need it by clicking on the "Download/Print Free Speech Articulation Materials" link at the top of any page on my blog. I hope the new format is a little easier on the eye and will make it easier to find what you need.

For those of you who haven't visited that page, here is a brief summary of the free speech materials and resources you can find there:

• Speech Articulation Cards with pictures for a wide variety of sounds. The target words in these cards sets are kept simple (CV, VC, and CVC) in order to be useful with young children, children with severe speech delays, children with childhood apraxia of speech, hearing imparied children, and other populations with similar needs. So far there are over 840 cards available for over 20 target sounds. I add more regularly as I make them.
  
  
• There are a handful of speech homework booklets (six and counting). These are booklets printed on a single sheet of paper and then folded into booklet form. They tell simple stories in a format where young children can participate by "reading" their target word from pictures inserted into parts of the story. Send them home as homework. If you're a parent, print them and keep them in your child's room and read them with your child at bedtime.
  
  
• There are a few other printable resources like some minimal pairs sets, pivot phrase worksheets, and other assorted worksheets.
  
  
  
  
• There's a section of tips for parents doing home therapy or home practice sessions with their children.
• There is also a growing list (15 and counting) of speech games and activities you can do using the free articulation picture cards.
  
  

If you like the resources, please consider sending me an email and sharing your experiences using them at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com. Be sure not to miss future cardsets or activity suggestions by subscribing to my blog through email or a feed reader in the upper left hand corner of the page.

Thanks for reading!

I must be crazy. (Planning a long car trip - Help!)

Many factors converged and it occurred to me that I might - just might be willing to attempt a 24 hour (round-trip) car ride with my children without my husband. (I must be crazy.) This is how I arrived at that rather startling conclusion...

There are several factors playing into this decision. Many of my loved ones live a 12 hour drive away in the New Orleans, LA area. We don't get to see them as often as we'd like but they are dear to us. I desperately want my children to have significant relationships with their extended family. They are wonderful people and true connections with wonderful people are gifts to be treasured in life.

The children are slightly, yet significantly older than the last time we made the trek (8 months ago). School is going to start soon, so now is the time. Also, the children are nearing the end of their first set of swimming lessons and my Louisiana relatives have a pool. Finally, I mentioned the idea, somewhat offhandedly, to my mother and she jumped at the chance to drive down with us.

And so, in a couple of weekends I'm going to pack up the children, leave my husband behind, and my mother and I are going to take the children on a 12+ hour car ride to New Orleans, LA for a three day visit before the return trip.

I'm less worried about the actual stay (wonderful relatives, pool in the backyard, a backyard the size of a small park to explore...) than I am about how to fill 24+ hours in a car with a 3 and 4 year old. We'll have access to videos, but even the power of the television wears off. Any suggestions?