Testy yet trying

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Pneumonia is Contagious? Imagine that.

As you may remember, Michael walked around for a couple of weeks with a cough. He never ran a fever or had a runny nose, so I figured he has some sort of mild cold that would work itself out. Eventually it got to the point that he couldn't play because every time he tried to run he'd start coughing uncontrollably. After two weeks of a cough I decided a visit to the pediatrician was in order. Diagnosis: Walking Pneumonia.

A week or two later (last Friday), Ava started running a 102 something fever. Her appetite was non-existent and she was a little more tired than usual, but there were no other obvious signs of illness. Michael hadn't been showing symptoms for well over a week, so I thought it was more likely that Ava had picked something up at school than that she'd come down with his pneumonia. I decided to wait it out assuming it was a cold or virus. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday passed in a very similar manner with fever, fatigue, and lack of appetite. Monday a cough began to creep into the mix.

I looked up fever in the pediatrician office's handy manual Monday night and it said to call for an appointment if a fever lasted more than three days with no obvious source. Oops. So, I finally called Tuesday (Day 5). Bottom line: pneumonia. Lovely.

The silver lining to this mess is that they prescribed Ava the same super-effective on this particular bug antibiotic they gave Michael. 24 hours later and she's already much better.

Hindsight is always 20-20.

As a side note, Ava is a serious trooper. The times in my life that I've run a high fever I'm completely wiped out and pitiful. Ava pretty much went about her daily activities in a relatively cheery manner. She didn't want to eat and was a little more sensitive than usual, but other than that she was fine. The pediatrician commented on how cheery she was. It reminds me of the time when she was a baby and we took her in for something (I don't remember what) only to find she had a double ear infection. We never would have known. The child is amazing.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Great Source of Free Speech and Language Worksheets

Heather's Speech Therapy has an amazing list of free speech and language worksheets to download. She has syllable wheels, most consonants in multiple positions in words and phrases, grammar and vocabulary worksheets, and some reward charts. All worksheets include color pictures of the target words. Most target words are 1-2 syllables and vary from simple syllable shapes and phonemes to complex ones. You should definitely check these out!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Initial Y: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

If you like this free card set, you might want to check out the premium speech therapy kits now available in the Testy Shop. Kits include expanded card sets, illustrated minimal pairs, homework sheets and more in a single download.

Initial /j/ Card Set

(/j/ is the phonetic symbol for the sound typically spelled with the letter "Y".)

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.

Description

This articulation picture card set is designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for this set is young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with initial /j/ at a one-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in this set. The set pairs the initial /j/ with as many different vowel sounds as possible to maximize co-articulation variety.

Key Features

This set includes 12 therapy cards with the target word and picture on the front, and the difficulty level and a carrier phrase on the back.
The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape.
The words are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
Combines the target sound with a variety of vowel sounds.
Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.

Permissions

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

Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
No copies are altered without my express consent.
No one makes a profit from these copies.
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. Other card sets include /p, b, t, d, m, n, h, f, v, k, g, w, j, s, z, l, th, ch, sh, s-blends, and l-blends/ and more sets are being added regularly.