New Year, New Website!!

This will be my last blog post here on BlogSpot.  It has been a great ride the past few months.  But I have decided to start a website that has been showcasing my blog posts.  If you are interested in what's going on in the Speech Chick's world that is the place to find me now!  You can order the TALKBOX from there, following along with therapy posts and find out more about Speech Chick!!  I hope everyone has had a great start to the new year.  I know I sure have!!  I have included the link so that you can find the website easier!

Speech Chick Therapy's new website!!!

Hope to see you all over at the new place!!
Melissa

Talking on a Tuesday: Gingerbread Edition

There's something about this tasty little guy that the kids love!  Besides the obvious answer (he is yummy), I am not sure how he does it.  If you read yesterday's blog, you know I chose to read "The Gingerbread Man" as the main book of the week.  A couple of my older kids heard "The Jalapeno Man" and our book buddy was able to still work.

Today's post is all about ARTICULATION!!!    Monday morning I was feeling pretty good!  I made a giant check list on Sunday and completed every task on it!  Several of those tasks were making sure I was prepped for Monday.  Pulled up to my first kid to realize I left the paint dauber AND the di at home...on my desk.  Time to improvise!!  We read our book.  Then I pulled out my phone and found a dice roller app (who knew they even had that??).  Instead of dot paints, we just colored the pictures.  Our first activity of the week was the newly loved "Roll and Say."  This one included characters from the story-gingerbread man, fox, old man and old woman. 

Our second session of the week included a take home game and an open ended game.  Both go well with the story.   First, we make the fox puppet while working on our words.  After we've made the puppet, we play the game a time or 2 in order for the kids to be able to play it at home.  I really like these kinds of games for my kiddos that are 1 session a week.  The concept is they "feed" the gingerbread cookies to the fox as they say their words.  When we are done, we place all the gingerbread cookies in the bag for storage.

The open ended game can be found in the book buddy along with the first articulation activity above.  Print a set of cards (1 page) for each child in your group.  If you see kids individually, like I do, print 2 sets.  Laminate all for durability and cut apart.  I store all my game pieces in manila envelopes.  The child produces his target word correctly 5x and then chooses a card from the envelope.  The one with the most gingerbread cookies is the winner!!  But watch out for the broken cookie and the fox!!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Monday Preview of Gingerbread Week!!

With Christmas right around the corner, it is a perfect time for a cute gingerbread theme.  I love the smell of gingerbread cookies in the oven around this time of the year!!  This week I have put together some fun activities for the kids to do  that celebrate all things gingerbread!

When I worked in the school system, I liked to read 3 different versions of the Gingerbread Man.  Then we could do the compare/contrast chart, talk about which the kids preferred (and chart the responses) and what we would do if we were the Gingerbread Man.  This would be the reason that I have several Gingerbread Man books.  I have to say I have 2 favorites.  I love "The Jalapeno Man" and "The Gingerbread Girl."  "The Jalapeno Man" is a must have for any SLP living in or from Texas!!  The figurative language in it is like no other!!!  Since I am now in the home setting,  I read it to my older kids (like around 2nd-3rd grade, depending on language skills).  "The Gingerbread Girl" is a great read for the girls.  Usually the boys don't want to hear it because it's about a girl.  But I love that it has a different ending.  It's not necessarily making the girl smarter.  I think it's more about learning from experiences (your own or someone else's) and making a different choice. 

"The 10 Gingerbread Men" is a brand new addition this year.  I found it before Thanksgiving and knew I had to have it for my little guys.

"The Gingerbread Man" Book Buddy can be found on the TpT store.  It has two drill type articulation sheets that will make the week fun.  Kids love those dot paints so feel free to use them with the "Roll and Say" drill.  There's also a couple of language activities; one of which is a new form.  It is called "Color by Skill" and addresses several skills at once as well as following directions.  I can't wait to try it out this week.  If you try it, let me know what you think about it!

I also added some cool playdough smush boards.  The little ones love them!!!  So grab a can of playdough and work on some expressive vocabulary skills.  The kiddos can name the objects and smush playdough on  them.  Or use it for receptive language; name a picture and have the child find it and smush playdough on it.  Either way, they'll have a great time!!

Have a great week!!
Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

It's Only Thursday...

Ever have one of those weeks when you have been super busy but then realize it's not Friday yet?  That's me today.  I've had a busy week.  Basketball Monday night...Online book party Tuesday night...Endless planning, website designing, "social media butterflying" (that's a word-not really but it could be) Wednesday night and(probably) tonight too... Then I realized I hadn't blogged about this week's activities!!!  What??!!  That's one of my favorite things to do!  So I will be giving you the condensed version of "Cookie Week."

Since I have mostly boys on my caseload, we only read "If You Give A Mouse  A Cookie."  No boys were going to ask for "Clara the Cookie Fairy." (boo, I like that book!)

We started out the week with the book and a drill reinforcement activity.  I needed to get the kiddos back in the swing of therapy after the holidays. You can find all of the activities in the blog here.  The second articulation activity we completed was a "Roll and Say" sheet.  The child rolled the die, found the matching one on the worksheet, and produced the word correctly that number of times.  Then the child colored/dot painted a picture in the row.  The kids really loved doing that!  I think we might be adding this one to our usual routine.  

 

As for language activities, we had a couple of school age coloring sheets.  The early childhood kids loved their stuff!!  Language for school age kids included working on irregular past tense verbs in sentences and categories.  We colored chocolate chips on a cookie as the client made up sentences using the irregular past tense verbs.  We also colored cookies when we could name 3-5 items that belonged in a given category.



The little guys had a field day with our activities.  Since some of my clients cannot follow the book of the week, I made a book that could go along with that is more simple (but could be used with it.)  You can find "Cookie, Cookie What Do You See?" on my TpT store as well as the "Mouse has..." board.  We practiced different language concepts using the Melissa and Doug Christmas cookie set and the Counting Cookie Jar.  The last activity we had was a simple category sort using food, animals and clothing.

 

Well, I started this post on Thursday.  It is now Friday at lunch time.  The blog struggle was real this week!!  Here's to a more organized and productive week next week!!

 

Melissa



TalkBox is Coming!!!



Usually Tuesdays are for the articulation activities we have going on this week.  But today I decided to tell you about a little project I am working on.  Most of us have heard of Birchbox, Ipsy, Barkbox and other monthly subscription boxes that randomly show up in our mailboxes throughout the month.  I receive 2 of the mentioned subscriptions and it is truly like Christmas each time that cute little box or pink envelope show up in my mail!  One night while going through my Birchbox, I said to myself, "Self, wouldn't it be awesome to have a speech therapy box that showed up each month?" You know just a few activities to re-inspire me to do what I love to do.  Cue the ray of sunshine on me or a giant light bulb above my head...however you prefer.

After texting with a few fellow SLP friends (who are used to getting random texts with my goofy ideas), I decided there was enough of a market to at least give it a try.  One of those sweet friends helped me come up with a name  (thanks TB!)  The TalkBox was born!!!  I emailed a few fellow bloggers and TpT shop owners to see if they would be interested.  Of course, I had a few that shot me down right away.  But I also had a few that were interested! 

Here's the basic concept of the TalkBox:
You can choose to receive the articulation box or the language box (or a combined box for a discounted price).  In each box, you will receive 5 sample activities from SLP bloggers and TpT shop owners to use in therapy.  The key is they will be READY TO USE materials.  If it requires lamination, it will be laminated for you!!!  Directions will come with activities so that each SLP knows how to use them (even though most will be pretty simple).  Also in the box will be an information sheet that tells you where each activity is from and how you can find it!!!  Meaning I will give you every contact possible so you find the full set of activities-including Instagram accounts, Facebook pages, Twitter handles, YouTube channels, Snapchats, Periscopes, Website addresses, TpT store address...heck even email addresses if the blogger is ok with it!!  There is NO WAY you won't be able to follow your favorite SLP blogger!!!

Each month, I plan to feature a blogger/TpT shop owner.  There will be a little bio about them (and again all their contact info!) as well as any "swag" they choose to include to advertise.  "Swag" can be pens, pencils, notepads, magnets, buttons and anything else with their advertising info on it!!  I know how we all like to swipe pens and other loot from booths at our state conventions!!

Now here comes the main "WHY" for the TalkBox.  I know we can get into a rut and loose our motivation.  Our heart is still in the job but we get so busy with the mundane things of our job, that we seldom have time for planning.  The TalkBox is designed to reinvigorate you each month!!!  Bring something new to your therapy sessions!!  Inspire you to want to search out the rest of that fabulous articulation bundle you loved so much!!!  Maybe one of the activities really encourages a difficult client and brings out language you've only dreamed of hearing!!

As of right now, I plan on keeping the TalkBox in a rather inexpensive price range.  Each box will be somewhere between $10-15 INCLUDING shipping!!  That includes the activities, lamination, EVERYTHING!!  You will be able to set it up just like you do Birchbox or Ispy; pay by the month or pay for the entire year (cancel at anytime-before the box is billed/paid).  The TalkBox will be scheduled to ship out NEAR the first of every month.  Obviously, if the 1st falls on a holiday or Sunday, it won't ship until the next mailing day.

At the time of this post, a logo and website are being designed.  The website should roll out in mid-December.   I am really excited about this project and hope anyone who subscribes will love the materials in it!!  Each contributor worked hard to make these activities!

Please feel free to leave questions, comments and feedback below!!

Melissa

Aww Man, It's Monday!

Don't we all think that after a long holiday weekend?!  I had tons of things I wanted to get done during my time off...got maybe half of it done!  I got a couple of home projects done but to be honest I didn't pick up my computer once!!  I had big plans to get all of my December activities done and posted to TpT, catch up all my notes and reports, and organize my office.   But then it got cold and the hubs lit a fire in the fireplace and the kids found movies to watch.  Needless to say none of my work stuff got checked off.  Funny how the warmth of a fireplace can zap the motivation right out of you!

 

This week our theme is cookies.  It's always a fun week.  When I worked in the clinic setting, we were able to bake cookies and decorate them.  Since I am a traveling therapist now, I don't get to do that.  We do play a game called "Cookin' Cookies" though.  It's a form of memory that the kids love!  You have to gather all your ingredients from the recipe card to make your cookies (or win the game!) 

Our book is "If You Give  A Mouse A Cookie" but I also like to use "The Best Mouse Cookie" and (for the girls) "Clara, the Cookie Fairy."  Our activities this week are centered around "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  I even bring the little mouse from the book with me to finish up the week. 

We have dot sheets, coloring activities and even a little take home game for articulation.  As always there will be a more in-depth post about articulation and language activities later on in the week.

Today's post is short and sweet.  After all, it is the Monday after a break.

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Thursday Thoughts on Language: Food!!

Let's be honest...one week from Thanksgiving, we're not thinking about work or cleaning or even Christmas shopping!  We are all thinking about how much food we are about to consume!!  This week's theme on Thanksgiving food has not helped at all!!  I've spent the entire week talking about turkey, salads, veggies (yuck!), and desserts!!!  Do you know how hard it is to speak when your mouth is watering?!

Our language activities have been just as fun as the articulation ones.  I mean did you see the activity I posted about yesterday?!!?!!  I liked it so much it got it's own post!

I made this little pronoun activity since I have several that needed to work on using "she."  The great thing about this one is you can also turn it into an articulation activity for the short sentence level.  Plus I also used it to address "what" questions asking the question "What did she eat?"  AND I used it to work on increasing MLU with 3 word phrases and vocabulary.

 

Since I did not write the preschool post this week, I am adding the cute little book we read here.  Some of my little guys aren't old enough to follow the main book of the week.  Sometimes, I am wanting to emphasize certain vocabulary.  I made a little book for this week along with a naming/identifying food SMUSH board.  "Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie" is perfect for working on food vocabulary! 

This is my last post about Thanksgiving food.  I know most of my school SLPs friends are out all next week.  Not going to lie...I'm a little jealous!  But I have a short 2 day week next week so I think I will manage!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa