Because I wish I had stock in Dollar Tree....

In preparation for my presentation last week, I had to visit the Dollar Tree for 4 packets of tape. The universe must have a law of Dollar Tree that states you will come out with more than what you intended on buying. It NEVER fails. I always find 4-5 extra things that I just have to get for work.

This time it was sticker scenes. I couldn't resist the cheerful colors and goofy characters. I'll blame it on not being able to print anything in color at any rate.

The picture scenes really remind me of Super Duper's Magnetalk. You can use them for following directions or making up a little story scene with sequencing for a fraction of the cost. The only thing that you really need to do is get them laminated. I stuck my stickers on a sheet of white construction paper just to give them a little bit more stability than the sheet they came on.

This just might be the start of a new materials collection.....

One of my favorite movies & songs from my childhood.

P.S. Serena is HOME! I'm so happy to have her home. We have to really watch her for the next three months for any symptoms of a new shunt forming (hoping that will not happen).

Lately I been, I been losing sleep dreaming about the things that we could be....

2014--- I have to be honest and say that this year has me off to a bit of a rocky start. The big presentation, new students, exiting students, re-evaluations, last minute initial evaluations (thanks SST!),  etc....the list of stressful stuff could go on forever. I've had to make some of the toughest decisions of my fledgling career this month. It really makes me wonder how other SLPs find relief.....for me it's the little things.

1) Consulting with our fabulous EC facilitator (I'm so lucky to have worked with two incredible facilitators in my time with the district. They are so knowledgeable and encouraging.) as well as our wonderful Lead SLP. It helps so much to have them to talk to when I get overtaken by my overly conscientious personality. When I grow up, I really want to be mixture of all three. They truly are my professional role models. 

2) Quality time with my pets. They can soothe the worried soul. 

3) Freshly sharpened colored pencils. 

4) Teddy Talker- I swear this product is a lifesaver. I feel more cheerful when I pull him out of his bag and look at his happy little face. The mouth pieces and tongue puppet are my best friends. I can just pull those out of the bag with my mirror and see so much more success with my articulation groups. Lately, I've even been using the tongue puppet in combination with "weights" (paper towel rolls) to tackle the ever challenging /r/. I have my students show me what their tongue should be doing with the puppet before we practice. I use the tongue puppet as a reminder for placement while they "lift" their "weights." All I really need now is a picture of the letter R as a muscle man. 

I just received the Alphabet chart last week (during our teacher workdays). I am in love with this chart and will be taking it with me everywhere. It is so much better than the linking chart that is currently used in my school. The size perfect for traveling when carrying the whole kit is not as convenient. (Granted, I mostly have that issue when I have to tote around a bunch of manipulatives.)   

5) Buying Halloween books. I don't know why but I love goofy Halloween books. I picked up the Halloween Motel at Goodwill yesterday. My mom got to listen to all of my wonderful Halloween voices as I read through the story at home. There's nothing like a good werewolf howl to release the frustrations.

6) Empty paper towel rolls. Oh, the possibilities......

7) Thinking about my hope chest. It's completely unrelated to speech, but I get excited when I think about someday decorating a house with my Goodwill treasures & handmade quilts.

Social Skills Love It and Link It

It's time again for the Love it and List It! Linky. I know that many people have written posts about products that you can purchase so my post is a bit different. I wanted to give you some free things that I enjoy using with my students.

1) Youtube videos. They are an awesome way of presenting material in a way that doesn't seem like another lecture (and, yes, I do think that social skills lessons can come off as lectures just because we are adults and students feel like we can't possible understand). Check out the videos on my Social Skills (playlist). I will be adding more to it as I find things. I also use clips from Pixar movies to talk about emotions.

2) My two social skills diaries. My Feelings Journal and Conversation Junction. I like to use these files with my younger students as it gets them to practice their writing as well as brainstorming in discussions.

3) Jill Kuzma's SLP Social & Emotional Skill Sharing Site. I've talked about it before and will continue to praise this website as one of my favorites. Give yourself a couple of hours to explore all of the wonderful teaching ideas that she has posted. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

4) Books from your local library. I love using the Berenstain Bears books for social skill lessons. This series is a timeless classic. The possibilities are really endless with books. Jill Kuzma has a pinterest board dedicated just to books for social skills. I wish I could find all of them!

Hope some of these resources will help you!

SLP Facebook Frenzy

It's here! It's here! The SLP Frenzy is back!

I am so happy that the Frenzy ended up being this weekend. Our puppy goes in for surgery on Monday and this has been my main distraction from worrying. (Please, keep sending positive thoughts our way!)

How does the Frenzy work? It's pretty simple. You have to like each facebook fan page to get the exclusive freebie. There is a link to the following page or you can use the map above. We made sure that you will get a pretty wide variety of freebies to use with your students rather than sticking with one theme (like Valentine's Day). My freebie is for all of the basketball fans out there.

P.S. I won't admit who I normally pull for as they are pretty bad this year.

Reasons why I love being a school-based SLP

On the livejournal community, students and curious career seekers often ask what are the pros and cons to being a Speech-Language Pathologist. They've either heard the "horror stories" about the school setting or are blissfully unaware of these stories. 

Warning: The perfect job (career and setting) for me is not going to be perfect for someone else. We all have our own preferences and goals for the future. Plus, there really is no perfect job as we don't live in an ideal world. You just have to do the best with the options you are given. To me, working as a school-based SLP was the best option after a 6 year non-stop marathon of schooling. 

The Pros of Being a School-Based SLP:

1. Working with children. I know that children can be VERY honest ("You've gained a few pounds, no offense..." to quote one of my students) and VERY energetic at times. They may have some pretty bad behavioral issues. However, 9 times out of 10 they will do something that makes your heart melt. I also think that we have a ton of responsibility in the schools to set a good example for these students who may not always come from the best of backgrounds. They need a positive figure in their lives, someone who will inspire them to achieve their dreams and let them know that they are important. They are our future. 
2. Seeing a variety of delays. There is a HUGE misperception of our field and what we can do. Teachers know to come to us for speech sound errors, but many are shocked to hear that we can help with literacy skills. I get to see students who suffer from hearing impairments, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Downs Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, receptive & expressive language delays, and articulation disorders. I also get to face the challenges of being a mono-lingual SLP in an English-Language Learning world. I cannot be an expert on everything that I encounter, but I learn something new with every day that passes. (I love life-long learning.)
3.  Inclusion therapy and collaboration. It's not everyone's cup of tea. I have encountered a few therapists that are really against inclusion. I love it though, because I get to learn new tricks from our Exceptional Children's teachers for my tool-box. It also makes feel like my therapy is really relevant to what they are learning in class. (Sometimes, you do feel disconnected when you rely on pull-out methods for everything.)  
4. Being part of a team. The IEP team. I really like being able to interact with parents, teachers, and other professionals. 
5. In-house professional development. I will admit that there are many meetings/training programs that are not easy to apply to speech. The technology ones aren't my favorite since I don't have access to many of the programs that teachers need. However, I like that we do have workshops that are on-site. My school district has held some really awesome workshops, such as Orton-Gillingham for example. They love helping us learn how to better help our students. We even have our own mini-conference for staff to present to each other. It's truly a blessing that we have the opportunity to be leaders in our own community. 
6. Getting crafty. Not everyone enjoys making crafts as part of their therapy sessions. I really love that I can be creative and make things with my students. I'm really only limited by my imagination. 
7. Off-site professional development. While budget cuts are impacting our ability to go to as many workshops as we'd often like to, I think that my district does an excellent job of letting us go to good programs. I've been to the Beckman-Oral Motor workshop, ASHA 2012 Convention, NC Summer Institutes, and will be going to NC's spring convention this year. The best part is that I get to go with my peers. 
8. Summers "off". You can't leave this one off of the list. It doesn't mean that I don't do any work whatsoever. I still think about work and make things for the next year. It's just on a much more laid-back schedule with my favorite television shows playing in the background. (And, I can stop for days and just read for pleasure.)
9. Free weekends and holidays. I may bring work home occasionally on the weekends, but it is usually time for me. I need that time to recharge. 
10. The schedule. I am not the biggest fan of early mornings, but I appreciate getting off of work with the sun still shining outside during the winter. I also like that I generally have a routine in place. I'm one of those people who likes having an idea of what the day holds. 

(I would also like to add that I work in a very small school district so it has a very personal touch to it. Larger school districts may be very different.)

The Cons:

1.   The paperwork, specifically billing Medicaid. You have paperwork no matter what setting you end up in as an SLP. It's just a fact of life. I really enjoy writing, but there does come a point where you wonder why you have to repeat yourself so much. My biggest wish is that someone smart will come along and fix the forms to reduce the amount of information duplication. It takes away time that could really go towards the benefit of our students. 
2. The misconception that school-based SLPs are somehow less qualified than private/medically based therapists. We all get the same basic education in graduate school and have to meet the same standards to get our CCC's. 
3. The general lack of awareness of what our role is in the school setting. (This is why it's important to present to staff.)  

The most important thing to me is that I am where I need to be at this point in my life. 

Super Speech

I hope everyone is enjoying the extra long weekend. As I am gearing up for my presentation on Wednesday, I don't have time to write a huge post. I thought I would share a simple craft idea instead. This is my Articulation Super Cape. My students will get the opportunity to make their own capes next week. 

Can't wait to get this little guy laminated for future years of being used as a cape template.

I used the /k/ sound for my example cape. However, you can make a cape for just about anything. My older students will be making them for parts of speech. My social skills groups will be making capes for either a) emotions or b) whole body listening/speaking.

Take Grammar to Heart

I have to admit that I'm a little bit addicted to Dollar Tree. You can always find the best seasonal stuff at Dollar Tree. I spotted several Valentine-related items that were just too good to pass up. I bought two bags of plastic hearts for reinforcers (packs of 50 in either pink or red) and these heart message boxes. The minute I saw these little guys, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my older students....GRAMMAR REVIEW! Bwahahahaha.......Actually, they seem to really enjoy working on the parts of speech and how it relates to conversation breakdowns. 

I created a simple file of cards to insert into the boxes. I tried my best to keep the words related to Valentine's Day. It is organized by the part of speech you use, but you can mix them altogether depending on the focus. I plan to have my students create sentences using the words that they get in order to take the review a step further.

You can grab a copy of Conversation Hearts here.