Blessings

As I turned another year older this past week, I have done a lot of reflection on my life and clinical practice thus far. I thought I would share just a few thoughts that remind me of how blessed I am.

~I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who tries to help me in my never ending pursuit to find for X, Y, or Z for my students. Heck, sometimes he finds stuff on his own and notices that it might be something I can use.
~I am blessed to have both of my parents. At the beginning of my sophomore year in college my father nearly died in a car accident. A heavy duty work truck was driving above the speed limit on the other side of the road when his breaks went out and he went into my dad's lane rather than the ditch. This accident is what led me to find my career.
~I am blessed to be in the position to be able to help with my grandmother. As much as we can drive each other crazy sometimes, I am glad for this time with her because it is precious. It's hard to believe that she is my last living grandparent.
~I am blessed to have three wonderful fur babies. I am also grateful for all of my previous pets and the ones that are still with my parents.
~I am blessed to have wonderful friends.
~I am blessed to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. I get to touch the lives of so many people for the better.
~I am blessed to be healthy.
 ~I am blessed to have creativity.
~I am blessed to have my education (especially my time at Salem College).
~I am blessed to be a blogger. I have met so many incredible people and learned about so many exciting things through this blog.

Lately....

As my Facebook followers have seen, I have been battling it out with a nasty ear infection for the past week. It is an interesting experience as an adult, particularly as an SLP. The pain was excruciating. Luckily, I already had an appointment to be checked for strep so I was put on antibotics within 3 hours of it flaring up. (My poor husband has had strep for the past week.) It really makes me wonder about the children we catch during mass hearing screenings that have had an infection for months without anyone knowing. Not being able to hear out of my left ear is about to drive me bonkers! 

In other news, I wanted to share my newest therapy tool that I created after watching the SLP Institute. They had a course about sensory bins and it reminded me of how much my students enjoy using my Mr. Potato Head bin. I found a dinosaur play set over the weekend at Mighty Dollar and couldn't resist. The total cost for the bin was about $3 including tax. I'm going to hunt for some superhero figurines, particularly Batman, and make another one before this school year is over. 

You can target so many goals with these bins and it barely takes any effort at all to make them. I will be using this one for prepositions mostly.

The Mid-Year Blues....

I saw this picture on facebook today and thought that it was poetic justice. I had to share it.

I've never really had a bad case of the mid-year blues before. I've had plenty of hectic Easters/springs so that is something that I know to expect. I'm not quite sure why this year has been so different. Perhaps it is because we've had such an overrun of referrals before that we normally don't get until March or all the technical difficulties I've had recently with my work computer....(I now know that I have the oldest laptop in the district and they don't make parts for it anymore). It could also be because of all the different health problems my grandmother has run into since the summer. I've just started a crash course lesson in high blood pressure and vertigo that I pray will get better with Physical Therapy.

I've been trying to find an outlet for all of the stress that I'm feeling. My wonderful husband actually helped me come up with the only one that seems to work....Sweatin' with the Oldies. I know it's terribly dated and silly, but Richard Simmons was definitely on to something with his over the top videos. It actually makes me want to get up and exercise. His facial expressions alone are worth watching even if you don't do the actual exercises.

The other outlet that I'm using is professional development. I love to learn and find new things to try with my students. I recently watched the SLP Summit videos and found the one on Sensory Bins to be really good. It's something that I've known about and briefly tried with Mr. Potato Head pieces. I think it's time to revisit this tool and give it more of a chance with my kindergarten groups. I am also starting to read research articles related to adult therapy as I don't want to lose those clinical skills. Even though I plan to work in the schools for a long time to come, I am thinking about trying to get a PRN job this summer at a nursing home since I want to get a certificate in Assistive Technology. I've asked about getting some help through work, but I'm pretty sure all of the lovely state budget cuts have killed what help we used to get for this kind of training. We shall see how it goes. I was one of the few in my graduate program to miss out on a skilled nursing facility placement and I don't know much about what to expect.

Because I am always amazed.....

I am someone who absolutely loves to learn for the sake of learning. I want to grow and I was not disappointed by the experiences I had at this year's NCSHLA's spring conference. It was wonderful. 

What did I attend?

• Visual Immersion System: Communication Enhancement for Autism Spectrum Disorders by Howard Shane
• School-Aged Stuttering: A Practical Approach by J. Scott Yaruss
• Don't Worry, Be App-y by Kimberly Lewis
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Multi-Sensory Approach to Achieving Speech Outcomes by David Hammer
• How to Make a Cold Retelling Hot with Story Grammar Marker by Maryellen Rooney Moreau 

One of the best tips I learned came from Mr. Hammer's session. It's so simple that it makes you want to take a step back and say "well, duh!" or "Why didn't I think of that sooner?". He told us that he uses a piece of string (ribbon or shoelaces work well too) with a bead on the end to help students working on final consonant deletion. It gives them a multi-sensory reminder to put that sound on the end. They hold out the vowel as they slide their hand down to the bead/final consonant. I've been using this trick and it has made a real difference for my students.

I was also very impressed with Dr. Shane's idea of video modeling clips for students. He shows his clients little video clips of what he wants them to do with little manipulatives (like a little doll going up a ladder) instead of relying on live clinician models. Some students really respond better to this. While I don't have any students that I can try this with right now, I am definitely going to save this idea for my bag of tricks. 

Part Two of my recent finds....

Last week, I posted about my recent discovery of the Entire World of R products. I absolutely love their two story books, but I also needed something for students who aren't quite ready for reading paragraphs. I started out by simply writing two to three target phrases on sentence strips. These work really well if you have students who are struggling readers. You have complete control over the words that they will encounter. I wanted something similar for targeting sentence level, but I didn't have time to make my own. Luckily, I noticed that Amazon also carried the Entire World of R flip books. 

It's an eight book set that targets the different variations of /r/ in every position of words. It's $84 on Amazon which is definitely hard to swallow when you first see the books. Why? They are printed on some sort of cardboard-like paper that students can easily destroy by bending or inadvertently ripping out when turning the pages too roughly. I wish they were made more similarly to Super Duper's flip books and turn & talk series. It is a pretty big negative for a material that is very useful otherwise. I really like how students can mix up the pages to create their own silly sentence or just follow the original order of the pages. (Would I buy it out of pocket again now? No. This is something I think would be better on a purchase request given the questionable quality.)

The second material we are currently enjoying in my room is Alfredo's Food Fight. This was Goodwill find in the .50 cent game section. I took a chance and bought it without doing a thorough inspection of game pieces. I was lucky to find out that it was complete and barely used. 

The object of the game is to throw meatballs at Alfredo as he spins around. The fork launchers can be a little testy if you aren't paying attention to the "noodles" (yarn). It's really bad to get stuck in the forks. However, it is hilarious to see the meatballs flying around. I have used this with preschoolers and fifth graders alike. It is something that they all have loved and request to play again.

Kicking up articulation therapy a notch.....

Between struggling with bronchitis for three weeks and watching two family members fight fraudulent credt/debit card charges, I have been less than motivated to do much of anything besides sleep. I did; however, discover several new materials recently that have made my life a little bit easier. 

My favorite finds are these two books of carryover stores from Say It Right that I found on Amazon. 

The Entire World of /R/ Book of Stories contains simple sound loaded paragraphs for /r/ in its various forms. Each story has 3 comprehension questions that students can either respond to aloud or write down. I typically end up asking more than just the three for additional practice at the spontaneous speech level. This book has been wonderful for my third and fourth grade students. Even though the stories are obviously fictitious, they hold the interest of my students in a way that some of the ones on Communication Connects do not (I can't complain too much about getting those stories for free though). The stories have some challenging words that I model but most of them are decodable. At $35, it is something that I would recommend for people who have a large amount of articulation students on their caseload.

The Big Book of  R Carryover Stories also contains sound loaded paragraph stories with comprehension questions for /r/ in its various forms. The stories in this book are longer and often more challenging than the yellow book. I've used it with fourth and fifth grade students, but I can see this easily carrying over into the middle school therapy room as well. I like this book because it is not nearly as difficult as the You Decide : Carryover Articulation Stories for S and R book that my previous district had. (Granted, that book is another great resource for more advanced readers/grade levels.) You can have each student read their own story at around 5 minutes apiece versus nearly 20 for the other. At another $35, it is something that I would recommend for people who have a large amount of upper elementary articulation students on their caseload.

Overall, I am really happy that I decided to bite the bullet and purchase these two books out of pocket. I can really envision using them for years to come.

The Inclusion Files: Adventures in Math Vocabulary

Let me just start everyone off with a warning, I am definitely one of those people who went into Speech-Language Pathology precisely because I'm not a huge fan of math. I love chronological age calculators (any calculator really), tally marks, and simple percentages. 

So, without further adieu, welcome to a brief crash course introduction to Common Core Math through the eyes of an SLP.

There are lots of blocks and they go everywhere. (I recommend walking very carefully.)

These lovely blue (and sometimes wooden) blocks are base ten pieces. I admit that I do like these little blocks as they are a great visual and tactile cue. My students don't have to draw a million circles, sticks, dots, squares, count all their fingers and toes, etc to count out each number. They just grab X of whatever manipulative that represents that placement. What I don't like are the names for these blocks. "Blocks" (thousands), "flats" (hundreds), "skinnies/rods" (tens), and "bits" (ones)....even if it does sort of describe the way they look. Mostly, I find it frustrating because I have to call them one name here and another name there. It's confusing for me and I'd imagine that the students get confused too. Consistency is key. 

They also get to learn how to draw this really spiffy chart to use with the base ten pieces. They can write the number and then draw it in base ten form to solve equations. It's another great visual. The only bad part is when the students have to take all of this stuff and turn it into "expanded/extended form".

To me, writing in expanded form is basically writing what you put in the graphic organizer again. Some students get really frustrated with having to write all of this out as they know it's already there. They may even glare daggers at you.

And, "carrying over/regrouping"....The more I think about it, the less I want to say about this particular topic.

Math is a great time to work on following directions, initiating interactions and responding, and vocabulary. It just takes time, a dash of ingenuity, and very patient teachers who can put up with a million questions after their students go home. (And, my favorite lessons are the ones that involve least and greatest.) 

Goodwill Retail vs. Goodwill Outlet

No two thrift stores are alike. They all have their own unique vibe and clientele as weird as that may sound. If you go into enough of them, I can promise that you will start to pick up on little differences even in the commercial thrift stores. The biggest one that comes to my mind is Goodwill and it is certainly trending right now in the School-Based SLP facebook group. Did you know that there are two different versions of Goodwill?

I have grown up shopping at my local Goodwill retail store. It's probably the nicest of our three thrift stores. Everything is fairly well-organized (asides from what customers move around) and clean. So I will go ahead and admit that I have a bit of a bias even though I have been to several different outlet stores as well.

Goodwill Retail Pros:

1. Shelving. At most Goodwill retail stores, books and games are generally stored on shelves. (I've been to a few that store the games with toys on top of clothes racks to better protect them from little hands.) The shelves make it really easy to see the merchandise and pick out what you want. 
2. Atmosphere. At the retail stores, you rarely ever see people with gloves on their hands and masks on their faces. You can easily see the clean items from the dirty ones without ever having to touch them (yay shelving!). 
3. No swarms of people. You just walk down the aisle and look for treasures. The clothing section is known for some buggy bumper cars from time to time, but most of the time you don't have to fight to look. 
4. Clear prices. Having a rough estimate of how much you've spent before you get to the register is truly a wonderful thing. 
5. Watchful staff. This is always a plus when parents decide to use the store as a daycare center.  

Goodwill Retail Cons:

1. Antique dealers. Some of them are really bad about buying up all the toys and games to resale in about 20 years.
2. Favoritism. Goodwill has signs up everywhere about "it's only fair" but I have seen them hold stuff back for certain customers. They will bring the item directly to that customer without ever letting it go on the floor. 
3. Mark ups on items they think are popular, antique, or new. Melissa and Doug items are usually the worst.  
4. Missing pieces. This isn't really a fault of Goodwill per say, but you really have to check to make sure games have all of their pieces in the store. 

Goodwill Outlet Pros:

1. Buy by the pound. This can be cheaper for children's books and some games. I'm not sure that it is always a plus.
2. You get the thrill of going on a scavenger hunt by digging through the bins. 
3. It's essentially fair- The workers make everyone stand back until the bin is in place. However, the regulars have a swarming system that generally makes it difficult to look until they are finished. 

Goodwill Outlet Cons:

1. It's not as clean as the retail stores. Things get broken in those bins and the staff doesn't remove them until the bin is taken to the back. 
2. The swarms. It's a mad rush to get the best finds out of the bins. I've seen kids throw stuff in the way and push people out to help their parents get the best stuff. 
3. Unsupervised children. Enough said. 
4. Lack of shelves. It's really hard to see little stuff (namely figurines & small game pieces) in the bins. It takes much more effort to find items.

(You can check out this blog post for a very detailed description of one outlet store.) 

Tips for Goodwill Outlet Shopping:

1. Bring hand sanitizer- I always feel exceptionally nasty after digging through the bins at the Goodwill outlet. It's fun, but you really don't know who's been digging through the bins before you. 
2. Give yourself plenty of time- It takes a while to dig through the bins- even the ones that have been picked over- for those hidden treasures. 
3. Look through the bins that have less traffic. Yes, they have been picked over already but you can find things that were lost in the shuffle.
4. Be prepared to be frustrated by the regulars. You will see them with mounds of things that you wish you could buy for your therapy room. It's like they have a secret talent at finding wonderful toys in a haystack. 

I think that every Goodwill shopper should try going to the outlet store once. It's something that you really just have to experience to understand. However, I strongly believe that the retail stores are the better way to go for therapy materials.