Smarty Ears Apps has a new app out that helps to screen basic concepts.  It is called... Basic Concepts Skill Screener. This is a great new app that was developed for the purpose of evaluating and describing the basic concepts skills of children at the receptive level.  It is individually administered so that you can establish a baseline of basic concepts that are in error. There are two options for this screener: Full Screening (79 items) and Quick Screening (30 items). The administration time for the full screener is 10-15 minutes, while the quick screening takes about 5 minutes.  My five year old son took the quick screening and finished in about five minutes.  He was starting to get a little distracted toward the end though, so I would guess that he would need a little break while doing the full screener. To begin, you enter the student's name and date of birth.  Then, you select the student and decide if you will administer the full screening or the quick screening. ...

I have a birthday this week, and I also have friends who have kids with birthdays this week.  The kids are going to be one and five years old.  I'm not saying how old I am going to be!  Anyway, it got me thinking about gifts for kids.  I really love to give books, but I also like to give a little toy to go with it.  There are so many reasons why books are great for kids, but I also feel like there are so many reasons why toys are great for kids too!  Both choices allow kids to explore and use their imagination. I have compiled a list of five different books that are great for gift giving, and five toys that go along with each.  Sorry, I think my list might skew a bit towards boys (I swear that is all I ever buy for), but I also have one more girly options too.  All of these books and toys are geared towards birth to about five or six years old. Here are my choices: ( if you click on each picture, it will take you to a place that you can purchase these items ) 1.  Goodnight...

Phew!  That is a mouthful of a title!  TpT wouldn't even allow the whole title because it had too many characters!  But, I love this book, and am so exited to share my newest phonemic awareness book companion with you! There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books: Phonemic Awareness Book Companion     This is based on the book by Lucille Colandro .  This book companion contains activities that work on rhyme awareness, rhyme generation, syllable awareness, syllable blending, and monosyllable word blending (onset/rime).  The activities are as follows:   How Many Syllables?- Students count the number of syllables, and use Do-A-Dot markers to complete the activity. (4 worksheets)   Blending Syllables– Students listen to two syllables, and state the word that they hear. (18 cards and game board)   Recognizing Rhyme- Students listen to two words, and then state if the two words rhyme. (24 cards and 2 mats)   Generating Rh...

Speech Room News has a great new feature she is doing on her blog once a month.  It is a linky where bloggers can "link up" and leave lists of things they love pertaining to a certain topic each month.  This month is Games I Love!  I have a few go to games that my students always request. 1.  The first one is Go For The Dough from Super Duper, Inc.     My students constantly ask for this game.  Basically, you just use game pieces to go around the game board and try to deliver pizza to granny.  For each turn, you have to answer a question to earn a dollar.  The dollar goes in a pot in the middle.  If you land on granny, then you get to keep all of the money in the pot.  I use the game the way it is intended with the money, but I also use it just as a reinforcing game.  To use it with the money, you follow the directions on the money.  There are six different areas to target: Categories, Opposites, Definitions, Rhyming Words, Multiple Meanings, and Synon...

Thanks to everyone for participating in our first SLP Trivia Night!  I hope you had fun!  Here are the answers to each round of questions: Round One 1.        What is the date of my first blog post on SpeechUniverse.blogspot.com? November 24, 2012 2.      I live in Michigan.   Which university did I go to for my undergraduate degree?   Western Michigan University 3.      I left Michigan for a couple of years to go to grad school.   Where did I go?  Northern Arizona University 4.      On my TpT store ( http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Jennifer-Shamberger ), all of my book companions focus on which skill?  Phonemic Awareness 5.      What is the name of my most recent paid product?   (Hint: look at the banner at the top of my store.)   No Frills Articulation Bundle Round Two 1.       What does AAC stand for? Augmentative and Alternative Communication 2.     Name the   well-known AAC user who wrote A Brief History of Time . Stephen Hawking ...

Nicole over at Speech Peeps is having a linky party for product feedback.  Giving great feedback on TpT helps me to see how people are using my products, and it also gives you credits to use towards your next purchase.   My favorite kind of feedback tells me how you are using my product, or plan to use it.  I think that it gives people further ideas when they are reading comments to determine if they will purchase a product.  Here is an example of great feedback:     Tammie Grismer- please email me at speechuniverse @gmail.com with your choice of a FREE product from my TpT store!   The feedback was for my product, Secret Code Inferences , which you can find at my TpT store HERE .   Stay tuned, as this will be a monthly feature.  If you leave great feedback on your next TpT purchase, you may be the lucky winner of a free product too!   Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!   Jen              ...

  Tomorrow starts a great new feature by a variety of your favorite SLP bloggers.  We are taking turns hosting SLP Trivia Nights!   Tomorrow I will be hosting this event on my Speech Universe Facebook page at 9:00 p.m. (EST).  I am going to have three different rounds.  The first one at 9:00 will focus on getting to know my blog and TpT store a little bit.  The second round at 9:10 will focus on Autism.  The third round at 9:20 will focus on Augmentative and Alternative Communication.    There will be five questions in each round.  I will have you email me the answers to all five questions at speechuniverse @gmail.com .  After 10 minutes, I will choose three winners via random.org from the pool of people who got all five questions correct.   Winners will receive a choice of product from my TpT store!   Thanks to Kristin over at Simpy Speech for setting this up!  Thanks also to Carrie over at Carries Speech Corner for the super cute graphic at the top of this pa...

Smarty Ears has done it again!  They have just come out with a new app called Describe It To Me. I am constantly looking for ways to work on describing with my students.  I am hoping to purchase the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) system this fall, and this app seems to fall right in line with that way of thinking. Developed by a speech-language pathologist, Describe It To Me is a game that is designed to help improve both receptive and expressive language skills, specifically in the area of describing items.  To begin this app, you first add and select the players.  You can add your own players or you can import players from Therapy Report Center if you use it. While you are selecting players, you can also change the settings of the app.  You can choose to change what happens when students get an incorrect answer, what to do when a student gets a correct answer, choose whether or not to display points, use the spinner, and also customize words used. Next, you will be a...