Warning: This is a little non-speech related! This summer, I had a great time hanging out at home with my family.  We took a few weekend trips, took lots of bike rides, and did a lot of swimming.  It was awesome!  This summer, I also had a project in mind.  I wanted to create a space where I could work on my computer, creating fun activities.  I also wanted to create a space where my boys could work on homework. We had this room in our house that was a "playroom."  Only problem was, my kids didn't actually play in it.  They had a bunch of toys and things in there, but the toys were always played with in different locations.  The only thing they did do in there (besides collect junk) was color, draw, and do puzzles. This is the space that I decided would be perfect for a transformation!     I know, what a mess, right?   We took a trip to IKEA, and bought two desks to run across the back wall.  I picked up the chairs, shelves, and rug there too.  I have to ...

As we all know well, it is back to school time.  I wanted to bundle a few of my favorite products to get you started for the new year. Here is my Back to School SLP Bundle ! The items included in this bundle are: Auditory Farm No Frills Articulation: S and Z No Frills Articulation: R No Frills Articulation: L Secret Code Inferences Semantic Fishbowl Special Education Planner There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books: Phonemic Awareness Book Companion I think it is a great mix of articulation, language, and phonemic awareness, as well as a great planner for the year.  All of the items are reduced to 20% off when you purchase the bundle.  You can purchase the bundle HERE. Just wanted to let you know that this was out there.  I hope you are enjoying the last days of summer! Jen...

I have a confession to make.  I have been horrible with keeping track of my communication log at work.  I don't know what my mental block is against writing down when I speak with parents!  I decided that I needed a way to have it at my fingertips all of the time. I thought a lot about it, and decided that it could go in my planner.  But, I gave up on my planner last year and tried using my iPhone and iPad.  I kept track of everything on my devices, but always felt like I was missing the actual pen to paper.  So, this summer, I decided to create my own planner that could also hold my communication log, organize my IEP, Evaluation, and Screening dates, as well as take notes at staff meetings.  Everything would be in one place! I had so much fun making my binder!  I did not originally make it to put on TpT, but it turned out so cute, that I just had to share.  I also go a bit carried away and made a second version from another pattern packet that I had. Here it is... my Special...

Welcome to the Back to School SLP Blog Hop!   You will get the chance to collect great back to school ideas for SLPs,   win prizes and get freebies by touring 17 fantastic blogs!   Use the Linkytools at the bottom of this post to hop around 17 blogs, collect ideas and the clues!   Homework!   Ah, the dreaded word for students, parents, and sometimes even teachers.  When I started out as a speech pathologist in the schools, I wasn't really sure what to send home, or how to organize what I sent home.  Over the years, I have tried several different things.  I have sent home random pages for students to work on, I have made homework folders, and some years, frankly, I have thrown in the towel and not sent anything home.  Today, I am going to share some ideas of how to approach speech and language homework.  These seem to be the best ways I have found to get students and parents involved in working towards their speech and language goals.      Reward System T...

I have been thinking for a long time about this product I am about to share with you.  At my school, as I am sure is the case for many of you, I am asked to attend student achievement meetings.  Many times I am asked to screen students for language skills.  I am happy to do it, and can conduct a screening, but then what?  If the student appears that they are having difficulties, I can pick a couple of areas to target, but it always seemed a little haphazard to me.  After screening, I usually want to do at least 6-8 weeks of intervention before meeting again.  I thought, what if I could see the student everyday for about 5 minutes a day (similar to the Quick Articulation model).  How could I easily keep track of data and really target academically related language goals?  My idea was to create a daily workout for the speech language pathologist to complete with students. The first grade I targeted was Kindergarten.  I am often called into meetings around conference time regarding K...

Working on following directions can be tedious at times.  Virtual Speech Center has a great new app out that targets following directions in a fun way!  School of Multi-Step Directions  was developed to improve auditory comprehension of multi-step directions in the academic context.   I am so excited to share it with you! From the first page, you can select settings and make several changes to how items are presented.  One big option is that of enabling background noise.  The background noise can be turned on and added at different levels, which makes it ideal for working with children with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. To start, you select a student, and then choose a classroom to work in.  The options are English, Math, and Chemistry. The app developer describes each classroom as follows: English classroom: 2-step, 3-step and 4-step of unrelated directions with multiple levels of difficulty. Stimuli include: pictures, letters, and written words with color, s...