Kristin over at Simply Speech is hosting a linky looking to find out what some of our favorite board games of 2014 were.  My students love to play games, but sometimes I feel like we just don't have time when focusing on specific goals.  So, when I pull out a game, my students really get excited! The first game that I love to use to target a variety of skills is Go For The Dough  by Super Duper, Inc. This game is made to target synonyms, antonyms, definitions, categories, multiple meanings, and rhyming words.  Many times though, I just use the "money" and play it as an open ended game for targeting articulation or other language skill drills.  My students love earning "money" when they land on granny.  My favorite thing to do with this game recently is to use it with my EET.  Students use the items on the definitions money and also use the EET to describe.  We have been having a great time using the game this way! The next two games that I love are gam...

I have been using interactive books like these for years.  My ASD team purchased a few of the Pyramid Educational Consultants books back when I started in the ASD realm.  I can't even find the books that I have for sale anywhere now.  After we started using these, I realized that I wanted to make my own.  This was way before I really knew how to create products, and I think I created it in Microsoft Word.  For my friends who make products, you will understand that it took a LONG time to create this original product.  I have a really hard time formatting anything in Word.  It is just hard for me to get things to go where I want them to.   Anyway, back to my original books.  I made several winter themed books about what we do in winter vs. summer and also what do we wear in winter vs. summer.  These books were a big hit, and I used them for years. Fast forward to now...I have so many students who are struggling with sentence expansion, vocabulary, and answering simple questions.  I...

This weekend at Costco, I was lucky enough to come across a great Melissa and Doug package of birthday cake and pizza.  My own kids have these toys at home, but honestly, many pieces are missing, and a little beat up.  I was excited to find these toys at Costco for only $9.99 for the whole package!!!     What a great find, right?  I knew that I have a couple of students who will totally love using these, but they need some visual cues to create sentences and request.  I made these visuals, and wanted to share them with you in case you come across these great toys too!  You can get these visuals for free HERE .      I put everything in a box, laminated and put Velcro on the visuals, and now have a great little activity to work on requesting.  I plan on using it for requesting with single pictures, I want sentences, and using the attribute of color.       Hope you enjoy the freebie! Jen     ...

WARNING: This is a non-speech related post!  I totally understand if you stop reading now. :) Yesterday, I ran my first half-marathon in honor of my son, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was five years old.  The half-marathon was the culmination of many, many hours of training which definitely took me away from blogging and creating TpT products for a while.  Between working full-time, transporting two kids to all of their activities, and running several days a week, I was tired!!!  So, if you haven't seen me around much, now you know why. In July, I had a fundraiser in which many other SLP bloggers and TpT sellers donated items to form two different bundles to be sold on TpT.  This fundraiser was amazing, and allowed me to make a donation in the amount of $1,394 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)!  Thank you again to everyone who purchased one or both of these bundles!  Between this fundraiser, a small one I did with Jamberry Nails, and many gene...

I have been using the same types of homework incentive charts for years now.  I decided it was time for something different this year!!!  How about a bulletin board game?!?! The mascot at my school is the owl, so I use a lot of owls in my room.  This year, our PTA adopted a pirate theme, so we are now seeing lots of pirate owls all around school!  The theme also goes along with a theme our principal has adopted called "teach like a pirate."  This is based on some professional development by Dave Burgess .  Check him out, there is some great stuff there! So, back to my homework incentive chart.  I have wanted to make a large bulletin board game for a while now.  I found some really cute owl pirate clip art, and decided to go for it.  Students will all start at the owl pirate and follow the map to get to the treasure box.  They each have a ship with their name on it that will sail the "speechie seas."  I laminated each ship and put a tiny piece of adhesive putty ...

So this year, I was not able to get into my speech room until the last minute.   We had some major renovations done to my school, and I had to pack absolutely everything up.  I also have a student intern with me this fall and wanted to make sure to familiarize her with the school and procedures, etc. during my first two days back.  Because of these reasons, I really have not done anything too creative with my room yet.  I want to put together a cute bulletin board outside of my room, but it just has not happened yet.  I do, however, have something to share with you that is new to my room this year! At the end of this last school year, I came across this filing cabinet in a hallway at my school.  Someone was getting rid of this trash treasure. I am forever looking for new storage options for my room, and scooped it right up!  The custodian thought I was crazy for being excited about this, but I knew that I had big plans for this baby! First, I took off all of the handles and t...

***I am linking this post up with Speech Time Fun for her linky about how people use paper bags in speech!  I can't wait to see all the great ideas!*** A while ago, I was introduced to making paper bag scrapbooks.  They turn out so cute, and are so easy!  Last spring, I decided to try to make some articulation books using the paper bags.  I loved how they came out.  I was able to create pockets in the book for articulation cards- so fun!  I used the books with a few students, and they went over really well with them.  They loved coloring the pictures and placing them in the pockets.  I originally just made /s/ for a few of my students, and planned on making a variety of sounds to share.  Well, my slacker self got behind, and I never finished all of these books, until now! Introducing...Paper Bag Articulation Books!    To create these books, all you need is three paper lunch bags (I got 40 for $1 at Dollar Tree), a stapler, scissors, glue, and decorative tape (...

I am so excited to link up with Lauren over at Busy Bee Speech to tell you about my new planners that I have already put up on TpT!  A lot of you have already checked these out, and THANK YOU for that! Special Education Planner {Bright Colors and Black & White} There are two designs included in this product: Bright Colors and Black & White:   I have been crazy busy with my boys, camping, and just general summer fun, so this is the first chance I have had to sit down and really share with you all of the great additions that I have made to my planners.  Last year I made two planners that I used and shared with other SLPs and special education staff.  From using that planner at school, and listening to input from all of you, I have made some nice additions to this year's new designs!  All of my new pages are now also included in last years designs, so if you have purchased those previously, go and update because there are new pages included!  Special Education Pl...