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My Speech Universe: December 2014

31 December 2014

Favorite Board Games 2014

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.

http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=GB339&stid=#.VJdXkCcBg

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 games that we use with our social language groups of students with ASD.  I listed the links to these on Amazon, however I have often seen both of these games at Toys R Us and Target.


Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is a super cute game.  We use this one a variety of ways.  My favorite way to use this game is when we have our kindergarten ASD students with their general ed SNAPs (Students Need a Pal) 5th grade friends.  We have the fifth graders hold the acorns, and the students with ASD use their PECS books or verbal request for the color of acorn that they want.  They just don't seem to have the patience for the spinners yet.


Zingo is also a great game to use with our younger students with ASD.  It is great for turn taking, and we even have them offering items they don't need to other students to get more interaction.




My final favorite game this year is Pirate Talk, also by Super Duper, Inc.  I often use this as an open ended game to target any skill.  My students absolutely LOVE earning the gold coins!  The cards that are included are good too.  There are receptive and expressive skills targeted.

Those are my favorite go-to games right now.  What are your favorites?

You can check out lots of favorites over at Simply Speech.  Just scroll down to find the linky at the end of her post.

06 December 2014

Winter Interactive Books {Visuals/AAC}

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 wanted to update my books (they were looking a little old, tattered, and dated) for use with a variety of my students.  The first two that I have made are: Winter Activities and Winter Clothes.



http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Interactive-Books-1590538

Both of these books have already been big hits with my students with ASD (and their teachers) as well as some of my students in Kindergarten and First Grade who are working on some different language skills such as answering questions and expanding utterance length.

These books are really easy to put together and use:
Print and laminate all pages.
Cut the top half of the book pages.  Leave the last page whole (this is where you will store your interactive pieces.
Hole punch all pages within the black box.  I use two holes.  Then, place the book pages on top of The last page.  Bind the book using book rings.  Another option would be to bind the book with a binding machine.
Cut out the interactive pieces.
Place a piece of hook Velcro on each sentence square on each book page, as well as on top of each square picture on the last page.  Place a piece of loop Velcro on the back of each interactive piece.  Store these pieces on the last page.
Students will read the book, and move the interactive pieces to the sentence box for each page.



You can find these books at my TpT store HERE.  There will be more to come!  I already have my summer ones completed, just haven't totally tested them out yet.  I'll keep you updated as more of these come out.

***Updated Winter 2015!!! I have added an additional book to this set.   What Do You See? is the latest book.  My students did really well using the spring, summer, and fall versions of this, so I went back and added the What Do You See? for winter.




Hopefully you and your students enjoy these as much as we have!


02 December 2014

Pizza and Birthday Cake Fun! {FREEBIE}


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.
 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Visual-SupportsAAC-for-Pizza-and-Birthday-Cake-Toys-1592055

 
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