The end of the school year is always a stressful time for me.  I have not only all of my end of the year IEPs, evaluations, and progress reports to complete, but I also have all of my own kids end of the year activities and sports to contend with too.  Some days it can just be completely overwhelming.  Some days when I get really frazzled, I like to go out for a run and clear my head.  But, taking a run isn't always possible in my world, so I need something else to calm my nerves (besides a nice cold craft beer). Five years ago, my husband had some pretty major health problems and ended up needing numerous surgeries, and finally, a kidney transplant.  While I was in the waiting room the day he received his kidney, I was given a gift from some volunteers.  The volunteers were from the Gifts of Art program at the University of Michigan.  They gave me a brand new box of crayons and a coloring book.  I loved to color when I was little, and truly had not done it in years.  My kids ...

This week Gold Country SLP is hosting a Linky Party that is highlighting great summer homework activities that are all available in black and white! I am going to share with you my Summer of Speech and Language Calendars today.  These have been updated for the summer of 2015, and will continue to be updated for each summer coming up, so you will always have calendars available to you with the correct dates!  After you purchase this pack, you will be able to re-download the updated files each year. These calendars come in both color and black and white versions, so if you are looking for something that will save you ink, you do not need to use the colored versions. There are articulation and language calendars included in this packet: Here is an example of a color version: I have used these for three years now, and I always get compliments from parents each fall.  They love the simple activities that are included, and the fact that it does not take them a ...

I have so many students working on sequencing and describing pictures in sequence.  I am constantly looking for new ways to target this, as my students sometimes quickly learn my pictures, and it is not longer a challenge for them.  When I found out about Colorcards Apps , I jumped at the chance to check them out and review them! These are five great apps focus on using real-life pictures for sequencing, predicting, and describing. The apps are engaging, and lead to some great descriptions and stories! The main reason that I was really interested in these apps is for the sequencing.  There are actually three different apps for this: Basic Sequences App : This one has three pictures for students to sequence. 4-Step :  This app has four pictures that students sequence. 6 & 8 Step :  This app has six and eight step picture sequences. All of the apps begin with similar opening pages: Each of the apps offer four different activities: Ordering : students move t...