Screening Funnies

All of the Kindergarten Screenings for my school system have been done!  We are divided into teams, and then the teams descend on a school, sweep into a class, and get them done in no time.  We use the PLS-4 Screen, and are transitioning to the PLS-5 Screen.  Here are just a few funnies we heard this week:
~ If I touch something that is cold, I could say, "It's as cold as a ______"
                 Naked dog

~ I screened a boy named Jack, and when I said, "Jack shared a cookie with his brother", Jack said, "I don't have a brother.  I have a sister." Once I explained that it was a different Jack, he was fine.

~  Which doesn't belong:  a carrot, shirt, shorts, dress.  The boy answered correctly, and I followed up with, "You don't wear a carrot, do you?" The boy answered back with, "But snowmans wear carrots."

~ It's as cold as a _______
    Snowy winter with a seal in it  (this was by the same boy from the previous statement)

~  During the articulation portion, the SLP kept asking the child to repeat what she said.  Finally, the girl said, "You might want to get your hearing checked.  My mama said you could do it."

Hope you enjoyed these.  I'm still laughing, so I guess it's not time to retire yet!

Bilingual Articulation Phonology Assessment

Disclosure:  Smarty Ears donated this app to me free of charge and asked that I post a review on my blog.  The opinions below are my own.
(For larger pictures, click on a picture.)
I was very excited to get this new app from Smarty Ears, especially since it is the first normed articulation test in app form. I found the administration to be very similar to the Sunny Articulation & Phonology Test Kit. Even though this test is a bilingual test, it is also appropriate to give to an "English Speaking Only" child. When adding a student's information, you have the choice of English, Spanish, or Both:

First Week in Review of the School Year

Old School Speech
One week of therapy down! I don't feel very organized with my therapy planning yet.  We have Kindergarten Screenings next week, so I may see some students on Mon./Wed. afternoon.  The next week is Labor Day, so I have a 3 day week since I'm taking a personal day that Friday. The week after that, it'll be business as usual. I spent the first week with my kids gathering baseline data and trying to figure out what they need to be working on, especially at my new/old school.  
Since we start school in the summer, I decided to start off with a beach theme.  So of course I had to use There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell.  I've found with companion packets that I end up needing to buy 2 different packets so that I hit the targets that my kids are working on.  This past week, I read the book with my 1st - 5th graders, and they played the following as games: (From Simply Speech)
We also played the open-ended game, and my Kindergarten students completed the mini-book from Crazy Speech World's Companion Packet. (I forgot to take pictures!)
Since I'm at a new/old school (I'm back at a school that I left 2 years ago), I don't know most of the students. I'm trying to feel my way with some of them as far as exactly where they are with their speech/language skills. 

It's a Dream Job + Scheduling

I just finished half of a week of therapy with no glitches in my schedule.  Honestly, when I hear about other SLPs  having such a hard time with scheduling, I just shake my head.  Now, you have to remember, I have an absolute dream job.  Yes, even after my 9th year in this school system, I can still say that.  The reason is that, even though I have over 60 students on my caseload, I don't see that many. (I see a little more than half of my caseload for services.) My school system has chosen to contract for the medicaid students' speech/language therapy.  What does that mean?  I do the paperwork that goes along with the IEP Process, and the contract company does the evaluating and conducts the therapy.  They send us their evaluation reports, and, this year, they will do their own progress reports.  We plug the information from their reports into our online IEP program and hold the meetings.  There are times when there are a few tweaks we have to make:  we write the IEP as if we are going to see the student in therapy.  If the student's medicaid should term, we would pick them up immediately so there is not a disruption of services.

How to Use Labels for Collecting Data


Hopefully this will clear up any questions anyone may have about how I use labels for collecting data.  It's very quick, very easy, and no ink cartridges are involved!
 
Questions?  Leave a comment below, or email me at:  tnslp29@gmail.com

Mountain School

I revealed the layout and decor of my new/old school a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would do a quick video of my "mountain school"!
I absolutely love my room in this school!  It's small and away from everything, but not too far away!  I get left alone, so it's very nice.  I don't have the room that my new/old school has, but I'm only here 2 days, so it's enough.  And, it does have 2 fairly large windows so I don't feel cramped.
How does it compare to your room?

Paper or Paperless?

This time of year, it's extremely difficult for me to restrain myself from buying cutesie calendars & planners.  From TpT to Office Supply Stores, there are more than a few choices.  I use my utmost restraint and don't buy them.  Some people say they have to have the paper in their hands, and that's okay.  Sometimes I feel the need to have something to hold, too.
What's the alternative?  Last year, I discovered that my Outlook Calendar was underutilized.  Not just by me, but by the teachers in my schools as well.  I absolutely love using Outlook.  I have access to my calendar on my computers at both of my schools, I can access it on my home computer, and it syncs to my iPad.  
I color-code my categories:  To Do, Tentative IEP Meetings, Scheduled IEP Meetings, etc.
It has saved me an enormous amount of time when scheduling meetings.  I double click on the date I want, and type in the subject as well as the other information.  Then, I click on "attendees", type in their addresses, and hit "send".  When the attendees get the email, they either accept or deny, and I get the response.  If they accept the day/time, it automatically appears on their calendar.  If they deny it, I know to try again.  You just wouldn't believe how much time this has saved.  
Unfortunately, one of my schools isn't quite a tech savvy as the other one, so they are having an adjustment period.  I told the faculty in a meeting that I have gone paperless with meetings, and that they would no longer receive a paper invitation to meetings. 
 There is a way to track your responses to your invitations so you can refer back and resend the invitation if needed.  If you need to change the day/time and the attendees have already responded, you can go into the calendar, click on the meeting, change the information, and you will get a pop-up box that asks if you want to send the revision to all attendees.  It's that easy.
Does your school system use Outlook or some other program that will do the same thing?  Or, are you a "paper person" & like it that way?

The Big Reveal!

A few weeks ago I posted a video of my room. And now...the big reveal!


One thing:  I meant to say "Jenn" instead of "Jenna".  (I knew I'd mess that up and say the wrong name!) 
 Special shout-out to Katie Winfrey for suggesting the calendar outlined with Washi Tape.  The calendar numbers are from 3 Dinosaurs (http://3dinosaurs.com/wordpress/index.php/beach-calendar/).
Speech Slides and Language Ladders Bulletin Board is a freebie from Sublime Speech.  It is totally awesome of her to keep this free!  In the bag (that I decided to not show you) are  Game Pieces from AliMath (another freebie!).  
I'll write the students' initials with a dry-erase marker so they can tell which game piece is theirs.  
The Speech & Language Banner is from Heather's Speech Therapy.  Instead of punching holes in the individual letters, I hung the letters on black & white polka dot ribbon with these super cute clothespins I found at  Michael's:
They come in different colors; I'm using the black & white ones for my "artic ladder".
I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room.  I changed some things at my mountain school, but I have pretty much the same reinforcements, just in different colors.

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