{Frenzied SLPs} Summer Speech Therapy Carryover Activities

I'm teaming up with my Frenzied SLP Friends to talk about what to send home with your kids for summer.

A Confession

Can I be honest? I rarely send anything home. I don't send something to every student I see. I will send a packet home if the parent requests it, or if I have concerns about the student losing what skills he had before the break. I find that some of my kids will actually progress over the summer if they just get a break. I think we work so hard on the sound during the year that when their brains get a break from working on it something clicks and they correct it on their own.

Taking the Easy Way Out

For those students who receive a packet, I use LessonPix. Once I get my pictures in the tray, it takes all of about 10-15 minutes to get a packet together.  For those sounds that I made packets for last year, it's just a matter of printing and putting in a folder or big envelope.
Sample of what is included in a homework packet made with LessonPix
If you're not using LessonPix, you're really missing out! It's very affordable (only $36/year) and very user-friendly. The customer service is bar-none. I use it to print out pictures of words my students had trouble with during the session. I can search for the picture during therapy, save it in the tray and make a sheet for them to take home for practice in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. **Please be advised that LessonPix is for personal use only and may not be used for commercial products.**
Need more ideas for summer packets? Visit the links below!

Using Children's Books for Therapy: Story Retell

Retelling stories is listed as a common core standard as early as Kindergarten. With our language disabled students, we can't just jump in, tell a story, and expect the students to turn around and retell the story to us. So where do I start working with this skill?

Learning the Elements

As with the previous posts when I discussed auditory comprehension and articulation, I read the whole book first. I use Story Builder from Super Duper to teach my students the story elements. I explain to them that to tell a story, you have to have each of these elements or else the story won't make sense.
Before I even read a book, I spend some time making sure they know what each element means. Story Builder comes with a script to use to aid in teaching the elements. I used it at first but then came up with my own words and my own way to teach the elements.
Once the students have a decent grasp on each element, I read a book. Even if my students don't have sequencing as a goal, we will go through the sequences of the book since that will help with retell. Again, book companions are a great way to work on this skill.

3-Step Process

I use a "3-step process". Step 1: The students match the story element with the name of the element.
Step 2: The students draw pictures from the story for each element. Pictures are used for each element to give them a visual cue.
  Step 3: Depending on the age, the student can either draw the story element under each name or write the element.
I have the student, no matter which step they're on, take the paper home and go over it with their parent. Most of the books I use can be found on YouTube so the parent will be familiar with it. 

Be Patient

The student is not going to go through the 3 steps overnight. I have some younger students who have not made it past the first step after working on it for a year. I have some students who can go right to step 3. I would suggest beginning with step 1 to make sure that the student understands what each element is. 
The goal is for the student be able to retell a story and create their own story by having the visuals in their head. As we all know, this could translate into writing success. Our language disabled students need as many visuals as they can get, as well as repetition. Taking your time to teach the story elements is definitely of value for your students. 

Knowing Where to Start

I've started using the Test of Narrative Language-2 (Ronald B. Gillam and Nils A. Pearson) to determine exactly where a student is with these skills. That gives me a good idea of what skills the student already has and what to focus on during therapy sessions.
How do you work with this target? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this; leave them in the comments!

Using Children's Books for Therapy: Articulation

Using children's books for language therapy is pretty easy, right? What about articulation? When I first starting using books during therapy (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I felt like I was "wasting time" with my artic kids. As my therapy evolved, I've tried different things and now I feel pretty good about the time I spend reading a book to those students.

Putting the words in a natural context

I'm guilty of being so wrapped up in getting through those 28 Super Duper cards and getting my data that I overlook the importance of the students knowing what words have their targets. Using books puts the words in contexts so they can identify the words with the target and it makes working on that skill more natural.

When I read a book, I make sure I read extremely slowly while still adding emotion. (You don't want the students to fall asleep while reading!) I also stress the target sounds as much as possible. I've found that there are times when students have no idea what words contain their targets. I think it's important that students be able to identify words with their sounds.

Data...and all I did was read a book!

When I begin a new book, I may do one of three things:
1)  I may have the student count on their fingers how many times they hear their sounds, one page at a time. This takes a little bit of coordination on my part...I have to be able to count the sounds without letting them know I'm counting. (It gets a little hairy when I have 2 or more students working on different sounds.) Sometimes I'll make a game out of it: I will have the students count; whoever has the correct number gets a point. If no one has the right number, I get a point. The one with the most points is the winner. Following each page, I'll re-read the page and we'll count together. This reinforces the words they counted or didn't count.
2) I'll read the whole book with the target sounds emphasized. I'll give the student a sheet and he will make a mark each time he hears his sound. At the end of the book, I'll count how many he had. Then I'll tell him how many he should have had. This requires counting the sounds prior to the session. I put the sound along with the number on a sticky note & place it on the front cover of the book.
Click on the picture for a bigger view.
I use a very simple form. There are 25 boxes/line with 4 lines so it's quick & easy to count the tallies. Just in case the book has more than 100 words for a sound, I put another slightly separate 100 boxes just below the first 100.  After the book has been read, I write how many words they counted over how many there actually are. Then a quick tap on the calculator & I have something to put in for data for that day. And all I did was a read a book!!!
To download your own copy, click here.
3) During 5 minute days, instead of using auditory bombardment for the listening station, I will record the book on my iPad. (I use the free QuickVoice app) When the student is at the listening station, he listens for words with his sound in the book. The books have to meet very specific criteria: they can't take more than 5 minutes to read, so the listening works perfectly into the listening station.

The quick & easy way to plan...

I love using book companions (I happen to have quite a few in my TpT store!) because the planning is so easy. I always play a game, whether it is a competitive or cooperative game, and I always have homework. Do you have to have a book companion? Absolutely not. Before there was such a thing as book companions or TpT I would choose a game that had roughly the same theme as the book. I would do the same thing with homework. But...having book companions is a really quick way to pull what I need. Most weeks all I have to do is pull out the companion, make copies for the homework, and I'm all set.

Let the carry-over begin!

I used to get all stressed out if I didn't finish activities for a book in a week, but I'm beginning to realize that it's better to take things slow and really let the book sink in. Let the words that contain the students' target sounds sink in and allow that carry-over to occur. And I've realized that if it takes one group longer than others, it's really okay. That's where the book companions come in handy...I can stay on a book longer with a group and then go ahead and start on another book or another activity with other groups.

If you aren't using books during articulation therapy, now is the right time to start! It makes therapy sessions fun and in my opinion more meaningful to the student. If you already use books I hope this post will give you an idea or two to use.
I'm always open to new ideas, so if you have any leave a comment or email me!
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