Words, Pictures, Sentences, or All of the Above on Articulation Cards?

I need to preface this post by saying this is completely my preference. To each his own when it comes to what we prefer in our therapy rooms! When it comes to articulation therapy, what do you prefer: words, pictures, or all of the above on your articulation cards?

A Feeling of Independence

Personally, I prefer the picture with a word. I've used Super Duper's cards for most of my career, at least since the company is been in existence. I appreciate the target sound being in red ink. I use that to talk about where in the word the target is. An added plus is that it helps the student with their reading. We will tap out the word like they learned in the classroom to determine which position their sound is. With the /r/, we look at the letter before the 'r' to determine if they should anchor their tongues for a beautiful vocalic /r/.  For homework with the older students, many times I will have them write the words they didn't produce correctly and take that home for homework. When the word is on the card they can copy it onto the homework sheet. This gives them a bit of a feeling of independence and doesn't make them feel less than adequate because I don't have to spell the word for them.

Avoiding "Robot Speech"

Once the student is on the sentence level, I don't want dependence on a written sentence. I want spontaneous responses in the student's own voice. I use Smarty Ears Articulate It! with my Quick Speech students. When they are on the sentence level I don't change the level; I want them to make up the sentence. If the student is not a fluent reader, having the written sentence under the picture may hinder the sentence being spontaneous. Likewise, if the student is a non-reader, there may also be some difficulty with being able to repeat sentences. I tell the student to say the sentence "like it's one big long word" to avoid "robot speech".

When a younger student first begins on the sentence level, I will say, "Tell me something about a _____." If the target word isn't used, then I will model their sentence and insert the target word. It usually only takes a couple of trials for the concept to be understood. Then if the word is left out of the sentence I will say, "I didn't hear _____" and the sentence is produced using the target. This is how I've done it for years and it works for me.

Where Repeating Sentences Appears

After the student is proficient at making up his own sentences I will throw in having him repeat sentences after me. This works especially well with my /r/ students. I have a book that I had to buy for undergrad that has sentences for every sound and every combination of sounds. The /r/ section includes sentences with multiple /r/ and /w/ sounds within a sentence. Once they are proficient with those I know we can almost say the sound is mastered.

I have friends who will begin the sentence level by generating the sentences for them at first; that's what works for them. Just to test this out, I had a student say his own sentences during Quick Speech. When he said his own sentences he averaged just above 90% accuracy. When I used the sentences provided by Smarty Ears, it dropped to around 75% accuracy.

As I said: To each his own! It's not that one is right and one is not right, it's what works best for us. Which is your preference: words, pictures, sentences, or all of the above on articulation cards?

• Get a full run-down on the steps I use during articulation therapy in this post.
• Mommy Speech Therapy explains her process in this blog post.
• Caroline Bowen explains Traditional Therapy in this article; she includes a slideshow for further demonstration.
• Speech and Language Kids provides suggestions for choosing the appropriate speech therapy process here.

Decisions, Decisions: Dot Day or Pirate Day?

Oh, decisions, decisions. Which to concentrate on during therapy in September: Dot Day or Pirate Day? Here's the dilemma: International Dot Day is 15 September and International Talk Like a Pirate Day is 19 September. See what I'm talking about? They are only 4 days apart.

What is this "Dot Day"?

The art teacher at one of my schools brought attention to Dot Day a couple of years ago. (Dot Day started in 2009.) I made a quick game and a homework sheet and that was it. I decided to expand the activities by making a book companion to the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  This is a sweet book about a little girl who doesn't think she can draw. A teacher encourages her by taking the paper that she jabbed the marker on and told her to sign it. When the little girl sees the paper in a frame over her desk, the little girl is determined. She makes dots; a lot of dots. At the school art show, she showcases her dots. A little boy gives her a compliment and then says he can't draw a straight line with a ruler. (That's exactly what I tell people!) She gives him a piece of paper and has him draw a line...then tells him to sign it.

This book companion consists of comprehension questions (with a choice of 2 pictures to use as cues if needed), yes/no questions, sequencing (with the option to have the child take a black-line copy home for retelling), categories (round or not round), negation, unscramble sentences, 2 sheets for describing, an open-ended game, and homework.

Comprehension questions. The yes/no questions correspond with the 'wh' questions.

This is an example of the homework sheet for later developing sounds (although I included /k,g/ and /f/for those students who would be able to complete this sheet). There is a different set of homework sheets for early developing sounds.

 Turning "Pirate Day" into "Pirate Week"

All SLPs know about Talk Like a Pirate Day. It's been going on since 2002.  There is a lot of therapy material on TpT with a pirate theme. I bought a book during a book fair, Rufus Goes to Sea (by Kim T. Griswell), that is about a pig named Rufus who wants to be a pirate. The captain of the ship keeps telling him he can't be a pirate until he realizes Rufus has a book.

This book companion includes comprehension questions with 2 pictures to use as visual cues if needed, yes/no questions, worksheets (for what doesn't belong, negation, categorizing and using simple sentences, following directions using positional concepts, 2 sheets for describing, and regular/irregular past tense verbs), a pirate search & find for homework with a suggested word list (for /f,v,k,g,l,r,s/, sh-ch-j, and blends),homework sheets for earlier developing sounds (final consonant deletion, /p,b,m/, /t,d,n/, /h/, /w/, and a blank sheet for your convenience), retelling using story elements, and a fun pirate game (ideal if you have a "popper" but you can also use a bean bag or any soft item that the students can throw!).

Search & Finds are a favorite in my TpT Store. I included one in this packet for later developing sounds. (I also included /k,g/ and /f/ in this one just in case you have students working on those sounds who may be able to complete the sheet.) There is another set of homework sheets for early developing sounds.

Fun popper game! Don't have a popper? Use a bean bag or another soft object that can be thrown!

The Decision

Dot Day or Pirate Day? Here's what I'm going to do: The week before Dot Day we'll work on The Dot. The week after, Rufus Goes to Sea. It may take more than 1 week to get through Rufus and that's okay. The students really don't mind a pirate theme for 2 weeks!

    

Need more ideas?
This blog post has a dot project for preschoolers.
Official merchandise for Dot Day can be found here.
Over 50 activities for Pirate Day can be found here.

My New System For Organizing My TpT Materials

There's a lot of talk this time of year of how everyone organizes their TpT materials. I keep looking for better ways to store everything. I've reorganized my materials quite a few times, but I really like my new system for organizing my TpT Materials.

At the end of last school year, I decided enough was enough and I purged. Gone are materials that I had when I first started working as a school-based SLP over 30 years ago. With all of the great materials offered through TpT, a lot of my things were just so outdated. I figured if I hadn't used them in a few years they weren't worth keeping. Was it hard? You betcha, but it felt so great to clean that stuff out!

Before I even knew anything about TpT, I kept my homemade materials in clear plastic boxes and notebooks.

As my TpT materials grew, I put most things in notebooks.

I also started using bins from the dollar store. I put packets in gallon freezer bags and had a bin for each month.

Using bins, my shelves were somewhat organized but some of the bins were stuffed full.

I've planned around monthly themes pretty much my whole career (it's so much easier to plan that way!) so notebooks and bins fit my needs...until I started buying and downloading cards. Off I went to Michaels to buy these containers:

Apparently, these containers are a hot commodity now. My Instagram feed blew up with SLPs trying to find them on sale. They weren't that easy to find a few years ago when I discovered them so I'm not surprised they were hard to find. These containers are absolutely fantastic for cards. Each container has 16 cases that are the perfect size for cards.

I organized each container by seasonal activities. I put a label on each individual case so I can just look at the top of the case to see what cards are in the container.

When I purged last spring, I also purged these boxes. I had a lot of cards that I downloaded as freebies that I didn't have any use for, so they were "filed". I didn't get rid of the boxes or containers, just the contents.

I work with an awesome Special Ed Teacher who puts my organization skills to shame. I thought I was pretty organized, but she's peer-pressured me into upping my game! Enter: more plastic containers and the need to really get my materials organized in a prettier way. I told my principal I "Bartonized" my room (since the teacher's last name is Barton).  I'm quite pleased with the end result.

These 12x12 plastic scrapbook storage cases are perfect for holding materials by themes. I just put them in the case, made labels for the front indicating the theme, and printed out a list of items in each case. When I'm looking for something, I don't have to open each case and rummage through it; the contents of the case are on the top.

As you can tell, I have plenty of space to add more boxes if I need to. Moving everything to the scrapbook cases gave me more room on my shelves. There's going to be a time when I don't have the whole classroom at this school, so I'm trying to think ahead and plan for not having all of the storage space I have right now.

So far I really like my new system for organizing my TpT items. Everything is together by theme/month so planning is much faster. Now I need to start organizing my cabinets!