THERAPY

nwright22@sbcglobal.net

M&M Therapy
From: ccricco@capecod.net (ccricco)

Multi-colored M&Ms are a great tool for strengthening and teaching phonology, including sound awareness and/or discrimination. The different colored pieces stand for the sounds in a given word and also provide a visual representation of different sounds which can be manipulated by the student or therapist. For instance: The word "pot" contains 3 different sounds which would be represented by 3 different colored M&Ms. You can then give the student a rhyming word(or have the student come up with his own)that rhymes with pot--such as cot. The student would then make a new row underneath pot, replacing the /p/ color with a new one for /c/. The student should work up to sounding out the individual sounds and then the entire word, as it would be naturally spoken. Have them visualize the word stretched out as you or they slide the M&Ms upward as each sound in the word is sounded. As the student becomes more proficient, move to words with more sounds or with 2 or more of the same sounds, which 2 of the same colored M&Ms should be used. Also remember that since this is not meant to teach spelling, silent letters should not be represented--like silent e, h in wh, and also double vowels, like oo would stand for 1 sound, or 1 m&m), etc. The student has the opportunity to earn the top row of M&Ms if he or she is successful with proceding rows. This activity is also useful for teaching consonant/vowel discrimination and blends. It can be used 1:1 or in a group, too. There are so many variations to this activity! And it is a GREAT motivator...most kids love M&Ms. Just be sure it's appropriate for the student or client before beginning. Any questions or ideas, just email me. Like I said, there's so many targets and variations of this activity.

Cara

ccricco@capecod.net

From: wjgreene@pacbell.net (Will Greene)Hi,

I have an activity that works well for articulation or descriptive

tasks. It may not be P.C. with some parents...so ask first. I make a

slit in the bottom of small dixie cups and slide a target picture card

in the bottom of each. The cup serves as a holder for the card that

will not damage it. Then use a toy dart gun with soft flexible darts

(can usually buy in grocery stores) and have the child say the target

sound pictured on the card, or provide descriptive clues for the

clinician to guess which card they want to shoot next. The key to

success with this is to keep the darts in your hand until they complete

your request, then hand them the dart to shoot the target. They really

enjoy doing this rather than turning cards over and it gives them a

chance to move around. A second idea...for descriptive exercises for

word retrieval or categorization...buy jelly belly jelly beans in

interesting flavors (pairs of twos). Have the client chew one of the

matching sets and provide a description for the clinician to guess the

flavor. For example, for buttered popcorn flavor they can say

"Food-snack-made from a vegetable-often eaten at movies-can put

butter/salt on it-crunchy". The clinician can reverse the role and

provide the clues and each "guess" can be confirmed when the clinician

eats the matching bean. A fun way to talk about and use descriptors!

One more idea-Tic-Tac-Toe or checkers as a reward for each correct

articulation or target accomplishment--only use Hershey's kisses as

tokens. Red/Silver are out for valentines day now! I let the child

keep and eat any kisses they earn during the game at the end of the

session. Love this website! Very helpful!

Jane Greene, Graduate Clinician-CSUH, Hayward P.S. any creative ideas

for pragmatic practice and word retrieval for a 13 year old male with

some dysfluencies? Thanks

Artic Tip
From: aritchie@mail.waco.isd.tenet.edu (aritchie)

For the "r' I have found that in elementary -age kids understand it

best when I tell them to make a "k" or an "g" , keep their tongue there

(glue it) and then produce "r" without moving the tongue. I have

also put pieces of tootsie roll on their back teeth and had them find

the candy with the back of their tongue while laying on their backs.

Question: What is a good way to teach vowels? I have student who says

short a for short e . . . Agg instead of egg . . any ideas?

Therapy IDEAS
From: grigas@i-55.com (grigas)

Here's a few techniques that are easy but great:

Dry erase markers work great on mirrors...to use when practicing positioning of articulators... circle( the reflection) of those round lips, or highlight other positioning of the speech helpers.Wipe off with paper towels and glass cleaner.

Play "I SPY" or any other word game or practice by taping pictures or words around the room. Each particpant is given a flash light and shines on the word to be said or guessed.

Use laundry detergent plastic scoops for "dice throwers".

Dry erase boards can be inexpensively made by using bathroom wall board sold in hardware stores. (4'X 8') around 10 dollars. Use old socks for erasers and store markers inside. Uniset TM plastic coated pieces adhere well to the boards (as well as mirrors). Children can draw scenery or additions to create stories.

Tape small pictures onto a rolling pin. Have child roll pin until you say Stop - then the words face up are practiced.

Place stim cards on a table. Give a clue or description of one.

Children use flyswatters to "slap" then produce the name of the described word.

Mix stim cards in a box of styrofoam peanuts. Dig through the "snow" (I do this activity in winter) to find and practice saying each.

Use kitchen tongs to pick up stim cards when playing concentration.

Hint: A soft surface such as a rug or mat work best.

hen working on a computer with a small group, tape the mouse pad onto a lap board and have the children ( who are sitting in chairs around the screen) pass the board and use the mouse in their lap - then no one has o move when it is their turn .

Crosswords:   I have purchased EXPERT Software's disc, "Crosswords and Word Games". I am always creating "Word Search" puzzles using the disc. For example, I'll take the current unit in an American History Class and do the word search with 20 words that are important in the unit. My LH and MH students (with language problems), will take the word, use it in a sentence and then put at least 4 or 5 of these sentences into a paragraph or story. Depending on the level of the student, these activities may be verbal and/or written. I have found this very effective in vocabulary growth, word usage, sentence structure and motivation.

_____
Another suggestion: Each week the student has one interrogative word to focus on. There assignment is: In every class they have to write down one question they heard that started with their word. This has been very effective with MH students who have no difficulty with who, what and where but really get bogged down with "When" and the more abstract or problem solving type of question that starts with why or how.

Good luck on your project and your site.

Elly,
Lemill@aol.com

Using Children's Books:  In our school we do a lot of language work through books. Something we tried today was to read a small section of the book, then choose one student to act as the teacher for that section. He/she formulated a question for the rest of the group (with scaffolding if needed), then summarized what had been read. The kids seemed to enjoy it.

From: Jmbiely@aol.com

Using "I Spy" Books:  In case you never  ran across these books, each page is a photographic collage containing about a hundred things artistically spread across the page. With it come little poems describing certain items hidden within the collage.  It is very useful as a language builder to help kids understand attributes and categories.  It's fun to make up original poems describing objects of our own choosing as well.  The books also work well in artic therapy too.
_____________
A Coloring Book Barrier Game:  Choose a page from a coloring book (preferably one showing lots of objects) and make some copies.  Mark 4 or 5 objects on one of the copies with a little colored dot. For example if the picture is an underwater scene, you might put a red dot on a pirate's chest, a fish, a fish with stripes, and some seaweed. Choose 4 or 5 different objects on another copy and mark them with dots. For example you might dot a few other sea creatures. Make an individual coloring book page for each member of your group.  To start the activity set up the barrier(s) and have each participant creatively color the objects marked on their particular sheet.  Now choose a player to describe what they have colored. The other players try to replicate what that person describes by coloring their respective copies of the picture.  Each player takes a turn describing , while the others try to duplicate the work on their own sheets. Hopefully they'll get all the pictures to match.  The beauty of this assignment lies in the variety and complexity of the coloring book pages that can be chosen for the activity.  It can even work as an assignment for adults. For an easy-to-assemble barrier you can staple together the backs of two file folders so that they stand up as a 3-sided structure.  It looks sort of like a big house of cards.

(editor's comment:  Now I know what to do with all those Beevis and Butthead Coloring Books I got for Christmas)
___________

Silly Search, A matching-cards variation:  Using a set of matching picture cards flip over the first card. Let's say this turns out ot be a "plane".  Create a carrier phrase or sentence such as "I LLLove to FLLLy a PLLLane".  The student(s) repeat this carrier sentence and then somebody turns over the next card.  Use the same carrier phrase with whatever turns up. "I LLLove to FLLLy a toiLLLet".  Keep using the carrier phrase with each picture card until a "plane" shows up again. Then turn over another card and create an appropriate carrier phrase to go with it. Stay with the new phrase until the next match appears. It's a quick and fun way of getting a lot of practice with whatever structure you want to drill.  

(editor's comment: This game gives the term "pilot's seat" a new meaning)

from Bruce Pridgeon, Paso Robles, CA.

Multiple Meaning Mords
Date: 97-02-21 18:31:54 EST
From: mikkim@avana.net (mike)

The punch line of many jokes are based on multiple meaning words. My students enjoy explaining the two meanings of a word that make a joke funny. It also helps them appreciate humor. Many times the kids don't understand the joke until they think it through and tell me and the other students the two meanings of the word.

Getting an "rrr":  To help a person visualize correct tongue movement, have them hold out their hand with the palm up (that's the relaxed "ah"). Now to go from "ah" to "rr" curl the fingers a little bit.  The hand should be shaped like a bowl. Mimic this action with the tongue.  The tongue-tip shouldn't touch anything.  When air passes over the hollow spot (if the tongue is shaped like a hand holding water) the "rr" sound is heard.

From Luis,  e-mail: Speech123@aduu.net

Therapy Junk Box
Date: 97-02-26 00:07:38 EST
From: myrna.fisher@osg.net (Myrna M. Fisher)

My most used therapy "tool" is my junk box! Over the years,miscellaneous toy and real items have been added- everything from clothing items to shells. They can be pulled out in any combination and used to address speech and/or language goals. For example, I can pullout all items which begin with a particular phoneme, all red items,contrasting big/small items, items with a variety of textures,long/short items, etc. They work well for barrier games, can be hidden around the room in, under, beside and behind various containers, or used in silly sentences. I would be lost without these treasures!

Guess Who? (the board game)

Date: 97-02-16 00:56:25 EST

From: NJspeechRX@aol.com

This popular board game can be used in therapy to generate questions ,reinforce the concepts of same/different, expand vocabulary and drill specific sounds at the word and sentence level. This game can be found in any major toy store. Follow the directions to play and add some variations. Before the game begins discuss words which have the child's target phoneme. For example :words such as hair, person ,your, beard, and girl all have the vocalic /r/. Also discuss possible questions that the child may ask such as : Is your person bald or does your person have blue eyes.

Mexican Bingo:  In the "party section" at Wal-Mart were some packages of full-color cards showing a variety of people, activities, and objects.  Each picture was labelled in Spanish.  Of course this is a great tool for our Spanish speaking LEP kids because we can cross label the cards in English. But how about this for a novel idea: use the Spanish words instead of nonsense syllables for articulation practice with English speaking kids. And a bag of these cards is only about $1.79.  Distributed by Fiesta Confetti / P.O. 37288 / San Antonio TX 78237

(editor's comment:  About the only thing we have to worry about is getting thrown out of Taco Bell because of a bad accent.  I'll risk it!)

From Nancy Thompson, Atascadero CA

The /r/ sound: pretend your teeth are railraod tracks and your tongue is the train and to produce a "good" /r/ sound let the tongue move forward on the tracks. It's good for initial /r/.

The /s/ sound: say a /t/ sound and hold it out.

_____
Behavior modification for Downs Syndrome kids: Take three clothes pins, clip onto child. Each time the child misbehaves or disrupts therapy take one. The child has the opportunity to earn them back during therapy. If child keeps all three then he/she gets a sticker and gets to pick a prize out fo the prize box, keeps 2 then gets a sticker and certificate, keeps one gets a sticker only.

Hope these help

Amy, e-mail:  zetagator@aol.com

Differentiating between LEP kids and children with a language learning disorder

You have to test them in both languages. Most kids [in our district] end up being just limited english proficient...so we try to be choosey when evaluating kids. As far as what to do in therapy...I am lucky at the moment as my Spanish only kids are mostly artic kids. I look up words and phrases ahead of time that I think I may need that session. Example...is they are working on S...I would look up in Spanish..."Keep your tongue behind your teeth".. I try to do activities that let them write and be creative so I dont have to do all the talking. Such as...I give them story cards that I know will elicit their sounds...and I have them write the story in Spanish to me. Then they have to circle all of their sounds...and read it in Spanish back to me..I know it can be tough!

_____
What to do with young stutterers

I am a firm beliver in indirect therapy. Not really focusing on their speech but really giving them a slow..easy model. If they are older...I do tend to spend a lot of time teaching them about normal and abnormal disfluencies...and we do some counseling. I like to do a lot of choral reading using slow easy....turtle speech. We often talk about the tortoise and the hare...since the turtle was so slow...but still won the race in the end. I also use bumpy and smooth manipulatives to emphasize the slow and easy concept.  Also...turn taking is very important since they tend to stutter more when feeling rushed.

(editor's note:  I heard that the National Stuttering Foundation is offering a video presentation for parents. I hope to follow up on that resource)

Michele

the above comments courtesy of  Michele250@aol.com