Blogs to Check Out!

Earlier this week I was sitting at 90 followers on Blogspot and Facebook. I posted on my facebook page that my goal was to reach 100 and if you shared my blog/ Facebook on your page, I would return the favor. Well, it worked! I went from 90 to 109 likes in under 48 hours. I also love finding new blogs so this was a major win-win! I will contiune to share the blogs that share mine, just send me the link!

Make sure you check out these great blogs:
Consonantly Speaking
Speech Language Play
Cindy Meester's Blog

Book of the Week!

This book is a favorite of mine. Who doesn't love Eric Carle? I had almost all of his books on my baby shower registry. This weeks book is (drum roll, please.....)

Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Author: Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle
Goal/targets: Rhyming, /r/ words, animal and color vocabulary

**You can find this book on Amazon for under $1!

What are some activities you have done with this book?

Talk to Me Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a very relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. My little one turned one month this weekend! Here is a picture...

OK, my mommy moment is over. Since it's Tuesday, I want to hear from you. Please comment with questions, mateial requests, blog suggestions... anything!

 I am going to start again this week with a question: What is your favorite blog (s) to follow?

I LOVE finding new blogs and would love to know what your favorites are so I can check them out!

Book of the Week!

Happy Wednesday! I was sitting here preparing for my Story Grammar Marker presentation this evening, when I realized I never posted a book for this week. (Forgive me and my lack of sleep these days!) Before I get started, I wanted to make sure you all are following me on Facebook as well. I have recently posted some interesting articles and free apps! **Good News: Super Duper has permanently reduced their apps to $1.99! Make sure you check them out HERE**

This week's Book of the Week  is Summer themed! (Only 11 school days left!)

Book: Jack Goes to the Beach

Author: Jill Krementz
Goal targets: Final "ch" sound; Summer vocabulary
Summary: Jack spends a day at the beach with his parents building a sandcastle, playing in the ocean, and having fun
**You can find this book on Amazon for around .54!

Talk to Me Tuesdays!

Wow, another week has come and gone! It's Tuesday again and I am looking to hear from you. Please post any questions, comments, requests, ideas... anything! I'd love to hear from you and what you would like to see on here.

I am going to start with a question for you all: does anyone have any recommendations for good CEU websites?



Have a great evening,

Here's the Story... of a Man Named Braidy [Part II]

Happy Friday!! You may remember that back in February I did a post about a program I started using this year called Story Grammar Marker. HERE is a link to the old post for new followers. I decided to do my inquiry project for this school year on the program. For those of you that are unfamiliar, an Inquiry project is almost like a teacher's science/ research project sponsored by The University of Florida. We choose something that we are curious about, want to improve, or learn more about in our classrooms and with our students. We then take data and keep track on how well it works with our students. At the end of the school year, all of the teachers in the county that completed a project (usually about 600+) meet to discuss what we did and what we learned at an Inquiry Celebration. I look forward to the celebration each year. I always learn so much. Since so many of you were interested in the Story Grammar Maker, I decided to share my research paper with you all.

Click HERE to check it out my paper. Let me know what you think! Our celebration is next week, I'll make sure I share with you all the cool tips and tricks I pick up!

Talk To Me Tuesdays!!

Good morning! I am starting something new this week as well (I have a lot more time to think these days while the baby is napping!) I decided to add.... 

         "Talk To Me Tuesdays"

 This is where I want you all to give me feedback. Leave me a comment requesting information about a topic, ask me a question, ask my opinion, request therapy activitiy ideas... whatever goes! We can use this as a message board type forum so others can input their ideas as well. So grab a cup of coffee and chat with me. Let's see how this goes... I can't wait to hear from you!

Book of the Week!

Happy Monday! Before we get to the book, I want to wish all you mommies a very Happy [belated]  Mother's Day! My first Mother's Day was so special! Here is a picture of me and Kenzie with my mom and my mother in law.

The book of the week for this week is:

Book: Rosie's Walk

Author: Pat Hutchins
Age Level: 3 and up

Goal targets: prepositions!
Summary: Rosie the hen leaves her chicken coop and sets out for a little walk. Right behind her is the fox, slyly trying to catch her. Rosie's walk is quiet and eventually leads her back to the coop. She is unaware of the fox trying to navigate the obstacle course that Rosie has led him through (around the pond, across the yard, etc).

**You can find this book on Amazon for around $4.00!

These are a few of my favorite things....

Good morning!! We all are guilty of our little therapy rooms cluttered with materials we have created or purchased. However, we all have our favorite tried and true, "go to" items. What are your "can't do my job without" materials? Here are my Top 4:

1. My Planner! I cannot live without my planner. My co workers always make fun of me and my OCD ways with my planner (meetings are highlighted in yellow, private therapy in orange, the days are crossed off in pink... I know, crazy!) My favorite planner is the Day Runner. I like this particular one because it has month and day options. The month section is helpful for IEP due dates and meetings. The day section is helpful for planning out private therapy sessions. Here is a picture of the one I have:

2. Super Duper Artic Fun Decks! I love these cards because there is so much you can do with them. I use single words and sentences, depending on goals. The kids enjoy using them and don't realize they are drilling sounds when we use them in a game. I have the big box kit, but I am hoping they make a app for these!

3. Ned's Head! Check out my previous post on how I used Ned: here!

4. My iPad! If I had to choose only 1 item to keep for therapy, it would be my iPad. There truly is an app for everything. It keeps me organized and has a ton of therapy tools. I also love that there is a camera and video recorder on the iPad. I use the video camera to do random sampling of my students for progress monitoring and sharing with parents. 

What are your favorite therapy tools?

Keep the FREE Apps Coming!

I am loving May! All of these free apps are quickly filling up my iPad. Make sure you "like" the [simply speech.] Facebook page to learn about some of the free apps I am downloading. I wanted to share with you Dragon Dictation. This free app is a voice recognition program that writes out what you say. This app has come in very handy with my older speech kids. I actually used it with my 20 year old /r/ client as well.    Many students don't think they are saying their sounds wrong. I know we have all heard at least once (or 20 times), "but that's what I said!" when we correct our students! This app allows the students to practice words, phrases, sentences, or read out loud and have their message typed out. It is a great visual for students to see how their speech comes across to others. This would be a valuable progress monitoring tool to use once a month or so to show improvement!

To get Dragon Dictation, click here: Dragon Dictation

My Favorite Pins of the Week... [Mother's Day Edition!]

I am beyond excited to celebrate my first Mother's Day this weekend with my little jellybean! Although we probably wont do much this year since she will only be 2 weeks old, I am so happy she is finally here!

I figured many of you may need some last minute, creative Mother's Day activities so I wanted to share some pins I have found recently. Here is the link to my Mother's Day pin board on Pinterest: Mother's Day You can find the original source for all of the activities there, but here are a few examples:

 This would be a cute "If/ Then" activity to use after you read, If you Give a Moose a Muffin!

 What mom wouldn't love to be on the front page of the newspaper?! This activity would be good for  students working on expressive language, details, characteristics, etc.

 Paint sample book mark! I always pick these up whenever I am at Home Depot. There are so many colorful activities you can create with these. The kids could add a hole punch each time they practiced their speech sound 10 times.

 Mother's Day flower! Students can write a sentence to describe their mother on each petal or write a word that describes their mother that contains their speech sounds.

I hope you find these helpful... don't forget to follow [simply speech.] on Facebook. I will continue to share the free and reduced apps I am learning about for BSHM!!

Book of the Week: I Like Me!

Happy Sunday!! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend! I finally had my first drink after 10 months this weekend and it was wonderful! I've decided to start a new weekly addition to this blog and feature a book of the week. The story featured will target specific speech or language goals and be fun to use in therapy!

Book: I Like Me! 

Author: Nancy Carlson

Age Level: 3 and up

Goal targets: initial /l/ and final /k/ 

Summary: This book is about a cheerful pig with great self esteem! 

**You can find this book on Amazon for around $2.00! 

Great app sales for BSHM!!

So many companies have their apps on sale or FREE this month in honor of better speech and hearing month! Make sure to follow [simply speech] on Facebook! (click 'like' on the right hand side of this blog) I'll be posting the apps I find. If you know of some great ones, please share!!

Kenzie Lee has arrived!!

 Good afternoon! I know I have been MIA for a little bit now, but it is for a good reason! I wanted to share with you all that Kenzie Lee was born on Thursday April 26 at 8:28am!! She was 6 lbs 9 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She is doing wonderful and adjusting to being home. Mommy and daddy are adjusting too! Here are a few pictures of our new bundle of joy!