Speech & Language Brag Tags!

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Behavior management. It's something that is very important yet something that can be so exhausting. You want to find something simple but engaging. Something that won't break your budget but that the kids will get excited about. I have tried many methods that have been effective. You may remember my old posts about the clip chart, Class DoJo, and my fishbowl. But they all seem to have something in common- the treasure box! In an effort to do away with the treasure box, I have created Brag Tags! Now I did not come up with this idea (who ever did is a genius!) but I have simply adapted the idea to fit into my little speech and language world. Never heard of brag tags? Oh my goodness, you must check them out!

How do they work? Each child gets a lanyard I found some for super cheap on amazon. The lanyard will be where your students add their brag tags (they will end up looking like super cool VIP passes!) When your student(s) meet a goal, demonstrate good behavior, meet an expectation, or just does something that makes you proud, you give them a brag tag to add to their lanyard. 

You can have the brag tags up for display in your speech room and/or choose a special time during the week when they get to wear their brag tags. Maybe during Fun Friday or lunch time. The kids feel proud displaying their accomplishments and you don't have to dish out money on items for the treasure box!

I created some a put them up in my TpT store if anyone else wanted to join in the brag tag fun! Here are the tags I have created so far and that are included in the packet. 

1. I am a super reader

2. I can say my /k/ sound
3. I can say my /g/ sound
4. I can say my /f/ sound
5. I can say my /v/ sound
6. I can say my /l/ sound
7. I can say my /r/ sound
8. I can say my /s/ sound
9. I can say my /z/ sound
10. I can say my "SH" sound
11. I can say my "TH" sound
12. I can say my "CH" sound
13. I am a super listener
14. I can follow directions
15. I met my goal today
16. I am 100 days smarter
17. I can be a good friend
18. 3 pages of blank cards for your students' own special achievements!! 

If you think of any other specific brag tags you would like to see added, please send me a message or comment on this post and I would be more than happy to add them in!

You can download a copy of my Speech & Language Brag Tags by clicking on the picture below. You can also enter for a chance to win a copy of my brag tags at the bottom of this post!

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In My APPinion: Articulation Test Center!

APPy Wednesday! I hope you all are having a great day! I am so sad that the birthday celebration is over. I hope you all enjoyed the giveaways.... especially those of you that won!! One of the apps I had up for grabs was Articulation Test Center by Little Bee Speech. If you were not my winner, I still have good news for you! This app and Articulation Station Pro is 30% off right  now because LBS is throwing a Back-2-School sale!! You can get these apps for only $35 right now! Woo hoo! This is an amazing app. As I was reviewing this app, one word continuously went through my head. Thorough! Check out some more info about the app below!

Little Bee Speech did provide me with a copy of this app, however, all opinions expressed are mine. 

When you open up the app, you are brought to the main page where you can choose to access the screener or the full test. 

If you click on screener, you are then prompted to choose the age of the child you are assessing. The child's age will determine the sound targets and how many stimulus cards will be presented . 

If you go into the full test, you are able to choose exactly what you want to assess. The entire test includes: initial sounds, medial sounds, final sounds, initial blends, vowels, /r/ sounds, and a speech sample. 

After you choose what you are going to assess, you are prompted to create a profile for the child being tested. 

When the test begins, the child is prompted with a picture and sound tiles at the top. If you do not want the child to see a picture, you can change that in the settings. There is also an option to record the child's response. 

The letter tiles at the top identify what sounds are being targeted in each word. If a child produces a sound wrong, tap on it once. The letter tile will become red meaning the sound was in error. If you tap it twice, the tile becomes yellow, meaning the sound was approximated. If you swipe the tile up, it the sound disappears meaning it was omitted. Now I said before that this app is incredibly thorough. Check this out... if you tap the downward arrow on the right side of the word, a box will drop down. This will allow you to specify what sound was substituted and/or what phonological process was exhibited. I. LOVE. THIS! 

At the end, the adorable little bee pops up to show your student he/she has completed the test! (My students know that they are not finished until they see the bee when we are using Articulation Station!)

Another amazing feature of this app is that it gives you the option to record a speech sample. I know we have all experienced the chatter bugs that just can't tell us enough about their favorite episode of The Fresh Beat Band. Those are dreams come true for speech samples. But I know that we have also experienced those kiddos that wont give us much more than a yes/no or shrug of the shoulders when we are trying our hardest to elicit language. This app has a great aid for getting speech samples! 

Before the speech sample portion of the test begins, you are prompted to choose a scene: Mountain Adventure, Beach Day, or Fun at the Park! These colorful, action packed pictures give you and the child you are testing something to talk about. Even more, if you click on part of the picture, you are prompted with questions to ask the child. I LOVE THIS!

When you are finished, you are able to rate the child's intelligibility. Last but not least, you are given a student score sheet once the test or screener is completed. The score sheet is divided into categories: words tested, errors marked, speech sample, report (yes it writes up a report!), and recommendations based on testing information. Have I said the word thorough yet? 

Seriously, this is an amazing app. The only recommendation I have for app is to make it standardized. Now I am sure that is not an easy thing to do, but in my school district here in Florida (as well as the insurance companies we bill) standard scores have to be reported to qualify students for services. I would love to use this app to qualify students for services. Other than that, I really cannot complain about this app. In fact, I can only rave about this app and all it has to offer. I love the fact that it is an easy to carry app, not a bulky bag of testing materials. You can learn so much information about a child's speech from this testing center.

To watch a video tutorial, learn more, or download a copy of this app click here!

Don't forget that this app and Articulation Station is on sale August 12-14!

Birthday Celebration #3: Celebrate the Tech-Savvy SLP!

Thank you everyone that has participated in the celebration! Your kind words really mean a lot to me. But the party is not over yet.... we have one more day of amazing giveaways as we celebrate The Tech-Savvy SLP!

We all know that life was made easier and therapy became more interesting with the invention of the iPad. There are a few apps that I use so often, I don't remember what I did without them! 

Four amazing app companies graciously donated some codes for their best apps! I use all of these apps on a pretty regular basis in my therapy sessions. Here is what you can win:

Virtual Speech Center donated a copy of Articulation Carnival Pro for 3 lucky winners!

Smarty Ears donated a copy of Articulate It! for 2 lucky winners!

Mobile Education Store donated a copy of Rainbow Sentences for 2 lucky winners!

Little Bee Speech donated a copy of Articulation Station Pro and Articulation Test Center for one lucky winner!

That's over $300 in apps up for grabs!! 

There are 4 Rafflecopter entries on this one page. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom so you don't miss out on any of the apps! :)

Enter below for your chance to win one or more of these apps! Winners will be announced on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. You must claim your prize within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen!

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Birthday Celebration #2: The Trendy SLP!

Welcome to birthday bash day #2! Today we celebrate The Trendy SLP! Although being trendy and fashionable is not one of our job requirements, I have always agreed with the statement, 

"When you look good, you feel good!" 

And who doesn't like to feel good?

Today's giveaway is a bundle of goodies that will make you feel good!

Here is what's included:

A pair of Janice Stud earrings from Julianne Hobin of Stella + Dot

An adorable speechie t-shirt of your choice from Meredith of The Peachie Speechie Apparel Shop

A lanyard from ewindbigler design 

A MayBook of your choice from MayDesigns

And last but not least,  sheet of Jamberry nail wraps from me! 

So how do you get all of these goodies that will make you feel ready for the first day of school? Enter below!

Enter below for your chance to win this bundle! One winner will be announced on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. You must claim your prize within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen!

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Birthday Celebration #1: Celebrate the Creative SLP!

It's here, It's here!! The first day of the big birthday bash!!

I am SO excited for this first giveaway!! I had 22 amazingly talented, creative, and generous SLPs donate products for this celebration. Whoever wins this bundle will probably have enough materials to last them through out the year! Want to know what's inside? Check it out!!

Whitney Smith: The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash Book Companion

Jenn Alcorn: My Daily Routines

Felice Clark: Sequencing Activities Throughout the Year

Jenna Rayburn: The Three Little Pigs

Sharon Schackmann- Bubble Gum SPLA! Phonological Awareness Rhyming

Abby Goldenstein- Story Grammar Prompts

Desiree Rusch-Winterbottom: Talk the Plank Matey!

Kari Radovich: Cariboo Year-Round Vocabulary Cards

Maureen Wilson: Can You See It My Way?

Laura Deeken: Autumn Write & Say the Room

Tracy Morlan: Flip It for Apraxia of Speech!

Amy Locy: Daily Routines Language Unit

Kristine Lamb: Superhero Emotions

Teach Speech 365: Can I Take Your Order? Receptive Language Activity 

Lisette Edgar: Giraffes Can't Dance Book Companion

Jen Moses: Fall Figurative Language

Teresa Besson: Introducing Speech Sounds with Sing-Along Posters

Miss Speechie: Preposition Picture Scenes

Kathy Grover: Is It? Does It?

Carly Fowler: Solar System: Nonfiction Paragraph Comprehension Unit
Jessica Schulman: Articulation Placemats
Activity Tailor: Rock, Paper, Scissor, Shoot! Articulation Bundle
Simply Speech: Brag Tags!
Enter below for your chance to win this bundle! One winner will be announced on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. You must claim your prize within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen!

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Simply Speech is Turning 3!!

Have you heard the news? Simply Speech's Bloggy Birthday is on August 12! I am so excited to celebrate 3 years of blogging. I am so thankful for these last 3 years. I feel like I have become a better, more creative therapist. I have made so many friends. I have gotten to connect and network with so many talented people. And to think that it all started 3 year ago because I was browsing Pinterest! I would pin so many fun and cute activities and they all leaded to teachers' blogs. That was what inspired me to start my own blog. 

And now here we are... 3 years later. 

What's the best part of a birthday celebration? Cake! Well, since I cannot invite you all over for some cake, how about presents? Some pretty amazing people have graciously donated gifts for me to give to YOU! So these next 3 days will be filled with some fun giveaways.

Each day will have a theme. The first day (tomorrow!) we will celebrate The Creative SLP! Over 20 amazingly talented SLPs have donated some of their best products. Whoever wins this jumbo bundle will be pretty darn happy! It's so large that I am going to have to mail you a zip drive!

Sunday we will celebrate The Trendy SLP! I will have giveaways from May Designs, Jamberry, Stella+Dot, The Peechie Speechie Apparrel & Ewindbigler designs! You don't want to miss this one!!

Last but not least, Monday we will celebrate The Tech-Savvy SLP! I have 9 apps to give away from from of my favorite app developers: Little Bee Speech, Virtual Speech Center, The Mobile Education Store, and Smarty Ears!

All winners will be announced Tuesday, August 12! 

Calming First Day of School Jitters With Social Stories!

Have your kids started back to school yet? We are on summer break for 2 more weeks in my county.... but time sure is flying!! Two years ago I wrote a blog post about making a presentation all about you to show to your students during the first week of school. Incase you missed it, you can check it out here! In addition to calming some first day jitters with a new teacher, the presentation opens up the lines of communication for the kids to ask you questions and for you to get to know them, too. But for some kids, the anxiety of the first day of school is overwhelming. Even though here we still have two weeks before school starts, it's a good idea to start talking to your kids about starting school now. For students with special needs, such as Autism, they need a lot of notice about big changes in their life, such as starting school. Something that might help them, is creating a social story all about their school! 

A social story is a short story all about a student that helps explain expectations to them. Social stories are used for a number of reasons, but the important thing is that the story is solely about the student.  I have experienced positive outcomes with these because the children find pride and ownership in a story about them. Things are also explained with visuals so it's easy for them to understand. 

I created this particular social story using PowerPoint (I personally am a huge fan of PowerPoint) but you can make a social story out of a notebook, a photo album, blank paper, anything really! One of the most important parts of a social story is the visuals. For older kids you could use cartoon images or even let them draw their own, but for many kids, especially the younger ones- photographs work best. Teachers report back to work at least a week before the kids come to school for their first day. Go take a visit to the school and bring your camera. I can almost guarantee you that the principal and/or staff would be more than happy to let you take photos of the school to help your child better adjust. 

The photos and slides I showed in this post are just a few examples. You may also want to take photos of the library, music & art room, cafeteria (maybe even do some modeling with a lunch tray!), the playground, where he/she will be picked up in the afternoon.... anything that pertains to your child. After you have made your social story, read it to you child every day, multiple times a day. Eventually they will be able to tell the story to you- even if the cannot read yet. 

Giving them an early sneak peek into their life at school with help calm anxiety and first day jitters!

Thank you to my good friend, Kandace Friend and handsome hubby, Kevin Cummings for being my teacher/principal models! Also thank you to Kaitlin Sedwick and Jenna Belote for sharing your adorable classroom photos!

Back-2-School Book List!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

Guess what time it is?! It's time for another book list! The nerdy kid in me loves all things Back-2-School.... school supplies, new clothes, and most of all BOOKS! So I called on some of my blogging besties to help me compile a list of the best Back-2-School books to use in therapy! Check it out!

Two of my favorites are the classic story, 

The Kissing Hand

and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books!

Jenna from Speech Room News recommends 

Elmer by David McKee

Speech Time Fun recommends

If You Take a Mouse to School

Jenn from Crazy Speech World recommends

A Bad Case of Stripes

Carrie from Carrie's Speech Corner recommends

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

Maureen from The Speech Bubble recommends

Speech Class Rules

Felice from The Dabbling Speechie recommends

Miss Nelson Is Back

Whitney from Let's Talk recommends

The Teacher from the Black Lagoon

Kristin Minden recommends 

I'm Your Bus

Jessica from Consonantly Speaking recommends
Whole Body Listening Larry at School

Hopefully this list will give you some ideas and help your back to school planning a little easier! My amazon cart is definitely filled and I am ready to re-stock my book shelf. Did your favorites make the list? If not, please share yours below!!