Conference Fever!

My husband coined one of my favorite new terms: Conference Fever. You see, he works as a paraprofessional and receives the first-hand repercussions of having to revamp programs after overzealous special educators arrive back to work with a conference high. I fully understand and relish in his annoyance, but more importantly, I appreciate the opportunities and new insights from excellent presenters and know that it's critical to "use it or lose it."

We've all been to those conferences that are game changers.  Below are conferences that I have found extremely useful and well worth the money.

1. Learning and The Brain Institute- You can't go wrong attending any of these conferences. Backed up by brain-based research and presented by some of the top researchers at Harvard, you will come back to work with a wealth of knowledge.

2. Lindamood Bell- The LIPS training has been a very important part of my teaching repertoire. I plan to get to Visualizing and Verbalizing as I have the kit and highly recommend this amazing program for so many language learning skills.

3.  Social Thinking- How could I ever leave this one out? It's been a while, but I attended the Social Thinking Mentor Training in San Jose years ago and found it to be life changing in the way I worked with students.

4. Childhood Apraxia of Speech- Though challenging, Shelley L. Velleman's graduate course in CAS was exceptional. This disability is very challenging to differentially diagnosis and rehabilitate. She provides all the knowledge you'll need to tackle these two challenges.

5. Smart but Scattered-  Peg Dawson's Smart but Scattered conference was amazing! In fact, I purchased all of her books and recommendations on Executive Functioning after attending her one-day conference. I learned so much and am psyched to implement many of the new strategies and techniques. (You might say, I have Conference Fever!)

Please comment with conferences, trainings, or workshops which you highly recommend. I am excited to hear about your favorite picks.

Inferencing & Vocabulary Bundle Complete! Upper Grades

The much-anticipated 

Inferencing and Vocabulary bundle is complete! 

My middle school students,  especially my hard-to-engage boys,  LOVE this 

Adventure Series! 

Pirates Inferencing and Vocabulary

Sasquatch Watch Inferencing and Vocabulary

Abominable Snow Monster

Presenting... Deep Dark Sea of Inferencing andVocabulary! 

Thanks for all of the encouraging words and wonderful reviews.

 I read and appreciate them all! 

6 Home Hacks: For Busy SLP (parents) linky

Thanks for throwing this unique linky party Annie! I certainly have a busy SLP life and some tips for those of you with kids at home. 

1.  Door Hooks: This is a true space saver and works so well for my children's backpacks. We don't have a mudroom or much of an entryway so we really rely on this new space. 

2.  Reduced Sugar Cotton Candy: Many families have these cute little cotton candy makers.  Parents everywhere bought them on a whim dreaming of how much fun the kids would have. Then reality hit, kids spinning as fast as the web of pink sugar. Well I saw a little trick that works great for reducing the amount of sugar consumption. Toss a piece of hard candy into the machine and voila, you've got cotton candy. Jolly Ranchers are amazing. Have a cold? ~ use a cough drop. 

3. Cork Board: While I was pinning products on Pinterest, my middle child was literally pinning a board on her wall! I saved the walls by creating an inexpensive DIY cork board. All it took was adhesive spray, cork pages, and fabric. This fabric was a pillow case purchased at Walmart. Turned out pretty cute. 

4. Visual Strategies: We know that most kids are visual learners so don't forget to use this strategy at home. My oldest child helped the youngest by labeling her horse stable with matching pictures of the horses and their names above. I label drawers, toy bins, and even give my kids visual schedules to help with their morning routine. 

5. Perfect Pic: Short on cash? Well just pick up some old frames from a yard sale, spray paint them, and insert an image you find online. My prints did not cover the frame so I framed them with designer duct tape. 

6. Roasted Marshmallows: No campfire, no problem. Have the kids roast marshmallows over a candle flame. We used mini marshmallows, toothpicks, and a small candle to roast marshmallows. This is actually a pic from last Christmas Eve.  You could expand this to S'mores by simply adding Hershey miniatures and small rectangles of graham crackers. 

I hope you learned something new to try. Be sure to head back to Doyle's Speech Works for some more creative Home Hacks for busy SLPs. 

April Fool's SLP resources!

Why is everyone so tired on April 1st? 

Because they've just finished a long March!

But fear not SLPs and be all set to bring on the fooling with these fun activities. 

April Fools' Absurdities by SLP Runner

April Foolish- by Sparkle SLP 

April Fool's Articulation by Teach Speech 365

April Fools- A social language packet on humor and jokes by Smartmouth SLP

April Fool's Cause and Effect and Perspective by Speech Snacks

Socially Smart Pranks by Speech Paths

Don't forget to get your prank on. Choose from these Top Favorite April Fool's Day Tricks.  

Change behaviors and relationships with this simple rule of thumb.

Here's a simple rule of thumb that you may have heard before.  

Maintaining a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions positively changes the attitudes and climate of your classroom.  

  Click Here for a great YouTube video explaining what positive interactions may look like. 

The ratio of 10:1 for children of trauma is not research based, but I have seen a tremendous shift in attitude of my students when I am mindful of my interactions.  

Be sure to keep track of your negative interactions and counter them. Write your class list on chart paper and attach on a clip board for easy access. Simply chart +/- ratios. 

Can you describe a Thinga-ma-jigger? Freebie included!

 

I've been throwing out hints on my Instagram page this week about my little surprise. Many of you have responded that you too have one of these commercial mop contraptions at your school. For years I've been thinking it reminds me of the Thinga-ma-jigger from Dr. Seuss's The Cat In The Hat. Do you agree?

This year, I finally decided to re-create the cleaning machine and rallied my students to help. We used our executive functioning skills to visualize the big picture and plan along the way. Students brainstormed materials, created a list, and sequenced step-by-step instructions. We used latex gloves, mega phones, blow horns, a broom, spinners, and made spirals out of construction paper. We also borrowed lots of slinky sound tubes from our OT friends. 

Drum roll please....

Isn't it fun!

Our school maintenance staff were so accommodating and even agreed to drive it around for the week while wearing the signature red and white top hat!

No theme would be complete without a cool activity to go with it. I created a freebie describing activity to use as a stand-alone activity or Expanding Expression Tool Companion. You can see above that I started my bulletin board where students will display their work. 

Click HERE for link

I would love to see your Thinga-ma-jiggers and/or bulletin board! Just share your pix on my Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter page. Hope you have a whimsical week! 

Help Wanted! How to reduce your secretarial work.

Some of us are lucky enough to have a para-educator to help with student services, carry-over, and secretarial work. The super fortunate have a certified SLP Assistant. For the rest of us, there doesn't seem to be any hope of putting a dent in that to-do list. Let me offer a ray of hope by providing some options where you least expect them. 

1. Substitute Teachers- This is a resource we have available daily in our building. Every teacher in our school has at least 1-40 minute prep block each day. I used to walk past classrooms where the sub was reading a book or looking a bit bored with the extra time. I asked a couple of subs what they thought of having the option of doing some secretarial tasks in their prep time and they all liked the idea. I now look at the sub list and bring some optional work to the substitute teacher before the student day begins.

2. Para Professionals- You may not have a para professional, but your school may have one who has extra time in their day. Maybe their 1:1 student is absent or independent during specials. Put a help wanted folder in the copier room and fill it with copying, laminating, and cutting tasks. I also have para educators do daily artic drills at the end of the day with my kids working on carry-over. 

3. Student Volunteers- Do you have a community service group at your school or high school student who may need service learning hours?  Kids love cutting and pasting. We know that this is the most labor intensive part of assembling new TpT products. This help source may not be consistent, but it can certainly help with those large products a couple of times a year. Just ask the guidance counselor for assistance in finding students. 

4. Kids- Speaking of kids, my own children like helping mom. To earn computer time, I may rally the kids to organize cards or sample new products. My youngest likes to play teacher by dabbling glue and adhering card covers. 

5. Parents- With our huge caseloads, there has to be at least 1-2 parents who would love to help out the SLP.  Send this note home and I bet you'll be surprised with the positive response.  

Free parent volunteer letter

6. Senior Citizens- I recall residents gathered together at a table clipping coupons when I worked in the nursing home. It was a sort of a coffee chat time with a purpose. Call your local nursing home and speak to the activities director about the possibility of residents helping service providers with secretarial tasks. They say that a key to happiness is helping others. I believe this opportunity for elders is a win-win!  

Click on the picture for this free to helper list. 

Comment with ways that you rally help in order to free up time for planning and student focus. I will add them to the list and, of course, give you credit.