As always, there's both a PDF and a Word document in case you want to adapt it for your own purposes. I'm excited to try it - let me know what you think, or what other ideas you have to support fluency skills in preschoolers!
I can't take credit for having this idea - I was talking to my supervisor about ideas to work on fluency with preschoolers, and she shared this idea with me. It's a simple visual of the ocean, along with a boat. Cut out the boat and use it to help your student see and feel the difference between "smooth" and "bumpy" speech. She said she's had great success moving students from relying on her model/ID of smooth or bumpy speech to self-correcting using the sailboat to help them. It's also just a great visual reminder to use slow, smooth speech.
As always, there's both a PDF and a Word document in case you want to adapt it for your own purposes. I'm excited to try it - let me know what you think, or what other ideas you have to support fluency skills in preschoolers!
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I got some great feedback from teachers today on my "All About Me" activity! It went really well today - kids loved it and it was actually easier to target a lot of my goals than I thought. Here's how:
Using this page and the page of pictures (you'll need a subscription to Lesson Pix to access these - only $3 per month and totally worth it!), I cut out each group of pictures that matched to each question so kids could look at them and choose. I had kids identifying and labeling items/actions in the pictures, answering yes/no or WH questions to prompt them if they were unable to come up with a label, then if able describe them. Then once they picked the one they wanted, I cut it out for them, handed it to them, then told them to stick it on a certain square or shape (following directions with embedded concepts!). When they put it on the shape and realized that it would not stick on it's own, I got a sense for who could verbalize the problem they were having and who could verbally request what they needed. If a child needed prompting, I'd show them that I had a glue stick and help them with the words to ask for it (requesting). Throughout I was taking tabs on what sounds and syllable structures were in their spontaneous phonemic repertoire, what they could imitate after a verbal model, and what I could visually/tangibly prompt. I got tons of great information and my kids couldn't wait to show their teachers and bring home what they had made! I'm looking forward to using this for the rest of the week - Please share any other ideas of how to integrate therapy goals into this activity, or how I can make it better in the future! All the other SLPs at the preschool I work at have some sort of "All About Me" activity that they use at the beginning of the year. Since I'm just meeting all my kids for the first time, I thought it was a great idea for me to do that too! I'm excited to use it as it will help me get to know my kids and get a sense of what their abilities are.
Here's what I made up. It's in a Word document so you can make changes if you'd like to use it, although it might be messed up when you download it. I've also got a bunch of picture for each prompt that the kids can choose from and glue on to answer each question, although because I used graphics from Lesson Pix I'm only sharing those in their Sharing Center, which you're welcome to check out! Have fun! Going back a forth (maybe a million times) about how to format your data sheets? I've found that taking data by goal is REALLY beneficial. It helps me keep track of how long it's been since I've targeted a specific goal and ensures that progress notes and IEPs are super easy because all my data is already all separated out. It does take longer to set up all your sheets at the beginning of the year, but I think it's totally worth it!
This is the format I'm using this year - feel free to try it and adopt if for your own uses! I've been struggling with how to organize and store all my homemade flashcards - whether I made them myself or bought them off TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers), simply rubber-banding them and tossing them in a file was getting overwhelming and I couldn't stand the lack of organization!
Recently I got the idea to file them in binders, using baseball card protective sheets. So far it's worked out really well! It's great because I can fit 9 rows of cards in one sheet so I'm not flipping or sifting through lots of pages or a huge file. These are really cheap, too - here's a link on Amazon so you know what I'm talking about. I just bought mine at Staples. Try it if you think it will work for you! This is a great FREE app! It lets you easily track syllables and dysfluencies by type, then does the calculations for you! The app is called Fluency Calc: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fluency-calc/id887414340?mt=8 I've found it to be very useful for my young kiddos, as often they are not saying a ton anyway and I can pretty much keep up by tapping the button for every syllable, stuttered or not. It's harder to keep up with the older kid, but regardless this app is a great way to take specific, reliable data within a session... Without having to record the session and listening to it later! Working on bilabials? One of my (and my kids') favorite songs is the classic about a baby bumblebee! The lyrics I use are below. I typically focus on initial bilabials with this. Once the kids know the song they like to fill in the words when I stop singing - usually I'll start by letting them finish each line of text, which ends in a great bilabial with an easy /i/ vowel. As kids get better I also hold them accountable for all the initials, and then medials and finals, too! Have fun! I'm Bringing home My Baby Bumble Bee
Won't My Mommy Be so Proud of Me I'm Bringing home My Baby Bumble Bee - OUCH!! It stung Me !! I'm Mashin' up my Baby Bumble Bee Won't My Mommy Be so Proud of Me I'm Mashin' up My Baby Bumble Bee - EW!! What a Mess!! I'm Wipin' up My Baby Bumble Bee Won't My Mommy Be so Proud of Me I'm Wipin' up My Baby Bumble Bee - Bye Bye, Baby Bubble Bee!! This is a key/summary of the data keeping abbreviations I use on a daily basis. I developed it by combining what my current supervisor uses, what PECS suggests, and what I find myself needing to keep track of. I find this incredibly useful!! It's more quantifiable/objective than simply "min/mod/max assist" and more specific about exactly what types of cues a person benefits from. Overall I love that it gives me a structured, consistent way to keep track of how much assistance my kids are needing and if I am able to fade my prompting over time. I use the range of all these with my AAC kids, but I also find some of them helpful with my artic, language, and pragmatic kids, too.
This is a form you can use to track the interests of your students and what foods, toys, or activities they find motivating. I've found it really helpful in keeping track of the hierarchy of what my nonverbal kids prefer or really don't like, and therefore what I can use to target (for example) requesting or rejecting. As usual, it's posted as a Word document so you can make changes to suit your own needs!
/uploads/2/1/1/3/21134946/preferencehierarchy.doc Part if the reason transitions are so hard for some kids is that when you tell them it's time to do something else all they hear is that they have to stop what they are currently doing. If what they're doing is a preferred or calming activity, that's no fun! If visual schedules alone aren't cutting it, try to give them a tangible that is only used in the next activity so they can be excited about what's coming while they have to stop what they're doing in the moment.
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