Processing Auditory Messages Exactly and Totally {Review}

For those of you who are fans of my Facebook page you know that my district recently provided me with therapy materials to use with students. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting reviews of those materials. There is an overwhelming amount of products to choose from out there, hopefully, my posts will provide you with info regarding  items you deem worthy enough to add to your SLP toolkit.

Processing Auditory Messages Exactly and Totally (PAMET) is a 60 page workbook meant to target auditory memory and processing via black and white reproducible illustrations.

Cover

Two instructional levels are provided (I and II). Level I (below) contains simple directives such as, "Circle the bug" or "Underline the chipmunk that is holding the mushrooms."

Level II (below) contains longer more detailed directives such as, "Find something that can move even though it has no legs or hands. Color its eyes green"

A variety of language skills can be targeted through the use of this unit.  Additionally, the comprehension and use of: vocabulary words, prepositions, verbs,"wh" questions, as well as strategies to aid with memory can all be addressed with this simple and straightforward workbook.

Despite being presented as an activity for younger ages (2nd - 5th grade), I find that my students lack many, if not all of the skills targeted by PAMET ($26.55).

In many cases, the idea of coloring may seem rather juvenile to your middle schoolers. As such, I use highlighters instead of crayons/markers, as they serve to "mature" the activity. Also, to add an element of competition (and curb "cheating") to my therapy group, students set up barriers using their speech folders.

What activities/materials do you use with your students to target processing/comprehension/memory?

Language Builder {Review}

I had a great time reviewing Language Builder.  Rightfully so, as they were voted 3rd Best Educational app of 2011 by AppsForHomeschooling.com. Language Builder is a great app for children who need a fun and interactive way to address their receptive and expressive language skills. Real life pictures are used to stimulate production of a specific sentences. 

Users formulate and record a sentence based on a variety of pictures.  Users have the option to replay and rerecord the sentence as many times as they like.  Once happy with their sentence, users are able to save their recorded sentence and even email the photo and recording to friends and family.  Multiple user profiles can be created with Language Builder. Players are also able to switch back and forth between users.

For those who need some prompting, Language Builder offers three levels of hints.

• At level 1, users are presented with a sentence on the screen with two blanks that they need to fill in.
• At level 2 hint provides the user with a prompt such as "The girl..." and the student needs to formulate the remainder of the sentence
• At level 3, an audio clip is played that encourages players to use one or two key words in their sentence.

Level 1 hint where user is prompted to fill-in the blank.

There are a variety of themed photo modules preloaded onto this App.  Modules include themes related to pets, sports, school, places etc.

Home-screen where preferences can be selected.

Saved sentences are able to be accessed through the archive page. While on this page you are able to play, delete or share the sentence. If you decide to share it you can email the audio file and the image.

Saved sentences can be accessed via the archive.

An array of grammatical structures (pronouns, verb tenses, plurals, etc.) and language concepts (complex sentences, prepositions, synonyms, etc.) are targeted by this app.  Language Builder can also be used to work on sentence recall for those with auditory processing impairments.

Language Builder is a wonderful engaging app that my middle schoolers can greatly benefit from. I appreciate that its latest update includes all the modules (was available for purchase at $1.99 previously), providing users with over 200 images for only $9.99! Overall, this is a great app and well worth the price.

App Compatability:
Language Builder is compatible with the iPad and requires iOS 4.1 or later.

Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions. 

Targeting Language Through Play

My summer vacation seems to have taken a bit of a turn. I had every intention of relaxing and using my free time to get organized for the upcoming school year and perhaps even plan my wedding (July 26, 2013!!!). However, an opportunity to work with the early intervention and preschool population arose that I could not pass up. After spending a year with my middle schoolers I definitely needed to jog my memory and re-familiarize myself with functional and multipurpose toys to use in order to support and develop language. I am using this post to do just that.  Here is a compilation of some of the things I’ve have found useful in the past, as well as toys I would like to utilize moving forward.

Elefun: 

Kids can't seem to get enough of this game, although adults get tired of this one fast!

This is a classic game where an elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk and are caught with nets. Short utterances can be modeled (e.g. “Pick up,” “Ready, set go!” etc.) as well as requesting, and turn-taking behavior. Important spatial concepts regarding spatial relationship (e.g. front, behind, top), quantity, colors, directions, etc. can also be addressed.

Pound a Ball:

This toy allows you to target color matching, prepositions (e.g. in/out, up/down), requesting, turn-taking, cause/effect etc. Just me mindful of fingers during this activity as children tend to get very excited and  occasionally “miss” their target.

Melissa & Doug Sound Puzzles:

Sound puzzles are a great way to teach sounds and basic words as well as cause/effect. The child's receptive language can easily be targeted  by asking them to “point to”, “show me”, or indicate “where?”

Bubbles:

Bubbles are one of my favorite therapy tools because they can be used to assess language skills as well as promote its development. Skills such as eye contact, requesting, signing, sound production, word/phrase production, turn-taking, quantity, etc. can all be addressed.

Jenga:

Classic Jenga with an updated look.

                                                             

Jenga is a classic no frills game that is a tried and true motivator. It reinforces turn-taking behavior and spruces up any speech/language activity. After producing a target sound, answering a question etc. have the student take a turn removing a block. I have also found this to be a great demonstration of concepts like “gentle”, “slow”, “rough”, “careful”, etc.

Shape Sorter: 

In addition to requesting and turn-taking, many concepts can be targeted with a shape sorter. Concepts include: prepositions ("in", "out", "on"), color, shapes, directions, full/empty (depending on type of sorter), quantity, etc.

Blocks:

Blocks are an essential part of any SLP’s toolkit as they encourage creativity as well as target prepositions, spatial relationships, directions, quantity, cause/effect, as well as social skills related to turn-taking, and sharing.

These are only a few examples of toys to utilize with the preschool population. I am fully aware that there are a plethora more available. However, I find that the simple toys/games/activities illicit the most language, as there are no bells and whistles to distract the child from their innate need to play.

I am very excited about my new summer position working with the little ones. I'm also extra pumped because I get the added bonus of a supplementary income.  I hope my piggie bank is ready for all the cash :)