Summer Sensory Bin: Kinetic Sand

Is it just me or did summer show up all of a sudden?! Unlike my school SLP friends, I will be working through the summer. That is, until I pop out this baby (see last post)! One of my favorite activities to use with my preschoolers is a good ol' sensory bin (as you can see from my previous post on the Spring Garden Sensory Bin). There are many types of sensory play you can explore (gel, water, ice, shaving cream, etc). I have been having fun with kinetic sand.

For those of you who aren't familiar with kinetic sand, it is material that looks like sand but doesn't have the same grittiness. It's mold-able, easy to clean up (grains tend to clump together), soft, and doesn't dry up (I've had my sand for over a year and it feels the same way it did the day I purchased it).

I love how kinetic sand keeps its shape!

Kinetic sand isn't the cheapest thing in the world (about $13 for 1.5 lbs) but I figured it was worth the splurge. It totally is!

For the sensory bin, I placed a few pounds of sand into a shoe box sized plastic container that I got from Michael's. The sand alone would have been enough to make my preschoolers happy, but I decided to add some extra goodies. Additional accessories included mold's that I also purchased from Target. It included a turtle, fish, seahorse, and sandcastle mold. I also added a shovel I got from the dollar store as well as seashells.

My preschoolers had so much fun digging, building, burying, making, etc. We were also able to work on sentence expansion, following directions, comprehension of 'wh' and yes/no questions, you name it!

I paired the sensory bin with one of my favorite books, "Miranda's Beach Day". It's a simple story about the sights and sounds a little girl and her mom encounter while at the beach. After reading this, my kids were so excited to get to play in the sand like Miranda did!

For those of you who have used kinetic sand, how do you incorporate it into your sessions? What would you add to your sensory bin?

Learning to Read is a Ball {Review and Giveaway}

"What can I do to help my child improve their language skills?" This is a common question I hear regularly, especially now that I'm working with preschoolers. Although it may not be a mystery to us in the field, many parents (and other professionals) do not know how or what to do with their little ones when it comes to literacy.

Kimberly Scanlon's book, "Learning to Read is a Ball" is just the type of resource for those who are looking to work on important language skills but are unsure of how to do so.

In this simply illustrated book, you will find a 28-page picture book accompanied by a 17-page parent guide that covers techniques to develop oral language, strategies to improve vocabulary using synonyms and antonyms, methods of increasing print awareness and much more!

One of my favorite illustrations from the book.

Undoubtedly, children will find the illustrations and story line of "Learning to Read is a Ball" captivating. However, I believe the parent guide is the most valuable portion of this book. Not only will it provide strategies and tips to use with "Learning to Read is a Ball", but it also serves as a great jumping-off point for a host of other books!

The parent guide is a handy resource for parents and professional alike

Bottom line, I will definitely be recommending this book to the preschool families I work with. "Learning to Read is a Ball", can also serve as a lovely parting gift for many of my students who are transitioning to kindergarten.

So now that I've gushed over this wonderful book, you're probably interested in getting your hands on it! Lucky for you Kimberly was kind enough to provide a copy for me to giveaway. Enter below with Rafflecopter.


Please note that comments will ONLY appear once I've reviewed and approved them (prevents postings from spam-bots). If your comment doesn't appear immediately, wait a few hours. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway



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

Language Trainer {App Review & Giveaway}

I can't believe it's 2014! The year 2013 was chock full of change, so pardon me for not posting anything since November. Since my last post, I have moved from New York to Pennsylvania, begun working with preschoolers (I think about my middle school kiddos almost everyday), and purchased a home! My husband and I are almost settled in our house, this gives me some time to get back to my blog.

Hooray for homeownership!

I'm excited that my first post for the year will be an app review and giveaway from Smarty Ears called Language Trainer ($14.99).

Language Trainer contains four activities (see below) that include: picture identification, picture naming, divergent naming, and sentence completion.

Language Trainer offers 4 tasks that target receptive & expressive language

Picture Identification:
Users can select an avatar or an existing photo. For the picture identification task, you can increase difficulty by incrementally upping the number of images from two (2) all the way up to five (5).

Settings Screen

Users are instructed to point to an item that is presented auditorally.

Users identify the correct image in the picture identification task

Picture Naming
After being presented with an image, users have the ability to record the name of the item. Their responses can be marked as correct, incorrect or cued (this means the user was provided with some assistance).

Example of the picture naming task

Divergent Naming
Much like the difficulty levels for Picture Identification, users of Divergent Naming can choose to name anywhere between two (2) to six (6) items. Directions can be repeated and responses recorded. 

Users can only be correct/incorrect for this divergent naming task 

Sentence Completion
Lastly, the sentence completion task provides users the ability to provide multiple responses to complete a visually and auditorally presented sentence. As with the picture naming task, users are able to have the sentence repeated as well as have their responses recorded.

Sentence Completion Example

What I Liked:

• Data can be monitored and user performance can be shared with various parties. Additionally, you are able to add any pertinent information and email it with the "Add Notes" option. You can also open historic data in Therapy Report Center, iBooks, Dropbox, print, or just copy.

User performance can be shared all at once or individually

• There is an option to increase the level of difficulty as you progress. If you are consistently getting items correct when presented in a field of 2, it will be presented in a field of 3. 
• The items that are presented can be modified via the "Modify Database" (see below).

Presented items can be selected or removed at users discretion 

What I Would Like To See:

• It would be nice if Language Trainer was more customizable and had the ability to add photos of your own

To view Language Trainer in action take a look at the video below:

Language Trainer by Smarty Ears from Smarty Ears on Vimeo.

App Compatibility:
Language Trainer is compatible with iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Want to try it out for yourself? Please enter below for a chance to win a free download of this app. The giveaway ends Friday, January 31st at 12:01 AM. Good luck!

Please note that comments will ONLY appear once I've reviewed and approved them (prevents postings from spam-bots). If your comment doesn't appear immediately, wait a few hours. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway


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

Multiple Choice Articulation {App Review & Giveaway}

Rarely do my students who transition to middle school have articulation goals on their IEP's, despite having obvious and consistent errors in their speech. Multiple Choice Articulation (below) is a newly developed app by Erik Raj meant to address articulation while targeting receptive and expressive language in a conversational manner. 

Users are able to target 7 phonemes.

For $9.99 users get:

• Over 500 multiple choice questions targeting 7 phonemes (above image)
• Option of having questions read aloud to user
• Option of having answers provided via audio to user

Users have the option to hear the question and answer

•  Users are able to select phoneme positions they would like to have targeted (below)

Things I liked:

• In addition to articulation, receptive (auditory processing, language memory, 'wh' question comprehension, turn taking, reasoning) and expressive language use (pronoun use, sentence formulation, word order, etc.) are also able to be elicited
•  Students/users will want to discuss these scenarios as they are a departure from the more "traditional" questions adults would ask them e.g. "What would you rather sleep on - a pillow made of smooth mud or a pillow made of itchy cloth? Why?"

Things I would change:

• Visuals of the absurd questions would have been a great addition, as it would add to the discussion as well as provide assistance to those with difficulty visualizing
• Price: Although Erik Raj has churned out some quality apps,  $9.99 is costly for the average SLP/educator who has little to no budget for materials at their place of employment.

App Compatibility:

Multiple Choice Articulation is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

For a chance to win this new app please enter below. Good luck! 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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 :)