Thanksgiving and Categories

As we continue to work on our Thanksgiving unit today we focused on categories regarding food. I have created an activity for my students to sort Thanksgiving food into categories (drink, vegetables, meat, and desserts). Students took turns picking a food and determining which category it belongs in. After we completed this activity each student got to create their own Thanksgiving Feast (see picture above). After my students created their own feast they had to tell the group which items they choose and which category it belonged to.  This activity also gave us an opportunity to work on formulating grammatically correct sentences and answering wh-questions. See link below for this activity on TPT which is currently on sale!!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/My-Thanksgiving-Feast-Speech-Language-Therapy-Autism-400462

Thanksgiving Language Activities

During the next few weeks our theme for speech-language therapy will be Thanksgiving. I have created a unit (see TPT link below) which focuses on different types of language objectives with the theme of Thanksgiving (categories, prepositions, attributes). Today we worked on Thanksgiving categories. First, we made a web as a group of things that are associated with Thanksgiving (i.e. pumpkin pie, turkey, football, Native Americans). After the students independently worked on sorting Thanksgiving nouns (see picture below). This was a great way for me to progress monitor how the students understand the lesson we did as a group.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-Categories-Describing-and-Preposition-for-Speech-Therapy-autism-379888

In The Fall-Adaptive Book

Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away.  Before I start to work on Thanksgiving themed therapy with my students I am going to revisit fall for a week or two. With my students with severe disabilities I plan on focusing on fall vocabulary. This week I will be reading a book with them that I created called In The Fall. This book only has a few words change per page so students can focus on fall vocabulary. This book discusses fall vocabulary (chilly, squirrel, jacket, pumpkin, leaves change colors, leave fall, soccer, football, masks). After we read the story we will work on identifying fall vocabulary words out of a field of two or three. See link below for this book and lesson on TPT!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/In-The-Fall-Adaptive-Book-AutismEarly-Language-Learners-662306

PECS and "I see" Sentence Starter

I found a great book to use with students who are working  on using the sentence starter "I see"with PECS! The book is called I See Fall by Charles Ghinga. For this lesson, I have set up a structured activity for my students who are beginning to use the sentence starter "I see".  The student and I read the book together. After each page I ask the student "What do you see?" They then create a sentence using their sentence strip ("I see"+noun). The book sentences all begin with I see and focus on one or two nouns per page! So far this activity is working great with my students. It is available for every season on Amazon. Below is a link for the visual I made for this activity on TPT! Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-See-Fall-Visuals-945251

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins! This week with my students who have severe disabilities we did a pumpkin unit! We began by reading the adaptive book that I created called Pumpkins (see picture above and TPT link below)!  The students learned about what pumpkins look like and how they are grown. After we worked on turn taking. I brought in a blow-up pumpkin and the student sat in a circle and took turns passing the pumpkin. After, I had the students request the pumpkin if they wanted to play with is by using their various communication devices.  Next, we made our own pumpkins (see pictures above). I found this easy craft on Pinterest. It was a hit and I highly recommend this craft! When they were completed we hung them up as decorations in the classroom! Enjoy!

TPT Link for Pumpkins Adaptive Book: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pumpkins-Adaptive-Book-888091

Halloween Language Activites

I love working on language skills with a Halloween theme because what student doesn't love Halloween!?  I created a Halloween Language Activities Unit (see TPT  link below) based on my students IEP objectives (categorizing, describing, sentence formulation, following directions, conversation skills, and more). After working on these various activities throughout the week I wanted to share one of my favorites which was the Halloween conversation starters. I cut up the conversation starters and had each student take turns picking a card from the jack-o-latern. After the student picked a card they asked a peer the question. This gave me a great opportunity to work on sentence structure and conversation skills with my students. All my students love Halloween so much so they had tons to say!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-Austism-and-Language-delays-673542

Fall Language Activites

This week with my students we began our theme is fall theme! We will be doing various language activities about fall throughout the week. After looking at my students individual IEP goals I created materials. A majority of my students are working on formulating grammatically correct sentences and attributes. First, I gave the students a brown paper bag and gave them two minutes to collect as many leaves as possible on the playground. We then went inside and talked about the attributes (size, color, textures) of the leaves we had found. Next, put all the leaves into one bag and the students went around the table and picked a leaf out of the bag (without looking)! Depending on what leaf the student picked they had formulate a sentence using one or two attributes (depending on their IEP objectives). After, we completed this the student choose a leaf and filled out the worksheet (see above).  See link for my fall language activities available on TPT! Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-AutismLanguage-Delays-662425

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

Since it is starting to finally feel like fall this week in Chicago I started my fall unit with my students. I created an adaptive book called Leaves (see link below) that I read with the students. As we read the book we talked about where leaves grow and the colors of leaves during spring, summer, and fall. After we read the story the students went on a scavenger hunt (see link below) to find different colored leaves.  The students each got their own bag to put their leaves in. This lesson was great for everyone! The kids had a lot of fun and they learned a lot! :) Next week, we will use the leaves that we collected for an art project!

Leaf Adaptive Book on TPT:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leaves-Adaptive-Book-and-Color-Sorting-Activity-901613 

Scavenger Hunt on TPT(FREE!): 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leaf-Scavenger-Hunt-922994

Apples, Apples, Apples!!

With some of my younger students we started an apple unit last week. We have been focusing on the color and size of the apples. First we read an adaptive book that I created called Apples (original right?). This book covers where apple grows, colors of apples, size of apples, and much more! After we read the book the students sorted apples by color (red, yellow, and green)! This week I plan on having the students go apple picking (see picture below!) After the students pick their apple they will match the color of the apple to the appropriate color or create a sentence (The apple is....) depending on their IEP goals. After we go apple picking we will eat apple sauce!! See this activity on my TPT site: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apples-Adaptive-Book-and-Color-Sorting-Activity-874987

Teaching the Attibute of Big and Small

A majority of students who are using PECs for communication are using the attribute of color when constructing a sentence. In order to expand their attributes I am beginning to teach the students the concepts of big and small. I have made a file folder (see above) for students to use during speech-language therapy and within the classroom to help start to expose them to this concept. I also plan on working with students within the classroom setting and labeling things big and small. See link below for the materials to make the above file folder for free on TPT! Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BigSmall-File-Folder-898711

Colors of School

I created a book called The Colors of School (see link below) to use with my students with severe disabilities. This book works on students identifying and learning school nouns (glue stick, pencil, marker, crayon, etc) and also identifying the objects colors. Once I read the book with the students I then have the students sort the school nouns by color (see picture below).

Next week, I plan on reviewing the book with the students and have them identify items out of a field of 2 or 3 depending on their individual needs.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Colors-of-School-Adaptive-Book-870888

Building Rappot with Students

One of the most important factors for having your students succeed in speech-language therapy is  building rapport with them. One of the first activities that I will be doing with all of my students is activities that help build rapport. I have developed an activity that I will be using with my middle school students. Students and myself will take turns rolling our conversation dice and will take turns answering the question that the dice lands on. These questions are basic questions that cover favorite things (season, color, sport, etc). Not only will we get to know more about one another I will also be able to collect baseline data on my student's expressive and receptive language skills. Below is a link for this free activity! Enjoy!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Conversation-Starters-Getting-to-know-each-other-855786

Another year ahead......

As another school year begins so does all the paperwork! This year I have two new schools within the same school district (a suburb outside of Chicago, IL). I will be working at a middle school with the self-contained autism program and at the district's self-contained school working with students with severe disabilities from ages three to nine. Both of these settings are new to me but I am ready for the challenge. Hope you have a great school year!

Summer

Today is our last day before summer break!! Enjoy your summer and see you back here in August!! :)

Adjective Scavenger Hunt

Since the articulation scavenger hunt was such a hit with my students I created one to use with my students that have language goals. Similar to the articulation scavenger hunt students went around the outside of the school finding objects that could be described by the adjective. When they completed the worksheet the students put the adjectives into a sentence. Below is a link for the adjective and articulation scavenger hunt for free on TPT! Enjoy!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ArticulationAdjective-Scavenger-Hunt-712724

Articulation Scavenger Hunt

To help with carryover for articulation over the summer I have created an articulation scavenger hunt. Students went around the outside of the school and wrote down words that have the sound that they are working on. After the words were collected we practiced putting the words into sentences. At the end of the session we talked about why we did this activity and the importance of practicing your articulation everywhere just not in speech-therapy.

Summer Categories

On Friday we finished the At The Beach book (see post from 5/29/13) and began discuss what we wear in the summer and what we do not wear with the self-contained autism room. I brought in winter (scarf, hat, boots) and summer (sandals, shorts, t-shirt) clothing to help the students determine which clothing to wear in the summer and which clothing to wear in the winter. After, I used the worksheet above to progress monitor the student's understanding of winter and summer clothing. See below for link on TPT for this worksheet and more!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-AutismLanguage-Delays-653699










http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-AutismLanguage-Delays-653699

Summer Unit

For the remainder of the school year in speech-language therapy we will be focusing the thing on everyone's mind SUMMER!! With only a week and a half of school left the students are getting very excited for summer- so why not include the hot topic into therapy? Today with a few of my groups we worked on sentence structure and adjectives. Depending on the students needs they either  focused on completing the sentence with a color word or another adjective! This lesson was a precursor to an activity we will be doing next week (stay tuned)! Below is a link to my TPT summer unit!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-AutismLanguage-Delays-653699

Cookie Doodle and Sequencing

My school district has participated in an iPad pilot for the last two school years for special education. I have found the iPad to be a great way to incorporate technology into therapy. One of the students favorite apps on the iPad is Cookie Doodle. It allows the students to make a cookie from scratch. I have created sequencing cards for the students to sequence the steps of making cookies. During process of making the cookie we work on describing, sentence formulation, and answering wh-questions. Once the cookie is completed we then sequence the steps of making the cookie! See below for free Cookie Doodle sequencing cards!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cookie-Doodle-Sequencing-Cards-712727