Insects and Adjectives

As our insect week continues my student teacher came up with a great lesson about adjectives! They first read the book If You Were An Adjective By Micheal Dahl. This is a fabulous book that teaches the students about adjectives in a fun way! This book is part of a full series that talks about different types of language (synonyms, antonyms, plurals, etc...). After they read the book the student drew an insect of their choice and then used adjectives to describe their insect! It was lots of fun for everyone! :)

Insects!!

This week we will being our insect unit! This is personally one of my favorite units to do with my students because they love it! I get insects from the dollar store and get Easter grass and put them in a container. I have the students search for the insects and then I have the students put the insect in a sentence and we work on describing them with adjectives. For my non-verbal students, I have a choice board and PECs pictures to have them formulate the sentences. I also have made a handful of worksheets (see link below) about insects that I have made to meet my students individual needs. Towards the end of the unit we go outside to search for insects and use what we learned about insects throughout the week. This helps with generalization of what the students learned in speech! Stay tuned for my activities from my insect unit this week!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Insect-Unit-for-Autistic-Children-and-Children-with-Language-Delays

Wh-Question Visuals

 While working with students on the autism spectrum I have found that answering wh-questions is very difficult for them. I have made visuals for 'what', 'where', 'when', and 'who' questions. I focus on one type of wh-question and explain to the child what the answer will always be. For example, 'who' questions will always be a person. After this is taught I "kill and drill" who questions with the student. I have seen a lot of success with this strategy. These visuals are used throughout the lessons for wh-questions and I share these visuals with the classroom teacher to help with generalization.
Below is a link to my wh-question visuals that are available for free on TPT.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wh-Question-Visuals-For-Students

Spring Language Flowers

Today we made our language flowers. We drew a picture of our spring vocabulary word in the center of the flower and then wrote adjectives and sentences that describe the vocabulary word. It was a lot of fun and all the flowers turned out great. I highly suggest doing this activity with your students. See our finished bulletin board below!

Spring Vocabulary Games

To help my students with learning more spring vocabulary I have made spring bingo and spring memory games. (See TPT link below **on sale**). These games keep the students engaged and making learning fun. Many IEP goals and objectives can be addressed while playing these games which include: sentence structure, answering 'yes'/'no' questions, answering wh-questions, attributes, and articulation! I have modify the game for each group of students to address their individual needs. Have fun! :)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Vocabulary-Games-Bingo-and-Memory

Spring Articulation Flowers

I am always looking for fun new activities to do with my students that are working on articulation! This week since our theme is spring we made articulation flowers. Each student wrote their sound  in the center of the flower and put their articulation words on the flower petals. A group of students decided to make them into a bulletin board with all of my students articulation flowers. Tune in later in the week for the bulletin board and for our language flowers!

Spring Therapy Ideas

It is (sorta) spring in Chicago so this week I will begin my spring unit with my students. I have created many worksheets for my students to work on based on their IEP goals. This morning with the self-contained autism classroom I worked on the attributes of big and small. Many students in this classroom use PECS as their mode of communication and reached the phase where they add the attributes of size and/or color to their sentence strip. We first used stuffed animals (one big and one small) and I had them determine the size of the stuffed animal. Next, we used the worksheet (see above). Visual and verbal prompts were given to students depending on their skill level with this concept. See link below for the spring unit on TPT. Happy Earth Day and Spring! :)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Speech-Language-Therapy-Materials-AutismLanguage-Delays

Earth Day

Earth Day Activities

Earth is April 22nd! I have created a book for my students to learn about Earth Day (see link below). While reading the book we discussed ways how we can help the earth at school and at home. The book is interactive so it kept my students engaged. After reading the book with the students we went around the school and picked up trash. The kids really enjoy this activity. Happy Earth Day! :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Earth-Day-Adaptive-Book-Autism 

Zingo

Throughout my years of being a speech-language pathologist, I have bought many games to help my students expand their language and to make therapy fun! Zingo is the best game in my opinion out there! It a similar to bingo and the kids absolutely love it. I use this game when working with students on several types of goals and objectives that include: sentence formulation, categories, asking questions, answering 'yes'/'no' questions, and answering wh-questions! Below are visuals that I have made for my students to help with answering 'yes'/'no' questions and sentence formulation. Click link below. It is free on TPT!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zingo-Visuals

Rabbit Attribute Activity

One of the most common IEP objectives I have for students right now is sentence formulation and using attributes. This activity is a lot of fun! I make PECs picture cards with different attributes on them. The students take turns determining if the attribute is one of a rabbit. After the attributes are determined the students are asked to make sentences using the attributes. Depending on the student's needs they can make a sentence independently or can use a visual to help them formulate the sentence!  Below is a link to my TPT school with the activity which is free! Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rabbit-Attribute-Activity

Welcome!

Welcome! I am at a speech-language pathologist working in a public school in the suburbs of Chicago. My caseload is comprised mostly of students on the autism spectrum and some students with language and articulation delays. I hope you find this blog to be a great resource to help your students expand their language and speech abilities!