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

At The Beach-Adapative Book

This week with the self-contained autism classroom we started our beach unit. We first read the story At The Beach that I created (see link below). As we read the story we talked about the different vocabulary words (i.e. sunglasses, beach towel, beach toys) that are associated with the beach. After we continue to learn about the beach we will take a class field trip to the beach by our school. This will allow for the students to use these new vocabulary words in a functional setting.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/At-The-Beach-Unit-Adaptive-Book-and-more-AutismEarly-Language-Learners-652079

Synonyms

Today with some of my groups I focused on working on synonyms. We read the story If You Were a Synonym. This book is from a series that I used for adjectives a few weeks ago. The story discusses what a synonym is and examples of synonyms. After we played memory with synonym cards that I made (see link below). The students really enjoyed the story and the memory game. One group even asked to play memory again with the cards for our next group! :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Antonym-and-Synonym-flash-cards-and-work-sheets-682786

Dear Zoo

 Today we read the story Dear Zoo. I found great visuals for the story on www.kizclub.com (see link below). As we read the story we talked about the different adjectives used in the story to describe the zoo animals (i.e. jumpy, fierce). We also focused on sentence structure, answering wh-questions, and answering yes/no questions as we read the story. The students really enjoyed using the visuals with the story. When the story was finished I put the animal visuals in a bag and the students had to pick a animal and put it in the sentence using an adjective!


http://www.kizclub.com/stories3.htm

Zoo Wh-Questions

Today we focused our therapy on answering wh-questions. First we read the story The Zoo Book by Jan Pfloog. As we read the story we focused on answering 'what', 'who', and 'where' questions about the animals in the story. This is a book that was recommended from a friend and I really enjoyed this book and so did the students. After we read the story the students independently worked on a worksheet (see above). The worksheet was differentiated to fit the student's needs. I used the worksheet as a way to progress monitor my students with wh-questions. Below is a link to my zoo unit that includes the worksheet above and more!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Unit-for-Autistic-Children-and-Children-with-Language-Delays-653609

Zoo Language Cubes

I bought these cubes on Amazon and they were one of the best purchases I have made to add to my therapy materials. I use these cubes for a variety of therapy activities including articulation, vocabulary, sentence structure, and categories! With a few of my groups I have been working on the students using adjectives in their sentences.  I made one cube with adjectives and one cubes with zoo animals. The students rolled both of the dice and they made a sentence using the animal and adjective that they used. The kids loved this activity! Any activity I teach with these cubes the students are highly engaged and have a lot of fun while learning!!

Zoo Animals Catorgizing

As our week of the zoo continues today we focused our therapy today on categorizing animals into two categories (farm and zoo animals). Students picked out animals out of a mystery bag and then had to determine where the animal lives. As we worked on categorizing the animals we also focused on answering wh-questions and forming grammatically correct sentences about the animals.

Zoo Unit

Today, we started our zoo unit because within the next few weeks many of my students will be taking a field trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Throughout this unit, I will be focusing our language and articulation goals with the theme of the zoo. Today we focused on categorizing zoo animals (see picture above). Once the students students identified which animals are zoo animals they then had the put the animal in a sentence using adjectives and/or the conjunction 'and'. In addition students also worked on answering  wh-questions and yes/no questions.  Please see link below for my zoo unit on TPT which includes a book about the zoo and various worksheets.

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

Mother's Day Craft

A few of my groups I have during the week I do them with the OT. During our groups we work on language and fine motor skills. It is a lot of fun for the students and the staff!! Most weeks we create a craft which allows the OT to work on fine motor skills and myself work on a variety of language objectives. This week we made Mother's Day cards (see above). During this activity we worked on fine motor skills and then worked on sentence structure and color identification. Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Card

As the week continues of Mother's Day activities, I started to make Mother's Day cards with my students. Last week we worked on adjectives so I incorporated adjectives into our Mother's Day cards. The students use adjectives to complete the sentence "My mom is...." Depending on the students needs either the students wrote the adjectives on their own or used PECS pictures to help describe their mother with adjectives. I love how they turned out and the students were so excited to go home and give them to their mother's! :)

Mother's Day

This week we will be focusing on Mother's Day. I have created an interactive adaptive book to use with my students who are on the autism spectrum. As we read the book we discuss what Mother's Day is and why we should celebrate our mothers. After we read the story we use the vocabulary cards to work with comprehension! Below is the link for the adaptive book in TPT which is currently on sale! Enjoy!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mothers-Day-Adaptive-Book-austimlanguage-delaysdisorders

We're Making Breakfast for Mother

As our week of Mother's Day themed therapy continues today we focused on the book We're Making Breakfast For Mother by Shirley Neitzel. The story is about children making breakfast for their mother. I have created visual pictures for children to use as we read the story. I had the children add each breakfast item on to the tray as we read the story. At the end of the story we had the same breakfast for the children's mother on our tray. The students loved this interactive lesson! I was able to work on several IEP goals throughout this lesson which included; wh-questions, yes/no questions, sentence structure, sequencing, comparing and contrasting, and more! Below is the link for these visuals that are free!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Were-Making-Breakfast-For-Mother-Visuals

Butterfly Sequencing Activity

As the week of insects continues today we did a sequencing activity with some of the students. We first read the book The Butterfly by Anna Mibourne and Cathy Shimmen. This book goes through the sequence of how a butterfly is created and is filled with beautiful pictures that helps engage the students. As we read the book the students worked on numerous goals that include; sentence structure, adjectives, and answering wh-questions. After the story was finished I had the students sequence how the butterfly is created. As they told me how the butterfly is created we focused on them using the words first, next, and then. To help with generalization of these skills when the students went back to class I had to them retell the sequence of the butterfly to their teacher and/or peers. See below for the link to get the sequencing cards for free on TPT.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Butterfly-Sequencing-Cards