Reading Passages Resource: FREE

Quick post to share an excellent resource I used almost daily this last year.  Read Works (http://www.readworks.org).  Have you heard of it?  If not and you work with elementary, middle school, and high school students, you are in for a treat.

Let me start by saying that I am in no way affiliated with Read Works and I have not been asked to review the website nor am I receiving any reimbursement for my review.  This is simply a genuine and excited share of a fabulous resource.  

Read Works is a non-profit organization aimed to support reading comprehension.  By signing up for FREE you have access to research-based units/lessons and reading passages sorted by genre, grade level, and reading level.  I have been working to make my speech and language sessions align with common core standards and work addressed in the classroom while keeping the students' attention and motivation.  Knowing the topics covered in class or even in current new events, I go onto Read Works at the beginning of the week and find articles that aligned with those topics.  I print out a choice of articles...usually two.  During the speech and language sessions, I give a quick intro for each article and let the students decide which article we should work through.

We use the article to address all the speech and language goals.  For example, with articulation, I give each student a copy of the article and have them highlight their speech sounds.  Then we popcorn read through the article while practicing our sounds.  For example, with language, we stop at the end of each paragraph to summarize or discuss literary concepts in correct and complete sentences.  Clearly, the options are endless...those are just two examples of way I have used the articles to target speech and language goals. 

What are your favorite resources?

10 tips for reading books with babies

Reading books to babies?!  YES!  You can and should read books with your babies.  Here are 10 tips for reading books with babies.

1.  Choose picture books with bright, colorful pictures
Babies' eyes are still developing.  They are not able to see pictures, objects, or people the way we see them.  However, they are so interested in bright, colorful designs and pictures.  Reading books with colorful illustrations will capture your baby's interest and support cognitive development.

2.  Take a picture walk
Take your baby on a picture walk through the book.  Don't read the story.  Look at the pictures.  Point to the pictures.  Label what you and your baby are looking at.  You can label the actual objects, colors, size, etc.

3.  Let your child explore
If you child is old enough to grab at the pages or even grab at the pictures on a page, follow his/her lead.  If they grab to turn the page, help them turn it.  If they grab at a picture on the page, start talking about it.  If your child grabs the whole book, help him/her look through it...

4.  "Read" the book
You can always read word for word the written story in a book.  I recommend doing that as those authors are talented and creative people.  However, I often make my own story when reading through the book with little kiddos.

5.  Make sounds
How many little babies love to make sounds with their mouths?!  I mean our little ones are classic noise makers and I LOVE it!  Use their strength to include them in the "reading".  For example, when reading a book that has a car or truck, make a rumble sound with you mouth.  Get your baby's attention and make the sound again pausing after to encourage your little one to copy and make the sound back.

6. Get moving
 Children learn so much when movements are associated with new skills.  It is never too early to start moving...you just modify based on your baby's ability.  Referring back to the car or truck I mentioned in #5...think of a simple movement that can go along with it that you can do with you baby.  Maybe it is a horn honking move or a whole body wiggle for a rumbling sound.

7.  Look for books with texture
Around 3 months (some before and some after), babies start to take interest in different textures.  There are great books out there with different textures throughout the story.  This adds a whole new level of conversation to the book.

8.  Books with repetition
Babies love repetition.  Reading a book that has a repeated phrase throughout the story allows your baby to hear those words multiple times.  You might find that you baby starts to make sounds during the repeated phrase.

9.  Have books easily available
A fabulous SLP shared with me that when her children were little, she had a basket in the living room filled with children's books.  Such a great idea.  The books are easily accessible for adults to grab to share with the baby, and once the baby gets more mobile, he/she can grab the books independently!

10.  Repeat a favorite book
Do you notice your baby having a favorite book or even a favorite page in a book?  My little guy loves the last page of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (the page with the brightly colored butterfly).  We spend so much time on that page talking about all the different colors and shapes.  If you notice the same in your little one, great...repeat that book over and over.  This engages your little one as he/she is naturally interested in the book, allows for repetition, and gives the opportunity to expand on new ideas each time you read together.

It is never too soon to introduce books to your little love.  It might feel foreign to read to a 2 month old, but it is a wonderful gift you are giving your baby.  Soon it will not feel foreign, and storytime will be a highlight of the day!

Articulation Test Center App Review

 

Discovering new, effective, and efficient ways to administer articulation assessments and screeners is something I'm always interested in.  So I was excited when given the opportunity to review Little Bee Speech: Articulation Test Center.

Little Bee Speech provided me with a free copy of the app; however, all opinions expressed in this review are mine. 

Here is the home screen of the app.  On the home screen, you have the option to chose the Screener test or the Full Test.

Let's look at the Screener option first.  When you choose Screener, you next select the age of the student being screened.  When you click on the age, a tab appears that shows the shows tested in this Screener test.

Next, you will put in the information for the student.  When done inputting student information, you student will be listed in Students Being Tested.  Select the student to test and Begin Test.

Bright, realistic pictures present each word being screened.  Tap on the picture for a sentence included a model of the word.  Target sounds are illustrated with a green square.  If the student correct articulates the target sound, swipe right to the next stimulus.  If the student incorrectly articulates the target sound, simply tap on the green square once, and it will turn red.  Tap again and the square will turn yellow indicating a close approximation of the sound.  There is also a drag down box allowing for recording of sound substitutions.  Another great feature is that you can record the student's product of the word in order to review production and allow for more accurate scoring.  My students found the recording option to be distracting, but it is a great idea and definitely worth a try.

The SUCCESS visual will appear when the screener is complete!  My students loved this did a little celebration dance :)

Once finished administering the screener, you have the opportunity to evaluate the student's intelligibility.

Then, click on the student's name to review results.  In the results section, you can review words tested, errors marked and the position in the words, sample report, and recommendations for sounds to target for therapy.

Now let's look at the Full Test!  Once you choose Full Test, you will be given the option to assess initial sounds, medial sounds, final sounds, initial blends, vowels, r sounds, speech sample, and full test.  This is great to give options to more specifically target areas of concerns or to gain more overall information from the full test.

The format and function of the Full Test works the same as the screener (mentioned above).  With the Full Test, you have the option to add a speech sample which is amazing!  I love speech samples!

With the Speech Sample option, the student is given three different picture scenes to engage with.  The picture scene has background sounds that can be turned on or off, interactive pictures with questions.  The best part of this feature is that the speech sample can be recorded right there in the app!   When you review the Speech Sample in the results section, you can play back the recording and adjust intelligibility rating and you can transcribe the speech sample.  ALL within the app!

Overall thoughts with Articulation Test Center

I am really excited to add this app to my assessment repertoire!  One question I had was if this was a standardized assessment?  After reviewing the product information on their Apple App Store Page  , I found my question answered.  This is not a standardized assessment.  It has been designed to be used as a supplemental assessment in conjunction with standardized assessments.  While I would love to have found that the Full Test was standardized, there are many positives to using this app as a supplemental assessment.  From my experience, this will be most beneficial for:

-Completing articulation screenings

-Completing screenings and assessments on students who require instant feedback
-Looking further into articulation errors

-Adding speech and language samples to assessments!!

I most appreciate:
-The realistic pictures
-The speech sample section
-The analysis of sound errors and pattern errors
-Suggestion sounds to focus therapy on
-Sample report to use as a template
-The SUCCESS picture...my students really loved that!

Articulation Test Center currently sells for $49.99 and can be purchased through the App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/articulation-test-center/id700440156?mt=8

Interested in adding Articulation Test Center to your assessment repertoire?  Do you love Articulation State Pro, but have been waiting for a sale??  Wait no longer, Articulation Test Center and Articulation Station Pro are on sale August 12-14.  These two apps will be 30% off as part of Little Bee Speech's back to school sale!!

For more information and helpful hints on the products, check out these tutorials.  I reviewed them and found them very user friendly and informative.

Articulation Test Center Tutorial videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pVP35u9FQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiezkVEmdak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOYAJRY7KXU

Keeping Up With The Kimochis...training opportunities

Some of you have who been following my blog know that I incorporate a social emotional language development program called Kimochis into my social language interventions.  (Kimochi-what? Have no idea what I am talking about?! Check out my previous posts: Keeping Up With The Kimochis and Keeping Up With The Kimochis and Valentine's Day...a perfect match)

After my previous posts, I received many questions about training opportunities and fees.  I asked the wonderful ladies of Kimochis and they shared their summer training opportunities.  If you have any questions or would like to register, please contact:

megan@kimochis.com

* I am not paid by Kimochis.  I see the benefit in their products and endorse them freely and honestly from my personal/professional experience.

Conversation Jenga

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