Closing Time

Another school year has come to an end...  after 15 years in the "biz" the anticipation of summer still provides that wonderful tingly feeling!  Of course, the weather in Minnesota this spring has not made me feel tingly, but rather cranky, sad and tired.  While waving goodbye to the students from "the hill" yesterday (a tradition at Glendale) I overheard one student remark, "Well it sure doesn't feel like summer vacation out here."  According to the ever accurate and consistent meterologists next week will feel more like summer.  Now that, is definitely something I am looking forward to!

See you in August

 

BSHM - "Hear" Ye "Hear" Ye Don't

With the last week in May upon us (feels more like the start of April here in Minnesota), here is the final post in honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month 2013 (BSHM)
  



 

BSHM - Voice

A little bit of information on voice disorders and vocal hygiene

 

 

 

BSHM - Fluency Facts



 

SPEECH GRAFFITI

To celebrate Better Speech and Hearing Month with my students we created a bit of "speech graffiti" to display in our main hallway at school.  Students were asked to complete one of the following statements:

1)  My goal in speech class is to...

2)  The thing I like best about speech class is...

3)  My favorite activity in speech class is...

The variety of responses were tremendous!  It was wonderful to see the awareness students had about what they are trying to accomplish in speech group, as well as the things they enjoy most during group time.  Of course, I was especially touched by those students who said the thing they liked best was little old me.  Sniff Sniff...

Here is a shot of the final project.

 

 

On a side note, as an end to our Teacher Appreciation Week this week, students dressed like their favorite teacher/staff member today.  I was honored to have a few of my favorite girls think of me.

 



BSHM - Love of Language

 

 

Better Speech and Hearing Month - Did you know?

Here are a few tidbits about communication disorders and the world of speech language pathology.

 

MAY IS BETTER SPEECH AND HEARING MONTH

 

Better Speech and Hearing Month is a time to raise public awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the various forms of communication disorders including those of hearing, speech, language, and voice. Speech and language disorders take many forms such as articulation, voice, stuttering, and receptive and expressive language difficulties. These impairments may be learning based, acquired, or the result of accidental injury or illness at any age. Speech and language disorders can limit academic achievement and social adjustment within their educational setting.

As a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) I work to prevent, identify and treat various forms of communication impairments including speech, language, voice, stuttering, hearing, and related disorders.

To celebrate this month, my speech and language students will be creating speech graffiti in the main hallway at school to promote awareness of communication disorders. Furthermore, each Monday in the month of May, I will be posting examples of DIY promotional materials and/or resources for parents and teachers to learn more about speech/language development and communication disorders. 

 

Explain Everything -- A Handy Tool for Speech Therapy

In the month of March I decided to try my hand at a new app called Explain Everything. This tool allows you to create a slideshow including narration, photos and videos. Two of my fluency students used it to research what stuttering is, the different types of disfluencies, as well as strategies used to produce smooth speech. Here is one of the presentations we created:

All About Stuttering

 

April Home Practice for Speech/Language Students

Thanks to the SLPs Fairy Godmother and If I Only Had Superpowers for the following April Home Practice Activities.  These activities can be used for students working on improving both their expressive and receptive language skills or articulation skills.  Language students can answer the questions as stated while the articulation students can answer the questions using their target speech sounds (each student should be able to tell you which sound we have been working on in group each week).

April Calendar
 

 

 April - Week by Week



 

Speech 101

Ahhh.... winter break is over.  Or should I say WAHHHH!

Now that we are back in the swing of things, I thought it would be a perfect time to share a few resources for parents and classroom or specialist teachers to better understand vocabulary in the world of speech/language.

The first was created by www.msjocelynspeech.com and the

second by www.carriescorner.blogspot.com. 

 

Link:  https://www.box.com/s/24o58vj6z08h04rfdn0k

 

  

 

Link:  https://www.box.com/s/4fwwvd7q52h407l6tzo2