Marisha

How to Teach Grammar: Making Drill FUN!

May 22, 2017 by Marisha Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, we talked about evidence-based strategies for grammar drill. The strategies are great, but it can be challenging to fit this into mixed groups. It’s also not the most motivating of activities! I’m sharing some of my strategies to make grammar drill a little more engaging.

Do you have any activities that you love to use in your therapy room? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!

1. Movement

Let’s get up and move! I love using movement to engage students. Research also shows that movement can improve student learning.

Movement can be an effective cognitive strategy to (1) strengthen learning, (2) improve memory and retrieval, and (3) enhance learner motivation and morale (Jensen, 2005).

Here are some activity ideas:

Verbs: Jump, hop, walk, sit, stand, roll. You name it! Students can say what they will do (future tense verbs), what they are doing (present progressive), and what they just did (past tense verbs). The SLP Now Membership includes some sorting mats and action verb visuals to supplement this kind activity.
Nouns: Find objects around the room. Use sentence starters (e.g., “I found one…” or “I found two…” to work on plural nouns).
Pronouns: Pass a ball (or other object around the room) to practice pronouns (e.g., “I passed it to her/him. She/He got the ball.”).

Those are just a few suggestions! The possibilities are endless!

2. Apps

Here are some of my favorite apps for drill-based grammar practice:

– Cookie Doodle
– Toca Hair Salon
– Toca Tea Party
– Toca Birthday Party

You can target virtually any target using these apps (e.g., verbs, nouns, pronouns, compound/complex sentences). The activities are repetitive, so it’s easy to get multiple repetitions.

I’m using Cookie Doodle in the pictures below to target present progressive and past tense verbs.

3. Reinforcers

Reinforcers can serve multiple purposes! Even if you’re targeting a different skill, it can be an easy way to embed grammar practice.

You can use dice, spinners, stickers, bubbles… The list goes on and on!

I’m using Pop Up Pirate in the picture below to target present progressive and past tense verbs. The student tells me what color sword they’re going to pick and/or what color they picked. I like to set expectations ahead of time (e.g., “We’re working on…”) and use visuals (as needed). This makes it possible to target any grammar target!

4. Videos

Videos are another fun way to switch up drill-based practice. I especially love the Disney Pixar Shorts.

Students can describe what is happening (or what happened) in the video. You can use visuals from the SLP Now Membership (or create your own!) to structure this practice.

I do my best to implement evidence-based strategies while I’m using the activities listed above. For example, my visuals often include two targets (e.g., present progressive and past tense verbs on the same page) because contrastive imitation is one of the most effective strategies to use when teaching grammar skills. Setting up the visuals in this way reminds me to use those strategies and helps scaffold my students as they develop the skill.

Want to read more? Check out the first post I wrote about why (and how) I teach skills in therapy. The post includes a general “framework” for teaching in therapy. You can find other posts in the series here.

How to Teach Grammar: Embedded Practice

May 15, 2017 by Marisha 2 Comments

Last week, we talked about evidence-based strategies for grammar drill. Now it’s time for the fun part–embedded practice! This is when we target skills in a meaningful context. For school-age students, that may mean providing intervention in the classroom or using materials from the curriculum.

Eisenberg (2007) states…

Intervention, whether in a separate room or in the classroom, should occur mostly within activities that come from the classroom curriculum, using the texts and assignments designated by the student’s teacher.

Intervention for grammatical targets should incorporate meaningful production of those targets.

She also suggests keeping a list of targets for each student and systematically working through those targets (no more than three at a time).

So, let’s take a look at what that might look like…

1. Picture Books

Many of our students are reading picture books in the classroom. If we connect with teachers, we can find out what they’re reading (or we can support in the classroom during reading activities)!

Repetitive Books: Short, repetitive books are great for readers and non-readers. The therapist can read the book with the student a few times. Once the student is familiar with the story, the therapist can leave off a word (or several words) and encourage the student to produce the target structure. We can pick books strategically basic on their targets. Stay tuned for a list of books!

Describe the Picture: After introducing a grammatical concept, we can also use the pictures in a book to practice the target. If the student struggles with auxiliary verbs, we can go through the book and tell what the characters are doing in each picture (e.g., He is eating. He is running.).

Strategic Questions: We can also ask questions about the book, strategically eliciting a target structure. Here are a few examples:

• Auxiliary Verb: What is ____ doing?
• Past Tense Verb: Where did ____ go? What did ___ do?
• Complex Sentences: Why did ____?
• Compound/Complex Sentences: How did ____?

2. Reading Passages

For older students, we can pull from their textbooks or any other text they might be using in the classroom. Here are some ideas:

Modified Mad Libs – We can teach students word classes by removing words from a reading passage. Can the students fill in the appropriate noun, verb, adjective, conjunction, etc.?

Add or Replace – Another way to work on word classes is to add or replace words and phrases in a text (e.g., adding adjectives, replacing nouns with pronouns).

Sentence Games – For students working on syntax, you can pull out sentences (maybe even cut the passage into strips!) and scaffold the creation of compound and complex sentences. Check out the grammar drill-based practice post for more ideas.

3. Student-Generated Books

I love making books in therapy! They can be used to target virtually any goal, are naturally reinforcing, and make for a perfect homework activity. They’re also easy to make. Just fold a stack of papers in half and (voila!) you have a book.

For a techier version, you can use an app like Notability to create digital books. These are easy to export and share with teachers, parents, and/or students via e-mail.

I like to pull in activities from the classroom (e.g., a story they read, the life cycle of a butterfly, a concept from a social studies lesson, etc.). We then create a book! If we’re working on past tense verbs, then we’ll tell our story in the past tense. If we’re working on plural nouns, then we’ll tell about the life cycle of two butterflies. If we’re working on complex sentences, then we’ll tell the story using those beautiful sequencing conjunctions (e.g., before, after). As you can see, it’s easy to modify the task based on the students’ needs.

This makes it easy to practice using target grammatical concepts. As an added bonus, students are often excited about sharing their books, so they are more likely to get additional practice at home. It’s also easy to include visual reminders in the book to continue scaffolding the skill as they practice outside of the therapy room or classroom.

We can also use students’ writing (i.e., classroom assignments) in therapy, but that’s an entirely different blog post. Let me know if you’re interested in learning more about this!

Okay… But what if a student isn’t getting it?

Before jumping into an embedded activity, we may want to take a few minutes to teach and drill the concept. This allows us to “prime” the student and get in some errorless practice, setting them up for success.

If the student is still struggling in context, we can use our awesome SLP powers to scaffold the skill. We are able to provide a variety of supports (e.g., visual cues, verbal prompts, models).

Let me know if you have any favorite embedded activities!

How to Teach Grammar: Drill-Based Practice

May 8, 2017 by Marisha 4 Comments

Last week, we talked about a general framework for targeting grammar goals (including some evidence-based strategies). But where do we go from there?! What does it actually look like? Let’s start with drill-based therapy.

NOTE: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, but I may receive compensation if you click through and purchase one of the books. *

What the Research Says

“Different activity types might best be used in a complementary way within our therapy sessions, using high-structure drills to highlight and prime linguistic features and then immediately incorporating those features into embedded activities“ (Eisenberg, 2014).

We can use drill-based therapy strategically, but Eisenberg (2007) says…

The use of discrete skill instruction [e.g., grammar analysis, modeling, imitation drills, error detection, and sentence combining] as the sole intervention approach, without embedding use of newly acquired structures in meaningful activities, is not recommended.

…authenticity is crucial. Students must have a reason for doing the things that lead them to learn and use grammar so that they can read, write, and speak better.

In summary, there is a time and a place for drill-based practice! Let’s talk about what the research suggests…

Drills Are Not Created Equal

Drills supported in the literature include…

• Imitating contrasting sentences (Connell, 1982)
• Modeling combined with production (Fey & Proctor-Williams, 2000)
• Combining sentences (Strong, 1986; Weaver, 1996)

“Grammar analysis [i.e., teaching labels for grammar concepts, dissecting sentences] and detecting errors for isolated sentences do not seem to be beneficial” (Eisenberg, 2007).

How Do I Do This?

I’ll walk through three strategies below, but scroll down to see a video of the three strategies in action (coming soon!).

1. Modeling Combined with Production

Modeling (with or without student imitation) helps students produce new targets (Connell, 1987). Students produce more untrained exemplars when they do have the opportunity to imitate the model. Despite these positive results, research suggests that these improvements don’t generalize well (Connell, 1982).

2. Imitating Contrasting Sentences

Just having students imitate productions doesn’t help generalization, but contrastive imitation does (Connell, 1982; Connell, 1986). The child imitates both the target and a contrasting form that is semantically and/or grammatically related to the target. Here are some examples:

• Pronouns: The boy is walking. He is walking.
• Past Tense Verbs: He is eating. He ate.
• Auxiliary Verbs: He will eat. He is eating.

Check out the video below for an example (coming soon!). Connell (1982) also includes a step-by-step training procedure.

“The most effective timing of the imitation drill is immediately prior to an activity that involves contextual use of the same structure” (Eisenberg, 2007).

3. Combining Sentences

Another approach is to provide students with two or more sentences and prompt them to create a single, longer sentence (Strong, 1986). There are two types:

Cued Combining: The therapist underlines components to be combined and/or gives students to use (e.g., conjunctions).

Example: I sometimes wonder SOMETHING. Superheroes do exist. (WHETHER) –> I sometimes wonder whether superheroes do exist.

Open Combining: The therapist doesn’t give specific instructions and allows the student to creatively combine the sentence.

Example: I like to eat cereal. I watch TV. –> I like to eat cereal before I watch TV.

Students can also be prompted to expand sentences (Gould, 2001). The therapist gives the student a simple sentence to start with and has the student build the sentence by increasing the length and complexity.

Example: I saw a monkey. –> I saw a silly monkey eating bananas at the zoo.

So there we have it–a few evidence-based strategies for grammar drill. Strategies for embedded practice are up next!

Want to read more? Click here to check out other posts in the series.

* Marisha Mets is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.

How to Teach Grammar: A Framework

April 30, 2017 by Marisha 4 Comments

Anyone else struggle with grammar goals? It can be challenging to find fun and effective ways to target these goals. I used to use a lot of drill-based practice, but my students just weren’t generalizing to other activities in the therapy room (and totally forget any generalization to the classroom!). I knew I had to do something different, but how in the world are we supposed to get enough targeted practice in context? Oh, and let’s put that student in a mixed group to further complicate things, right?

Let’s try to answer these questions!

But wait! Check out the first post I wrote about why (and how) I teach skills in therapy. The post includes a general “framework” for teaching in therapy. I try to use that framework in each of the “How to Teach” posts, but grammar is a little different!

Step 0: Assessment

I always start with a language sample. Many of our students with language disorders struggle with the cloze tasks that we often see in assessments or tests (e.g., “Today, I run. Yesterday, I…”), so it may not be a fair assessment of their skills. Why target irregular past tense verbs just because they can’t answer questions on a test, right?

I record the student in conversation and also pull 1-2 additional samples for good measure (e.g., story retell, picture description). I transcribe the sample in an Excel sheet. This makes it easy to quickly calculate MLU. I make notes of what I’m seeing (e.g., specific grammar/syntax errors, word finding, etc.) in the second column. By doing this, I get a good overall picture of the student’s grammar (as well as overall language). If I have concerns about specific skills (e.g., verb tenses, pronouns, etc.), then I pick conversational topics or materials that will elicit those grammatical forms.

Check out this blog post to access the template and tutorial!

A post shared by Marisha (SLP Now) (@slp_now) on May 1, 2017 at 7:48pm PDT

I know these things take time, but use tools/resources to help you! This is time well spent!

Here are some suggestions:

• See how Shannon from Speechy Musings uses Microsoft Word for her language samples. She also shares a free checklist!
• Check out these FREE language assessment visuals.

Once I identify areas of concern, I’ll do some dynamic assessment using the materials in the corresponding SLP Now Skill Pack. How much is the student struggling with any given grammatical form? Does he/she even understand the concept (e.g., past vs. present, singular vs. plural)?

Goals

I don’t often write “pure” grammar goals. That’s my bias/inclination. It doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to write a goal for a specific target (e.g., irregular past tense verbs). I tend to write goals for grammar in the context of a broader language goal (e.g., story retell). This helps me focus on generalization and looking at the whole child (vs. getting stuck on one component of their grammar). However, if the student shows a need for decontextualized practice (e.g., drill), then that is what we’ll do!

* Quick Strategy Review *

If you’re looking for a quick review of strategies (or if anyone asks you to justify why you do what you do in therapy!), this article is a goldmine! Fey, Long, & Finestack (2003) review 10 principles of grammar intervention for students with Specific Language Impairments.

Their first principle is this:

The basic goal of all grammatical interventions should be to help the child to achieve greater facility in the comprehension and use of syntax and morphology in the service of conversation, narration, exposition, and other textual genres in both written and oral modalities.

It’s easy to forget this part! When we’re assessing and planning for therapy, we need to ask ourselves how the student will be able to use this in “meaningful oral or written communication activities” (Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003).

Here are three more of Fey, Long, & Finestack’s (2013) principles that you could quickly implement in therapy:

• Highlighting the features naturally in conversation -The therapist puts the target at the end of the sentence (“He IS.”) or contrasts two elements (“You will, but I won’t.”)
• Using sentence recasts – The therapist corrects what the child says or modifies the modality (e.g., turn a statement into a question).
• Contrastive imitation – The therapist asks the client to imitate pairs of sentences, one with the target and one with a related grammatical form (e.g., past and present tense).

Sigh of relief, right? We do these things already!

I was curious how this would all come together. One study (Fey, Cleave, & Long, 1997) describes a treatment approach in a preschool classroom. The therapists selected several grammar targets and cycled through the targets (a week for each). They used contrastive imitation and focused stimulation. Contrastive imitation was a drill-based activity, while focused stimulation included frequent models and recasts in a variety of activities (e.g., play, snack, and other common preschool activities).

Eisenberg (2014) also wrote an article about “what works in therapy.” She emphasized many of the principles discussed above, but she also discusses dosage, actively engaging students in producing the target form, and not targeting imitation until the student has the chance to hear the grammatical form. And my personal favorite…

Different activity types might best be used in a complementary way within our therapy sessions, using high-structure drills to highlight and prime linguistic features and then immediately incorporating those features into embedded activities.

Just to drive this home, Eisenberg (2007) says…

The use of discrete skill instruction [e.g., grammar analysis, modeling, imitation drills, error detection, and sentence combining] as the sole intervention approach, without embedding use of newly acquired structures in meaningful activities, is not recommended.

…authenticity is crucal. Students must have a reason for doing the things that lead them to learn and use grammar so that they can read, write, and speak better.

Now that we have some evidence-based strategies, let’s really dive in!

Step 1: Teaching

As always, I start off with a quick introduction of the skill. I pull out the visuals and verbally walk through them with the student. I use the assessment data to decide where to start.

When I teach a skill (especially with older students), we talk about why we want to target this skill. Ideally, they’d also be involved in the process of selecting goals in the first place.

Here are some reasons why students might “care” about grammar:

• Being understood by friends (e.g., Their stories might get really confusing if they’re not using appropriate verb tenses!)
• Needed in any writing/speaking career (e.g., sports announcers, singers, teachers, authors)
• Miscommunication (Google grammar jokes and you’ll get some funny examples.)

Encourage them to think of their own reasons! The more personal, the better!

Step 2: Focused Stimulation *

Focused stimulation (Fey, 1986) involves rich language modeling of specific language structures in daily life contexts. The therapist doesn’t require the child to produce anything.

Step 3: Quick Drill *

Some students may also need more traditional drill practice, but we don’t stay here long. This may include…

• Imitating contrasting sentences
• Modeling combined with production
• Combining sentences

“Grammar analysis and detecting errors for isolated sentences do not seem to be beneficial” (Eisenberg, 2007).

Step 4: Embedded Practice *

Because grammar is a bigger topic, I’ll be sharing practical tips for targeting grammar using books, games, and curriculum-based materials. Stay tuned for blog posts diving into each of these!

One thing to think about in the meantime… We can manipulate the context to create more opportunities for the student to use the target (e.g., carefully selecting activities, books, conversation topics). When you’re deciding which activities to use in therapy, think about how you can modify them for this purpose!

* NOTE: These steps aren’t linear! You’ll jump around from step to step, as needed. I put them in this order because the research suggests that students shouldn’t imitate sentences (Step 3) until they’ve heard several examples of the grammar target (Step 2). Eisenhower (2014) also recommends doing quick drill (Step 3) before jumping into embedded practice (Step 4).

I hope this was helpful! Comment below with your favorite strategies or any questions that you might have!

How to Teach Skills in Therapy

April 15, 2017 by Marisha 4 Comments

So, there I was, planning for my very first therapy session in grad school. I was feeling pretty good! I prepped some fun games and activities. I was ready!

But then it hit me.

I have a great set of activities, but how in the world am I going to teach this client? How am I going to help her produce a sound she’s never produced before? Where do I start?!

NOTE: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, but I may receive compensation if you click through and purchase one of the books. *

My First Teaching Plan

Luckily, I was able to come up with a plan using what I was learning in my graduate school classes. I used the infamous Eliciting Sounds book* for some shaping strategies. I also knew about cueing/prompting hierarchies and the “articulation ladder” (starting with sounds in isolation, moving towards conversation).

Whew. I had a plan to teach skills in therapy.

The Problem with Language

Then, I started planning sessions for students with language goals. I got so caught up in the book, the activities, and all the extra stuff that I actually forgot to think about actually teaching the skill! Years later, I still do sometimes!

The tricky part is that language often isn’t as clear-cut as articulation. With articulation, I can tell my student where to place his tongue. I can quickly assess using what I see and hear to give appropriate feedback. Teaching is (usually) pretty simple!

With language, however, so many factors come into play. It’s relatively simple to tell a student what to do, but the how is trickier. Unfortunately, there isn’t an Eliciting Language book with all the best secrets! (Believe me, I checked!)

I knew I had to do something. I knew that the worksheets and drill practice weren’t cutting it. I started using a “therapy template” (check in, goals, teach/practice, wrap up) and set aside time to teach every session. With a large caseload and a general lack of experience, I was really struggling to find effective ways to teach these skills.

My Plan

I knew this would take some time, so I made a list of the skills that my students were working on. I highlighted the ones I was really struggling with. Then, I started chipping away! I started creating teaching visuals (sometimes with the student in therapy). I also looked towards the evidence for additional strategies and tools.

After several months, I was able to build a toolbox full of teaching strategies and tools for my caseload. It made therapy so much easier! I felt like I could target any goal using any materials (more on that later).

There is still a little bit of work involved. I do still add to this toolbox as students come in with different goals or when the tools I created aren’t working for a particular student, but it’s way better than the mess I was dealing with before I had a “toolbox”!

Over time, I also started adding assessments to help me troubleshoot. The assessments allowed me to take a step back and pinpoint with which skills a student is struggling.

Keeping it Together

I needed a way to keep these tools organized so that I would actually be able to quickly find (and use them) in therapy!

I started using this rolling tote (with a file box and binders inside).

How to Teach

So that’s great. I have a “toolbox.” But how does that help me teach?

There’s actually an easy four-step process for that!

1. When I’m working with a student on a new goal, we walk through the teaching sheet to introduce the skill. (This is a great opportunity to talk about the why! Why does this skill matter? How will the student use this skill?)

2. I model the skill. For example, if we’re working on context clues, then I’ll show them how I would use the strategy to define a word that I don’t know. Lots of meta talk here! (:

3. Then, I give the student an opportunity to practice. The “toolbox” I created includes some quick practice activities, but we don’t spend much time here.

4. Finally, we jump into context. We start practicing the skill using books, reading passages, or any other relevant classroom activities.

If you don’t know already, I’m a huge fan of curriculum-based therapy and contextualized intervention.* It really helps with generalization and–don’t tell anyone–but it’s actually kind of easy!

This involves using scaffolding and support (rather than using simpler, decontextualized worksheets and activities).

I decrease the level of support as the student makes progress.

I repeat the process during the Teach/Practice part of each session. Sometimes we go through all four steps; sometimes we get stuck on one step for the entire session. Either way, this rough framework helps to structure the session (for me and my students).

Time to Share

Do you want to step up your teaching strategies?

I started sharing my resources, and I’m excited to start a series of blog posts featuring some of the strategies and tools that I’ve found to be the most helpful. Let me know which skills you’d like to hear about by leaving a comment below!

If you want access to the “toolbox” right away, then you can sign up for the SLP Now Membership.

* Marisha McGrorty is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.

Therapy Inspiration: Earth Day

April 9, 2017 by Marisha Leave a Comment

Another week of therapy ideas! See the pictures down below for some quick ideas that you can use in your therapy room.

NOTE: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, but I may receive compensation if you click through and purchase one of the books. *

The two books included in the Earth Day Theme are Earth Day Every Day and Why Should I Recycle.

More Ideas

SLP Now Story Cards
Use the vocabulary cards in the membership to sort “trash” (e.g., plastic, paper, compost). A great way to work on categories!

Need ideas for celebrating and recognizing Earth Day in your speech therapy room? I've got you covered with several suggestions inside this blog post! Be sure to click through to get a few fun - and many free! - ideas! — We read *Why Should I Recycle* and *Earth Day Every Day*.

More Ideas

EarthDay.Org
Check out EarthDay.org for some free activities.

Teachers Pay Teachers
There are also some great activities on TPT!

Earth Day Challenge (Peachie Speechie)

BINGO Game (Jason’s Online Classroom)

Fact vs. Opinion Sort (Amanda Zanchelli)

P.S. I know you have some awesome therapy ideas! Share them with us by commenting below or tagging me on Instagram (@slpnow). You could win a prize and/or be featured in this post or on Facebook/Instagram (with your permission, of course)!

How Do I Do That: A Peek at a Curriculum-Based Lesson

April 2, 2017 by Marisha 7 Comments

I absolutely love curriculum-based therapy (CBT). I wrote about how to get students on board and some quick tools to make CBT fun and engaging. I’ve gotten some questions about what it actually looks like in action, so I put together a quick peek at a session. Let’s get started!

1. (Pre-Session) The Materials

For curriculum-based therapy to work, we need some materials. I touched based with the teacher a few days before the session, and she told me what they were reading in class. It was a passage about the brain (from readinga-z.com), so I was pretty excited!

2. (Pre-Session) Quick Overview

I did a quick overview of the passage before the session. I like to do this so I can gather any additional materials that I might need. In this case, I decided to pull out my model brain.

I printed out this passage, but sometimes I pull it up on Notability to save some time. It’s also a great engagement strategy.

3. Check In/Review Goals

Whew! Now we’re in actual therapy.

We start off every session by checking in and reviewing our goals. The students know to grab their goal cards, and we keep them out as a visual reminder. We’ll come back to the goal cards at the end of the session.

4. Teach

Before we jump into a skill, I want to make sure I teach the students. I rely on the SLP Now Membership skill packs when I’m first introducing a skill. They include visuals (and assessments) that help me effectively scaffold new skills.

After teaching, some students draw their own visuals on their goal cards. This really helps with student engagement/ownership, and it is a great way to individualize instruction.

These students have been working on these skills for several months. We’re working towards generalization, so we didn’t use visuals this session!

4. Quick Read

We take a quick look at the passage. What do we think the passage about? Did you talk about it in class? What do you remember? What do you want to know? This is a good check for me to know where they are in class and where the students might need additional support.

I also encourage them to use other text features to support comprehension (e.g., pictures, graphs, headings). This is an important strategy for all students to use, but it is especially important for our struggling readers.

5. Practice!

These students were working on context clues and comparing/contrasting.

Because lack of vocabulary knowledge is often a barrier to comprehension, we started by identifying words that we didn’t know. This passage had LOTS! We came across some Tier 3 words (right hemisphere, left hemisphere, corpus callosum), as well as some Tier 2 words (identical, process). We challenge each other to use the words in context and keep a running tally of who uses them.

I know these students do really well with hands-on activities, so we pulled out the brain model and used sticky notes to identify the different parts of the brain (Tier 3).

We also used context clues to determine the meaning of the Tier 2 words. We used our context clues song (circle, underline, guess, check!) to help remind us to use our strategies.

I thought we would only get through the context clues practice, but they zoomed through the words. (They’re making progress! We typically spend one session sifting through the vocabulary.)

Then, the students drew a Venn diagram on the board to compare the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. We used highlighters to identify similarities and differences in the text and used the graphic organizer to make sense of it all.

6. Wrap Up

A few minutes before the end of the session, we did a quick recap. What did we work on? How did it go? What can we do next time?

Do you use the curriculum in therapy? Why or why not?

Therapy Inspiration: Spring

March 25, 2017 by Marisha Leave a Comment

Another week of therapy ideas! See the pictures down below for some quick ideas that you can use in your therapy room.

NOTE: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, but I may receive compensation if you click through and purchase one of the books. *

The two books included in the Spring Theme are There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog and When Spring Comes.

Springtime is fresh and new, and with it come many new ideas for speech therapy. Check out this post with tips and activities for therapy inspiration - just what you need as we near the end of the school year! — Use the SLP Now materials for easy, scaffolded practice! (WH Questions pictured)

More Ideas

Spring Scavenger Hunt
Some of my groups made lists of things that we see in spring (pulling “evidence” from the book). We then took a “field trip” outside and looked for signs of Spring.

Fruit Loop Craftivity
Use Fruit Loops to make a rainbow.

Water Beads
Read about how I use water beads in therapy here.

SLP Tip

Store visuals that you and your students make in therapy (e.g., the fancy sticky notes) in the book. You can use them with other groups who might not be able to create their own visuals.

Keep being an awesome SLP!
– Marisha

P.S. I know you have some awesome therapy ideas! Share them with us by commenting below or tagging me on Instagram (@slp_now). You could win a prize and/or be featured in this post or on Facebook/Instagram (with your permission, of course)!

Must Have Speech Therapy Tools for SLPs

March 22, 2017 by Marisha 4 Comments

We don’t NEED to have a lot of materials for effective speech and language therapy, but there are tools that can A) make our jobs easier and B) guide us when we need a little support. There are so many brilliant SLPs out there who have come up with tools and resources to help our students and make our jobs easier. Why not take advantage?! I’m going to share 9 “must haves” for a school-based SLP. These are the resources that I benefit from most with my PK-6th grade caseload.

Caveat: Many of the items on my list aren’t cheap, but–if there is a tool that can help me do my job faster and better–you can sign me up. We can also get creative with our funding. Donors Choose, your school PTO, or even your special education department can be great resources. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the support I’ve gotten in purchasing these types of resources.

1. SpeechPathology.com

You (the SLP) are the most important part of therapy. Although having materials is great, nothing can replace a knowledgeable SLP. That is why SpeechPathology.com is at the top of my list! They offer a year of unlimited CEUs for $99. They offer a wide variety of professional development videos, and it’s a fabulous resource to go to when you’re feeling stuck.

2. SLP Now Membership

I might be a little biased, but–when it comes to planning for therapy–the SLP Now Membership is such a time-saver! The membership includes resources for theme- and skill-based therapy as well as tools to help you manage your caseload. Having access to low-prep activities that are fun and engaging is a game changer! Check out this page to learn more and hear what other SLPs have to say about SLP Now!

3. iPad

I use my tablet for a variety of purposes (some of which I’ll share below). It is such a versatile tool for therapy and other SLP workload tasks. If you’re able to get your hands on one, I would highly recommend it! Donors Choose is a great way to get help with funding!

4. Books

Books are the perfect therapy tool! I created some lists of my favorite books:
• Themed Books
• Nonfiction Books

The SLP Now Membership also includes book guides and activities, which makes for even easier therapy planning.

I also have some ideas for finding books on a budget.

5. Articulation Station

This is my favorite iPad app for articulation, and the images make great language targets, too. Must have!

6. Notability

This is my most-used iPad app. It is so versatile, and I can use it with most of my caseload. I especially love it for my older students. Stay tuned to hear how I use this app to target a variety of speech and language targets!

7. Expanding Expression Tool

Sarah Smith is a genius. The EET is one of my most used therapy tools. I use it primarily with my younger students to target vocabulary/describing goals, but the EET manual includes ideas on using the tool with older students. Worth the investment!

8. Bubbles

I had to include bubbles. 🙂 They’re a great reinforcer and can make for some great therapy sessions!

9. A Magic Wand

I wish I could tell you where to get a real magic wand, but the infamous Super Duper wand is a close second. Students are willing to work very hard for a chance to use the magnetic wand.

Your Turn

What is your favorite therapy tool? Share by leaving a comment below!

Therapy Inspiration: Basketball

March 20, 2017 by Marisha 6 Comments

I know how tough it can be to even think about therapy (especially this time of year)! I hope these therapy ideas are helpful. See the pictures down below for some quick ideas.

NOTE: The links below are Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience, but I may receive compensation if you click through and purchase one of the books. *

The two books included in the Basketball Theme are Dino-Basketball and Allie’s Basketball Dream.

Do you need some speech therapy ideas for March Madness? I've got a few fun and engaging basketball-themed activity suggestions in this blog post, so click through to read them and catch a video tutorial! — Use the SLP Now materials for easy, scaffolded practice! (WH Questions pictured)

More Ideas

We added vocabulary words and articulation targets to orange pieces of paper. We practiced our targets, crumpled up the papers, and played a quick game of basketball.

Add articulation targets to the basketball craft. My articulation stickers or themed vocabulary cards (included in the SLP Now Membership) work really well with this!

I’ll be sharing more ideas on how to use themed materials for a variety of skills (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, compare/contrast, inferencing, story retell, and more)! If you’d like, you can enter your name and e-mail below to receive updates.

Chance to Win!

Let me know what you did (or are planning to do) with this theme.

Comment below or tag me on Instagram (@slp_now)!

I will randomly pick someone to win a fun prize. You could be featured in this post or on Facebook/Instagram (with your permission, of course)!

SLP Tip

If you haven’t already, download the Epic app for instant access to free books! Check out this video tutorial to get started.

Hint: You can download Dino-Basketball for free using the app!

How to Empower Students to Love Curriculum-Based Reading Passages

February 27, 2017 by Marisha 2 Comments

Confession. I really used to struggle to find a balance between keeping my upper elementary students engaged while incorporating materials from the curriculum. For many of my students, materials from the curriculum are so far above their reading level. This makes basic comprehension feels like an uphill battle. Meanwhile, they have goals for higher level language skills (like context clues and inferencing). It makes sense to target these skills in isolation to give students an opportunity for errorless practice, but how do we work towards generalization if we’re always using materials that are significantly below grade level (and out of context)?

After a lot of trial and error, I came up with a few solutions. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this, so hopefully sharing my process/strategy will help you to tackle these skills, too! Please share any other ideas in the comments!

All the Visuals

It is so important to teach a skill before we expect students to demonstrate mastery. I’ve worked hard to build up an “arsenal” of visuals to help me do that. It makes it easier for me to teach (and not talk so much). Students can more quickly start to cue themselves and eventually bring the visual into the classroom (if needed) for generalization.

Start Small

As we’re teaching the skill, I start with some simple examples so that students can benefit from errorless learning. However, I don’t stay here long. As soon as they demonstrate basic understanding of the concept, I want to move into more relevant materials. Even if it means that I have to do more cueing.

You might have a different approach to therapy, and that is okay! This just makes the most sense to me, and it seems to work better for my students. Just be sure to “do you.” 🙂

Jump into the Curriculum

Okay, sounds good. But how?!

I was pleasantly surprised how willing teachers were able to share what they are doing in the classroom when I told them what I wanted and why. That said, there are different levels of collaboration between teachers. Some teachers will share their plans for the quarter, so I know what lessons they will be targeting and when. Other teachers drop a passage or a vocabulary list in my box every few weeks. I hear from others in the hallway. It varies, but all forms of collaboration help me to better meet my students’ needs and set them up for success.

Since I started collaborating with teachers in this way, teachers have a better idea of what their students are working on in therapy. Because of this, they are better able to communicate what I can do to help, and they are more willing/able to support these skills in the classroom.

The research also indicates that targeting students’ goals in context results in less rapid progress initially (vs. drill); however, skill maintenance and generalization are improved. That means that students will actually be able to use these skills in the classroom! That’s what we’re all about, isn’t it?

And If That Doesn’t Work?

Even if you aren’t able to open that line of communication with teachers, you can often get your hands on the curriculum and pull passages/vocabulary from there. Even if you’re not “in sync” with the teacher, it’s likely something that was addressed or will be addressed in the future.

If your school doesn’t have a curriculum, then here are some amazing resources. I found out that many of my teachers pull passages from these sites:

NewsELA.com – There are tons of FREE passages. I also love this site because you can select the reading level. If one of your teachers happens to be using this in the classroom, then you can use the same passage but lower the reading level to make it more accessible. All with the click of a single button!

ReadWorks.org – This is another great FREE resource. The passages are leveled, but you can’t level individual passages like you can with NewsELA. You can download activity sheets to accompany the passages. They pull out vocabulary targets and questions for you. You can also find paired passages for some interesting thematic units.

ReadingA-Z.com – This one is paid (with a free trial), but many districts have subscriptions to it. It includes an amazing variety of reading passages.

You can also use some awesome FREE websites to quickly identify therapy targets. Read about how I do this here.

Engagement Strategies

But what about those students who are “too cool” for speech and are not “motivated” to participate? Here are a few strategies that I have found to be helpful:

1. Goal Awareness: I always make sure my students know why they are coming to speech (and it is not to play games!). Check out this freebie or these decks for a quick way to review your students’ goals.

2. Make It Relevant: Amy Harris from Amy Adapts talks about the idea of treating our students as professionals in training. It really helps students take accountability and put forth the effort needed to tackle these challenging skills.

3. Growth Mindset: Talking about growth mindset is another great strategy. My students will often shut down because these skills are challenging, but they seem to be more resilient after my favorite “brain talk.” Read about it here.

4. Switch It Up: Finger flashlights and dry erase markers are great tools to increase engagement. I “reward” the students with these tools when they participate verbally (e.g., if they offer an answer, so they get to use the dry erase marker to underline the evidence and/or write the answer). It’s amazing how something so simple can motivate students to participate. Check out some of my favorite tools here.

5. Incorporate Technology: My students love it when we pull up the passages on Notability. They get to use a stylus to annotate the passage. We also use an emoji keyboard when we’re working on inferencing. Projecting the passage is another fun way to keep students engaged.

6. Incorporate Movement: Especially when the text is dense or particularly challenging, we’ll get out of our chairs and get moving. This is particularly helpful when students are struggling to comprehend a passage and/or understand vocabulary terms.

Putting It Together: An Example

Last week, my 5th graders and I were reading a passage about forensic evidence that the teacher shared with me. After doing a quick “walk” of the passage, we read the first paragraph. The vocabulary was very challenging for the students (e.g., fingerprint, suspect, criminal, evidence, detective). They weren’t able to comprehend the passage because they were missing those key vocabulary words. My “basic” strategies weren’t working, so we stepped back and acted out scenarios. The goals were targeting vocabulary and inferencing, so I tailored the scenarios to target those areas.

They didn’t know that everyone has unique fingerprints, so we started there. I grabbed a marker and we each colored our fingers and “stamped” our fingerprint on a piece of paper. They saw that all of our fingerprints were a little different. I guided them to make some inferences about why this might be useful in finding a criminal… It took a little while, but we got it. (:

Then, things got intense! We set up our own crime scene. One of the group membership committed a crime (e.g., stealing a pen). Another group member had the detective role. He looked for evidence (and made inferences about who committed the crime). We had a list of suspects (who we thought committed the crime) to find the true criminal. After a few repetitions, the students were independently using this vocabulary and assigning each other roles. Success!

By doing this, we were able to make the content more “real.” It was also a great activity to target my students’ goals. Because the students had prior exposure to the vocabulary, they were better able to comprehend and participate in the classroom discussion related to this challenging passage. Because we were using the same content, they will be reminded of our discussion and the strategies we practiced. The teacher knew what we targeted, so she was able to support those skills throughout the discussion, as well.

The goal is to facilitate generalization. It’s not always an immediate fix or a “magic wand” approach, but my students are making more rapid progress since I started using materials from the curriculum in therapy.

I’d love to hear what you think! What are your favorite strategies to engage students and work towards generalization?

Top 10 SLP Pinterest Boards for Therapy Inspiration

February 17, 2017 by Marisha 1 Comment

As the only SLP at my site, I found myself in therapy ruts–lacking inspiration and feeling a little bored. This completely changed when I discovered Pinterest! It’s an SLP’s dream come true. If you’re looking for a specific idea (e.g., St. Patrick’s Day craft), then you can do a quick search and immediately find hundreds of ideas just a click away. How awesome is that?! I also love following Pinterest boards so that my feed is automatically filled with ideas. I can run to Pinterest on “those days” when I need some quick inspiration.

Here are some of my favorite Pinterest boards:

1. Therapy Planning

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/slp_now/therapy-planning-for-slps/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

2. Behavior Management

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/missspeechie/behavior-management/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

3. Crafts

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/dabblingspeech/dabbling-with-crafts/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

4. Articulation

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/speechiek/articulation/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

5. Language

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/speechpeeps/languageliteracy-ideas/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

6. Social Skills

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/dabblingspeech/dabbling-with-social-skills/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

7. Apps

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/missspeechie/apps/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

8. Get Organized

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/slp_now/speech-room-organization/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

9. Speech Room Decoration

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/slp_now/speech-room-decoration/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

10. All Around Inspiration

[pin_board url=”https://www.pinterest.com/speechpins/speech-language-therapy-blog-posts/” size=”custom” image_width=”100″ board_width=”450″ board_height=”225″]

Do you have a favorite board? Share it with us in the comments!

Marisha

1. Movement

2. Apps

3. Reinforcers

4. Videos

1. Picture Books

2. Reading Passages

3. Student-Generated Books

What the Research Says

Drills Are Not Created Equal

How Do I Do This?

Step 0: Assessment

Goals

* Quick Strategy Review *

Step 1: Teaching

Step 2: Focused Stimulation *

Step 3: Quick Drill *

Step 4: Embedded Practice *

My First Teaching Plan

The Problem with Language

My Plan

Keeping it Together

How to Teach

Time to Share

More Ideas

More Ideas

1. (Pre-Session) The Materials

2. (Pre-Session) Quick Overview

3. Check In/Review Goals

4. Teach

4. Quick Read

5. Practice!

6. Wrap Up

More Ideas

SLP Tip

1. SpeechPathology.com

2. SLP Now Membership

3. iPad

4. Books

5. Articulation Station

6. Notability

7. Expanding Expression Tool

8. Bubbles

9. A Magic Wand

Your Turn

More Ideas

Chance to Win!

SLP Tip

All the Visuals

Start Small

Jump into the Curriculum

And If That Doesn’t Work?

Engagement Strategies

Putting It Together: An Example

1. Therapy Planning

2. Behavior Management

3. Crafts

4. Articulation

5. Language

6. Social Skills

7. Apps

8. Get Organized

9. Speech Room Decoration

10. All Around Inspiration

Platform

Resources

Policies

social links

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