The Voice Monsters {Voice Therapy Techniques}

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

I was searching TpT and I realized there are not many resources for Voice Therapy. I know not many people deal with voice disorders, but last year I had 3 students with nodules on my caseload! Thus the inspiration for:

THE VOICE MONSTERS! 


Targets: Voice Therapy Techniques, specific to vocal nodules (Yawn-Sigh, Resonant Voice Therapy). Others are mentioned as well!

Ages: 4+

Includes: 37 pages
Page 1 title, Page 2 Information, Page 3 Disclaimer
What is a Voice Disorder? (Page 4)= Monsters discuss what a voice disorder is and what causes them.

Monster’s Tips for Vocal Hygiene (Pages 5-6) Monsters explain ways to help your voice. 
Tired Monsters “Yawn-Sigh” Technique (Pages 7-20) Description of “yawn-sigh” technique. Hierarchy of vowels, words, and sentences. Plus blank cards to make your own sentences.(79 cards total)

Many Monsters use a “Buzzy Voice” technique (Pages 20-30) Description of “buzzy voice” technique. Hierarchy of CV-CV practice, phrases and sentences. (59 cards total) Tip: This task could also be used for articulation of /m,n/ sounds.


Voice Monsters Quiz (Page 31) Pre/Post test to determine if you students remember 4 ways that can harm their voice and 4 ways to help their voice.
Be a Voice Detective (Page 32) Ask students to show the sad/happy face for a “good” vs “bad”: voices, techniques, or habits. Can they identify good versus bad habits?
Voice Thermometer (Page 33) Visual aide to assist students in monitoring their own volume
Generic Monster Game Board (Page 34) use when practicing various voice techniques or other tasks.

Other (Page 35) References to some other techniques for voice therapy that you may want to check out!.
Terms of Use and Credits (Page 36-37)

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Product Review: Race to the Princess Language Game!

What Did You Do? Wednesday
This week I am reviewing a great new product created by, Figurately Speeching SLP. 

Click on the image to find it in her TpT Store 

 What is included? 
  • There is a very sizable game board, print multiples and each student can race to the top to rescue the princess! She has a smaller version of the board game available for free HERE.
  • Look at the description! You can see there are multiple different language tasks in one packet. I specifically like this product because I have many students working on their semantic skills! This is a great packet to target vocabulary building in various different ways. I think working with groups this would be helpful because you can use the same game board, but target different tasks using the various cards included.
 Why do I LOVE this packet?
  • She included categories, functions,  descriptions, similarities/differences, rhyming and auditory memory tasks all in one packet! Talk about a bargain! Originally priced at $5.00 and on sale for $3.50! 
  • The graphics are adorable, I love the large game board. 
  • The cards are comprehensive, well thought out and organized. 
  • Here are some examples of each task:


    If you like this Race to the Princess Game, Figuratively Speeching SLP has other great products in her store. Check them out HERE Don't forget to follow her on TpT and Facebook!

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A Yummy Lesson About Safety~Guest Post

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

 I would like to welcome The Dabbling Speechie as a guest blogger today! She is an ASHA certified school based SLP with a large caseload and two of her own kids at home. She is busy lady, who still finds time to dabble with her awesome blog! Check out this great post on using snacks and crafts to work on safety with SDC students! 

Make sure you like her Facebook Page and check out her TPT store for more activities!

I am happy to be over here at Queen’s Speech to share my fun interactive lesson that I prepared for my SDC students who are on the Autism spectrum.  It was great having Rachel over in my neck of the woods sharing her creative ideas about how to make and use your OWN bean bags!  Go check out her Bean Bag Brigade post.  It has lots of awesome pictures that will surely inspire you to make your own set.
The week before Spring Break, I brought both of my SDC classrooms together for a lesson on safety to teach the concepts stop/go and work on functional communication.  I have two autism classrooms at one of my sites that are K/1st and 2nd/3rd grades.  The challenge I have with these students is finding what motivates them to independently communicate.  Some of my students use PECS books to communicate, others are using simple sentences, but need prompts (i.e. withholding items, visual sentence strips) to initiate communication.  I also have a couple of students who are very verbal and are working on the social aspects of communication such as not shouting out, correctly answer questions when asked, and appropriately interacting with peers during play or academic activities. I have brought in EVERYTHING to try and find something they will light up about.  Let’s just say they are a tough crowd because there is always one student that isn’t interested in my activities. 
 

I found this great snack to make called “Stop Lights” on pinterest.  I love that it is simple, easy to prep and cost effective.  You can get the directions for this snack HERE.  I made a visual poster for my students who need visual supports for communication.  You can access that poster HERE.  Before we started making the snack, we worked on sequencing the steps for making the snack.  I used visuals to show the verbs “take out”, “open”, “dip”, “spread”, “put” and “eat” for each step of the process.  I then had students request what they needed first patiently waiting for them to initiate communication with me.  I tried to have them make verbal comments about what they were doing such as “I’m spreading frosting.”  I also broke the graham crackers in half, so they would have to request again if they wanted another “stop light”.  This increased the opportunity to communicate because they had to request everything a second time.  There are 6 steps for the snack, so that means they had to request at least 12 times!  It was a great day because ALL my kids were motivated to see me and interactive with me. 


After the snack, we played Red Light, Green Light working on the concepts “stop” and “go”.  You can also work on “slow” for yellow if your kids understand that concept.  This is a great lesson to also work on lining up and waiting for the person to call the command.  I love that you can play this game outside in the sunshine.  You can also play this game where the students get to take turns being the caller.  You could make a social story or review the expected behaviors for playing this game to work on winning/losing, waiting until the command is called and following other people’s directions.  After the lesson, I realized I could have incorporated some children’s books about traffic and safety.  I looked up some books on amazon that you may want to purchase to add to this lesson.


Careful Stay Safe Learning Along
Traffic Safety Sense
Red Light Green
Red Stop Green Go
I Read Signs Reading Rainbow Books
This would be a great lesson to add to your “transportation” or “safety” units.  I think this would also be a great activity for your little preschool and kindergarten crowds especially your phonology kiddos who are working on cluster reduction and fronting.  I hope you found this activity to be helpful.  You can find me at The Dabbling Speechie for more ideas and resources.  Go ‘like’ my Facebook Page to get updates on sales, giveaways and new posts.  You can also check out my TPT store for more activities for your students.

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Marvelous Monday Giveaway!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Feeling the love from the blogging world right now!

Decided to do a giveaway on my best seller The SLP Objective Binder: click here to read blog post or click here to see it on TpT (will also include the companion).

I started this blog during a rough time in my school year. The support from all of you has been so uplifting. Thank you! I am rather new to this whole world; I started my TpT store February 10th! I want to make sure I continue to give back and share with all of you.

Thank you for reading this, sharing ideas and supporting my products/practice.

Here is my Marvelous Monday Giveaway(maybe this should be weekly!?) I will pick 2 winners Wednesday morning at 9am Pacific.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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App Review- Multiple Meaning Words App

I went to CSHA two weeks ago and met the people who work at Virtual Speech Center! They allowed me to review an app of my choice. I was choose Multiple Meanings Library available for 12.99 in the app store. I am always looking for more resources for multiple meaning words.  Many of my students need to work on their skills in this area.
When you press the "start" button you are able to input multiple students names. Then are able to choose one student or multiples for taking turns. 
When you select a student you are lead to this screen.
  • PRO: nice long list of 122 multiple meaning words! Also gives the options to target specific word. For example: if a student has mastered words, you can take them out, or you can target a specific set until mastery and move on.
  •  CON: You must complete this for each student you input, which can be time consuming to start.
  • PRO: Multiple options for practice including: 
    • Auditory Bombardment
    •  Picture Identification
    •  Definitions,
    • Fill-in 
    • Make up Sentences (audio recording feature)
  • CON: Again, you have to pick the specifics for every student. Which can be great! However you have to plan to set it up first!
 Most practice pages look like this, you can specify in setting to automatically turn page. However it was nice to turn that feature off so you have time to teach/review alongside the app!
  • PRO: Realistic pictures, professional voice recording! I like the option to record the students responses! Makes data tracking easier. Also has a button for SLP to record correct/incorrect on the making up sentences. This app also has a record at the end, which reports % accuracy and can be e-mailed!
  • CON: If students are in a group and taking turns, it often repeats the same word for the next student. Thus, validity is compromised! Students also became tired of hearing the same words. 
  • PRO: With this many different options for practice, it can be used to just listen to all the words (auditory bombardment), decide the meaning, make sentences up! 
  • CON: My students grew tired of this very quickly. The app reads the words, definitions, sentences. That is it, no games, no animation. It is rather simple (which for some can be a pro) but after a few words the monotony became too much for my 4th graders. I think using this alongside token economy or game board would make this more fun! 

Overall Royal Treatment: Favorite part is the long list of words! Very extensive and if you are tired of using card packs this is another option. Great for data tracking, voice recording, and varied levels of mastery. Beware-it is not the most entertaining app out there, but it does what it says...a library of multiple meaning words!
 
I was given the app for free, but receive no other compensation.  
These opinions in this review are my own.

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We Give Books!

Friday, March 22, 2013

If you have not heard of wegivebooks.com go sign up now, right NOW! Really...it's awesome!

I cannot remember how I ended up hearing about this website. What is it? FREE online books. For traveling SLPs this would be a great resource. All you need is a computer and internet connection.
Between MARCH 19th-APRIL 5th if you read books online your school can qualify to receive real free books! You have to read at least 25 books as a school to qualify. Encourage other teachers to sign up at your school, as all the books read at your school online go into the same "pot" and count toward MORE free books!
I use this on my big iMac desktop, and click the full screen. I dim the lights a bit and we read together in therapy sessions. It's awesome and the kids really like it. Easier to see than real books, we sit theater style. 

 
You can search for specific books! Today I searched "bunny" and we decided to read "Bunny Cakes" It was a good read! 

If your school uses Accelerated Reader-you can even find out if the books on wegivebooks.com have an AR test here: http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx

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March 2013 SLP Link Up!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I decided to participate in my first SLP link up ever. Would you like to participate? All the instructions can be found here: Oh, How Pintearesting!

  
State of Mind: 
  • Currently is hopeful! I have been so busy the last few months! Crazy busy at work, planning a wedding and started my Teachers pay Teachers Store! I am hopeful that with 2 weeks off for spring break and a less busy work life will help me relax a bit. 

Loving:  
  • All the support and love from the Teachers Pay Teachers world! I have already met some great people, networking, supporting and sharing. Seriously, it has re inspired me and keep creating because it is what I love to do!

Prepping: 
  • If you haven't yet enter our SLP Blog Hop (running through March 23). You will have a chance to win 12 awesome activities. One of which is from Word to the Wise,  Don't Let Grammar Bug You: Plurals, Past Tense Verbs and Conjunctions. Available for $5.00 and I am telling you it is worth every penny! I laminated it and I am currently cutting out all the adorable little cards and there are TONS of them! The content and graphics really couldn't be any better. Excited to begin using this when I get back after spring break.
  • Also prepping my WH Whale Questions 144 cards, Whale Die, worksheet, open ended game board, 6 posters and more! I love these whale graphics and they inspired me to make this project! I finally got around to printing it, and it's going to be a great extra support for working on WH questions.

PS I did my first guest post ever today over on The Dabbling Speechie! Thank you again for letting me post! I feel like it is such an honor to  do something like that from a more established blogger (especially one who was featured in TpT's newsletter this week! Congrats!) You can find my guest post here: Beanbag Brigade

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