Favorite speech and language products lately...

I often get asked about books/games/toys that I would recommend, either to other SLPs working with children or to parents of children I am working with.

Here are a few things I love and use OFTEN:

1. "That's not my ____" books by Usborne Books.

If you haven't heard of Usborne Books, you should check them out. I am often wary of things that are sold by consultants (like Usborne Books), however I will say that these books are amazing products. I have used them for years and will continue to do so. In particular, the "That's not my ___" books are awesome for working on a variety of language targets with young children (usually I would use these with 2-6 year olds, depending on the child's skills). The simple illustrations are great and the inclusion of touchy-feely elements on each page offer the opportunity for sensory stimulation as well as vocabulary expansion. That's Not My Bunny and That's Not My Snowman are among the many titles available in this collection.

2.  The Mystery Box and Guessing Game by Lakeshore

These are two products that work well both together and separately. The Mystery Box and Guessing Game are both great tools to work on things like describing items using adjectives, matching items to pictures (The Guessing Game is a box full of objets with corresponding pictures), making inferences ("What do you think is inside the box?"), turn-taking, and more!

3.  Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Tap & Teach Drum

I am not always wild about toys that make lots of electronic "noise," but there are ways that such toys can be used in an educational fashion. This is a cute, inexpensive drum toy that can be used with littles to work on cause and effect skills (turn on the drum - when the child taps on the top, it lights up and makes a variety of sounds which are typically rewarding to a child), imitation of motor skills (tap the drum either with it either on or off and encourage the child to imitate you with language like, "do it like me!" or "now you do!" or "your turn!"), and social language skills such as joint attention, turn taking, and three-point gaze.

4.  The Articulation Station Pro iPad Application

This has been an old favorite of mine for the past few years now. The app developers have added great updates and the app has become one of the staples in my articulation therapy sessions. It's a little on the pricey side (currently $59.99), however there are sales every now and then that will bring that price down. I've seen sales occur in November around the time of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association national convention. The app includes all sounds in American English and has a variety of activities under each to work on increasing the child's accuracy. There are even tips for parents or therapists for eliciting correct production of the sound. In my personal opinion, this app is so valuable that I purchased it one year with my classroom budget for my school iPad as well as personally purchased it on my private device.

5.  The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

This is a great game that I use in my therapy sessions for a variety of functions. It is great for turn-taking and memory (remembering what the different symbols on the spinner indicate) as well as for use as a reinforcer during articulation drill activities.

Of course there are many other products that I love for a variety of reasons, but these are a few things that I use on a regular basis for a variety of functions. I am a HUGE proponent of using the same tools in a variety of ways - why have a ton of materials that can only be used for one function each? Instead, I recommend having a collection of materials that could each be used in many ways. Sometimes this takes some creativity and planning on the part of the therapist (or parent), but it's a great mental practice in addition to just smart planning!

Have a wonderful day :)

~Mrs. Wells.

Final Consonant Deletion Activity

In very young children who are just beginning to talk, it is common for them to leave off (or "drop") the final consonant sound. For example, the word "dog" might be produced "do-." As you can imagine, this error pattern can make it difficult to understand what a child is saying.  By the time a child is age three, we like to see this error pattern eliminated (meaning we like to see three year olds producing final consonants in words).

If your 3+ year-old is having difficulty producing final consonants, it's a good idea to chat with a Speech-Language Pathologist to determine if therapy is appropriate and/or if there are things you could do at home to help your child increase final consonant production.  For some children, simply helping him/her LISTEN more critically to notice that there is indeed a sound at the end of a word can help him/her begin to produce these sounds more.

Choose some CVC (consonant vowel consonant) or VC (vowel consonant) words that are meaningful to your child and plan a simple play scheme around one or two of these words.  Every time you produce the target sound, bring extra emphasis to the final sound (produce the sound louder with your voice, clap as you make the sound, tap the child's arm as you make the sound, etc.).  An example activity could be popping bubbles. Blow bubbles with your child and show your child how to POP the bubbles while saying "POP!" "POP!" Make that final /p/ sound extra-loud! Maybe even POP a bubble as you produce that final /p/ sound.

The Speech Chicks, a great SLP blog, has a good free resource for working on final consonants (Click to check it out!):
Final Consonants
I've personally used this resource with some of my students and really like it!

Happy talking :)

~Mrs. Wells

Articulation Practice/Home Project Idea

Good morning!  I hope everyone is staying warm!  These cold Midwest days are starting to wear on all of us, I think.  I know spending so much time inside can make us feel stir-crazy at times...and some of our kiddos (ok, teachers too! ;)) may have a little extra energy to expend.  Why not channel some of that energy into practicing speech sounds?! 

I took the following activity idea and adapted it from a handout that can be downloaded from the Super Duper Publications website....

Fun with a homemade MYSTERY BOX! 

*Make a “mystery box” using common household objects and your child’s toys/items you can find around your home.*

1)  Cut a slot in the top of a good-sized box (maybe a shoe or boot box?). Make sure that your child’s hand plus an object fits through the slot.   

2)  Help your child decorate the box the way he/she wants it to look. This makes the child feel like he/she is participating and provides a great language-building activity.  Get creative and brainstorm things you could use to decorate the box?  Stickers?  Markers?  Paint?  Here is a great recipe I found on Pinterest for homemade puffy paint using items you probably already have in your home.  

3)  Choose a sound that your child has been working on in speech therapy sessions and go on a hunt around your house for items that have that sound in them.  For younger children, it will be easiest to find things that start with that sound.  For older children, you can have them find things that have that target sound anywhere in the word.  You could even make this a "contest" between siblings...for example, who can find the most things that have the S sound in their name in five minutes??

4)  Have your child(ren) tell you about the items he/she found.  You could expand this by having he/she tell you WHERE he/she found it or tell you HOW the item is used.  Place all of the items in the mystery box!   

5)  Let your child choose an object out of the box and say/name it, use it in a phrase, sentence, or ask the child more questions about the item to elicit conversation.  Variation:  Everyone playing the game could close his/her eyes while one person chooses an item.  The person choosing could then describe the item and have the other people guess which item is being described.

6)  Continue until your child sees all objects and completes each task.

7)  For a special treat, secretly put a “surprise” in the box your child can keep or eat!

Let these ideas get you started, but feel free to adapt and shape these ideas into your own fun activities at home with your family!  Practicing articulation can be lots of fun and can be something that is easily incorporated into your daily life at home!  HAVE FUN and enjoy time talking to and playing with your child!

Some ideas for five commonly misarticulated sounds are:

S Initial (at the beginning of words) 
sucker 

cereal 
celery
cent 
seed 
seashell 
salt 
soap 
soup 
softball 
sock 
 

S Medial (in the middle of words) 
bicycle 
dinosaur 
motorcycle 
pencil
receipt 
baseball 
glasses 
icing 
bracelet 
whistle


S Final (at the end of words) 
bus  
dress
shoelace 
horse
dental floss 
lace
purse
ice (in a baggie) 
necklace


SH Initial  (at the beginning of words) 
shoe
shapes
ship 
shirt
shells 
shampoo 
shoelace 
sugar 
shovel 
shark 

SH Medial (in the middle of words) 
horseshoe 
toothbrushes 
tissue 
marshmallows 
nutshells 
washcloth 
dishes 
invitation 
lotion 
flashlight 

SH Final (at the end of words) 
hairbrush 

toothbrush
fish (toy/picture) 
mouthwash
nail polish
dish
leash
paintbrush 
starfish
licorice

R Initial (at the beginning of words) 
rope

rose
ring
rabbit 
robe
rattle 
ribbon 
radio 
rocket 
raisins 
  
R Medial (in the middle of words) 
airplane 
carrots 
earrings 
horse
purse
fork
marbles 
markers
shirt
fire engine

R Final (at the end of words) 
(teddy) bear 
car (toy) 
pear
jar
flower
feather
dollar 
dinosaur
paper
letter

K  Initial (at the beginning of words) 
can  

key

car

comb 

candy 

kite 

carrot

cow

cat

corn

K Medial (in the middle of words) 
chicken (toy or picture)
bacon (toy or picture)
pumpkin 
rocket 
helicopter 
bicycle (toy or picture)
sneaker
napkin 
chocolate 
monkey 

K Final (at the end of words) 
sock
stick
truck 

block
snake 
book
cake
rake 
milk
black (crayon/paper/paint/marker) 

L  Initial (at the beginning of words) 
lamp (toy/picture)
lamb
leaf
ladder
lemon 
letter 
lipstick 
lotion 
lizard

L Medial (in the middle of words) 
balloon
collar
dollar
jelly
necklace
pillow
ruler
elephant 
marshmallows 
helicopter

L Final (at the end of words) 
bell 

doll 
ball 
bowl 
nail 
football 
pencil 
towel 
seashell 
mail