Before COVID-19 I kept a sensory tub. I would change the filling every month and my patients would use it to help their regulation as we worked. Now that I’m more concerned about the kids sharing germs (which was already a concern since some kids inevitably put parts of the sensory bin into their mouth …
Category: “The Flexible SLP”
Social Skills with Toca Kitchen Monsters
Toca Kitchen Monsters is another FREE app from Toca Boca. In this one, kids get to choose from 2 monsters and then they get to choose which food items and how to prepare them. This app can be really fun for learning about likes and dislikes when talking about social skills! When using this app …
Articulation/Phonology with Li’l Woodzeez, Honey Bee Acres, & Calico Critters
For patients who are working on articulation/phonology I use mini objects from Speech Tree Company (you have to get on the waiting list to be able to order them). For word-level I’ll tell the child the critters are going to a store and then pretend to be a baby critter and ask about each item …
My Favorite Self-Care Ideas for SLPs
As a part of Mental Wellness Month I wanted to share my favorite self-care ideas. “Self-care” is a hot topic these days, but I often find myself debating about what it really is. Sometimes I relate it to regulation so that I think of self-care as “doing things that keep me at my most regulated, …
My Favorite Activities for Following Directions
Following directions is a common goal for my patients of all ages. I try to keep these activities fun and play-based, but for the older kids that’s an especially challenging endeavor. Here are some of my favorite activities for working on following directions… Here are some more ideas for using Toca Kitchen Monsters in speech …
Receptive Language with Animal-Assisted Intervention
Please read about the basics about therapy dogs and animal-assisted intervention in speech-language pathology on my original post here. AAI receptive langauge activities are as varied as receptive langauge goals. When working on single-step directions I set out color sorting bowls and tell the patient which bowl to put each treat into. When working on …
Following Directions with Recipes in Toca Boca World
In case you don’t know: Toca Life World is a FREE app that many of the children I work with love. Here’s the link for the android version of Toca Life World and here’s the link for the iPad version. When I use it for following directions I give my in-person patients one of my iPads with Toca …
FREE Multi-Step Directions Game: Donkey Hodie™ Froyo Stand
One of my patients requested we play the “Donkey Hodie™ Froyo Stand” game during their reward/choose time. I was blown away to realize: “This is a GREAT multi-step directions game!” It’s FREE, it can be played on the iPad’s PBS Kids app, the android PBS Kids app, or even on the website! This means parents …
SLP Self-Care Tip: Incorporate Your Interests
October is ADHD awareness month and while I talked about incorporating your patients’ interests in my other post, in this post I wanted to include a related self-care tip: “incorporate your interest.” Individuals with ADHD experience hyperfocus with their interests and “hypo-focus” with many things outside their interests. For this reason, incorporating interests can be …
ADHD & Speech-Language Pathology
October is ADHD awareness month! I actually learned very little about ADHD’s effects on communication as a graduate student and it wasn’t until I began seeing lots of patients with ADHD that I started to wonder about the connection between the disorder and speech and langauge. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to work with …