It’s exciting watching kids assemble their new school supplies, get their backpacks together and compare who is in what class. Some of my friends are teary as they launch their college kids and prepare to drop them off and return to a slightly empty house.
Speech therapists and teachers have been busy preparing their rooms, lists, and making schedules. When I was working in the schools for 20 years, the first two weeks were crazy–finding kids, making a schedule and changing it multiple times. I feel for all of you who are in the throws of that right now. It’s funny, even in private practice, I have to make a whole new schedule at the beginning of each summer and each school year, so I don’t even escape that. At least I don’t have schedule around gym, art and music classes!
As a private therapist I have a unique opportunity to coordinate with classroom teachers and therapists at a child’s schoool. I have several children whom I see every few weeks at their nursery school to communicate goals and progress with teachers. This fall I am waiting a few weeks for kids to get adjusted and then will go into their preschool classes and assess whether their language skills are carrying over into the classroom. Often with preschool children, they might offer more language and seem more advanced in an individual session than when they are in a group setting of peers and adults. I worked with one child from 2-3 years of age and as his language improved, he still didn’t apply his skills in talking with peers. I ended up working with him in his preschool setting to prompt his interactions with peers. For some reason he was very comfortable engaging with the adults, “Sherry, your orange purse is on the table.” By the end of summer camp, he was starting to initiate dialogue with peers and I was able to dismiss him.
Back to school means many things, but for me it means I have another venue in which to watch and assess a child where he is comfortable and among familiar peers and adults. I just have to wait a little while until he is adjusted and it feels like home.
Most parents think of bubbles as a summer activity–kids chasing down the clear, multi-sized spheres to pop in delight. Certainly they are a great source of outside entertainment, but speech therapists use bubbles all year round and bubbles are one of the first things we bring out of our bags to engage a toddler or preschooler. There is something magical to a little one when a liquid becomes three dimensional. Bubbles can be used to gain attention, reward vocalizations, or for modeling certain sounds like “p” or “b” in “pop” and “bubble.” I can get a lot of language out of a child, just by holding back an action like opening the top of the bubble container. Kids just learning to talk, often vocalize something just to get me to continue my routine of getting ready to blow bubbles. For older kids, blowing bubbles strengthens oral motor muscles for speech, and encourages lip rounding.
When I attended “Time To Play’s Spring Showcase of Toys,” Their no-stain, no-dye, nontoxic bubbles really do work better and last longer in the air, which leads to more fun time and language expression. Here are some of the products that I liked for therapy and just plain fun:
“No-Spill Bubble Tumbler:” This is perfect for portable therapy and play since it really doesn’t spill, I like the one that has multiple wands so three kids can play at once.
“Jelly Belly Scented Bubbles:” Only a few inches long, this portable bubble toy holds scented bubbles for a child to blow.
“Big Bubble Friends” produce their own bubbles, so the child doesn’t benefit from the oral motor action of blowing their own bubbles, but my big cow was a load of fun. Tip back the head of the cow and as he lets out a “Mooooo,” a stream of bubbles is emitted and kids are mesmerized. Use the toy as a motivator, modeling sounds or words for them to repeat and rewarding them with a stream to chase. Toddlers and preschoolers loved this toy and played independently for up to 20 minutes.
Have a few of these portable bubble entertainers ready to delight kids summer or winter.
The opinions expressed in this review are soley those of the author. The above products were provided for review by “Little Kids’”
I was at a planning meeting this week with a team that I collaborate with as a private speech pathologist. My client is on the autism spectrum and I had just completed a diagnostic evaluation. I shared my results of language testing and talked about what I learned from observing his behaviors during the tasks. One one test, the first portion gave a field of four drawings to chose the answer from. During the second half there were no visual cues to help him with his answer. He got every item wrong after the visual cues were not given.
On the concepts section of the test, he failed several items that I know he knew in other contexts. It was hard for him to pick out the correct line drawing from a field of four that represented simple concepts.
After sharing these observations, the team started to develop goals for his upcoming year based on the testing. One of the members of the team said, “Well, we don’t want to teach to a test but I think we should teach him test taking skills–how to scan several pictures for an answer, how to listen to a paragraph and stay focused to answer a question, and how to be more familiar with two dimensional drawings for his answers.
I thought that was a great point. Many children with special needs will be tested at least yearly to determine progress and goals. How helpful for them to learn strategies like, “Look at all the pictures and then pick the one that answers the question.”
Children with Language learning disabilities benefit from reading and discussing good literature.
Yesterday I read, Peter’s Place by Sally Grindley–a beautifully illustrated story about a young boy who’s place is his clifftop home above the ocean. He befriends the birds and animals but his world changes when an oil tanker crashes into the cliff one night, spilling the black oil everywhere. The story is filled with great vocabulary–”ravaged cliff face,” “turbulent ocean,” and “snug in their haven.” There are many opportunities to discuss inference and explain figurative language. Here are the segments from the book and a 10 year-old’s responses:
“seals and otters played and feasted on the sea’s riches”
They had a lot of good food in the sea.
The animals were “snug in their haven”
The animals were comfortable in their homes
“Leaving the tanker to fight its own battle”
The tanker couldn’t steer and had to fight the ocean.
“The seal’s once soft gray fur, now matted with oil, could no longer hold in its body’s warmth.” He will get cold, sick or maybe die.
“A guillemot plucked furiously at its matted feathers, poisoning itself.”
He is poisoning himself by eating the oil.
Why did the oil keep it from flying?
The oil keeps it from flying because the oil is heavy so the bird can’t fly.
Why is Peter crying?
Because many of his birds can’t fly and he loved the ducks.
“Peter marvels at the birds’ survival.”
He is amazed how the birds stayed alive through the oil spill.
“Between the rocks are ugly black scars that can never be washed away.”
Between the rocks, there is some oil that they can’t get off and it reminds them of what happened.
Compare Compare before and after the oil spill:
· Before the spill, the birds flew easily and after the spill the birds couldn’t fly because the oil got into the feathers and it would be heavy to fly
· Before the spill, the cliff was pretty and after the spill, the cliff was ravaged with oil
· Before the spill, the sky was nice and cool and after the spill, the sky was dark
· Before the spill, the water was calm and blue, pink and purple. After the spill, the water had oil in it and it was pitch black
· Before the spill, Peter enjoyed the free time with the birds, calling to them. After the spill, Peter was anxious because his favorite place was ravaged.
· Before the spill, people were fishing but after the spill, people were saving birds and animals
· Before the spill, the tanker was way out in the far ocean and after the spill, the tanker was up close and destroyed
Summarize the whole book:
This book is about a boy who loved a place which got destroyed by a tanker and oil spill and how he saved many bird’s lives.
When I find a book I really like for using with my speech and language special needs kids, I usually see what else that author has written.
My journey with author and illustrator Valerie Gorbachev, began when I grabbed Red Red Red from the library. It was a prefect book to use with a language delayed child as well as a child on the autism spectrum–the illustrations were colorful and simple, the story was engaging but not complicated, and there was a simple action on each page that invited wh-questions. Turtle is in a hurry to find something read and as a result, all the friendly forest animals start a line behind him guessing what could be his red prize–maybe racoon’s roses, goat’s red socks, fox’s red roof or a firefighter’s truck. This little parade of animals finally arrives at Turtle’s destination, a beautiful red sunset. The book lends itself to prediction questions, why? questions, brainstorming other red items and descriptions.
In Chicken Chickens Go To School, our little chicks are a bit timid about their first day at school. As they venture toward friendship by saying hello to classmates, they are stopped with a “Sssssssh” from Beaver, Rabbit and Frog who are busy making a tower, listening to a story and trying to sing respectively. These responses lend themselves to talking about emotions and brainstorming on what the chicken’s might do to gain a friend. Finally, during a trip to the meadow, the chicks are faced with crossing the stream alone. Guess which 3 animals offer assistance? Again, before reading the page, ask your child to predict how the animals might help the chicks get across. Talking about the beginning, middle and end and how the characters changed is a good activity for sequence and memory.
Chicken Chickens introduces the chicks to their first day at a playground. All the fun action drawings are great for description–mother hen rocking her babies, the pigs swirling on the merry-go-round, and the cats swinging high. Talk about cause-effect in regard to the chickens’ fear of each piece of equipment. They might get dizzy on the merry-go-round or fall off the swings. Finally, let’s solve the problem of their fear of the slide. How could the different animals help them down? What could they say to the chickens? How did Beaver solve the problem?
Other favorites are:
The Big Trip
That’s What Friends Are For
What authors of picture books do you like for using with kids with special needs? Let’s get a list going to help others.
Some kids work harder in a less structured setting, moving and learning as they go. Summer is a great opportunity to take these kids outside to explore and work on speech and language goals on the move.
My friend, Nathan, is such a kid. He is so happy to explore, expecially with Duke, my dog, and will practice his articulation, language structures, answering questions and following directions best in a less restricted environment.
Last week we discovered that when we walked down to the creek to view water bugs and look for frogs, we actually found little tree frogs hopping out of the leaves under our feet. We could only detect them from their movement but managed to catch one in a cup and watch him climb out. Our next outing was the pond. No frogs there but 
we identified cattails, and were visited by a beautiful butterfly who followed us along the edge of the pond. We spotted an elegant egret and family of geese.
When we returned we wrote Mom an e-mail letter, including pictures of our outings. Nathan had to supply the words under each picture to recall what we had done. This is hard for him but with the visual cue, it was made easier.
Honestly, it’s fun for me to get a change of scenery too.
I think speech therapy should always be fun but in the summer it should have an element of freedom, away from the classroom. I take kids outside and look for frogs, explore a creek, or create art work related to books.
Brooke and I have been reading Action Jackson, by Greenberg and Jordan, the story of the artist, Jackson Pollock. We used the story to teach inference, summarizing, abstract language, and description:
“Why do you think he likes musicians who improvise and invent their own melodies?”
What does, “He stops and a pool of paint pauses” mean?
Why does he need a break?
What does “Energy and motion made visible” mean?
What does, “Things get in the way of the flow, like roots blocking a soil line” mean?
Why is he called “Action Jackson?”
After reading the book, we decided to try to paint a picture like Pollock. It looked like it would be easy but we discovered a few things. After completing her masterpiece, Brooke used a graphic organizer to tell about her experience beginning with:
- why we did the painting
- the steps in the process
- the two methods she used (squeezing tubes of paint, and flinging with a spoon)
- what method was easier and more fun
- summary statement
We wanted to paint outside but it started to rain so we went in my garage to paint. First we laid out the newspapers and put the canvas on top. Our paints were in a tube.
We tried two methods of painting like Action Jackson. The first one was squirting the whole tube all over the canvas that made big, thick, long, curvy lines. You had to keep squeezing the tube and moving along so the line would go on forever, or else it would make globs.
Our second method was flinging the paint. We squeezed part of a tube into the red cup and used a fork or spoon to dip into the cup and fling the paint. It is easier to do up close because you get thin, curvy lines but if you stood up you would get a big glob.
The most fun part about doing this project was flinging the paint because it would get messy and it flew across the garage! The easier method was the squirting because the paint would go where you wanted it to go. With flinging the paint goes all over the picture.
When you read the book, Action Jackson, you think his method of painting is easy because he just drips paint, but when you actually do the project it is hard because the paint doesn’t go where you want it to go. I could see how difficult painting like Jackson Pollock was.
See what happens when you combine speech therapy and art?
Here is a copy of my newsletter in case you aren’t on the distribution list:Once again, I saw the advantages of having a ittle Play-doh on hand.
One of my more creative players, Duncan, was setting up his Playmobil boat, van and trailer, As he was requesting the Mom figure and then the Dad to be seated in the front of the van, he started to ask for a CD. I looked at his mom since this was totally out of context. No one had been talking about a CD, but Duncan listens to them in the car so he wanted one in his pretend sequence.
His mom who is a wonderful “producer” of his play disappeared and returned with a can of Play-Doh, a large piece of paper and some crayons. She said, “Duncan, would you like to make your CD out of paper or Play-Doh? He chose the Play-Doh and went ahead and took a little square of it and mashed it against the dashboard! He had inserted his CD for playing:)
Later the Play-Doh was used to make a lake and a pile of rocks when the family disembarked from the boat to collect rocks.
Once again, my favorite toy added to the story line and allowed expansion to new themes for play.
This is part two of my blog about the advantages of having a typical peer join your speech therapy session. Yesterday I talked about the impact a typical peer can have on a child with autism in play. In my speech therapy sessions, I always try to include a time of reading books, as soon as a child will tolerate it and displays joint attention so they can follow the story.
I find that my kids that I work with who have autism, tend to show more interest, stay with the book longer and get more engaged with a typical peer in on the lesson. Last week we were reading, When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Lise Broach. In the story, to the little boy’s delight, everywhere he goes on errands with his mom-to the bakery, the doctor, the barber–he gets a dinosaur as a reward. Mom is terrified and the boy is thrilled. The story gets more complicated as he brings his new pets home. At first they are unintentionally destructive, but then mom sees a more useful tact as she deploys them to “cut” the grass and clean the gutters. With lots of opportunity to predict, and infer, this story builds language concepts. My little client often becomes less attentive about half way through the story, but his typical peer kept answering my questions and helped keep him engaged. He seemed to catch her enthusiasm and want to take his turn in talking about the story.
