Activities of daily living pair perfectly with core vocabulary. Parents and speech language pathologists will love all the opportunity for repetition. In this video we are using the example of getting ready to walk the dog with a Core Vocabulary Board.
Core words we are focusing on in this video are: put, on, go.
To start or build on using core boards, I’ve put together a document setting out where you can download free core boards to get you started. Clickhere to download your copy.
How do you deal with behavior issues? Behavior Management for the SLP is so important. I know when I have groups of busy, excited, talkative students sometimes they don’t automatically do what I want them too.[spacer height=”20px”]
I don’t want to spend my whole session dealing with behavior. Pretty sure you don’t either. But the reality is, many times you will have to teach students how you want them to behave.[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]
Have you got four minutes to help you manage behavior in your speech room? That’s all the time it takes to read these tips on using visuals and routines to set-up and maintain good listening behaviors in your students. The listening visuals are included as handouts in the FREE School SLP Like a Boss Smart Start Kit. (If you don’t have it yet, no worries, just click on the pink rectangle below)[spacer height=”20px”]
Today I want to give you a quick read (seriously less than 5 minutes) giving you an idea of how you might want to use the behavior handouts in your speech room. The tools I use for classroom behavior management are included in the kit: listening posters and whole brain posters. These visuals are a life-saver, they serve as a constant reminder and have the added bonus of being easier for our language impaired students to understand. (Sometimes you know they’re just hearing our words sound like “blah blah blah”).[spacer height=”20px”]
It’s important to set expectations from the very beginning. By this I don’t mean just pointing to the posters once. Now’s the time to teach the meaning of the posters and foster a group connection. For example tell them, “In the speech room we are good listeners. We listen with our heart, our eyes, our ears, our mouth and our bodies.” You are giving them specific information so they know exactly what you want from them. Much more clear than “you need to be a good listener”[spacer height=”20px”]
Here’s what you need to get started:[spacer height=”20px”]
Listening Posters (pgs 10-15)
Print and laminate these posters. Place them where your students can see them from your therapy table. These are great for the primary grades.[spacer height=”20px”]
Explain each poster. For example: “This is what we need to do to be a good listener.” Point to each picture, read caption and demonstrate. Have the students show their eyes looking, ears listening, etc. After you go through all the posters, have students say them with you as you point and show you again. This is so worth taking the time to do. Remember you want to set them up for success. [spacer height=”20px”]
As you go through an activity, catch your students doing the right thing. Don’t wait until you have to say “where are your looking eyes?”. Give some positive feedback. “I like how Johnny’s eyes are looking right at me. I know he’s listening.” Kids need ten positive statements to every negative. Positive praise helps children become more aware of what they’re doing well, and more excited to continue trying. [spacer height=”20px”]
Make your feedback specific. It’s so easy to just say “good job”. But when we give specific praise, students know exactly what they are doing right and why you are happy about it. So instead of “great job”,try, “You are sitting quietly and looking at me, I know that you are learning”.
When you do need to give a verbal reminder to get the behavior you want, point to the poster while you say “Remember, mouth quiet”. And then fade the verbal prompts and just point.[spacer height=”20px”]
Whole Brain Teaching
I also have had really great success with the Whole Brain Teaching posters. I use these to give my busy little friends a routine to follow right when they come into the room. As soon as they sit down, we go through each rule. This is really fun and kind of bonding. Once they learn them, I let a different student be the leader each time. I use these with primary students. But you can use them with older students too. You just need to have different posters and a more age appropriate way to say the rules and make the motions.[spacer height=”20px”]
Go to the FREE Whole Brain link on page 9 in your School SLP Like a Boss Smart Start kit. Print and laminate the Whole Brain Posters. Click on the video link to see an example of how they are used. [spacer height=”20px”]
I hope these tips have you on your way to great behavior management. Following these will help you foster better relationships with your students and help them feel secure knowing exactly what the speech room boundaries and expectations are.[spacer height=”20px”]
You’ve got this,
Want to know more? Here’s what two amazing school SLP bloggers do for behavior management:[spacer height=”20px”]
Cheri from Super Power Speech shares some great tips on using visuals. Check out her blog post here. (Plus there is a great visual freebie)
Are you like me and tell yourself that you’re going to be more organized this year? (And say it every year?)[spacer height=”20px”]
This year I’m actually doing it-not perfectly of course. But I have to say Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) has made my life sooo much easier. When I first discovered TPT, I was just downloading freebies left and right and buying products that were cheap.[spacer height=”20px”]
Now, I’m a little more discriminating. Just because something is free or inexpensive doesn’t mean it’s the right product for me.[spacer height=”20px”]
Here are 6 ways that I use TPT to make me more organized and the therapy materials I need at my fingertips.[spacer height=”20px”]
1. Buy staple items that you know you can use every year.
Here is my list for K-3 (yours may look different, you’ll customize to fit your needs)
Watch for items that are Core Curriculum Aligned.[spacer height=”20px”]
2. Consider your teaching/therapy style.
Do you like worksheets and paper/pencil activities or do you motivate students through cards and games?[spacer height=”20px”]
Get products that you can easily picture yourself using. Do you need activities with no or low preparation time? Or do you love having colorful,laminated materials and don’t mind cutting laminated items while you watch the latest episode of The Bachelor?[spacer height=”20px”]
Purchase items that will fit into your way of doing things.[spacer height=”20px”]
3. Don’t re-invent the wheel.
You can get planners, data sheets, forms, posters, homework sheets, brag tags, and punch cards on TPT. Get SUPER organized by using them.[spacer height=”20px”]
4. Find your favorite sellers
Once you start purchasing items you’ll find sellers that seem like they are making products just for you. These sellers are gems! Follow them and show them some love by giving feedback on their products. (Especially the freebies)[spacer height=”20px”]
When I need something I save myself time by searching their stores first (less to scroll through than when I do a site-wide search).[spacer height=”20px”]
5. Buy seasonal and holiday items as little treats to keep your sessions fresh and fun. (for your students and for you)[spacer height=”20px”]
Kids get so excited about holidays (so do I). Fun seasonal materials can breathe new life into concepts you’ve been working on.[spacer height=”20px”]
6. Give some thought to how you store your TPT products[spacer height=”20px”]
You want them to be easily accessible. I use Globe-Weiss clear plastic envelopes with colored ziptops (from Amazon). I print the product cover page and place inside to use it as a label. These are really sturdy and can stand on a shelf.[spacer height=”20px”]
So there you have it, 6 easy ways to help you be organized, effective and fun by using TPT. Which tip will help you the most? Leave a note in the comments below. [spacer height=”20px”]
Happy Organizing,
Did you like this post? If you did please share with your friends! And head on over to my TPT store to find some fun organizational and game-base products.
Here is a great tip for when you are short on time (uh-everyday?). Get the Doodle Buddy app for your ipad. You can quickly photograph worksheets and the kids can use their fingers to draw lines and write. Even better you can use the stamp feature, which comes with audio! Also it has a great tic tac toe feature that I use for quick, fun articulation practice.
Here, I just wrote the words with my finger, then chose a stamp. Put on one stamp per production, a great way to get many productions!
Click here to read my post on all the great ways to use Doodle Buddy. And the best part? It’s FREE!
This is all part of Kim Jarvis’ Quick Tip Tuesday Linky Party, so click on the pink pic to head on over to The School SLP for some more amazing ideas!
Okay this might not work for everyone but I want to tell you what I did recently that brought a big improvement to my energy level and my outlook. Like all of you, many days I feel like I am pulled in so many different directions. I want to do it all, be it all AND I want to have a clean house while I do it. I’ve dreamed about hiring someone to clean my house for years but always have a million excuses for why it won’t work (cost being at the top of the list). Many of the motivational and business books I’ve been reading lately talk about the importance of delegating and paying others to do tasks that you are not that good at (or that you don’t enjoy). I thought … you know, I don’t buy Starbucks everyday anymore and I pack my own lunch. Hmmm, maybe I can afford this investment in my self. So last week, I took the plunge, hired a wonderful woman and I came home on Friday to a clean house. Such an amazing way to start the weekend! My time was free to enjoy the days and to create some new Teachers Pay Teachers products, which just made me so happy.
This “tip” is part of Kim Jarvis’ Quick Tip Tuesday. Click here to head over to her blog and get some more great time-saving ideas!
Here is this Tuesday Quick Tips, part of the School SLP’s Tuesday Linky Party (Thanks Kim Jarvis). Be sure to click on the button above to find more amazing quick ideas!
I use a sticker incentive chart for good behavior and the kids love it. I use the Whole Brain Teaching Rules, which are amazing! I got this free download at TPT. So basically if they follow the rules during their session, they get a sticker for the chart. For every five stickers they get a prize and they get really motivated by this. Lately, my prizes have been getting a little boring; the kids can only get so excited about pencils or erasers. But, I don’t like to spend much on the prizes because I have a BIG caseload (usually 60-80 students, K-8). My awesome niece and Saturday assistant Liz, found 2 packages of Angry Bird puzzle erasers at the dollar store and the were a HIT!
We will keep searching dollar stores for them but in the meantime I found some online at good old Amazon. For your convenience here is a link: Angry Birds Puzzle Erasers.
Since I am addicted to Amazon Prime, there was no shipping and I got these within a few days. They come 3 to a package, but I am taking them out of the packets and putting them in the prize jar. That way each prize is under 50 cents a piece. Magic!
Beautiful Speech Life 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.com. Just letting you know.
Hey there I’m Anne Page. I help heart centered SLPs and educators put the fun in functional communication. 