Hyper-excited

I have to say, although I was uneasy (ok petrified) at the beginning of the year when I realized I had students with nasality issues on my caseload, I now find it to be somewhat invigorating to get to try new things and come up with my own solutions.

Today, I am happy to report that my hypernasal “er” kid made a breakthrough. His /er/ sound was hypernasal basically because his tongue position was too high, (which is funny because that’s what I spend 99.9% of my time with /r/ kids trying to get them to do; hopelessly pleading “make that tongue high” “it’s being lazy!”). But, in this case, too high of a tongue means that air can’t escape through the mouth like it’s supposed to, and instead the air goes through the nose. Which ain’t right.

We spent weeks of doing “yawning” exercises (which was the only technique I could find in my hopeless and tedious researching) in order to relax and help approximate the back of his tongue into a lower position. It was helpful, but only about 70% successful. It was time to move on, but I didn't know to what. However, today, in the middle of therapy no less, I had a “lightbulb” moment. I realized that prevocalic /r/ was essentially “normal” for this kid. So, we drilled prevocalic /r/ words (words with /r/ at the beginning of words like “red” “reel” “road” “rope”), then after awhile I started having him produce /er/ in front of these words. I would have him say “rope” then “erope”, nice and short. This worked fabulously for getting that lower /er/ sound established. After only about 20 words practiced this way, I went back to the more “traditional” /er/ words (urban, bird, mother, teacher, etc.) and voila! Just like that we were at about 90% accuracy with only needing 1 yawn cue to re-establish that lower tongue!

I think that is what makes working with these kids actually kinda fun. I can use what I know and then tweak it until I find something that works. I kinda feel like a scientist.

Gobble-Gobble

This activity is not on my list of most successful activities ever......Nevertheless, it is my one Thanksgiving activity, and at least I tried! I had students create complex sentences using the conjunction "because". I am thankful for_________ because_________________. Some of them did a really nice job with it......others not so much. I probably needed a little more set-up, and the whole thing was quite rushed. But, at least I now have some cute Turkeys outside of my door, I just hope no one looks too closely!

A drop for your bucket

I was so mean to my kids today. I mean, not brutal or anything, I was just quickly and easily aggravated with them, and no one really had a lot of fun.

Then, when I was leaving my classroom for the day, I found a really nice note (it was called a drop for your bucket, which I then had to research because I had never heard of it! http://strengths.gallup.com/116275/Drops.aspx) that someone left on my door. It really made me step back and re-evaluate my attitude about today. I came to the realization that I have to decide to make it a good day for my students even when I am not feeling it.

Product Reviews

With a Super Duper gift certificate that was given to me, and with the "start-up" funds provided by my county, I have really gotten to explore and find some cool products that have been so helpful in addressing my students' needs. Here is a list of a few of my favorites:

HearBuilder Following Directions: This targets so many levels of following simple and complex directions. And of course, since it is a computer "game" it is fun and motivating for all of the kids I use this with! Also, I love that I can put a kid on the computer to work independently, because I can then work more intensely with the other students in the group.

 

Season to Reason: This has all sorts of grammar practice cards corresponding to the 4 seasons. The grammar cards include: completing sentences, creating sentences, fixing sentences, and combining sentences. It also includes "bonus cards" which help turn the activity into a fun game for the kids. I have used this with more of my students than I thought I would, and they all love and often request to play!

Social Inferences Fun Deck: This deck has been awesome because I have used it for many, many students. I of course use it with kids working on social language and understanding inferences. I have also used it with kids working on descriptive language (they look at the picture and tell what they think is going to happen then they can flip it over to see if they are right!). I have also used this deck for kids working on written and auditory comprehension skills. The decoder makes it way "cool" in the eyes of the kids.

Honorable mentions:

Auditory Memory High-Interest Quick Stories (Another computer program. It also includes a workbook of extra support materials. Says it's appropriate for 1-5, but I would say it's really targeted to 3-5.)

What Would You Do If......? Fun Decks (Useful with a lot of students, working on pragmatic skills and conversation skills!)

Topic Talk (Always a goodie, I use this a couple of times a week in therapy and evaluations.)
Say and Do Social Scenes for Home, School, and Community (I have not used this for what I originally planned on using it for, but it has been perfect for RTI for pragmatic skills and even auditory comprehension.)

Ode to Febreze

If the kids are noticing it, then it's bad. In the words of one of my 3rd graders:

"Who reeeeeks?!? UGGGGGGH."

So thank you Febreze Air Effects for all that you do. 

P.S. My current fave scent is Cranberries and Frost. It is yummy!

A box full of rrrrrrrr

My two /r/ girls have been working on these "R" boxes for a month now. The girls first filled the boxes with: /r/ and /er/ pictures, /r/ and /er/ sentences, and then conversation topics. After that, I let them go at it with all of my art supplies! Here's the finished project, aren't they about the most beautiful things you've ever seen? I'm sending them home next week so that they can practice at home!