What is LAMP? How does it help communication?
When my lovely Kindergarten student began school, she had an iPad and an app with 30 words on it. She was primarily using gestures, facial expressions, and a few ASL words to communicate her needs…
AAC
Learning core words- one letter at a time
Have you ever had a student with almost no words but you knew that they had a lot to say? These are the students that fascinate me the most. I desperately want to know how…
eMerging SLPs: Merging into the self-contained classroom
As far as speech pathology jobs go, I have a tough population. I wear Kevlar sleeves as part of my uniform. I have developed wicked fast reflexes. I get drool, spit, and occasionally blood on…
Secrets for Modeling Language
The difficulty with verbal language for many children with language disorders is that it is fleeting and invisible. Communication boards make that language visual, and permanent and give clear delineations between different words. My students…
Building Basic Sentences with AAC
I work with three classrooms of minimally/non-verbal students. My ultimate goal for all of these students is SNUG:ย spontaneous novel utterance generation. Novel utterance generation of and combinations of words will enable my students endless communication…
Work Systems for Early Learners
I’ve been having a rough year with some of my early language learners in a self-contained classroom. Keeping them engaged for a 30 minute speech session was just not working. Instead they would protest by…
How to Make Your Own Core Communication Flip Book
There was much inquiry into my core communication flip book from last week’s post about Engaging Early Language Learners! Guess what? I made a version just for you! You don’t want to miss this pre-made…
Circle Time in a Minimally Verbal Classroom #3
All long time ago and very, very far away from my current location, I got my first job as an SLP. In addition to many students in the general education setting, I served two severely…
Circle Time in a Minimially Verbal Classroom #2
Circle time! Last month, I went through how I do circle time in my Kindergarten self-contained classroom. The students there are minimally or non-verbal. You can read the post here. Today, I am explaining how…
Circle Time in a Minimally Verbal Classroom #1
Circle time is my baby. When I started my current job in 2002 and had one class of highly-impacted and self-contained students, I knew I wanted to lead the class in some way. Circle became…
A-Z Alphabet Books for Me!
One of the best things that happened to my therapy was when the life skills teacher and I decided to implement the “letter of the week”. Since then, I have been designing speech materials that…
Story comprehension for children with minimal verbal skills
Three things happened recently that influenced my newest creation: 1. One of my self-contained teachers came to me with a problem this year. She said that she had several new students with story comprehension goals….
Getting organized for play-based speech therapy
33% of my students with speech IEPs work on very basic 1-3 word utterances (verbally or non-verbally). One of the many ways that I work on their speech goals is to engage them with play-based…
Teaching Children Sign Language: Elementary Age
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This is the fourth and final post in a series on “Teaching Children Sign Language” about how I have taught my own children and students some sign. To…