What Excites Your Kids in Speech?
Plus Speech Tips for Palatal Sounds
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Bucky Excites My Students! He Is My Siberian Forest Therapy Cat.
Do you have a therapy pet too?
Hi All! I am so fortunate to see students in my home office. BUCKY is my 13 year old Siberian Forest Cat who attends every speech session! Kids love him! Bucky is one of the first words they learn. They also learn description words, e.g. soft, furry, fluffy! He jumps on the table right next to the family member . Parent & Bucky watch the session together! Students are at a smaller table. When my kids need a speech break they go right to Bucky to pet him! (He is hypo-allergenic which is a plus!)
There are SOOO many Special DATES this month. I just picked a few favorites: Whole Month Observances: Autism Month, OT month, Stress Awareness Month, Garden Month Special Days: Apr 2 Peanut Butter & Jelly Day Apr 12 - Passover World Hearing Day & World Wildlife Day Apr 16 - World Voice Day Apr 20 - Easter Apr 22 - Earth Day Apr 24 - Take kids to work day Apr 25 - Arbor Day Apr 26 - Pretzel Day
Here is the April Calendar link
Speech Moments - GAMES FOR PALATAL SOUNDS SH, CH & J. When is a child ready to learn palatal sounds? Anytime! Every child is different. I am working with a 3 year old who liked the WATER SOUND as a Semantic Symbol - when I say water sound he knows what to do - you round your lips, middle of tongue goes up and you make the water sound (like a fireman- so keep spraying the water!) I lightly squeeze their cheeks as well. I have also used other semantic symbols, e.g. shaking shark, achoo, jump. They generalize the water sound to CH & J too - it’s all about tongue placement - I provide more instruction if needed. I made a mini artic set which is paired with games that provide repetitive practice, e.g. don’t rock the boat, pirate treasure, grouch couch, donut dash, and let’s go fishing. There is also Frankie’s Food Truck game with shapes, & trash stash garbage truck. Not every child is ready though - I am working with a 5 year old who is exhibiting muscle weakness with palatal and velar sounds (no tongue tie, no enlarged tonsils, no structural issues, but does exhibit tongue fasciculations and was neglected for the first 2 years of her life. ) PLEASE SHARE YOUR INSIGHT IF YOU CAN OFFER ANY SUGGESTIONS!
Difference between the 2 clients: 3 year old has parents who practice words with him weekly. He was stimulable for production in syllables and words. For the 5 year old, she was stimulable for isolated sounds with inconsistent production of SH words when provided with visual, verbal and tactile prompts. Vowel & consonant placement was taken into consideration. There is no carryover at home. Progress is much slower.
Here are some tips for PALATAL SOUND PATTERN PRACTICE: #1. Sound warmup - Choose syllable shapes or words - review Knowledge of Performance with student. Engage in choral speaking - we say words together #2 Provide a choice of semantic symbols to help student visually connect to the sound pattern #3 Strettch the beginning sound, e.g. sh…..oe, or ending sound maaaatch - pausing helps child prepare for the motor sequence #4. Functional core words are paired with every sound pattern, e.g. choose, search, wish, match, jump, push, ouch, chomp, watch. Choose words which child says often. I often use the 5 finger rule with blocked practice (saying word 5 times) but I do random practice as well with a variety of words. I rarely achieve 100 reps with preschool students because it’s just as important to have fun. I utilize every opportunity to encourage production in carrier phrases too(with choral assistance if needed) - student achieves progress faster #5. Tie in minimal word pairs to compare sound differences, e.g. see vs she #6. Choose a Boom Card set, toy, sensory bin, book and/or game with repetitive opportunities for palatal sounds. #7. Incorporate cards or mini objects into the activity when appropriate #8. Provide carryover for home practice when possible.
All FREE RESOURCES are on my website in the PS+ Store or on TPT. I hope you find them useful! If there are other resources or checklists you are looking for, I am happy to add more to my website!. Check out TPT and MY RESOURCES for practically any checklist you may need. If you would like a PDF with links please email me at ricki@preschoolspeechieplus.com . (FYI adding more than 1 item to your cart can be a little tricky - when you add first free item, after you click on purchase, arrow back to add another item…it will say “adding”. You can keep adding product this way. When you click on continue, it will take you to checkout.)
One other important bit of info about Updated Products - I am often updating my products and so are many other companies! To find these updates….1. Go to My purchases (upper right hand corner) 2. Click on Recently purchased and scroll down to RECENTLY UPDATED. Under View Receipt it will show you date when you last opened the file and date when it was last updated. I recently updated several covers!
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