I was a meandering young college student unhappy with the previous 2 majors I had chosen. I’ve always enjoyed working with children but wasn’t sure I wanted to be a teacher.  One night at a Halloween party I sat down on some steps next to a girl I had never met before. The usual “so what’s your major” question arose. I told her about not liking my current major and how I liked to work with kids but wasn’t sure what to do. She then proceeded to tell me about “speech-language pathology.” Hmm…I’d never heard of this before. Sounded like a good fit for me.  She also mentioned that the field was mostly comprised of women, which if I’m going to be honest, was also a draw to the field

So I changed my major and the rest is history.

But here is what I’ve always found the “moral” of the story. I had never spoken to that girl before and I never saw her again. We only talked for about 10 minutes. But this small random 10 minutes dramatically changed the course of my life in amazing ways. Not only did it lead me to my beloved profession but it is also how I met my stunning wife, why I have 2 beautiful children (and one on the way), and the reason PocketSLP exists. So the moral: pay attention to the little moments and passing people in life – you never know when they might send you down new and amazing paths!

We’d love to hear your story too.  Hop on over to our Facebook page and join our contest.  www.facebook.com/pocketslp

4 objectives that I easily targeted with this site:

• OBJ: Use language to inform.
• OBJ: Use language to draw conclusions.
• OBJ: Use language to give reasons.
• OBJ: Use language to identify feelings/emotions.

4 cuties for YOU to try in speech therapy:

http://cuteoverload.com/2012/01/26/know-your-exotic-plant-species/

• “Oh wow! Let’s look at this picture. I would like you to explain to me WHY you think this pig is taking a nap. I know he/she must be tired, but let’s try to think of WHY the pig might be tired. What adventures did the pig go on today? WHY?”

http://cuteoverload.com/2012/01/25/excuse-me-sonny/

• “That dog with the glasses on sure does look silly! I would like you to explain to me WHERE you think the dog is? Use clues within the picture to try to explain to me HOW you think he is feeling. Let’s make up a name for that dog and tell a quick story about him.”

http://cuteoverload.com/2012/01/25/hey-watch-where-youre-shoveling/

• “Aww! Now look at this little dog! I wonder HOW he is feeling in that picture. HOW do you know? Also, I wonder what that white stuff is all over him. Together let’s talk about what you believe is this dogs most favorite season. WHY do you think this?”

http://cuteoverload.com/2012/01/24/heres-a-tip/

• “Now let’s look at this cat. HOW do you think he is feeling? WHY? WHAT is the cat holding in his hand? WHAT do you think he is going to do with that thing he is holding?”

In closing . . .

As you can see, this site is filled with pictures that your students will get a kick out of. I invite you to check out CuteOverload.com to pick out some pictures for YOUR NEXT SPEECH THERAPY SESSION! Enjoy the cuteness!

Are you using the power of video clips within your speech therapy sessions? If not, consider giving it a try. I am confident you will be able to target tons of your students’ goals and objectives through fun and kid-friendly video clips that can be played on your iPad.

To further support language take a gander at some of our language apps we’ve recently released. Touch the picture to see a description in the app store. Language Forest comes with over 50 decks of commonly targeted language areas and you can make your own decks, Pocket Lexi is a bookstore devoted to improving language, and Opposite day is well, we bet you can guess what you’ll find within this app.

	Language Forest	Opposite Day	Pocket Lexi

It isn’t every day that you get to see a DOG playing BASKETBALL! Wow, I sure was impressed when I came across this 1 minute video on YouTube so I felt the need to share it with with my 3rd grade students. I believe that incorporating audio-visual media into the speech therapy session really helps children who have language difficulties. If I were to simply talk about a dog playing basketball, that would be too abstract for the kiddos. Similarly, if I were to show a picture of a dog playing basketball, they wouldn’t be able to truly see and comprehend what an amazing talent that the pet had. By showing my students this video, I was able to get some great conversation going in our little speech room.

Questions before they see the furry hoop star! Woof!

Before I showed the video, I asked the following questions:

1. Have you ever played a game of basketball with your friends?
2. Finish this sentence for me, “I love to play basketball because . . .”
3. What items do we need to play a game of basketball? Why are those items important? (hoop, ball, sneakers, water bottle, etc)
4. Have you ever seen real animals (not cartoons) playing basketball before? Is it possible for real animals to play basketball?
5. Do you or someone you know have a dog? Give us details about the pet.

Once my kiddos properly answered the questions, I whipped out the iPad and showed them the video. Since the clip is so short, I played it 2 times because they were begging to see it once more.

Questions after they see the furry hoop star! Woof!

1. What was the name of the dog?
2. Do you think that dog was smart? If so, please explain to the group why you thought so.
3. Do you think that the owner was smart? If so, please explain to the group why you thought so.
4. What toy do you think that particular dog would enjoy playing with more, a bone or a basketball? Why?
5. What show do you think that dog would enjoy more watching more, a cooking show or a basketball show? Why?

In closing . . .

Are you using the power of video clips within your speech therapy sessions? If not, consider giving it a try. I am confident you will be able to target tons of your students’ goals and objectives through fun and kid-friendly video clips that can be played on your iPad.

The possibilities are endless when we decide to teach our little ones all about opposites. We have a fantastic ability to create a ton of fun speech activities that can help improve children’s understanding of opposites. Here are some of the wacky things that we here at Pocket SLP love to do with our speech kiddos:

Socks and Gloves

You might be viewed as one WACKY speech teacher, but you should start a speech therapy session with socks on your hands and gloves on your feet. I can’t think of a better way to emphasize the opposites of hands/feet and sock/gloves. Have the students do the same and see what conversation ensues from the silliness!

Hokey Pokey

This is the perfect song where you can emphasize opposites like left/right, back/front, hand/foot, in/out, and more. The students usually get a real kick out of dancing and practicing their gross motor skills during speech class!

Opposite Day

We came out with quite possibly THE BEST app that helps your students to practice opposites in English and/or Spanish. We called it Opposite Day and it is available now on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. All the opposites are grouped by nouns, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives to further promote understanding of numerous areas of language. Have your children tell you the opposite with our expressive mode or choose the correct opposite with our receptive mode. As with all Pocket SLP apps, detailed records of their progress are kept behind the scenes and can be exported to show practice. YOU WILL LOVE THIS APP. Click here for more information on Opposite Day.

Perfect Artists

A great way to emphasize opposites like open/closed and on/off is to let your speech students draw pictures (or color pictures). Let them either interact with the paper with their eyes OPEN or CLOSED or while they have a blindfold ON or OFF. Join in with them and over exaggerate how sloppy your artwork is while your eyes are closed and how neat it can be with your eyes open!

Racing Opposites

Having competitive races during speech class is always enjoyable. How about having various speed races during your group speech therapy session that emphasize such opposites as frontwards/backwards and happy/angry? Encourage your learners to crawl BACKWARDS while having a HAPPY face. Or how about to crawl FRONTWARDS while having a ANGRY face? We guarantee you that there will be TONS of laughter going on during this speech session!

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Did you hear? We just launched a brand new (and FREE) app for the iPad called Pocket Lexi. It is a book store devoted entirely to speech and language. The first two book series are devoted to figurative language and opposites (my favorite!). Visit this link for more information.

As a speech-language pathologist, I am sure you can agree with me when I say . . . sometimes our job can get a bit crazy. Huge caseloads, wacky IEPs, how do we even do it all? I often like to imagine how the job could be a smidge easier if we were able to have some “out if this world” items at our fingertips. Check out the top 3 things that we here at Pocket SLP would LOVE to have ASAP.

Personal Jet Pack

You know how we SLPs often have to travel from school to school? Well, just imagine if you could just strap one of those bad boys on your back. Bing bang BOOM! No need to worry about traffic. No need to worry about parking. Do the speech therapy at the first school, then simply FLY on over to the second school. *SIGH* I would love that. If anyone has a spare personal jet pack (or a hover board, that might be cool, too), send it my way.

Magic Wand

Please tell me you have heard something like this before, “Oh, we just got a new student who moved into the district. I am going to need you to use your magic wand on him.” Haha, well don’t I wish I actually had one of those? Boy, wouldn’t the job be a whole lot easier. With my luck though, I would probably leave the magic wand on the roof of my car and drive away. Yeah, true story, a few weeks back I mistakenly left my phone on the roof of my car and then I drove away forgetting about it. I found the phone 10 minutes later . . . but it had been ran over at least a zillion times.

A Time Machine

“Oh no, please don’t spill that Gatorade all over my iPad!” Yikes! If only I could have went back in time and put a cap on that kiddos drink! Maybe then I wouldn’t have a sticky iPad that smells like grape. That is just one of about a million ways that I could utilize a time machine within my speech therapy sessions.

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Did you hear? We just launched a brand new (and FREE) app for the iPad called Pocket Lexi. It is a book store devoted entirely to speech and language. The first two book series are devoted to figurative language and opposites (my favorite!). Visit this link for more information.

Speech-language pathologists are no strangers when it comes to the human oral and facial anatomy. We are always (consciously or subconsciously) analyzing our students’ teeth, tongue range and motion, and lips to ensure that they are able to produce adequate speech articulation. So here is my silly little question to you, have you ever looked inside of a child’s mouth and then all of a sudden scream out, “Eww! OMG! What did you eat?!” Trust me, we have ALL been there before (oh the joys of being a speech therapist). Never a dull moment, indeed!

The following is a list of the top 5 things I wish my students would stop eating right before they come to speech therapy.

5. Ice cream

• They say that you should wash your face twice a day with warm water and soap if you want to keep your skin nice and clean. For some reason though, I feel like my younger clients wash their face with ice cream and chocolate syrup every time they eat that sweet treat! “My friend, please walk to the bathroom and wash the ice cream off your face, then we can start speech therapy.”

4. Oreo cookies

• Don’t get me wrong, I love Oreos just as much as the next guy, but when students come into the speech therapy room with those chocolate crumbs all over their mouth and in their teeth, I can’t help but think that they ate a handful of dirt. “Guys, did you go outside during recess and take a bite out of the ground? How did it taste? Should I try eating the ground, too?”

3. Blue lollipops / blue gum

• In speech therapy, I typically see red and pink colored tongues, so you can imagine my shock when a child comes to speech therapy with a full blown BLUE tongue. “We can’t do speech therapy today because we have to get you to the nurse! You are turning into a Smurf!”

2. Fruit punch

• Imagine seeing a child with a mustache. Pretty wacky thought, right? Now imagine seeing a child with a RED mustache. Super distracting when we are trying to work on the /TH/ sound, don’t cha think? “I like the red mustache you are sporting. Not only is it stylish, but you can also taste it when you get a bit hungry. Convenient!”

1. Doritos chips

• Wow. Ok. I don’t think there is a worse smell on this planet than a child’s breath after they have devoured a bag of Doritos. “Please, keep your shoes on during speech therapy because your socks are kinda stinky. Wait, your shoes ARE on?! Oh, that is the Dorito breath I am smelling.”

In closing . . .

Agree? Disagree? Did I miss any foods? Writing this post sure has made me a bit hungry for a snack. Lucky for me, I packed some S’mores Pop-Tarts in my book bag. Haha! Have a great day and I look forward to writing a new blog post soon! Oh, and please feel free to share this post with all of your SLP friends

I had a 1st grade student not too long ago who produced the /B/ sound for the /V/ sound. Viking was biking, violin was buy-olin, village was billage, etc. After about three sessions of initial V therapy, my student was a pro at the word and sentence level. He easily remembered the strategies I taught him of gently biting his bottom lip and blowing air out of his mouth while making a “buzzing” sound.

Next, it was time to work with that child towards being able to appropriately make the /V/ sound at the conversation level. Let me ask you this, how would you go about doing this?

You might approach the /V/ sound therapy session like this: Break out the articulation flashcard V deck, grab a Viking picture, and say “What do you see? What is he doing? Blah blah blah.” Yawn. That. Is. Boring. It is robotic and NOT FUN! (Are you guilty of this?)

I truly believe the most amazing gift that human beings have is imagination. That is the reason why I always try to incorporate activities in my articulation therapy sessions that touch on exercising our “imagination muscles.” One of the best ways that I found to do this is through multiple choice questions.

Let’s jump back to our /V/ sound therapy session. How about you try this: Break out that same articulation flashcard V deck, grab that same Viking picture, but instead of throwing boring questions at your student, ask some interesting multiple choice questions instead (and tell them that they HAVE to pick one and explain why). Here are some example questions for you:

• Who would you rather invite to your house for a sleepover – A Viking (initial V) or a vampire (initial V)? Why?

• What do you think would be more fun – exploring a Viking (initial V) ship or exploring a volcano (initial V)? Why?

• What would you rather get as a gift – a real Viking (initial V) sword or a violin (initial V)? Why?

• What would you rather do – eat a rotten vegetable (initial V) or lick the bottom of a Viking’s (initial V) boot? Why?

Asking interesting multiple choice questions like that not only gives the student an opportunity to properly pronounce the target sound, but it also encourages the student to justifying a decision or course of action.

Imagination helps children grow up to be adults who are creative thinkers. Adults who were imaginative children often become excellent problem solvers and amazing innovators. Are you doing your part as an educator to ensure that your students are properly exercising their imagination?

If you are a speech-language pathologist, I am sure you would agree with me that you almost always say (out of pure habit), “Great snake sound!” when you are working with children to help improve their /S/ pronunciation. It only makes sense that we automatically associate the hissing sound a snake makes with the /S/ sound that we humans make; but here is a question to ponder . . . what if we actually brought a REAL snake into the speech therapy room? Would it be awesome? Below you will find the top 5 reasons it would probably be amazing to have a living, breathing, and slithering reptile on top of the speech therapy table.

5. Perfect Sound!

• It goes without saying, a real snake is probably the best role model for children who are working to solidify their /S/ sound. The perfect /S/ hissing noise that snakes make is music to any SLP’s ears. (The only con I can think of is a real snake might bite someone. Is that really a big deal, though? I do have band-aids in my desk.)

4. Perfect Shape!

• A snake’s body could easily be manipulated and molded into the perfect “S” shape, further proving that a snake is probably the best role model for children who are working to create rockin’ /S/ sounds. (Once again though, a con is that the real snake might bite someone and I am not 100% sure a band-aid to a snake bite would “fix” the situation.)

3. Perfect Attention!

• Some of my students are disinterested in speech class, but I am willing to bet that giving them the opportunity to hold or pet a real snake might prove to be an excellent reinforcer. (Eeek! I just read online that some snakes are poisonous . . . this might be a bad idea!)

2. Perfect Prize!

• Occasionally, I will forget to restock my prize box. I could easily just throw a real snake into the prize box, right? I am sure the student would love to take it home! I am positive that I would be crowned “the coolest speech teacher ever” by that child! (Oh no, but what if the student has a pet mouse at home? Do you think the snake might accidentally swallow the mouse?!)

1. Ummmmm . . .

• Actually, I am just going to stop this list right now. It seems clear to me that having a real snake in speech therapy is a horrible (and dangerous) idea, and besides, my supervisor HATES snakes.

Wait, my supervisor hates snakes?! Maybe I can somehow use the snake to get out of all that CRAZY paperwork I am told I have to do. Or maybe I can use the snake to get out of a few of those BORING after school faculty meetings. Suddenly, this whole “snake idea” might not be so bad after all. LOL!!! Please contact me if you know where I can find a snake

Remember when I wrote the post called Hoola Hoop Video Speech Therapy and talked about how YouTube clips should be used in speech therapy whenever possible? Well, did you take my advice? I hope you did because incorporating audio-visual media into my therapy sessions have really been a smash hit and I am confident it can work for you, too.

Boy, do I have a great online video to share with you this week. It is calledSkateboarding Dog and it is about . . . you guessed it, a skateboarding dog! Here is the link. It is a minute and a half flick that is jam packed with one talented pooch who really knows how to get some serious speed. Your clients will love this clip, trust me.

This is how I added the video to my speech therapy session. Before showing it, I informed my students that I was going to tell them a short story and ask them some questions after I was complete. I went on to say that if they showed me fantastic listening skills and answered all of my questions, they would get to watch a short video on my iPad as a fun Friday treat. Below is the story I created. Feel free to use it.

My story is called “The Best Birthday Ever.” It was a warm Saturday afternoon in the town of Dogville. Spike, the coolest bulldog in school, was waiting for his mom to finish making his birthday cake.

“Yo Mom!” yelled Spike. “Did you remember to put chocolate covered bones on top of the birthday cake?”

“Of course I did.” said Spike’s mom with a gentle smile on her face.

Spike, his mom, and 5 of his best friends walked over to the local park to celebrate his birthday. They set up a picnic and ate peanut butter sandwiches, pretzels, and apple slices. They also drank grape juice, milk, and water. Once they were done with their meal, Spike’s mom served the cake with chocolate covered bones on top. Spike and his 5 best friends gobbled down the cake faster than you can say WOOF!

After everyone threw their garbage away into the trash, it was time for Spike’s mom to give him his birthday gift. It was a brand new skateboard! Spike couldn’t believe his eyes! He wanted that skateboard for the longest time and now he finally had it.

Spike’s mom and his 5 best friends watched him as he skateboarded all around the Dogville park. They cheered as he performed the coolest skateboard tricks around.

Below you will find my after-story questions.

• What was the name of the story?

• What was the name of the dog in the story?

• What day of the week did this story take place?

• Who made the cake for Spike? What kind of cake was it?

• Where did they celebrate Spike’s birthday?

• Besides cake, what other foods did they eat? What did they drink?

• What present did Spike get?

• Tell me about the best present you ever got for your birthday.

• Do you have a dog at home? Can he/she skateboard?

Now after the questions have all been answered, movie time is earned. Show them the skateboarding dog clip and let the good times roll (no pun intended, haha). My students eyes were popping out when they saw the clip! All in all, it was a successful speech therapy session. If you love dogs and skateboards, give this speech therapy idea a try and let me know how it goes. COWABUNGA DUDE!

P.S. In other dog related news, have you seen this YouTube clip of dog on a scooter? Unreal!

In my opinion, when a bright and motivated HUMAN college student decides to major in speech-language pathology, that is a moment that should be celebrated. We really need passionate HUMANS to enter this field so that they can positively impact all of the HUMAN children with various communication difficulties. HUMAN clinicians are the best clinicians out there! (Yes, I know I am biased because I am a human, but hear me out.)

I just got home from my local aquarium and I can’t stop thinking about SHARKS! Here is a question to sink your teeth into . . . do you think a shark would make good speech-language pathologist? I have been pondering this all day and my answer is no. In fact, I think a shark would make a terrible SLP. Here are my top 5 reasons why a SHARK would NOT make a good speech-language pathologist.

5. No fingers

• Sharks have fins, not fingers. This means that they are not able to effectively utilize the finger-sensitive touchscreen that iPads have. No iPads in speech therapy?! Oh no! That means the clients will not be able to use any applications from Pocket SLP!

4. Too wet

• Let’s pretend for a minute that sharks actually have fingers and are able to use an iPad. Well . . . they would surely ruin the device because they would get the iPad soaking wet! All the fun battery-powered gadgets and electronics that we SLPs love would never survive!

3. Printer headaches

• Here is a common scenario, you are trying to print out that IEP you have been working on for hours, and low and behold . . . you are fresh out of printer ink! If this were to happen to a shark SLP, I am 100% positive he/she would eat a co-worker out of pure frustration (and last I checked, eating co-workers was a no no).

2. IEP craziness

• You know how sometimes a parent needs to reschedule an IEP meeting? Well, if a parent cancelled with a shark SLP, I think he/she would eat the parent out of pure aggravation (and last I checked, eating a parent was ALSO a no no).

1. Homework anger

• Oh no! Little Johnny forgot to complete his articulation homework?! How do you think a shark SLP might handle this situation? Yup, you’re right, little Johnny would become shark food in NO TIME! (and last I checked, eating students was a SERIOUS no no!!!)

I really hope I don’t get too many angry emails from sharks about this post. Don’t get me wrong, I do LOVE sharks. They are one of the most magnificent creatures in the sea, but come on, a shark SLP would be beyond SCARY! Agree/disagree? I would love to hear your thoughts.