Home Practice

I may or may not have mentioned that this year has been particularly busy. Ok, I've mentioned it a lot. 😄 Time fills up very quickly with screenings, evaluations, therapy, paperwork, IEP writing, billing, progress reports, training paras, meetings,  and ideally more time in therapy. If I could change one thing about my job, it would be that I'd have more time to lesson plan. For me, it would be having the time right after a therapy session to write down the exact path I want to take during the next therapy session that I have with that child. The time in therapy is so dynamic and critical. We make so many decisions in the moment based on how the child is responding to therapy. Combine that with the high energy needed to keep a young child's attention means there is a lot happening in a short amount of time. I wish there was a way that I could write down everything that I think of and all the ideas of what I want to try to next time. Unfortunately, by the next session, I have forgotten all of those great ideas. I'm sure there's a google app somewhere that would keep notes for me if I yelled them out in the middle of therapy, but that would be distracting for the child. I need an app that can write down notes from my thoughts. Google, can you work on that for me? 

Sigh....I digress. 

I should also mention I am very very fortunate to work with a lot of great families. When I work with preschool age children that are not enrolled in preschool yet, I get to work much closer with families because they bring them in for services. Recently, I've been asked for some ideas on fun ways to practice target words at home. I used to have a blank calendar with general ideas, but I cannot find it anymore. So, I decided to put together a few ideas that I can print and have with me to hand out to parents. It's not a complete list, but if gives parents the idea of what types of activities to try. Many of them have gross motor movement paired with them. Keeping kids moving yet still focused on the task can be a skill, but with a little practice, it's much more fun for everyone involved.  

The best part is that it's FREE!!!!!

Ideas for Home Practice with Preschoolers

Click on the link above to take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can download the handout to use with parents that you work with. 

Remember...The more fun you have, the more fun they will have!

Check out my TPT store for other resources as well. 

Stacey-Parks-Slp

Holiday Fun

I say it every time, but how quickly time passes never ceases to amaze me. I won't dwell on that though, because I absolutely love this time of year. There's a natural movement of themes every 3-4 weeks. It keeps things new and fun for the students and for us! In the past, I have loved using the seasonal sets of synonym and antonyms. It offers a colorful and creative way to target the same set of synonyms and antonyms.


Seasonal Synonym and Antonym Activities

More recently I've needed a way to target and review these sets in ways that students could more independently practice them. This kit offers multiple file folder activities that target synonyms, level 1 & 2 antonyms, irregular past tense verbs and irregular plurals. Students scan find anonyms pairs listed on presents and put them under a Christmas tree, add the whipped cream to the hot chocolate with the correct change in grammatical structure, add a star to a tree and place cookies on a plate.


 Christmas Language Activities

Once the sets are made or file folders are assembled, they are great "grab and go" activities to pull out through the holiday season for repeated practice. Especially since I've been averaging 3 IEPs a week for the past 9 weeks. Other ways to get through these weeks without an overload of stress will be coming soon. Until then, enjoy this time!!
Stacey

Why Speech in a Fishbowl?

I truly work in a fishbowl and I absolutely love it. Ok, so maybe I would also love a big classroom with large windows to the outside, but this is the next best thing! In my opinion, I am spoiled by the room I am given at my base school. There's enough space for me to spread out, space for my communication para that works in the classroom to keep her things along with space to work at a table with kids if she needs it. I also have another room that joins where the para that helps me in the speech room works as well. It's great because I can work with kids and be where the paras can always see and hear what I am doing and ask questions as they arise. On the other side of that coin, I am always able to see and hear how they are working with kids as well. Well, unless I am covering the other school district that I serve or doing visits for the infants and toddlers that I serve in the home. Or attending team (Autism, PDC, infant/toddler, assistive tech) meetings.......Oh the life of an itinerant SLP in rural Kansas. It definitely keeps me on my toes. 

Back to the topic at hand. Why Speech in a Fishbowl? It's probably the first novel thing that I can think of about myself. School is just getting started and although I would have rathered it look completely organized and cute, this is real life! Here's my room, and it's definitely my comfort zone!

Home Sweet Home

It used to be a computer lab. On the other side of the class is a hallway that actually makes a circle throughout the entire building. My room is at one end of the building. It's very close to the preschool classroom, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades. Yep, I'm pretty spoiled!

If you're interested in other items inspired while in my fishbowl, check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Stacey Parks, SLP - Speech in a Fishbowl

Have a great school year!!!

Stacey

Being Intentional

Today was my first official day back at work. It started with a half a day motivational speaker. I must say he was one of the best speakers I've heard in awhile. Isn't it great when their message just speaks to you? I only wish I could remember more accurately what they exactly said so that I can relay the message. I may not remember the exact words, but I certainly remember the feeling I had throughout the presentation and truthfully the rest of the day. My main take-away was to have your "one word". The one word that defines you, that motivates you, and that sometimes carries you. Do you know your "one word"? I'm pretty sure I know my "one word", but I tend to second guess myself. Maybe my one word should be confidence? I keep coming back to a different word though. Maybe my one word should be decisive? I'm thinking though I should just pick the one I keep coming back to and if I feel stronger about another word later, then I can transition to it. New year new word. 

So, what is the one word that I kept coming back to? 

Intentional

I figure if I use it as an adverb, I can intentionally do anything, which opens up the possibilities of how I can apply to word to any aspect of life; personal or professional.

I mentioned earlier that it had been a while since I've gotten to hear a great speaker. That's not exactly true. I was asked to attend a 3-day leadership workshop in order to be a trained mentor. The two presenters that put on that leadership workshop were pretty great too!  Overall, I'm very thankful for the training opportunities I've gotten to be a part of this summer. Someday I hope to be able to  pass on the information and help others as I've been helped. I plan to be intentional about implementing at least 3 of the strategies that I learned this past summer. 

On the heels of these great trainings, I was intentional about getting myself organized as to all the information that I wanted to provide to my mentee. Sometimes I get lost in all the information that I think I need to cover with mentees. Now, I must also say that at the leadership conference I learned that the mentor/mentee relationship isn't really supposed to be about giving all of the information and having all of the answers (but that topic can be for another day). So, I put together a packet of information of mentor/mentee expectations, beginning of the year resources, and handy forms that I use as I start of each school year. I hope it can be helpful to others as well. Click here for more information.

Or visit my store for other resources that I have utilized the most.

Stacey Parks SLP

Ready to Blast Off!!

This year one of my school districts is getting the awesome opportunity to communicate throughout the year with an astronaut who will be stationed at the international space station. The even better part is he attended elementary school here as well. Needless to say, this elementary school has chosen a school wide space theme for the coming school year. I don't do it as much as I'd like to, but this year I'm going to try to tie my services into as many project based activities as I can. This may just be a small beginning, but will help serve as a reminder throughout the school year. 

Almost all of my students start a spiral at the beginning of each school year. Everything targeted during our speech sessions are put into this spiral so they can be easily accessed for review. Not only that, but at the end of the school year, the spiral can be sent home with the student for them to either review over the summer or some new activities can even be included for them to complete over the summer. Parents have also commented that they love seeing all the activities we do in speech. 

So, as I've been determined to try to make and design my materials, I put together a space themed beginning of the year packet. It includes covers, a reinforcement sticker chart, sample parent introduction letter, and a first day of speech "get to know you" activity. 

Beginning of the year - speech therapy - SPACE THEME

I hope you find it helpful and maybe will make getting your school year started a little less stressful and a lot more fun! Particularly if you too have decided on a space themed speech room this year.  

Visit my Teacher Pay Teacher store for other activities. 

Stacey Parks, SLP on TPT

Wow!!! It's been a while!

It's amazing how quickly time can pass. I've tried to continue making resources, but the blogging part really got away from me. Yikes! 

The school year will be beginning soon, and my mind has been racing with excitement for almost two weeks already. I think that's what a really great summer will do for you! Yes, I want to take advantage of my last few days off, but I'm also excited to get started. I've got a really good feeling about this coming year!

 My main school district that I cover is the last one to start in my area, but meetings start for me early next week. I live in a rural area in Kansas. The special education cooperative that I work for only employs 4 speech-language pathologists. Needless to say, I get the opportunity to wear many different hats. I cover 2 of the smaller school districts in the county out of 5 school districts. Each district has a preschool as part of the elementary and I service the middle and high school students too.  I am also the speech-language pathologist that services the infant-toddler program in the county. In addition to this, I am a trained mentor, serve on the professional development committee, assistive technology committee and the autism committee. I'm still looking for other opportunities to fill my time (just kidding!). 

Since I've been employed the longest where I work, I've been assigned to be the mentor for any new speech-language pathologists hired, which has been almost a yearly occurrence for the past 8 years or so. This past summer, I attended a leadership training specifically designed for mentors. With more specific requirements coming into place, it's motivated me to get even more organized. My SLP Orientation, Mentor Information, and beginning of the year resources packet is a collection of the resources that I use most and will use as I train new staff. Included in this packet is a list of general mentor/mentee topics, Quality IEP writing and paperwork self-audit, 2018-2019 school year attendance log on one page, clinical notes/medicaid billing log, IEP due dates list page, and a blank daily schedule.

SLP-Mentor-Information-and-Beginning-of-the-Year-Resources-3958998

I hope you also have a great start to the new school year! Thanks for following and if you have any questions, please email me at staceyparks.slp@gmail.com.

You can also see the rest of my resources at my store on Teachers pay Teachers                       Speech in a Fish Bowl.

Hmmmm, maybe my next post should be why I named my store Speech in a Fish Bowl. 

Stacey

Phonological Pattern Activity Packs

Phonological Pattern Activity Packs

     Aside from The Sounds Books, these are the products that I am most proud of. Probably because I get the most use out of them. I studied at Wichita State University for both my undergraduate and graduate work. I got the opportunity to have multiple classes as well as practicum clients under Dr. Hodson. She's most notably known for the phonological cycles approach to phonological remediation. I have used this approach for the past 20 years with much success. It's important to have multiple ways to practice target words in a single session, but also as you review the same pattern for one to two weeks. These activity packs offer multiple ways to use the materials to practice the same phonological pattern. Each activity also has built in visual cues to help children see a beginning and end to the activity. When laminated they can be used over and over again. I've made a set for each school I service and have been able to target a pattern during a session and then send the packet with the para or aid in the classroom to use through the week to get extra practice time during open center time or spare time. It's worked out better than I could have imagined. 

Check out this and all my other materials by clicking on the link below. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Speech-In-A-Fish-Bowl


If you have any questions on this or any of the other activities email staceyparks.slp@gmail.com