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

Where to start?

Where to start? That is a question I've asked myself MANY times! Whether it be the little one that settles on "eh eh" to signal they want something or the child that you suspect has apraxia of speech. There was a day thought that I felt like I made significant progress on this question. Very similar to reverse chaining, I just kept thinking in my mind about how to break things down to the most simplest form and build from there. That was the day that I started working on what I refer to as my "Sounds Book". It is basically just sounds in isolation of many consonant and vowel sounds in the English language. I didn't want to necessarily associate sounds with letters, because I wanted to be able to use it with kids even younger than preschool age. The idea was to try to pair the consonant and vowel sounds with actual environmental sounds that the kids could relate to. I admit, there is at least one that I feel like it somewhat of a stretch, but for the very most part, kids have LOVED this book. I like to print it off with each picture being a little less than 4 X 6 inches. This allows me to put it into a little inexpensive photo book that I can then give to the child as their own. 

"Point and Say" - this seems very simple, but it is oh so important. First point the the picture and then make the sound. I tend to point and then say/gesture at the the same time. I have seen time and time again that the motor movement can help bring about verbal language. Plus you are modeling for them what you want them to do; point to something and have a vocalization/approximation paired with it. It doesn't take long of modeling this with a child before they are able to pick up this book and "read" it themselves. 


For the child that only produces "eh eh" for everything they want. My thought was to just get them imitating and increasing their variation of sounds. For the child with apraxia or significant phonological delay, it's the most basic sound in isolation to then begin combining sound and building words. Plus you have a common "language" and/or reference point that you and the child are both familiar with. It helps to give a focal point and specifically refer to what is working in the mouth (i.e. lips popping, teeth together, etc). Simply saying "say it like this" or "make this sound" isn't specific enough and doesn't necessary direct the child is what specifically to change. 

Have fun with it. Be silly with it. The more fun it is for you, the more fun it will be for the child. There are so many ways to expand upon this idea, but for now, give it a try. You can find the whole thing at my Teachers Pay Teachers store at 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Stacey-Parks

New Adventures

I have big plans for this summer! At first my plans were to just not work as much as I did last summer. As I adjusted to the thought of actually having time for things I wanted to do, my mind started wondering to what is was that I wanted to do. I wanted to spend more time with my kids, more time in my garden, water my flowers at least once a day and (gasp) maybe even more than once a day. Look out world, who know what I might plan to do next.

One of the first things I thought of was that I wanted to make improvements to some of the materials I've made in the past, particularly the ones I use the most. I decided I was going to actually make them to the level that maybe I could sell on teachers pay teachers. I mean, I use these materials all of the time, so they must be fabulous. (I truly hope that you can hear my joking tone of voice). Actually it's more due to a few changes in my caseload that prompted this motivation. For the past 8+ years I have been part of the Infant-Toddler team in my local special education cooperative. I've been the primary provider for so many little ones with language delays, but I have also consulted with even more that are in between "typically developing" and "qualifying for early intervention services". Those little ones that need just a little more guidance and modeling (and a few tricks in how you present things to them so they don't feel like they are just performing for no reason). There are a few things that I feel like have worked the best along the way and have provided that to families. I wanted to update this information and any changes before I stop being part of the infant-toddler team. I didn't want to forget what I'd been doing and using. 

So, why is it that I've making this change in my caseload? We never seem to be fully staffed with 4 full-time SLP's and infant-toddler services are home based. Between covering 2 school districts and trying to schedule home visits, I was on the fast track to burning out. I love working with little ones, but I also know that I love, love, love working with 3 - 6 year olds the best!!!! So, beginning next school year I will be covering just the 2 school districts. Wooohoooo!!!!!!! Which again brings me to the question of the moment. What do I want to do this summer? 

Summer actually started for me on May 12th, so I am already one month in. And you know what? I uploaded my first TPT files just a few days ago. As I was making those materials, I also realized that there seems to be a story behind each material that I make, and that if I spend some time and explain that, it might make the activity make even more sense and therefore be even more effective because the person using it is being even more intentional about what they are working on. Which brings me to this blog. I hope I don't veer off in too many random directions, but you never know. Here we go.........

Here's a link to my brand new store. Hope you enjoy!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Stacey-Parks