ASHA 2013 Recap!

I had the great privilege of attending the 2013 ASHA Convention in Chicago, Illinois a few weekends ago. It.was.AWESOME! I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it was. The networking opportunities, the informative sessions, the free stuff, meeting fellow bloggers-nothing can beat all of that!

So here's a few of my favorite sessions:

• "BTW It's Time: Contextualizing the Common Core Standards for Students with Speech and Language Impairments"- This was my first session of the weekend and it was one of my favorites! Robin and Bonnie provided tons of examples for relating the CCSS to speech therapy. They discussed Speech Sound Disorders, Academic Vocab, Syntax/Morphology/Grammar, Written Expression, and Pragmatic Skills all related to the CCSS. Be on the lookout for their powerpoint presentation to be uploaded to the ASHA website!

• "Listen/Lead/Learn: At the Intersection of Quality Services & the CCSS"- When I went to this session, I didn't realize that Judy Montgomery was one of the presenters (She's the author of Bridge of Vocabulary)! I love learning new things about vocabulary instruction, so I was super pumped for this session. And it didn't disappoint! My favorite part of this session was the way that they suggested writing PLOP's and goals- all while incorporating the CCSS. Here's the PLOP outline: "Most (grade level) grade students have mastered (certain skills). Student Name is able to do (skills they have), but struggles with (skills in need of improvement). This adversely affects his/her ability to do (adverse affect). Why do I love this so much? Because it incorporates the CCSS related to their grade level when talking about what they can and can not do, and also incorporates the adverse affect from their inability to perform at their grade level on the standards. Maybe you all have been using a template like this all along, but since my district is only slowly incorporating the Common Core into everything, this was a welcome breath of fresh air when writing IEPs. 

• I was lucky enough to get a seat for Sarah Ward's "Just Treatment Tools to Develop Executive Functioning Skills"! She so graciously offered a link to her presentation so we can all take advantage of her wonderful ideas: http://tinyurl.com/justthetools. My absolute favorite part of her presentation was when she showed us the Photosynth app. It stitches pictures together to make a panoramic view of a room so you can have your student performing different actions in all parts of the room. Be sure to check it out!

• I also attended a great session on Auditory Processing Disorders- "Auditory Processing Disorder: Team Evaluation and Management". Mary Buehler went through many aspects of the evaluation and also treatment techniques based on the type of processing disorder the student presents with. 

Now it's picture time!

Here's one from lunch with some fellow bloggers! (Don't laugh, but I felt like I was talking with celebrities!!)

And there's me in front of one of the convention signs. 

This last picture isn't necessary, but I thought it was too funny not to share. This is both mine and my roommate's bags at the end of the weekend. I title it, "A new meaning to the term bag lady". 

If you didn't get the chance to attend, be on the lookout for the session powerpoints on ASHA's website sometime next week! Did you attend the convention? What were some of your favorite sessions??

November Speachy Linky Party!

It's time once again to reward someone for leaving quality feedback in my store! I've linked up with Allison's Speech Peeps to bring you a Speachy Feedback party.

And now for my feedback winner:

User "annenissim", email me at sharon.schackmann@gmail.com to claim a free item from my store! 

You can find "I mustache you a question...Can you sequence?" in my TpT store here. If you grab it, be sure to leave feedback. Maybe you'll be next month's winner!

ASHA Sale!

I'm headed off to the ASHA Convention! If you aren't joining me in Chicago, you can still get in on the fun- I've put my store at 15% off until Saturday. So head over to my store and enjoy the savings!

Serving up Prefixes and Suffixes

Today I'm serving up a fun way to teach prefixes and suffixes!

Use these handy anchor charts to teach what prefixes and suffixes are. One chart is included for prefixes and one is included for suffixes. Also included (not pictured) is an anchor chart for spelling rules when adding a suffix to a root word.

The next set of anchor charts include common prefixes/suffixes and their meanings. The prefix page includes 31 prefixes and their meanings. The suffix page includes 24 suffixes and their meanings.

The next pages are for your students to practice their skills! There are two pages each for prefixes and suffixes. Common prefixes (or suffixes) with similar meanings are included in a tennis racket. Your students must choose the correct prefix/suffix to add to the root word to create a new word. Then have your students write the word's definition.

Let you students practice even more with these next pages! Included is one tennis court for prefixes and one for suffixes. Your students must match the prefix or suffix to a root word to make a new word. Some prefixes/suffixes may go with more than one root word. 

Following the matching page is a definition page. Use this page to write out the words you made from the matching page. Then pick two words and write sentences using those words. 

The last page included introduces the idea that words may have both a prefix and suffix or two suffixes. One example is provided for prefix/root word/suffix and one example is included for root word/suffix/suffix. Have your students follow these examples to create new words (see if your students can come up with real examples). 

Does this look like something you could use with your students? You can find it here! Be sure to leave feedback if you grab it!

SLP Blogs, Websites, and Products- Oh My!

If you haven't noticed, there are TONS of new SLP blogs popping up every day (including mine only a few short months ago!). Jessica from Consonantly Speaking has compiled an ahhhhhmazing list of resources, including blogs, helpful websites related to speech/language pathology, as well as websites that sell speech and language materials. Her list includes over 700 resources for fellow SLPs. Check it out here!

ABC's of my Speech Room {F is for...}

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

F is for one of my favorite organizing materials- File Folders! I use these from Staples because I like the fasteners on the top. If I had money to splurge, I would get file folders with an extra divider in them, but the ones I have will do for now.

So how do I use them? Well on the left side, I print out an IEP summary for the student. The IEP program my school uses does this for me, but in case you're interested in making one up for yourself, here's what's on it: the students name and birthday, their annual review date and 3 year re-evaluation date, accomodations, present level of performance, goals, and minutes per week.

On the right hand side, I attach an attendance calendar. I use symbols such as "I" for individual therapy, "G" for group therapy, "SU" for student unavailable, "SA" for student absent, "TA/TU" for therapist absences/unavailability, and then "SH" for student holidays when there was no school. It makes Medicaid tracking easy and it takes two seconds to write in the correct symbol as your student walks into speech. In the middle of the folder I place my data tracking sheet and other materials I'm using for that specific student. 

And there you have it- how I use my file folders! What's an "F" in your classroom that you can't live without?

ABC's of my Speech Room {E is for...}

E is for that oh so wonderful Electronic Spinner! My kids go crazy for it-even my middle schoolers! Who knows if it's the flashing light, the suspense of not knowing which number it will land on, or just the plain fact that it's not regular dice, but this thing has been a staple in my speech room from the beginning. What else could get a kid so excited to do artic drill therapy? I know one thing for sure, I'm not getting rid of this thing anytime soon.