Easyspeak Magazine

On Wednesday, April 25, 2012, Shareka Bentham, an SLP from Barbados, launched the first ever e-magazine for Speech Language Pathologists as a person, with features on style, life stories, and product reviews. Of course, being an SLP, it was almost mandatory that she include activity pages, and a free worksheet.  I mean what SLP doesn't like that?

http://easyspeakmag.com

This inaugural issue features a personal interview with Dr. Rhea Paul, who makes a pretty spectacular cover girl, as well.  Shareka's interview with Dr. Paul reveals how she came to be who she is today. You will enjoy reading the personal conversation that took place between them.

This new online magazine (I think they refer to this format as an e-zine) has many great features that I would like to point out.  Possibly the best feature is that it is free, but that is just one of many things you will love about Easyspeak magazine.  The content is, in a single word, fabulous! Here are the departments you will find in this issue:

Technology which features Pinterest and how to use it to start pinning your favorite finds, from sources like Pediastaff.  A blog worthy segment featuring Tanya Coyle, the author of The Lexical Linguist. An App review of INJINI, and finally this section is rounded out with a fantastic article on switch accessibility and the iPad by Jane Farrall and Alex Dunn.

Style & Fashion section geared just for the SLP.  You will be delighted to see photos of what real SLPs around the world are wearing as they head off to work each day! As well as, what the new Spring must haves are!

Lifestyle department, which is my personal favorite.  Here you will read about a Day In the Life of a SLP.  I loved being able to cyber shadow Tiffani Wallace who works in an acute hospital setting for a day. I must say that after being a public school therapist for 30+ years, I am not sure I could handle those long hours.  With so many different settings in which we can practice, seeing what another SLP's day is really like can be refreshing. Perhaps you have been toying with the idea of working somewhere else.  This certainly would help you determine if you would like to be in that position or not.  You will also read an article from Patient Perspective and she even throws in a bit of humor by sharing Embarrassing Moments stories.  (I do not want admit it, but one of those stories is mine.)

Lastly, she wraps up the magazine with featured Products and some top product picks for the SLP and OT!  Oh, I almost forgot there are the Activities of a dysphagia crossword puzzle for us and an activity targeting final /f/ to use in therapy.

Thank you Shareka for creating such a fabulous e-zine! Our best wishes for much success as we look forward to the fall issue.

Leah and Dean


Leah J Musgrave, M.S. CCC-Sp
Dean Trout, retired SLP
http://www.2galsspeechproducts.com/

Bee Happy Grab-n-Go Game

We tell you about so many other great products that I tend forget to tout our own fun therapy materials.  Although you can easily find and purchase our games and workbooks on CD on our website www.2galsspeechproducts.com   the ads do not tell the whole story.  With Spring here what better time to play our BEE HAPPY game!

This is from our Grab-n-Go series that we created.  These are quick play games that are stored in a cloth bag which is also used in the game play. Everything you need is right at your fingertips! It is  very lightweight and portable.   This particular one is a generic game that can be used as a motivator to keep your students interest up and keep them involved in therapy.  Game play is simple.  Once the student has produced the desired speech or language target they get a turn to draw a stick out of the bag.  The player who collects the most flowers is the winner, but there are twists in the game play. If they draw a stick that says "Bee Happy" they get to draw again; if they draw a stick with a "bee" image they are stung and are temporarily out of the game.  They still do their speech or language task, but they can't draw a stick.  When any player pulls a "beehive" then all players who have been stung are now back in the game.  The game is over when all the sticks have been pulled from the bag.  A very simple quick play game but the kids love it, even the older ones.

It sells for $19.99 and can be purchased here:  http://www.2galsspeechproducts.com/index.php?id=29

Unfortunately I have to remind you that this little game is copyrighted by us and reproduction of it is illegal.  If you wish to tell about it in a blog simply credit us as the source and include a link.

This is one of our bestsellers at conferences!

Have fun today!
Leah J Musgrave, M.S. CCC-Sp
Dean Trout, retired SLP

LessonPix

Today we are sharing the website LessonPix. http://lessonpix.com/   This is a fabulous online resource for those of us who love to create our own therapy materials. If you have more time than money you will love this site.  This is a very affordable subscription service from which you can create customized individual therapy materials to fit your needs.

The subscription service is only $24 per year and you have access to 8000 original and scalable pictures. From the picture library you can have a choice of how you wish to have the image: color, outline, or stencil.  With those pictures you can create items such as these:

 PECS cards

 Stick Puppets

 Dominoes

• Bingo Cards
• Coloring Pages
• Picture Cards
• Pattern Strips
• Spinners & Game Boards
• Lacing Cards
• Sorting Mats
• Playing Cards
• and more 

One feature that is great for the SLP when making articulation materials is their Sound Finder tab which allows you to search for pictures with a particular sound.  You can even narrow your search by the sound position within the words: initial, medial, final or anywhere.  You can also search for pictures by pattern such as VC and only those pictures fitting that parameter will appear.  You can search specifically by letter, too. I would call it a bonus that they even give you the ability to search by rhyme. 

There is much more to this site than I am telling you about so please go explore it. They offer a "try it now for free" program which will indeed let you try it out.  You can create your own item and print it immediately.  I highly recommend you try it out for yourself.   They also offer video tutorials for those who have never created anything online like this and may be unfamiliar with how to do it.  

As we often state, Leah and I are not paid (or given products) to tell you about these sites which we share.  We simply share things we find that we think you would also like to know about.

Have a fun week with your kids!

Leah J Musgrave, M.S. CCC-Sp
Dean Trout, retired SLP

 

One Touch Photo Dialing App

We were recently contacted by Ashley Alliano, a SLP grad student from Seton Hall University.  She was telling us about a new app she had developed.  It is called Unus Tactus.   She asked that we share this information with you here on our blog.  We do not usually use our blog as a platform to advertise products per se, (other than our own on occasion), but felt this one was definitely worth our time to share.  We feel this is a product that would be of great value to certain clients.

Unus Tactus is an app you can purchase from iTunes that assists people with mild cognitive or motor disabilities easily use a cell phone. It utilizes a one touch photo dialing system to make phone calls using phone numbers from your existing or new contacts.

 The picture to the right shows how easy it is to set up your contacts.

You do not need the ability to read nor the ability touch an individual printed name or number. You simply touch the photo of the person you wish to call and the number is dialed for you. How easy is that?






You will also notice in the picture there is a large red HELP button.  This button is functional from all screens once the application is activated.  It is customizable in that it allows you to enter an emergency number (a friend, a family member, a local hospital, etc) to contact and an email address to increase your likelihood of reaching that person. When the HELP button is tapped, two separate processes are kicked off. First, a phone call is immediately placed to the users emergency contact phone number. Secondly, an email is immediately sent to the user's emergency email address alerting the emergency contact that the user has placed an emergency call. The email includes Google Maps link showing the user's exact location as seen below.

Beyond the Google Maps assistance, Unus Tactus features a customizable geofence with immediate email alerts. The geofence will allow the user to notify their emergency contact when they have left a designated radius of a given location (i.e. when the user is more than 5 miles from their house). When the geofence alert is triggered, an email is sent to the user's emergency contact including a Google Maps link to the user's exact location. If you know the user's iCloud login, it also provides a convenient iCloud link to track them in real time.

We can see the usefulness and potential life saving capabilities of this app and hope you will tell those families with whom you work about it's availability.  It is available at iTunes for $9.99.   For more information you may contact http://www.unustactus.com/.  There is a large button at the bottom of their website that will take you directly to their iTunes ad page that will give you additional information and ability to purchase.

2 Gals Speech Products, LLC was not paid to endorse this product. We are simply sharing information.

See you next Monday with more tips and tricks!
Leah J Musgrave M.S. CCC-SP
Dean Trout retired SLP

Therapy Ideas for the Middle and High School Populations

We all have our favorite population with which to work. My personal favorite group is preschool and elementary aged kids.  I love their enthusiasm, the way they think and their honesty... brutal as it may be sometimes.   For me middle school is the most difficult simply because I have a hard time dealing with the maturation process that is going on.  Raging hormones, rolling eyes, and an "attitude" pushes all the wrong buttons for me!


You can imagine my excitement when I found this website http://www.speechdrive.net/index.html  which is dedicated to the middle & high school population. Speechdrive is a site created by Karen Clark an SLP from AZ.  She not only has many years of work experience but has also been recognized in recent years for her dedication and talent by receiving the "Teacher of the Year" award.  

A great thing about Karen's website site is that she totally uses a jump-drive for all her materials.  Leah has done this for years and had converted me to this way of carrying your therapy materials before I retired.  Now that is a convenience that saves you from back strain and sprains from toting a huge therapy bag.  I bet this younger generation has no idea or appreciation of just what a blessing that alone is for us :)


When I ask Karen for permission to blog about her website she replied, "I want the website to be a help to others and the more it is shared, the less pondering by fellow SLPs on a Monday morning."   Thank you Karen for sharing all your wonderful activities with the rest of us!!  


When you click on the link to her site  http://www.speechdrive.net/therapy-ideas-for-adolescents.html you'll find 37 great ideas for therapy!  Not only suggested ideas but a clear and concise therapy methods guide.  She lists for you the Materials/Resources, Skills Targeted, and Instruction.  Here is an example: 

 Funny Headlines & Newspaper Clippings  (Activity)
 Materials/Resources:
Amusing and poorly written headlines and newspaper clippings are a
source of comedy on the Tonight Show and on the Internet.  Within a
classroom  or therapy setting, headlines/clippings can be used to
help students identify ambiguous language, syntax, and mechanical
errors.  Students also utilize inferential and reasoning abilities to
discover the original semantic intent of the headline or clipping.

For school appropriate headlines, please refer to the corresponding
page for a list that can be used as part of this activity.   

Skills Targeted:   
*Ambiguity
*Syntax
*Writing Mechanics/Error Identification
*Semantics
*Vocabulary
*Reasoning
*Inference 


 Instruction:
1. Introduce the headline or clipping to the student(s) by stating that the headline has
errors.
2. Provide clues for the students as to whether the errors are related to semantics, syntax,
or mechanics and adapt to the academic level of the student(s).
3. Have the student(s) read the headline or clipping aloud to assist in identifying the error.
4. If the error is semantic, have the student(s) state the double meaning of the headline.
5. This activity can be done as a group or individually.


Here is a sample of some of the humorous headlines from her list:


*Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers 

*If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile

*Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

*Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

*Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge

*Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half 
  
*Hospitals are sued by 7 Ft. Doctors 
    
*The Times: A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coastguard spokesman commented, 'This sort of thing is all too common.' 


She has several other funny headlines and newspaper clippings listed, but I only included these to give you a chuckle for today.  


This has been just one example of what you will find there. Remarkably there are 36 more!!  


Now if you were not already super excited about Speech Drive let me share that she has a list of iPad Apps for adult therapy, too!  http://www.speechdrive.net/ipad-apps-for-adult-therapy.html  In addition to the apps listing she explains how you can use You Tube effectively in therapy. She uses You Tube to create play lists and collections for therapy use with her adult population. For example, if you are working on sentence recall with your adult patient you can use funny commercials and Retro TV Theme Show Songs.  I love these ideas because it is meaningful and relevant to the patient.


I could just gush on and on about this fantastic site but I think you get the picture and hopefully will start following Karen's blog too! http://www.speechdrive.net/blog.html

See you next Monday with more great tips and trick from we 2 Gals, Leah and Dean.

Leah J Musgrave, M.S. CCC-Sp
Dean Trout  retired SLP
http://www.2galsspeechproducts.com/

Guest Blog by Jenna Rayburn

OMG!  (as in Oh My Goodness)  You HAVE to read this post by Jenna Rayburn and you MUST start following her blog!  This gal is one of my favorite go to people for great and creative therapy ideas!!   She has made  my list of (insert angelic ♫♪♫ sound here) "SLP Goddesses" like Cindy Meeser! 

Jenna is an SLP from Ohio working with preschool and elementary speech kids.  She has all the alphabet soup at the end of her name making her qualified to work magic ;) She is bubbly and fun and one of the sweetest gals you could ever meet.

When I read her blog on how to take Pinterest images and create your own picture boards for therapy activities, I knew I would have to share that with you because it is too good to miss!!  I thank God for creative people like Jenna.

Used with her permission here's her recent blog post.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Turning Pinterest Boards Into A Therapy Activity!

If you follow me on pinterest, you might notice I use it A LOT. A few weeks ago PediaStaff started creating boards with pictures to be used in therapy. They made boards with action pictures, pronouns, problem solving, inferencing and concepts. As soon as Heidi emailed me and told me about them, I knew I could adapt them for speech therapy on the ipad. I figured it would be way more entertaining than printing them all out! About the same time, I won an app called TapikeoHD. After playing with it for a while I realized it was perfect for the PediaStaff pinterest boards. Let me show you what I came up with! 

The app I used is called Tapikeo and available at this time for $2.99 in the app store. Tapikeo allows you create your own audio-enabled picture books, storyboards, audio flashcards, and more using a versatile grid style layout. Check it out for yourself in the itunes store here. 

 First I opened Pinterest on my ipad and decided I would make an activity working on labeling verbs. I opened their board for actions words.

  Then I saved the pictures to my ipad by holding down on them to save. 

 Next you will head on over to the app and start a new grid. When you click on the empty grid square you will get a screen like this. If you want text to accompany your photo/audio (and I did because I want to support literacy skills!)  you can type that in at the top. I type " The boy is ___." Then select 'browse' to add the photos you just saved to the ipad. Then select record. For my grid I saved my voice reading "The boy is." When I use it with younger students, all they need to do is name the verb. For older students working on full sentence generation - I can turn the sound off and they are responsible for developing the whole sentence. 

Once I finished adding all my cards (it took me about 5 or 10 minutes) the board looks like this. 

When the student clicks on one of the pictures, it expands to fill the screen and the audio/visual joins the picture. This is when my students identified the verb or created a new sentence!  


There is also an 'e-book' setting where the app transfers your pictures into more of a slideshow like setting. I kept mine on the grid formation so I could work on receptive language skills at the same time. I had the students pick their picture a few different ways: by following directions with spatial concepts, by answering WH questions, or by listening to clues and making basic inferences. 


These boards are easy to make in the app and PediaStaff has done most of the work finding all these great images. What other topic boards would you like to see PediaStaff create?