Guest Post: Five Things I Wish I'd Known as a New SLP {by Katie of Let's Grow Speech}

Our final guest post of the week was written by Katie Pedersen.  Katie is a full-time mommy, part-time school speech-language pathologist. She has spent most of her time at the secondary school level, and currently works as her district’s assistive technology specialist. She loves living in a beautiful little valley amid the mountains of Utah with her husband and three children, and going on outings with her family. Her newest adventure is sharing her passion for speech-language development with parents and other SLPs on her website, Let’s Grow Speech.  You can also follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

I’m so excited to be joining Carrie for her Blog Birthday! She is a party animal with all of her giveaways this week. It’s so much fun being an SLP. We all remember what it was like to be a newbie, though, trying to figure out the ropes of our profession. There is definitely a learning curve, and I think every SLP would agree that he/she is still learning. For all of you recent graduates, clinical fellows, and maybe even some experienced SLPs, here are the top 5 things I wish I had known as a new SLP: 

1.  Use visuals and other multi-sensory approaches

One of the best things I learned as a new SLP was the importance of using visual supports and other multi-sensory approaches in therapy. Visuals are an excellent way to support learning. Concepts stick with students better when they are paired with a visual, tactile, or auditory cue. I recently shared one of my favorite visual supports for scaffolding narrative interventions. I also use visuals to encourage articulation skills with my sound association cards.

For my students with autism, I encourage the use of visual schedules and reinforcers to provide structure and foster independence. I have even implemented some of these strategies with my preschool daughter to help with her morning routine and managing iPad time. My poor kiddos always have their mom using therapy techniques on them at home :)

2. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

You are surrounded by experienced professionals. Use them as a resource. One of my best mentors was a special education language arts teacher. I used a push-in model during her resource English class. We had a room full of unmotivated high schoolers who were supposed to be reading novels and writing essays, but who would’ve rather been playing video games or sleeping on their desks. I learned so much as I watched this teacher carefully select literature that would appeal to this group and scaffold writing assignments so they didn’t even realize they were writing  5-paragraph essays until they were done. After I had done a vocabulary or narrative activity with the class, I would return for my next session to find her reinforcing the concepts I had taught earlier in the week. It was brilliant! Some teachers are more willing to work with you than others, but don’t be afraid to suggest a more collaborative approach to therapy. I know it is not always feasible or best to use this type of push-in model, but there is always something to learn and to be learned between professionals. Many teachers just don’t understand what we do in our closet space and this is our chance to show them.

3.  Take meaningful data

Ah, data. I still don’t think I am a pro at this, but I have definitely learned a few things along the way. For my first few years, I frequently switched my approach to keeping data. Some worked better than others, but none of them were super efficient. I would spend hours transferring plus and minus signs from piles of sticky notes to therapy logs, and then when it was time for progress reports, I spent hours transferring information from therapy logs into progress reports. Luckily I had all the time in the world to stay at work until 6pm every night! I most recently discovered an organized, visual way to monitor progress using Excel spreadsheets, but then my coworker shared an awesome datatracker app she downloaded from Super Duper that essentially does the same thing with even less paperwork! It is $1.99 and well worth every cent. She is even able to email progress to parents as needed.

So when should you take data? I also struggled with this one. I like to approach therapy sessions with the “I do, we do, you do” model. First, I teach and model the target concept. Then, we practice the concept together. Finally, I have the student demonstrate his proficiency with the concept. This is when I take data.  

4.  Make sure the student knows the goal for each therapy session.

Give the what and the why at the beginning of each session. Identify your goal for the session and give the student a reason to accomplish it. Will it help him to communicate better with his friends? Will it help him to write an A+ book report that he can be proud of?  When the student is struggling with motivation, you can remind him why you are doing what you doing. Too often I would go through therapy without giving my students a reason to care.

5.  Have fun and be creative

One reason I love being a speech-language pathologist is because I can get away with doing silly, unexpected things. I can guarantee that you will have your student’s full attention if you show up dressed as a Dumbledore for your Harry Potter unit (yes, I actually did this) or be sitting under the table when they show up for their social skills group. Use technology if you have it. Teachers Pay Teachers is a goldmine for motivating activities to use in therapy. Let your students know that you are enjoying therapy and they will enjoy it too!

So… what do you wish you’d known as a new SLP? 

Thank you, thank you, Katie!  This is great information for new (and even experienced) SLPs! I know I'm continually striving for a better/more efficient means of data collection!  Katie also donated one of her Let's Grow Articulation books for my BIG giveaway!  You will definitely want to check out these amazing resources!

Guest Post: Tiered Vocabulary Instruction in Middle School {by Jess of Figuratively Speeching}

Today's guest post is brought to you by Jess from Figuratively Speeching. Jess has been a Speech-Language Pathologist for 18 years, graduating with her Masters Degree in 1995. She has worked in private practice, a private special education school, as a contractor, and in a public school district. She loves her career and spends a lot of time creating her own materials. 

I don’t know about you, but with the implementation of common core, high stakes testing, and teachers complaining about you pulling their students out of class, justifying my services to teachers and administrators has become an almost daily part of my job. The principal stopped me one day to say, ”Teachers are complaining that you are pulling students out of their classes and they want to know what you are teaching their students. How are they supposed to make up the work they miss? You need to do their classwork with them and make sure they don’t miss important concepts.” I am not a classroom teacer, nor am I an aide. My groups consist of three to five students from at least two different classes, and at times, three different grades, so you can guess the thoughts running through my head, “How will I do their classwork and work on the prerequisite strategies my students need to be able to learn their vocabulary, comprehend multiple step directions, retain information, improve grammatical skills, work on fluency and articulation…. ?” My mind was spinning out of control!


When I first began working in the Middle School, I realized that pull out sessions, while wonderful and intensive and giving me the ability to hone in on their specific skills, did not allow me much opportunity to collaborate with teachers. I began pushing in to the three grade level self-contained classrooms so I could see the topics and vocabulary introduced and then work on those skills in therapy. But, at annual reviews, vocabulary testing did not show as much progress. Why not? I did not address much in the way of Tier 2 words, those words that are not academic core vocabulary words that teachers need worked on for their high stakes testing and to show improvement over the course of the year for themselves. Our testing does not typically include those tier 3 words. If you don’t know about tiered vocabulary, here is a link to an article that will explain it.

What now? While I still pushed into the classroom, my sessions incorporated the concepts taught, but not necessarily the vocabulary. For instance, I love the 6th grade social studies curriculum, learning about the ancient civilizations. There are so many ways we can address our goals while helping students retain information from their classes. While my student learned about Mesopotamia, I taught them Tier 2 words my students would need to know to be able to respond to questions on tests, such as analyze, classify, compare, contrast, discuss, evaluate, explain, illustrate, justify…. You can find a packet with those words and more on my freebie tab here. We worked on comparing and contrasting information, how society today compared to Mesopotamian society, responded to questions from nonfiction articles, made flip books with vocabulary, etc. Here is a template of a flipbook I created:

As the children moved onto each new culture, we reviewed new material and compared it to previous cultures. It was a lot of fun. The students remembered information from all of the different societies, I addressed my goals, the teachers were happy that I could show them that we worked on material related to their classwork, and my principal came in to observe and was thrilled with my lesson. Annual review time came about, and lo and behold, there was progress in all areas. Tier 2 vocabulary had been addressed, I was able to incorporate academic work, and I could show progress in all areas, not just vocabulary.

Now, just because I incorporate curriculum content does not mean that I do not want my speech sessions to be fun. Here are three activities that I incorporated into my sessions:


1. Scattergories: Have students work alone or in pairs for this activity. For fun, I use the original game rules, where you pick a letter (I wrote out letters on index cards, folded them, put them in a container, and then picked a letter from there) and each student or pair has to write down items from as many categories as they can with the letter chosen. This can be tough, depending on the categories chosen, but I like it for word retrieval, vocabulary, as well as creative thinking. Another way I have used this game is to have the ten categories include topics from their classwork. In the middle school, I like to use their science and social studies curriculum.

2. Create-your-own Books: I love being crafty, but my Middle and High schoolers roll their eyes at me if I suggest making something even remotely crafty with them. They do like making different types of books that incorporate their curriculum. Flip books are one example of books I use with them. They are wonderful for vocabulary, but you can also use them for sequencing information about a topic or the steps required for an activity, grammar, and so many more ways. See the above picture for an example of how I make a flip book.

3. Jeopardy-like games: This has always been one of my favorite games to do with students. It is a quick way to assess their knowledge of vocabulary and other topics, and my students always love to compete against each other. You can make it as high-tech (power-point) or low tech (index cards on a magnetic board or library pockets mounted on poster board with questions in the pockets) as you would like. Keeping track of data is easy with game formats like these, and the questions can be presented throughout the unit to demonstrate progress.

~ Jess

Thank you Jess! You can follow Jess on her blog, Figuratively Speeching, on Facebook, and on TPT.

Guest Post: Resources for Inferencing {by Kelly of Speech2U}

Today we have a guest post by Kelly H from Speech2U. Kelly has been an ASHA certified Speech Language Pathologist for 15 years. She has worked with children of all ages in clinics, charter schools and in telepractice. She has a passion for incorporating play, movement based and functional activities within my therapy sessions.

One of my favorite skills to work with older children is inferencing.   So I'm really excited (and a little nervous) about my first guest post for Carrie's one year blog-a-versary.  Today, I'd like to share how I teach inferencing and some of my favorite inferencing resources.

I start by telling my clients that we are going to be working on inferencing.  We define inferencing as the ability to look at the information provided and then make a guess about what we think is going to happen.

Inferencing:

• improves social skills
• improves reading skills
• improves language skills 

We talk about HOW LONG a book would be if the author had to write every little thing down.   Usually, we decide we don't want to read a book that is THAT long. When teaching inferences, I'm less concerned about the correct answer and more interested in the PROCESS that the child used to make the inference.  So usually I will have them guess the inference and then circle or TELL me the clues they used to figure out the inference.

Then I have them explain why it couldn't have been a different choice.  In the above example, it couldn't have been a restaurant because the boy went up to the COUNTER to order.  It couldn't have been a Mexican restaurant because he ordered a HAMBURGER.  

I'm always looking for new ways to teach inferences.   Here are some of my Favorite resources or products:  

1.  Super Duper Cards:  Super Duper has sets of actual inferencing cards which are pretty basic.  They also have some of the available as an App.  

2.  No Glamour Inferences by Linguisystems.  I send these worksheets home for home programming.  My favorite section is the section on Object Inferences.  This book also works on Social inferencing which is helpful for many of my clients.  

3.  David Newmonic Inferencing book.   This is my go to resource for Middle school students.  This ebook does a great job of breaking down inferences into pictures, sentences, paragraph level material and then a full text.  The material is more appropriate to older clients.  

4.  Phil Tulga-Inference Riddles online.  This game is played online.  The clues are given one at a time.  You get 10 chances to guess the term.  These are more abstract concepts such as "day."  You can also buy an expanded version of this for 4.95 on his site.

5.  What's in the Bag game on ReadWriteThink.org: I like using this online game with younger clients.  Three words are presented and the student needs to guess what's in the bag.  You can present it with just the clues or click continue to get three color choices.  If you haven't been on Readwritethink.org's website you are missing out. 

6. The Bag Game app by all4mychild ($1.99 on iTunes).  Similar to the game above.  One student selects an item to put in a bag and the others take turns asking questions to figure out what is in the bag.  There are question prompts for kids who have more difficulty.

Do you guys work on inferencing?  If so I'd love to hear your favorite materials or resources. Thanks again Carrie for letting me come over and celebrate!  

Thank you Kelly!  You can follow Kelly on her blog, Speech2U, on Facebook, and on Teachers Pay Teachers.  By the way, Kelly also donated her TPT item Stoplight Emotions for my Facebook giveaways happening this week! Make sure you head over to my Facebook page to join in on the fun!

Guest Post: Fluency Tips and Tricks {by Maureen of The Speech Bubble}

Thanks so much to Carrie for including me in her 'Bloggy Birthday' celebration! Congrats!   My name is Maureen Wilson M.S., CCC-SLP and  I am a school-based SLP.  I write the blog, The Speech Bubble :)

Today I want to share some tips and resources that I have found to be helpful when working with students who stutter.  Fluency can be a tricky and complicated area. In the schools, opportunities to work with fluency students can be scattered, making it difficult to gain knowledge and experience. Here are some points  I have picked up that have been helpful to me when working with this group.

Does the student already have diagnosis?
Does the student being brought up for fluency concerns already have a diagnosis of stuttering?  If not, that means that you will need to do some screenings or testing. Remember, RTI can be used with fluency students too!  If the student can read, I like to use the 'Rainbow Passage' as a screening tool.  If they cannot read, picture description is a great way to obtain a speech sample.  Make sure you note any disfluencies, the type of disfluency and length of occurrence, as well as % of stuttering.  A good sample should be at least 100 syllables in length and you should aim to get at least 3 samples.

Does the student receive outside speech therapy for stuttering?
If you receive a request to see a student for fluency, check to see if they are currently seeing an outside speech therapist.  If the parent grants consent, touch base with the outside SLP and collaborate on goals and strategies. Find out what has and hasn't worked for the student.

Observe and Ask
Make time to observe the student in different settings.  I know this can be difficult with our schedules but it really can provide lots of useful information. Watch the child's body language and amount of class participation. Do they play with other students? Answer questions?  Ask the student how they feel about their stuttering. I have had student who truly did not care one bit that they stuttered and others who would be on the verge of tears if you asked them a question.  The student's feelings and perceptions are powerful factors in designing their treatment plan.

Secret Signals
Once your student has begun to master their fluency strategies inside the walls of your speech room helping them transition these skills into the classroom is key.  A strategy that my students have had a lot of success with is using a 'secret signal'.  One of my students compared it to having a personal 'Bat Signal', ha.  You, the teacher, and student create a secret signal that the teacher will use when the student needs a reminder to use their fluency strategies in class. A quick tug on the earlobe has been the best one so far.  It is discrete and gets the message conveyed.

So what materials are out there to help you address your student's fluency goals? Lots!  Here are some of my favorites:

•  Turtle Talk by Super Duper
•  Focus on Fluency Kit by Super Duper: For me, this is a must have!
•  Fluency Activity Pack by Miss Speech
•  Fluency Frogs by Karen Parden
•  Fluency Tools Treatment Packet by Lauren LaCour
•  Mega Fluency Packet by Speechy Musings
•  CandyLand Fluency by Jenna Rayburn

For more information and resources about stuttering check out:

• The Stuttering Foundation:  They have great information and printable handouts for parents and teachers
• The National Stuttering Association

I had done a post awhile ago about a friend of mine who has stuttered his entire life. He shared his experiences and advice on the subject, as well as, some video before and after he attended an intensive fluency program. You can check out that post here.

~ Maureen

First of all, Thank you so much Maureen for sharing this wonderful information!   You can find Maureen's blog, The Speech Bubble, on Facebook.  Make sure you check out her Teachers Pay Teachers Store as well for some fantastic materials!

Second, if you have not seen it, you NEED to check out the video that Maureen posted on her blog.  It's simply amazing and truly inspirational!  

App Review: Multiple Choice Articulation

Hey Everyone! I have another guest post/app review for you today. My co-worker Stephanie is back again with a review of Multiple Choice Articulation by Erik X. Raj. Multiple Choice Articulation is $9.99 in the App Store. Take it away Stephanie! PS, I SWEAR I don't pay her to say nice things about me!

     About this time each year, I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out some new and exciting way to work my student’s artic goals.  I mean….  I love my articulation decks as much as the next SLP, but there are only so many ways to use them without guaranteed boredom ensuing.  This is especially true for my older artic kids!  Specifically, those kiddos who are working on generalizing their speech sound productions into their connected speech. 

     ….enter Multiple Choice Articulation, by Erik X. Raj.  This is a fun, easy to use app that had my kids and I laughing while still targeting those sometimes elusive /s, z, r, l, sh, ch, and th/ phonemes.  For each of these phonemes, you get to choose their word position:  initial, final, medial and blends.  Over 500 multiple choice questions in all!    

     Once you choose your sound and word position, you are lead immediately into the question and “answer” format of the app.  There are a multitude of questions ranging anywhere from guitar players to scuba divers to crying bear cubs to ear wax.  Yup!  He covered all the bases.  My students loved the silly questions, of course!  I really never thought I’d be discussing eating ear wax during a therapy session, but my kids were waaaay into it!

     The general layout for each question page remains the same.  There are 2 buttons, back and next, at the top of the screen to navigate through the questions easily (perhaps you don’t want to talk about having green pimples today).  At the bottom of the screen, there are 2 options:  “Hear the Question” and “Hear an Answer.”  “Hear the question,” simply reads the question out loud for your students.  While the “Hear the answer” button has Erik explaining why he chose a particular answer to the question.  Bonus!  His pronunciation is very clear and precise, emphasizing the target sound carefully - just the way a good SLP would.  Beyond that, his answers are expressive and funny.  My kids got a kick out of that!

Here's the bottom line...

Pro’s: 

• Engaging and fun for everyone!  My kids loved hearing the silly questions, and coming up with even more crazy explanations for their choices. 
• Speaking of crazy explanations – hello, expressive language!  Yup, my kiddos were all too eager to give reasons and details in their answers.  Some kids were even trying to persuade other kids into choosing their answer.  I had some very talkative sessions….  J
• Simple layout and app design makes it a cinch to use!  Just download and go.  Who doesn’t love that!
• I loved the option of listening to the questions read out loud.  Sometimes my student’s like to hear someone other than me, I think.  Great for non readers as well, as we preferred to pass around the iPad to each group member for their turn. 

Idea’s for future app updates:

·         I would love for students to have the option of recording their own responses and being able to play them back to rate their success with their sounds. 

·         Some pictures to accompany the questions might be fun and add visual interest to the app.

·         Data tracking is always useful.

Thank you very much to Erik X. Raj, SLP for letting me review this fun app.  I sincerely apologize to him for the extended amount of time it took to actually get a review posted, but alas, IEP season is in full swing here in my district.  L

Additional thanks to Carrie, who is, as usual, a generous and creative co-worker!

While the app was provided to me in exchange for my review, the thoughts and ideas expressed are my own.    

~Stephanie

Guest Post: Incorporating Touch Cues into Speech Therapy

I'm sure you've all seen Speech Buddies making the rounds on some of your favorite blogs.  Well, did you know that they  have their own blog?  Here's the link:  Speech Buddies Blog.  I've found some cool ideas on there and I'm pretty sure you will as well!  One of the writers from the Speech Buddies Blog, Holly, has written a guest post for me to share with you today!  

[source: prweb.com]

We all know the saying- “seeing it is believing it”. Well for teaching speech sounds, the same is often true -you have to see it to articulate it. For many children, simply saying a speech sound out loud isn’t enough information to help them repeat it themselves. Children have to learn the correct placement of their articulators and how to produce sounds, often in a stepwise process. One technique for facilitating speech sounds is to use what are called, touch cues. Touch cues are a type of tactile cue, a technique involving the hands to show placement or highlight the part of the face being used to make a specific sound. Tactile cues are nothing new, and in fact a highly effective, evidence based practice that underlie the principles of Speech Buddies and the PROMPT program (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets). While both programs have their own specific principles, touch cues in general can be used during play and other speech and language based activities with relative ease and just your hands and face.

For little ones, in particular, touch cues can provide a more visible and salient gesture. During play, they can help highlight individual sounds that go along with the toys and actions in a game or activity. For example, while saying “mat” (e.g., “lets sit on the mat”) a clinician might model the “m” lip position by using their middle and index fingers to push the lips together and produce the sound. These can serve as teaching tools or visual reminders. If the child leaves off a sound, for example, “ma” instead of “mat,” the clinician might use a visual tactile cue to prompt them for the “t” sound at the end of the word.

Clinicians should make the sound and show the cue on their face, and if tolerated, encourage the child to use their hands on the mouth of the communication partner to feel the way the mouth moves during production of the targeted sound.  Also if tolerated, provide the cue on the child’s face. Remember to model and use them consistently.

  

[source: speechymusings.com]

The cues themselves vary slightly according to different treatment protocols but generally follow that common gestures are used to show sounds that produced in a similar manner. If a sound requires a burst of air from the mouth, the cue will emphasize that. Some common examples include:

/p/: Place your index finger in vertical position touches both lips and then bring finger away from the lips while release air

/b/: Similar to /p/ but the finger does not move because no burst of air occurs

/m/: Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on your lips horizontally. Some only use one finger in the horizontal position under their lip.

/n/: Place your index finger next to the nose to cue nasality

/k/ and /g/: Place your index finger horizontally across the upper throat and tap your index finger up as you form the voiceless /k/. Use index and middle finger for the voiced /g/ sound to show that this sound uses the voice. .

/t/ and /d/: Place finger on the left or right side of the mouth near Cupid’s bow, which is above the lip. Use one finger to tap while you produce the voiceless /t/ sound and show two fingers for the voiced /d/ sound.

Post written by Holly F.

I want to take a minute to thank Holly from Speech Buddies for sharing this information with us today!  Also, I wanted to share that I do have a parent handout available on Visual/Tactile (or Touch) Cues that you can download for free HERE.

App Review: Conversation Builder

Today my co-worker, Stephanie, is going to share her thoughts on Conversation Builder by Mobile Education Store.  Take it away Stephanie!

I am so pleased to have the opportunity to review the Mobile Education Store app, Conversation Builder ($19.99 for iPad in the App Store, $7.99 for the iPhone in the App Store).  If you’re anything like me, teaching social language skills is a tricky area.  Despite my best efforts to portray a range of facial expressions, vocal intonations, sarcasm and humor – most of the time my kids probably just think I’m crazy!  They’re so right!   But, I digress… 

The Conversation Builder app is formatted very similarly to other Mobile Education Store apps, opening right up to the settings page.  All of the important set up information can be accessed very easily.  The first step to getting started would be to input your user information. 

You can manage your user information by selecting from existing users or creating a new user.   

 Now you are ready to modify your settings.  This is where things get interesting!  Since there are soo many different setting options, you are really able to customize the conversations to meet your student’s needs.  The “Conversation Type” allows you to choose:  a 1:1 conversation that lasts for 4 turns, a 1:1 conversation that lasts for 8 turns, or a group format which allows you to pass the iPad around the table and create a conversation between your group members.  

 The next setting option is called “Conversation Initiator.”  This feature allows you to set who will begin each conversation.  There are 3 choices:  your student, peer, or random mode. 

The last group of selections are called “Conversation Modules.”  These are theme based conversations about a variety of topics.  They include:  animals, friends around town, holidays, playground, water play and winter.  There are 20 different conversations, paired with a picture prompt, for each of these modules.  There is also a “Base Conversation Module,” which includes 6 or 7 conversations from each theme, for a total of 40.  Finally, there is a “Randomize” button, which randomly selects conversations from each of the theme modules. 

Now, its time to get talking!  When you press play, you move into the conversation mode.  A picture is presented, along with 3 multiple choice answers at the top.  Depending on the conversation initiator you selected, either a peer will begin speaking or the student will be prompted to think about “What’s the best way to start this conversation.”  Then, by looking at the picture prompt, you can make your selection from the above choices.  When an appropriate answer is chosen, the student is able to record their selection using their own voice.  The app guides you through each conversational turn until it is finished, with the conversation “partner” responding to your student’s comments and questions.  Finally, a box pops up that allows you to play back the entire conversation (using the student’s voice), save or email the conversation.  My student’s thought it was very funny to listen to a “conversation” between themselves and the iPad.  

For those students who could benefit from visual supports, you are able to tap the “History” button at the top of the conversation page.  By enabling this option, the conversation is displayed in text… just like texting would be on a smart phone, with different colors and page orientation for each communication partner.  

  

The bottom line…

• Like I said before, anything to make teaching pragmatic language easier is a plus in my book!

• Customization!!!!  There are lots of options to choose from so that you are able to select the correct starting point for your student, and move up from there. 

• My kids always LOVE listening to their own voice!  This was no exception.  It puts their own voice right in the conversation with the computer.  Extra giggles on that one…

• I liked the themed modules.  The themes are such that you could totally use this to practice socializing the whole year ‘round, and have it be relevant to our students. 

• I would like to see the multiple choice options have a “read” option, so that my non-readers wouldn’t need me to voice the selections. 

• I think a module for changing the topic of conversation would be great.  That came up a few times and I always answered incorrectly, because there was an appropriate “on topic” answer there as well.  If they were able to make it a “module” I would know when to expect it and explicitly teach my kids to look for it. 

It was awesome to review this app from the Mobile Education Store.  They tackle some difficult topics in their apps, and I have yet to be disappointed.  Keep up the good work!  Although Kyle from Mobile Education Store provided me with a copy of this app (and another to give away) in exchange for my review, the thoughts and opinions above are solely my own. 

Once again, thank you to my good friend Carrie from Carrie’s Speech Corner.  I am grateful for your generosity!  

~Stephanie

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App Review: Reading Rehabilitation Toolkit

Recently I was contacted by Jonathan at Smarty Ears about reviewing two of their apps to target reading skills.  Since the majority of my caseload is preschool, I asked Jonathan if he would agree to let one of my co-workers use the apps and write the reviews.  He was kind enough to agree.  

This review is written by Jennifer Malloy, MS, CCC-SLP.  Jenn splits her time between an elementary and middle school in my district.  Take it away Jenn!

I was lucky enough to review another amazing app - the Reading Rehabilitation Toolkit from Smarty Ears ($9.99 in iTunes). I currently use many Smarty Ears apps in speech and language therapy daily so I was extremely excited to review this app!

This app is a great tool to increase student’s reading fluency as well as reading comprehension.

It allows both quick play as well as creating users. If "create a user" is selected, data is tracked and recorded by day and level.  After entering the student’s name, the student is able to select an avatar. There are many avatars to choose from!

**BONUS:  Selecting an Avatar is a great way for students to use descriptive words to select a 

specific avatar.  I don’t let them point to select, a selection is made my using your words!

The next screen allows the user to select one of six levels of difficulty. The six levels (as described in the ABOUT section of the application) are as follows:

1. Word-Images match: This activity provides users with one word on the screen, which they must attempt to read and identify the corresponding image.
2. Image-Words match: This activity provides users with one image and they must identify the corresponding word among several words.
3. Phrase-Images match: This activity provides users with one phrase and they must identify the corresponding image.
4. Image-Phrase match: This activity provides users with one image and they must identify the corresponding phrases among several phrases.
5. Read and Answer: Users must attempt to read simple questions and answer based on the provided scenes.
6. Phrase Building: This is the activity that integrates reading and writing. Users are now able to attempt composing the simple phrases used throughout the application on previous activities independently by placing words on the screen.

Word Images Match:

The first level, Word Images Match, allows student to read one word and select corresponding picture from a field of 5.  After selecting the correct corresponding picture, the student records him/herself reading the target word.  The app allows user to track student’s progress.  After attempting to read the target word the follow options are available to track data: 1. Unable to read aloud  2. Read with assistance 3. Read independently.

Image Words Match:

The second level, Image Words Match, allows the student to look at a single picture and select the target word from a written field of 5. Again, after selecting the correct corresponding word, the student records him/herself reading the target word.  The app allows user to track student’s progress.  After attempting to read the target word the follow options are available to track data: 1. Unable to read aloud  2. Read with assistance 3. Read independently.

Phrase Images Match:

The third level, Phrase Images Match, allows the student to read a small, three word, phase and select the corresponding picture from a field of 5.  After selecting the correct corresponding picture, the student records him/herself reading the target phrase.  The app allows user to track student’s progress.  After attempting to read the target word the follow options are available to track data: 1. Unable to read aloud  2. Read with assistance 3. Read independently.

Image Phrase Match:

The fouth level, Image Phrase Match, allows the student to see a single image and select the target phrase from a written field of 5. Again, after selecting the correct corresponding phrase, the student records him/herself reading the target word.  The app allows user to track student’s progress.  After attempting to read the target phrase the follow options are available to track data: 1. Unable to read aloud  2. Read with assistance 3. Read independently.

Read and Answer:

The fifth level, Read and Answer, allows the student to look at a picture, read the question, and select an answer from a written field of 5.  The field contains 5 single words that answer the “wh” or “how” question presented with the picture. When an incorrect selection is chosen an unfriendly chime is sounded.  The student receives a checkmark and an uplifting sound when the correct answer is selected.

Phrase Building:

The sixth, final level, Phrase Building, allows the student to look at a picture and create a phrase using three words.  If the words are arranged in the incorrect order that unfriendly chime sounds again. If the words are placed to make the correct phrase, an uplifting chime sounds and a checkmark appears.  After selecting the creating the correct phrase, the student records him/herself reading the target phrase.  The app allows user to track student’s progress.  After attempting to read the target word the follow options are available to track data: 1. Unable to read aloud  2. Read with assistance 3. Read independently.

Likes:

• It is very versatile I used this application with both my middle school students as well as my home health care clients.
• User Friendly: Easy to navigate while using and while reviewing data.
• Increases with levels of difficulty.
• Progress tracking and data collection.

Dislikes:

• None that I can think of!

The Bottom Line:

I really enjoyed using this app. It is straight forward and user friendly, two aspects I look for when using apps for speech and language therapy.  I liked that the students were involved with selecting avatars and recording their voices. This avatars and voice recordings increased the students’ focus and interest. 

~Jenn

PS, To watch a video tutorial and see Reading Rehabilitation Toolkit in action, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Disclaimer:  Smarty Ears provided a copy of Reading Rehabilitation Toolkit for the purposes of this review and giveaway.  However, opinions expressed are those of the SLP who provided the review.