Following Directions App Giveaway

 
Recently, I downloaded a wonderful app for my students who are working on following directions.  The app is called Funny Directions by Speecharoo and my students loved it!  Here are the top 10 reasons why I recommend this app!

1)Students can pick from four different settings: classroom, bedroom, beach and park. Students want to check out all of the settings which means they end up with a lot of practice!  Each setting addresses 1, 2 and 3 step directions for a variety of difficulty.  

2) The graphics are fun, bright and exciting! 

3) Students can tap the sentence if they need to listen again.  There is no limit on repetitions, which is perfect for kids who need more help. 

4) You can pick if your students get verbal and visual directions or just one of them.  It's easy to turn them on and off with a simple change in the settings. 

5) If students do not correctly follow a direction, it will automatically be repeated (if the voice option is turned on).  

6) Each time a direction is correctly followed, students get a positive reinforcement in the form of  songs, jokes or moving images.  Talk about motivation! 

7) At the end of 10 questions, no matter if students correctly follow 0 or 10 directions, a 'Great Job' graphic pops up.  Not only is this reinforcing for students, but they also get to 'pop' some celebration balloons! 

 8) Tracking is so easy with this app.  It tracks how many are correct or incorrect and is shown in the top right hand corner.  This is perfect for busy SLPs!

9) The directions include a variety of verbs such as tap, push, poke, tip, find, etc. which is great for students working on verbs.  Two and three step directions include a variety of prepositional words and phrases.  

10) It's fun, motivating, colorful, helps save time, motivates your students and tracks your data!  It is a wonderful app that you and your students will love!

Of course, I can't rave about this app without giving one away!  Enter here for a free copy of the Funny Directions by Speecharoo app.  

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Dollar Store Speech Ideas

I am joining in on this fun link up by Kristin from Talkin' With Twang! 
 
Every time I go into the dollar store, not only do I always come out with so much more than I initially planned on buying, but I also come out with some great therapy ideas!  As a therapist, the dollar store has become my favorite store!  Currently, I am in charge of doing evaluations at work, so I only see 5 kids for actual therapy. Unfortunately, I cannot do all of these therapy activities with my students, but I can always blog about my ideas and hope that they will help inspire you! 

During my previous shopping spree at the dollar store, I spent $9.54 and came out with some fun everyday and holiday crafts and activities!  These first two items, I didn't purchase, but I highly recommend that these are staples in every SLP therapy room.  First, I recommend the microphone which is a great way to inspire kids to speak louder, work on articulation or just to motivate them to participate.  Second is foam dice. They are perfect for the little ones and I have found that even older students like them!

Now, onto the fun stuff that I purchased...

St. Patrick's Day Items            Valentine's Day Items           Everyday Items

For the every day items, I bought pipe cleaners, Minnie Mouse puzzles and bracelet jewels.  

I am not sure how I will use the pipe cleaners yet, but I had to buy them!

The Minnie Mouse puzzle came with 4, 6-piece puzzles.  In my mind, this was perfect for some category therapy!  Here's how I would do it.  

First, pick out 4 categories that you want your students to work on. For this example, I chose colors, food, animals and transportation as my categories.  Then, I wrote the corresponding words on the back of each piece.  During therapy, have your students put the puzzles back together, but with the words facing up. If you have younger students, you might have to help them put the actual puzzle together once they separate the words. 

  

 Once the puzzles are together, slide them off of the desk onto a book/box/cardboard and flip the puzzle over.  It will reveal the final picture and if your students were correct!

 I also bought these connecting jewels from the dollar store.

You can do so many activities with these!  You can have students sort them by color, shape or both. 

 

You can also have your students make bracelets by letting them add a link for each task they complete (saying a sound 5x, answering a question, etc.).  If you have boys, have them make the bracelets for their mom, grandma or aunt.  This would be a great mother's day activity!

  

As always, the dollar store was fun, exciting and inspiring!  Thank you Kristin for this great blog link up!  What are your favorite dollar store items?

Remember to subscribe to my blog to find out what I will be doing with these fun, dollar store finds!

Don't Hold Back In 2016

I hope you enjoyed the holidays!  As you can tell from the lack of blog posts, I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday and spent a lot of time with family and friends.  

Now that 2016 is in full swing, it's time to tell you my new year's resolution for my blog...DON'T HOLD BACK! Not that I didn't have passion in 2015, but I always struggle with the fear of being judged. Therefore, I feel like my posts are sometimes reserved or lack 'me'. This year, I plan to not 'hold back' and just blog!  My passion is to incorporate fun and creativity in therapy, so I want to convey that in my blog.  So, get ready for the whole new Speech Therapy Fun...where I will make sure to not hold back and blog with passion!

Also, I wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate all of you who take the time to read my blog posts.  It means the world to me that people take time out of their busy schedules to spend time with my ideas.

Here are just a few of the 'Passionate' and fun posts I have planned for 2016!

~ It's Time To Get Cottonball Crazy

~ Music Freeze for Winter Fun

~Love Is In The Speech Room Air

~ Updating An UGLY Speech Room...for $40