Valentine's Day always falls around the week of parent/teacher conferences in my district, so I don't typically get to do much therapy around the theme of this holiday.  The week leading up to Valentine's Day only has one full day of therapy for prek, with the second day including the classroom Valentine's party for the last hour of each half day session.  We then have parent/teacher conferences and inservices all day Wednesday/Thursday, so I essentially only have a day and a half of ... read more

You guys. How have I gone so long without popper toys in therapy?!  I am in love with the pig and penguin poppers I got for Christmas, and so are my students. We had to set some ground rules at first-- you know, things like "We don't aim the ball at teachers or our friends" and discussions of, "No, the animals are not "farting" or "pooping" but are just blowing out of their mouth." (Sigh.. little boys and their early obsessions with bodily functions.. ha ha).  Once the ground rules ... read more

Can you believe it's the LAST WEEK of November?! This Fall has FLOWN by, and I can't believe it's almost time for Thanksgiving! Thankfully, I have plenty of goodies for you to gobble up, along with many of the other ladies that are a part of The Frenzied SLPs!First off, if you have to work a portion of this week leading up to Thanksgiving and still need some turkey-themed activities, here are a couple of ideas for you:1.  Articulation chef hatsThese were so cute on the kids! Our 4 year old ... read more

Hi, guys! I'm teaming up with the rest of the ladies from The Frenzied SLPs to bring you a "thankful and grateful" blog hop with the chance to win some great prizes! After reading, you will want to collect the letter at the end of my post, and make sure to hit "next blog" to continue along the hop. When you put all of the letters in order, starting from the first blog, it will spell out a message that you'll enter into the drawing for some great prizes! I can't even believe it's been almost ... read more

This post is all about functional, easy, time-saving tips to help you GET and STAY organized. These tips are coming from a non-Type A SLP so I promise these are totally doable! I implemented these ideas at the start of the school year and they have continued to work wonders for me thus far, a full 9 weeks in, so I wanted to share them all with you! I'm quickly approaching 60 preschool students and counting, so I HAVE to be extra organized in order to make it through this year alive!You may ... read more

Today, The Frenzied SLPs are bringing you a series of blog posts on.... drumroll, please....Speech and Language screening tools!  As you all probably know, I'm an early childhood therapist.  In my district, we hold screenings one Friday a month, where parents in the community can sign their child up for a screening in all developmental areas: fine motor, gross motor, social skills, cognitive skills, and speech/language skills.  Our ECSE teachers and therapists all participate in ... read more

It's back to school for me... TODAY!   Summer got away from me and it seriously feels like I just wrapped up my last IEP a week ago, not 12 weeks ago.  Regardless of whether or not I'm ready for the start of the new school year, though, it's coming, and I need to be prepared! I want to help YOU be prepared, too, so I'm joining The Frenzied SLPs again to give you some tips!Tip #1:  Expect the Unexpected (#amiright "Big Brother" fans?!)Be prepared to have at least one unexpected ... read more

Bubbles, Cariboo, and dot markers:  three things my students never get tired of, and are always excited about.  I don't know what it is, exactly, about those three things that make them just as exciting after the 100th time as they were the first time, but they definitely hold some sort of magical powers when it comes to the little ones (Teach me your ways, inanimate objects!).Today I wanted to talk a little bit about why I use one of those items--dot markers--in therapy sessions, and ... read more