schmoozeadmin 
Internet4classrooms.com targets many of the goals that SLP’s are targeting in their sessions.
This is what the homepage looks like, Click ‘grade level help’.
Click on the ‘Language Arts Skillbuilders’ section for the grade you desire.
Choose a skill to target. In this case it was ‘following directions‘.
Preview beforehand and choose an appropriate activity from the page. Try it out and let us know how it goes in the comments section!!
Time-for-Kids has free printable worksheets for election day. Click here to visit the page. Let us know which ones you choose:).
Already a month into grad school, and BH so far so good!
K..backtrack…this was a long month. Smartest thing was coming a day in advance to practice the drive and get student ID, parking decal…all the important things that add to the grad school spirit.
Anyways…the first day of school was full of introductions, and repeating what inspired each and every one of us to begin the journey of becoming an SLP. (In case you aren’t so sure at this point, everyone else will give you good ideas..i left this class feeling very uplifted). The syllabi are generally posted on blackboard in advance of the first day so I had the general idea of what to expect. And then we began learning!
I have to say that classes in graduate school are very interesting!! It’s amazing to watch Professors who are so animated about their subjects, give it over in their own personal way. So thankfully I was stocked up on school supplies (the big Q: laptop vs. pen and paper) and ready to write down every last word that came out of their mouths!!
The teachers are all really nice and fountains of knowledge. I love listening to their stories about clinical experience and their practice in the field. Really makes all the theory come to life. And the best part is how every teacher is convinced that their class is the secret to being a successful SLP!!
BH with yuntif coming up, I have lots of work I need to get a head start on so I don’t fall behind. The hardest part of school is learning to juggle work, school, school work, and regular living time. The classes are intense and we are expected to make school a priority. Which it of course is. Looking forward to successfully completing the semester!!!
So after approximately one month in grad school..i would say…
K’siva V’chasima Tova everyone!!!!
-I. Schnitzler
I. Schnitzler is a first-year graduate school student at Adelphi University in Long Island. She can be contacted at admin@theraschmooze.com.
Growing up with a debilitating stutter and seemingly unanswerable questions about G-d, Moe Mernick found everyday life to be a painful and lonely experience. After suffering for years, Moe discovered an exceptional life of meaning and purpose — and in doing so, turned the tables on his speech impediment.
This is a remarkable story of one man's journey from despair to hope, from anger at G-d to spiritual fulfillment, from being a rebellious teenager to becoming a motivational speaker and entrepreneur. It's a story of finding meaning within life's challenges and of transforming the heaviest burdens into the greatest gifts.
About the Author:
Combining both of his passions, Jewish education and entrepreneurship, Moe Mernick runs International Marketing for an early-stage start-up, mentors budding entrepreneurs at a Jerusalem-based technology accelerator and has held numerous Jewish communal positions, including Regional Director for The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation (Hamburg, Germany), Senior Advisor at Counterpoint (Sydney, Australia) and City Director for NCSY (Vancouver, Canada). Moe holds an International MBA and Rabbinical Ordination, and lives in Israel with his wife and children.
Endorsements:
The greatness of a person is that he is able to grow and accomplish in all circumstances. I have personally known the author and admire how he has grown through all his challenges.
— Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rosh HaYeshiva (Dean), Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
Moe's story is one of resilience, growth and inspiration. He shows us the steps he took to ove
Read one man’s journey through life with a stutter. Moe Mernick, a successful father, employee, and motivational speaker gets real about the challenges in his life. The book does not focus on specific techniques used in fluency treatment but on the psycho-social-emotional aspects of life and treatment with a significant stutter.
This game could have been created as a product for SLP’s. It serves as the perfect reinforcement for /s/ drills during sessions. In this simple, elegant card game, players match colors and and make snakes from heads to tails. Long snakes, short snakes, purple, yellow and rainbow snakes. Finish a snake and add it to your snake pit. The player with the most snakes at the end of the game wins
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This all-wooden game gets kids ages 3+ very excited to play. Target memory and color skills or use this game as a reinforcer during sessions. It can also be used to teach verb tense and pronouns (“my frog is hopping, your frog hopped.” The best part is that the kids can set it up all by themselves:) pillen-pharm.com/.
We play games in therapy for many different reasons. The game may serve as a reinforcement, as a basis for social skills training, or as a teaching mechanism itself.
Choosing the wrong game is a nightmare for the student and therapist. Games with complex rules, multiple pieces, easy cheating factor, and long play time will not work. Many board/box games from toy retailers or therapy suppliers fall into that difficult category.
The game of Chutes and Ladders is the quintessential example. The board is whimsical and appealing but those arrows can get anyone confused. Right or left, it is always hard to discern. Not to mention the small boxes and the issues when multiple kids are in one box. Then someone shakes the board and the game is a mess. And when students ‘cheat’ there is no way to prove it and a spirited argument ensues between the players.
Choosing games may be even more difficult for students with ASD. They often gravitate towards the IPAD for games and work. As communication facilitators we must ask ourselves if this is the most effective modality for teaching communication? Should we allow this comfortable retreat into a ‘technological trance’ during or session? Perhaps if we provide them with tactilly and visually appealing games and activites then we can keep them focused enough to perform.
Below are some games that provide sensory feedback for the players. The game pieces and parts are stimulating and enjoyable to hold and feel. They provide the perfect backdrop for calm learning. The game rules are not very complex, and do not be afraid to simplify the rules if you need to.
These games provide sensory feedback for students with ASD. These games are likely to increase their engagement and attention to their environment.
***However, make sure that the students DoNot place pieces in their mouths.
Research Round-up:
“Intervention May Improve Follow-up Rates for Newborns with Hearing Loss.”
Although newborn hearing screenings are performed routinely at hospitals across the US, there are difficulties following up with all of these parents/babies. A new study from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that by working with WIC they could improve the effectiveness of new-born hearing screening programs for low-income mothers and their babies.In this study the rate of eligible two year old infants lost to follow-up was 9.6% compared to 28.7% of infants from the same hospitals but not WIC eligible.”
“Boy’s Early Childhood Behavioral Problems Associated with Less Academic Success.”
A new study aims to understand why boys with early childhood behavioral difficulties were less likely to complete college than girls with the same behavioral issues. The study reveals that the manner in which the school responds to the behavior plays a role in shaping future behaviors. She found that the behavior of boys is likely to be generalized and stereotyped causing educators to dole out harsher punishments to them.
On The Job
Barbara J. Ehren, a school based SLP talks about the misnomer of “push-in” therapy. She says when she hears this term “She envisions an SLP barging into a teachers classroom, perhaps knocking over classroom furniture or even a few students in the process…” Ehren says these services should be simply referred to as “in-class services”. Changing the name of the therapy would be reflective of a change in mindset as well. Push-in or in-class services are only useful and effective when they correlate with the classroom lesson and enhance the learning that is currently in progress. Otherwise, being in the classroom serves a terrible distraction and diminishes from the session. Aggressive push-in therapy is loose loose- student and classroom students loose. Gentler go-in therapy is Win-Win for all parties involved. It’s all about the semantics!
Below are some excerpts and hi-lights from the August edition of The ASHA Leader:
-The ASHA convention will be in Philadelphia from November 17-November 19. (That’s pretty close to Lakewood:)
Click here to see the fee schedule
–Sensory Stories for People with Disabilities– this is an activity that is most appropriate for multiply impaired students or preschool age students. The author, Kim Patterson suggests pairing sensory experiences with a story. She gives an example using a simple farm story. She uses a spritz bottle, a bungee cord, hay , wood, animal sound recordings, dry leaves, pumpkin, and cider to go along with the story. She writes “each line (or couple of lines) and a photo depicting the text- go on a laminated card. As you read each card with the student or client,the student experiences the sensory stimulus.” While reading about rain she may spritz the hand of the student and while reading about a hay ride the student would feel the scratchy texture of hay. Creating these story experiences take time and effort. Take a look at www.bagbooks.org for some (expensive) ready-made examples.
-A speech therapist writes in about her work as a low-incidence specialist in schools. She concludes “though SLP’s all receive the same basic curricula in graduate school, we develop different proficiencies through internships, fellowships, and various work settings. Forming professional relationships across these different proficiencies and settings can benefit everyone involved.” We have all experienced the need to reach out to a colleague for practical advice on client interventions. Theraschmooze.com aims to provide the framework for collaboration within the frum community.