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Winter Non-Fiction Leveled Reading Passages and Questions Product Swap and Giveaway

Today I am doing a product swap and giveaway with Sharon Schackmann, the author of the Speech with Sharon blog, who’s created a product entitled: Winter Non-Fiction Leveled Reading Passages and Questions with a focus on teaching non-fiction text to older students: elementary through -high school ages.

This mega sized 44 page packet includes 7 passages on a variety of winter related topics including: Continue reading Winter Non-Fiction Leveled Reading Passages and Questions Product Swap and Giveaway

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Wintertime Wellness Product Swap and Giveaway

winter wellness collageToday I am doing a product swap and giveaway with Rose Kesting of Speech Snacks. Rose runs a fun and unique blog. In her posts she combines her interest in nutrition and healthy cooking with her professional knowledge as a speech-language pathologist.  I’ve collaborated with Rose in the past on a variety of projects and have always been impressed with the quality of her speech and language products, which are typically aimed at language remediation of older children (upper-elementary, middle school and high school ages). Continue reading Wintertime Wellness Product Swap and Giveaway

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Spotlight on Social Language Competence: When is a high subtest score a cause for concern?

sldtelI have been using Social Language Development Tests (SLDT) from Linguisystems since they were first published a number of years ago and I like them a great deal. For those of you unfamiliar with them – there are two versions of SLDT, elementary (for children 6-12 years of age) and adolescent (for children 12-18 years of age).  These are tests of social language competence, which assess such skills as taking on first person perspective, making correct inferences, negotiating conflicts with peers, being flexible in interpreting situations and supporting friends diplomatically (SLDT-E). Continue reading Spotlight on Social Language Competence: When is a high subtest score a cause for concern?

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The risk of social-emotional deficits in language-impaired young children

In recent years there has been an increase in infants, toddlers and preschoolers diagnosed with significant social-emotional and/or behavioral problems.  An estimated 10% to 15% of birth-5 year-old population experience serious social-emotional problems which significantly impact their functioning and development in the areas of language, behavior, cognition and school-readiness (Brauner & Stephens, 2006). Continue reading The risk of social-emotional deficits in language-impaired young children

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New Product Giveaway: Social Pragmatic Deficits Checklist for Preschool Children

preschool pragmatic checklist When it comes to assessment of social pragmatic abilities, the majority of SLP’s often worry about their school age students. Yet social-emotional disturbances and behavioral abnormalities in preschool children (<5 years of age) are more common than you think. —

Egger & Angold (2006) found that “despite the relative lack of research on preschool psychopathology compared with studies of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in older children, the current evidence now shows quite convincingly that the rates of the common child psychiatric disorders and the patterns of comorbidity among them in preschoolers are similar to those seen in later childhood. (p. 313)” Continue reading New Product Giveaway: Social Pragmatic Deficits Checklist for Preschool Children

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Articulation Carnival-App Review and Giveaway

Today I am reviewing a brand new app by the Virtual Speech Center -Articulation Carnival (requires iOS 7 or later; compatible with iPad).  Virtual Speech Center did a great job creating a fun app, where the kids get to go to a “carnival’ and practice their articulation at the word, phrase, and sentence levels.

Much like all their other apps, this one is super easy to use and very intuitive to navigate. With a variety of options to boot. Applicable to children of all ages beginning with 2+ years, it’s phoneme targets include 20 pictures per phoneme and per word position as well as phrases and sentences.  All phonemes are editable which is a very convenient options for therapists who need to customize their client’s phoneme lists based on the child’s present level of ability and needs. Continue reading Articulation Carnival-App Review and Giveaway

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Spotlight on Syndromes: An SLPs Perspective on Fragile X Syndrome

Today’s guest post on Fragile X Syndrome comes from Happily SLP, Carly Fowler. 

Fragile X is an inherited disorder that is associated with mental retardation and developmental disorder. This is a sex-linked disorder.  Fragile X is linked to the 23rd chromosomal pair; specifically the X chromosome. Physical characteristics of fragile X syndrome (FXS) in males are a long face, large ears, and macroorchidism (enlarged testicles).  Often individuals also have loose connective tissue, double jointed-ness and flat feet.  Many young children do not show these characteristics until they reach puberty (Abbeduto & Jenssen Hagerman, 1997). Continue reading Spotlight on Syndromes: An SLPs Perspective on Fragile X Syndrome

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Guest Post: Forming and Cultivating Positive Relationships with Middle School Students

Today’s guest post on working with middle school students comes from  Zoya Tsirulnikov, MS CCC-SLP, TSSLD , an SLP from the NYC’s Department of Education. 

The middle school population is fun and exciting to work with, however  it may prove to be quite challenging for some SLPs. This is my fifth year working for the New York City Department of Education at the Middle School level. I started out working with high school and elementary school students and quickly realized that this particular age group is different from its younger and older counterparts. Whereas at the elementary grades, students are learning new skills and concepts and building the foundation for expository text, the middle school students are expected to have bridged over to more rigorous text. Therefore, the achievement gap is very noticeable since students are tackling more de-contextualized discourse. Continue reading Guest Post: Forming and Cultivating Positive Relationships with Middle School Students

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Smart Speech Therapy LLC Receives ASHA Approved Continuing Education (CE) Provider Recognition

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Smart Speech Therapy (SST) LLC Receives ASHA Approved Continuing Education (CE) Provider Recognition

ASHA Approved CE Provider Status Demonstrates Commitment to High-Quality CE Programming for Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists Continue reading Smart Speech Therapy LLC Receives ASHA Approved Continuing Education (CE) Provider Recognition

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In case you missed it: It’s Not the Years of Experience, It’s the Type of Experience That Matters!

A few weeks ago I guest posted on Scanlon Speech Blog regarding which areas parents should focus on when selecting the right speech language pathologist for their child. In case you missed it here’s my take of what criteria does matter when it comes to clinician selection.

I have to admit that this post was actually indirectly inspired by a casual question from my mother.  I was shopping around for a new family doctor and when I found one, the first thing my mom asked me was: “How many years of experience does he have?” That got me thinking about how often I hear this question from parents of the children that I serve.  And the answer is quite often. But let us deconstruct this question for a minute. Is it truly reflective of what the parents want to know? The parents are of course inquiring about how experienced is the practitioner in treating their child. But will the answer they receive correlate with the appropriateness of care? Continue reading In case you missed it: It’s Not the Years of Experience, It’s the Type of Experience That Matters!