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IGetItApps Giveaway: I see-quence Social Skills Stories, My Shedules at School and at Home

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Amy from IGetItApps I am able to bring you the following Mega Giveaway:

3 copies of I see-quence Social Skills Stories

3 copies of  I see-quence My schedules at School

3 copies of I see-quence My schedules at Home

So enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below and don’t forget to comment on which app you would like to receive if you win! Continue reading IGetItApps Giveaway: I see-quence Social Skills Stories, My Shedules at School and at Home

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Guest Post: How to Jazz up your Speech Therapy Sessions on a Shoestring Budget

Hello Smart Speech Therapy readers!  My name is Lindsey and I started a blog called Word Nerd SpeechTeach in December 2012. I love creating products and sharing the activities that I do with my kids in speech therapy. Today, I am bringing you a blog post about great dollar store finds to jazz up your therapy sessions!

I love the dollar store when it comes to therapy activities. I can’t leave the store without some awesome finds to incorporate into therapy sessions. Recently, I stopped at my local dollar store and (surprise, surprise) found some great items to spruce up my therapy sessions!! Continue reading Guest Post: How to Jazz up your Speech Therapy Sessions on a Shoestring Budget

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App Review and Giveaway: Verbal Reasoning by Virtual Speech Center

Today I am reviewing a great app, which targets verbal reasoning skills in children and adults. Verbal Reasoning by Virtual Speech Center was created to target the following:

Adults with cognitive deficits caused by TBI, stroke, or other brain injuries as well as with Aphasia

Children with autism

Children with language disorders

It is intended for  individuals ages 12 and up and includes such activities as: Continue reading App Review and Giveaway: Verbal Reasoning by Virtual Speech Center

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What is practice effect?

Practice effect is the change in performance  resulting from repeated testing.  In other words if a test is given to the child too soon, then his/her performance may  improve due to the practice effect (remembering the test items).

Why do we need to know about practice effect? Its important to know regarding practice effect  because following retesting we need to know whether the child’s performance has actually improved or is the improvement a result of  retesting provided too soon.

When can the same test be readministered to a child? Major testing companies such as Pearson and Pro-ed use a 2 week interval between readminstrations of developmental tests for the purposes of test-retest reliability. Why do they do that? Well if you wait too long they can’t tell “if differences in scores are due to the test being unreliable or due to developmental factors.”

So how long should we wait to readminister the same test to a child?

Review the test-retest reliability in the manual. Based on those results you will see that if you wait more than two weeks (e.g., 3-4 weeks) following original test administration it should eliminate the practice  effect.   For more information regarding the practice effect in speech language testing click here

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Articulation Assessment ToolKt

I have been looking for a good articulation assessment instrument for quite some time so when Sunny Articulation Test app came my way I was very excited to put it into action by using it with some of my clients.  I wanted to see how this “test” app compared with traditional articulation tests such as Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 or Photo Articulation Test-3.

So here we go:

When you log in the first thing you do is set up a client profile. The process is very simple all you have to do is add the name and birthday and the app will calculate child child’s exact age in years and months. To protect client privacy you may only do the first name without the last name. Continue reading Articulation Assessment ToolKt

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Social Quest App Review by Smarty Ears

I’ve recently got an opportunity to use the Social Quest App by Smarty Ears with my clients.  After using the app for a while I decided to write a review because I really like what the app has to offer, especially because there aren’t that many apps targeting social pragmatic skills in upper elementary, middle school and high-school aged students.

What I like about this app:

Social Quest uses photographs with real life  situations. Essentially students go on  social problem-solving quests in various locations such as community, home, and school and earn up to 70 “rewards” linked to social competencies.

You start with the main screen offering you several choices: Settings,  Select Students,  Report Card, Help    Continue reading Social Quest App Review by Smarty Ears

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New Giveaway: Creating a Functional Therapy Plan: Therapy Goals, Objectives & SOAP Note Documentation

slide1Recently I did a series of lectures for a graduate speech language pathology program regarding how to create the most effective therapy plan following the client’s assessment.  The learning objectives for the presentation were as follows:

1. Identify the difference between goal and procedure
2. Describe three phases of intervention planning and the nature of goals and procedures at each phase
3. List differences between LTG’s, STG’s and SG’s
4. Explain how to write brief and functional SOAP notes
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iMix- Scramble words Giveaway

  Today I am doing a giveaway of iMix- Scramble words, a cute game of mixing and matching parts of different characters and the syllables attached to them.

Great for toddlers and preschoolers.

Touching each syllable will pronounce it, while touching the large speaker icon will pronounce  the full name of each character.

How can SLP’s ‘appdapt’  it for speech language therapy purposes? Continue reading iMix- Scramble words Giveaway

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Book Review and Giveaway: My Toddler Talks

 Today it is my pleasure to review a book written by a NJ based, fellow SLP, Kimberly Scanlon of Scanlon Speech Therapy LLC entitled “My Toddler Talks“.

What it’s NOT! As Kimberly points out this book is definitely NOT a replacement for speech language therapy. If you are a parent and are concerned with your child’s speech language abilities you should certainly seek appropriate consultation with a qualified speech language pathologist.

What it is! A nice and functional collection of suggestions on how caregivers and related professionals can facilitate language development in children between 18-36 months of age (give or take). Continue reading Book Review and Giveaway: My Toddler Talks

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New Webinar: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: An Overview of Deficits

Course Abstract

This course will provide an overview for speech-language pathologists regarding how alcohol consumption during pregnancy affects the structure and function of a child’s developing brain. It will also describe symptoms of alcohol-related speech/language deficits in children of varying ages from infancy through adolescence, as well as list challenges with reliable identification and diagnosis of alcohol-related deficits.

Course Learning Outcomes

  • After this course, participants will be able to list the terms associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
  • After this course, participants will be able to explain FASD-related diagnostic challenges.
  • After this course, participants will be able to describe how prenatal alcohol abuse can change the structure and function of the developing brain.
  • After this course, participants will be able to describe symptoms of alcohol- related speech/language deficits in children of varying ages.

Time-ordered Agenda

0-10 Minutes Overview of alcohol-related disorders and relevant statistics
10-40 Minutes Overview of changes in brain structure and function related to alcohol damage
40-55 Minutes Overview of alcohol-related symptomatology in children of varying ages
55-60 Minutes  Conclusion; Q & A

Course Details

Monday, January 28, 2013 at 12:00 pm EST via SpeechPathology.com

Course Fee:

Subscription Based ($99 per year)