Spring time in Indiana is juuuuust about officially here. Matter of a fact I’m writing this from my patio in a sweatshirt because I just can’t sit inside one second longer. The sun is out but the breeze is still cool,and my yard is to that awkward stage of not totally needing cut but also lookin’ kinda scraggly. (Mowing the lawn is one home ownership chore I don’t hate, but not yet April. Hold your horses.)

Anyway, with the onset of spring comes my niece’s birthday! Well, my first niece’s first birthday. At the start of 2016 I had no nieces (or nephews for that matter) and today I have three.  For each first holiday Eva has been in the family for I’ve given her a seasonal book, so it’s only fitting that I give her a book/s for her first birthday. However as an aunt (and a pediatric SLP) I don’t want to give just okay books, I want to give great books. As far as we know Eva doesn’t have  language delay (I only screen her every time I see her) but that doesn’t mean that reading, books, and time spent with her parents and family isn’t important. I am a firm believer that any of these books are appropriate for children developing language, delayed or not. So if you’re a mom, an aunt, an amazing friend, a pediatric SLP with a stale-feeling library, you’re in the right spot.

Alright, now that I’m done underlining text, here’s a list of my Top 10 favorite books/series (right now) for babies and toddlers in no particular order:

1.Mouse Board Books-Laura Numeroff

You may be familiar with mouse & friends from their longer “big kid” book titles like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  or If You Give a Pig a Pancake. I love mouse books for lots of reasons but I like the repeated characters in each book, the small amount of text on each page, the pictures that portray lots of action (and therefore lots of opportunity for conversation) and the problem/solution set-up. Mouse board books are ones I can reliable grab off the shelf each time I see a new one and not even have to look inside, I just know it will be what I need.

2.Duck and Goose-Tad Hills

Oh man, Duck and Goose are my homies. These two are always up to something and encouraging a LOT of language along the way. (Bonus? They have really dry senses of humor which I totally love and appreciate.) These books always target early language skills like spatial concepts and yes/no questions to name a few without being a book solely dedicated to those concepts. Like the mouse books above, there’s typically a problem/solution situation which makes for great sequencing, re-tell and predicting opportunities for toddlers.

3. Touch and Feel-DK

These books have been around for quite some time so while they may not be new books for you, I couldn’t make this list without them. Real life pictures, minimal words and texture opportunities out the wazoo help set the stage for vocabulary, answering wh-questions, describing, and stating opinion.

4.TouchThinkLearn

I stumbled upon this books while on spring break this week  for the first time(because of course I was looking at kid’s books) and they became a quick new favorite! Good thing I’m only about 7 year behind things, huh? While on the pricier side ($13-ish on Amazon at the time of this post), these books are clean and full of bright, stimulating colors.

5.Sandra Boynton

Sandra is another one who probably doesn’t need to be listed, but I included just incase you aren’t familiar with her work. Silly stories featuring animal characters are simple (I’m looking at you, Pookie Pig) but the perfect length for a tiny attention span. She’s written several books, so this series is perfect if you’re wanting to build a library.

6.Dear Zoo

This lift-the-flap book features a repeated line (one line of text that repeats over and over again in the book, in this case “I sent him back”.) and is wonderful for animal vocabulary/noises, prediction, and toddler participation in the story.

7. Priddy Baby Books 

These are my go-to books. When I was doing early intervention I recommended them to every.single.family., and the were (almost) the only books I would take into homes. The one shown here is my particular favorite. Books are divided into categories and come in a couple of “first words” editions, too. Bonus? They use real pictures in all their books. * insert praise hands emoji*

8. Eric Carle

My man, Eric. Some of his stories can be long which make them tricky for short attention spans/short speech therapy sessions, but the pictures are engaging and the stories are classics. Enough said.

9.Your Baby’s First Word Will be Dada-Jimmy Fallon

So not only do I (really) love Jimmy Fallon, turns out his book is great for animal names and sounds, big/small, yes/no questions, and a repeated word.

10. Finger Play Book-Songs

I could talk to you all day long about why finger play songs are so dang important but just about any book you can find, and a simple Google search will tell you there are approximately a billion, that incorporates these are great for little learners. Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, B-I-N-G-O…you can’t go wrong, friend.

Any books you would add to this list? Leave me a comment and let me know!

**Note: at the time of this post, all books listed could be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other various book selling websites.

So you’ve been given a graduate student intern….now what? If I’ve had this question asked of me once, I’ve had it asked a thousand times! Spring is a popular time for many school SLPs to host graduate student interns, so for the next few weeks I’ll be brining you a blog series of everything you need to know when it comes to hosting, and rocking, a student intern experience…for both of you. 🙂

Before your student ever comes, there’s a few easy things you can do to make your transition a smooth one. Here’s a few tips–

• Be friendly–If your future student hasn’t already, reach out to her! Send a short e-mail introducing yourself and give her a little idea of what your caseload is like. Many times graduate programs will encourage their students to take initiative and contact you first, but if that’s not the case, break the ice. You can also find out what her treatment experience has been thus far in her coursework, which will help get you into a “teacher” mindset. Trust me, it will calm her nerves and yours. A week (or so) before your student is to begin their time with you, send a more specific e-mail including your daily arrival and start times, a list of what you’d like her to bring on her first day (if anything), where to park, sign in procedures for your school, and of course a reminder to pack her lunch!
• Be prepared— Maybe you asked for a student teacher or maybe you were assigned one. Either way, you’ll want to ready yourself, your room and your students.
  • Ready yourself–There are a ton of great  resources on Teachers Pay Teachers for SLPs supervising a graduate intern. Some of my personal favorites are this binder from Maureen, this freebie from Hallie, and this download from Carissa. No matter if you buy or create your own resource, having a “handbook” will be a huge brain-saver for you! I always include basic school information, a calendar with important dates (midterms, school release days, staff meetings), expectations for both my student and myself (more on that later!), all of my computer and copy machine passwords as you feel necessary, a building map and a space for my student to write semester goals for herself.  I also make my graduate students a separate data binder.  I do this for a couple of reasons: first, there’s just something about someone else in my data binder. My data is 90% written in “Rachel-code” and short hand I know and understand, so I don’t like the idea of someone trying to interpret it or messing with my system. (Hi, I’m Rachel and I’m super Type A about my data collection). Second, it’s a good first activity for your student. I give her a binder and data sheets that are the same as I use for congruence, but it’s a great learning activity for her to learn to not only organize a data binder, but also make her set one up logically as she gets to know my students
  • Ready your room–This is a good time for me to toss all the fall and Christmas activities  away that are still laying out ;). Taking 10 minutes to get rid of clutter will help your student learn where your resources are while she’s doing observations. If you have the space, I like to put a student desk in my room for my graduate student. This gives her a place to keep her personal items and to sit while you are at your desk. It’s a welcoming touch and I’ve had students in the past mention how much it meant to see that I had thought of them in that way.
  • Ready your students–Just as hard as it is for you to “turn over” your students for a semester, it’s a transition time for them. Especially for students with extra special needs, a “new SLP” can be a shift. I start talking about my incoming student teacher the week before she arrives. This helps my students feel more comfortable when my intern arrives and begins to do observation. When you’re used to working solo in your classroom for however long you have, you’ll be surprised what a different dynamic another person’s full-time presence can be! I also send out a parent letter 2-3 weeks before my graduate intern arrives. Your speech students are sure to go home and chat about the “new speech teacher”, and that can cause some unwanted alarm for parents. I always make the letter very positive and give them plenty of time with any questions or concerns.
• Be confident–My first reaction to getting a student teacher was “Uh, me? What do I know?” You know PLENTY! Again, when you’re used to riding solo in your room day in and day out, having someone watch your every move can make your heart race just a bit. You are a PRO at what you do and there’s nothing better for a student to see than you do what you were made to do, flub ups and all. After all, chances are when things go awry, and they will, ( my first student’s FIRST DAY of her internship with me? A bird flew in my classroom and sat itself down on my intern’s little desk next to mine. TRUE STORY, GUYS.) she’ll never know the difference. Unless it’s a bird.  Then she might notice that.

Next week I’ll be back with tips on what to do when your student arrives, setting a plan for her time with you, and lots more goodies for getting this adventure off the ground!

Are you familiar with One Little Word? You can learn more about the official program here, but the long and short of it is that each year you chose one word to define your upcoming year. You can have it chosen for you, meditate on it, select it at random, but somehow the idea is to chose one word to define your upcoming new year.

Last year my word was “purpose” and after 2016 has come to an official close I’ll (probably) write a post about how that word shaped my year. As I began praying about my one little word for 2017, I felt like just about any word I picked would be appropriate. The last 6-ish months of 2016 were doozies for all of us, and I was no exception. However the one word I kept coming back to for my new year was “grace”, and I feel it fits in 2 ways.

Receive

The first way that I think “grace” will fit my year in 2017 is my needing to learn to receive grace. Ephesians 2:8 says this: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and it’s not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.” I am the WORST at letting myself receive grace. I run myself ragged to be all, do all, achieve all, win all and am quick to fall pretty deep into frustration when I inevitably miss the mark. My hope is that I’ll continue to learn the power and freedom of receiving grace that I’ve done nothing to earn and to let myself be loved by my Creator for who I am.

Give
I’d be the biggest joker among us if I told you I was a pro at giving grace. Is it just me or is grace hardest to give to those people closest to us? I often find that my family and close friends are the ones I give the least amount of grace. My second prayer for 2017 is that I continue to learn and remember to give grace to others just like I’ve been given grace.

I recently finished Looking for Lovely by Annie F. Downs (if you haven’t read it, go pick it up so we can talk about it!) around the same time I began praying about my OLW for 2017. This was yet another place that I kept running into this word and when I decided that would be my word, I picked up this bracelet from Glory Haus here.  It’s a stunning rose gold and says “persevere” on the other side, another word I desperately need. More on that later. I’m such.a.visual.person.so I’m excited for this to join my arm of bangles to serve as a daily reminder to give, and accept, grace.

Do you do One Little Word, or something similar? I’d love to hear about the word you’ve chosen for the new year!

Here’s to a bright, new, shiny, grace-filled year.

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again! The leaves have changed here in Indiana, the air is a little cooler, and we’re all dreaming of Thanksgiving and Christmas (break, that is). But before that, the ASHA 2016 conference must be held! If it’s your first trip or your 10th, these are the 7 key tips I use every year to make sure my trip is the best yet.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan

ASHA is a fun time, but sometimes it can feel exhausting trying to see the sights and do all the things. Before you go plan out your sessions using the schedule of presentations you received in the mail, or use the list on ASHA’s website. Sessions can fill up fast, so try to have a “backup” session for each time slot, just incase the one you wanted is at capacity before you get there.

While you’re planning be sure to add some time in the Exhibit Hall! So many great vendors are there with lots of fun freebies and giveaways…including yours truly! 14 of my blogging besties and I will be at booth #514 in the hall with goodies of our own! I do hope you’ll stop by and grab our swag and introduce yourself! Internet friends are only more fun in real life.

We’re also hosting a super fun Meet & Greet on Thursday night where we’ll have more time to chat, including even more giveaways! (Noticing a theme here? We like giving you guys stuff.) Not sure when you can see me? Here’s a quick visual for you.

2. Dress for Success, er, Comfort

Comfort is KEY at a multi-day conference like ASHA. The SLP Bloggers and I will be rocking sweet matching t-shirt both days, and I’ve tossed my favorite jeans in my suitcase already. Lots of sitting and walking means it’s okay to be comfy. Don’t worry about being snazzy for other SLPs, we get it. We play on the floor, too 🙂 Tip: Add a light jacket or cardigan to carry with you. Philly is supposed to have cool temps this week, and conference rooms can be inconsistent in temps!

3. Walkin’ and Water

Speaking of multi-day conferences, walking is INEVITABLE! Leave your heels at home–your feet will thank you on Saturday. Trust me here. I’m packing these comfy shoes, some grey sneakers, and a comfy pair of boots for these 3 days. Also, bring a water bottle. Hydration is important, and there are few things worse than sitting through a short corse thirsty.

4. Let’s Talk Tech

ASHA is a tech-friendly conference, so make sure you don’t forget some tools! I always back an extra phone/iPad charger (I just saw one at Target today for $5). I also bring my headphones and USB charger cord and keep them all in a small zipper pencil-case to keep them from becoming tangled in the bottom of my bag. My iPad isn’t pictured here, as it was happily charging when I took this picture, but downloading session handouts from ASHA’s website and save them on your iPad in apps like iBooks, DropBox, or OneNote for quick access during presentations.

5. Keepin’ it old school

While tech is handy, nothing is worse than being in the middle of a session when your iPad (along with all your handouts) dies, or you need to scribble down the details for dinner with your friends. I always be sure to pack a pen and a small notebook for moments just like these!

6. Eating on a budget

Eating out 3 meals a day for 3 days can be a real downer on your budget. Here’s how I eat healthy (and in a pinch)– I pack granola bars, fruit pouches, and other “easy” snacks and light meals that I can toss into my bag or purse for the day. This way I’m saving a little cash, I have flexible meal times, and can munch when I need it.

7. Entertain Yourself

Don’t forget travel time! If you’re flying, don’t forget to bring  a book along or download a new movie onto your iPad. This is (part of) my current “need to read” list and I’m excited to crack one open in the car!

That’s it! Any other tried & true tips you’ve found helpful? I’d love to read them in the comments! See you in Philly!

And just like that, a brand new school year is right around the corner. I love the idea of brand-new, for both me and my students. We both need fresh starts, new beginnings and more chances to work together. Call it an inkling, but I have a feeling this year is going to be the best.year.ever. And so does Teachers Pay Teachers! Monday Aug 1 and Tues Aug 2 they’re giving you the chance to stock up on some really awesome resources for the new year.  I’m teaming up with my girl Jenna to show you what I’m shopping for this week!

Here’s what you must have from my store to get your year off right:

Editable Newsletters for Speech Therapy

This packet has had a face lift since last year, and now contains THREE levels of customization! Running low on color print access? No problem–I always fill mine out on the first day of every month and send them via e-mail! Click here to shop.

Articulation Ask Me Target Tags

Looking to better your home program and carry over? This packet contains a sticker for every sound in every position in both color and b&w! Simply print and stick these easy visual reminders for parents teachers AND students. Click here to shop.

AAC and You–Handouts Bundle

Introducing AAC for the first time? Have a new student with a communication device? I’ve had an awesome response from both parents and teachers from these easy informational handouts! Click here to shop.

Cut & Go Spatial Concept Books

I’m 90% sure every child on my caseload has a spatial concepts goal. These low-prep books are a hit in my room! Click here to shop. 

NOW. Wanna see what’s in MY cart? Check it out!

Articulation Binder Growing Bundles from Busy Bee Speech. I LOVE a good growing binder, and I’m excited to kick off articulation binders in my room this year! Click here to shop

Let’s Talk Articulation Progress Trackers from A Perfect Blend. I mean the title alone is reason enough to buy them! I’m really excited about the ownership this will give my students of their artic goals. Click here to shop. 

Wh-Questions with Real Pictures from Speechy Musings. My kiddos with wh-question goals just need real pictures. It’s true. Both they and I will be excited to get away from my standard set of pictures! Click here to shop

Flip Marks Bundle from Nicole Allison. I am just all about artic carry-over this year! I can’t wait to see how this helps my kids grow! Click here to shop

Happy Back to School 2016, friends! Whether you buy 1 or all of these things, I know your students willl have the best year ever because they have you!

Want to stay in touch? Click here to sign up for my monthly newsletter and grab some more freebies that will have you ready to roll for your first day of school!