To mark the 100th episode, Dan (our business manager) interviews Denise about her favorite episodes, the beginnings of the podcast, and what the future holds for The Speech Umbrella.

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Free Resource Library
Where Everybody Knows Your Name 
Interview with Char Boshart 
Interview with Dr. Shereen Lim 
To Infinity and Beyond 
The Power of Too 
Follow the Narrative Road 
The Conversation Game 
Phonological Awareness Tracking Tool 
...

The saying “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink," applies here—you can set up a great therapy session but you can’t make them interact or attend. So what can you do?

 The great news is, we can get interactions going and we can engage them. Use the simplest tools for optimal engagement with balloons. Here's a great idea.

Therapy activities that do double duty are my favorites. Here’s an activity that can be used for articulation or developing early listening and phonological awareness. 

For articulation it is perfect for clients who are working on early CV and VC words, and it’s engaging because there is glue! And cotton balls!

If you’re doing PROMPT therapy here are the target words by stage. No worries if you are not PROMPT trained, these words and this activity are still effective...

Conjunctions can be a tricky thing to master. Knowing how difference conjunctions function and where to place them in a sentence are common problems. Here is a simple activity with Tinker Toys that helps get the concept across. Chose a book or movie the client is very familiar with, or even watch a short video together, then try this activity.  You can also listen to my podcast episode all about conjunctions! Don't forget to sign up for my Free Resource Library (link below) to get a list...

Snack time is always a great time to practice social skills, but with this restaurant activity you can really optimize the social opportunities! Clients have multiple opportunities to ask others what they want, record it, and then fulfill the orders. Just like in a real restaurant!

Snack Time Social Skills

Get sample goals for conversation at the Free Resource Library thespeechumbrella.com/free

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi. Welcome to Simple Tools Under The Speech Umbrella. I'm Denise...

Here’s a quick video that explains how to delete and substitute sounds or syllables from words for phonemic awareness practice. It shows different levels of cueing to help parents understand how they can make home practice successful. It’s based on a method taught by David Kilpatrick. 

Dr. Kilpatrick’s book on treating reading disorders is one of the best resources I’ve used. I’ve found it can help remediate articulation disorders that are complicated by...

Who doesn’t love an activity that is 1) drop dead easy 2) takes no prep time, and 3) works on several vital communication skills all at once? It’s easy to get lots of mileage from singing BINGO with your clients when you do a few simple things. It’s a great therapy strategy for these areas:

• Establishing and maintaining eye contact
• Teaching imitation
• Establishing and strengthening reciprocal communication
• Improving attention
• Highlighting the rhythm of speech
• Incorporating...

Shoo Fly is an all around great activity on so many levels.

• For therapists using PROMPT it addresses sequenced sounds, rounding, and lingual alveolar sounds, plus integration of jaw 3 and 4 grading. 
• For therapists working on S blends you get lots of repeated practice with the word “Swat.”
• For therapists using complex articulation targets, here’s a great S blend word with complex movement. 
• And finally—whatever approach you use, you can pack this Shoo Fly...

Teaching your clients to point can be a lot of fun. And who doesn't love a puzzle? Grab a puzzle, a pointer and some tape and turn that love of puzzles into a great game to teach pointing. 

Featured in The Mindful SLP podcast episode 22 - Go! With AAC: Everything Has A Name

Kids who are on the spectrum need to learn to make eye contact. A lot of them love their A B Cs, too. This game combines these factors into a great way to teach them to make eye contact with you. 

Featured in The Mindful SLP episode 22 Go! With AAC: Everything Has a Name