ARtIC Lab {product review}

ARtIC Lab is a bilingual Response to Intervention (RtI) program for Articulation. The ARtIC LAB is developed for elementary aged students who are demonstrating mild articulation deficits.  

The program is meant to be used for sound placement instruction, intensive drill work, and sound generalization before referral for speech and language services. That's an ideal situation.. the 'before referral'. In my school program I used it after referral and screening completed by the SLP for student who demonstrated a mild deficit, where I did not suspect a disability requiring a full evaluation.  Over this year I had about 10 different kids in a tier 2, pull out group for RtI instruction. The ARtIC Lab was perfect for this group of kids. It would also work well for SLPs with enough room to run 'stations' in your room. 

The contents:

- 5 Echo Microphones

- 5 Webber Phones

- 10 Homework Folders

- 10 Practice Pages Folders

- Electronic Spinner 

- 5 Tally Counters

- Chart

- CD with form and probes

- Resource guide with forms and probes

- English stimulus easel

- Spanish stimulus easel 

The program targets Errors on R, L, S, SH, CH. In Spanish it targets R, S, CH. The program is developed to be 20 hours long. It was field tested in Texas. During the testing most of the children made enough progress that they did not require referrals to intervention. In years past I have completed RtI intervention with children each year. During my experience usually on a couple of those student go on to require continued services. I used the activities in the ARtIC Lab to support that intervention strategy used in my building. All activities were age appropriate and supported by intervention strategies.

Why on earth do the kids go NUTS for this electronic spinner?!

We sat on the floor and the table to break into two groups during most of our time together. The variety of activities helped. The activities provide up to 5 learning stations depending on the number of students (3 kids, 3 stations). Since my groups were big and my room was small I had two stations each day and the kids worked in pairs. One student completed their work while the other student monitored their productions. The different stations include: listening, gross motor, emotion, building, game, writing, and SLP monitoring station. 

The kit contains test probes for each targeted sound, creating easy to track baseline data. 

Pros: The program is great for those SLPs who are new and don't have closets full of echo mic's, whisper phones and tons of worksheets for each sound. It's great for any SLP who wants to open the box and get going with the RtI! My friend and I always say we will pay for convenience! This program does that!   The bilingual option is helpful for many I'm sure, just not me particularly! 

Cons: The program doesn't have too many 'new' materials that most seasoned SLPs don't already have in their closets! With the price near $200 seasoned SLPs might find it frustrating to open a box to have similar items already found in their rooms. Most of my students still need direct intervention weekly on production and placement. I felt the program assumed that children are able to generalize and acquire sounds on their own. In actuality, I parked myself at one of the stations to work on accuracy EVERY session instead of just at the monitoring station

ARtIC Lab is available for purchase for $199.00 on the Super Duper Website. 

Have you tried this product? DO you use a center approach to therapy?

Summer Professional Development List

This post was originally published on Crazy Speech World to celebrate Jenn's one year bloggiversary! 


I always have really good intentions throughout the school year. I buy books, borrow books and really mean to do some professional reading on my own time.

But real life always happens. I read two chapters and then I'm too busy. A few months later I pick it up and read a few more chapters. This has been happening for years so this summer I'm planning to finish all those almost finished PD books!

I thought I would let you see what's in my pool bag for summer reading!

First up: Bringing Words to Life. 

I'm almost done with with one. Just a few pages to finish up, but it's going to make me feel great to finally finish it! 

From the Author: This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom.

Next: Thinking about You, Thinking about Me, Michelle Garcia Winner.

I've read bits and pieces of this one over the years, borrowing it from colleagues and friends. This spring I became an official member of the Social Thinking Blogging Team. Quite an honor to be asked! So I'm working on finishing this one cover to cover! 

From the Author: Students with social cognitive learning deficits face enormous challenges not only in their day-to-day relations with the world around them, but also in the fact that few professionals, educational or medical, understand the core of these student's deficits. One fundamental deficit relates to perspective taking - the ability of one person to consider the point of view and motives of another. Although this sounds like a simple process, it is in fact a hugely complex task that is crucial to successful interpersonal relations, and is a skill that anyone with a social cognition disability will struggle with. This book addresses the different ways this problem can present itself, the current thinking on how to approach the problem and a wealth of exercises and activities that can immediately be applied to the student. Illustrated with clear diagrams and tables, and with photocopiable handouts, this accessible text will be invaluable for anyone assessing, living with or teaching children and adults with this most abstract of all learning disabilities.

And lastly: The Source for Auditory Processing Disorders, Gail Richard.

I don't own this one, but I'm borrowing it to try to finish reading it! 

From the author: Find out WHY your students have difficulty with language processing and what to do about it. Dr. Gail Richard explains the neurological development of language processing in a way that makes sense. This book will change the way you do language therapy! Dr. Richard synthesizes years of research to explain the underlying neurological development of language processing. You'll understand how auditory processing and language systems operate and how that affects treatment decsions. The book gives tons of practical information, such as: how to differentiate between auditory and language processing disorders how to remediate language processing disorders using a hierarchical model based on neurlogical development specific skill strategies and compensatory strategies for language processing disorders and central auditory processing disorders (for students and classroom teachers) the components of central auditory processing assessment the components of functional auditory processing skills (e.g., auditory attention, auditory closure) case studies, sample diagnostic reports, and behavior checklists.

That's the reading list I'm working on! Are you reading anything great for professional development right now? Make sure you leave a comment and share so I can see what I should read next! 

Color Book: A favorite Resource.

I love it when I find a simple book that works wonders. I got more milage out of this 99 cent color book than I did out of anything else this year. 

It's actually a Reader's Digest book published in 2000. The link is at the bottom of the page to find it used on Amazon. Instead of 'Lift the Flap' it's a 'Match the Flap' book. 

The book has big pages with nouns for each color. The inside of the book has a secondary flaps that are different colors. Students flip over the interior flaps to find the match to the exterior. In the picture below you can see that I matched the orange color to the orange pictures! 

So why is it amazing for my preschool crowd? It's ideal for receptively and expressively identifying nouns. I used it a ton for labeling with two words. For example, 'orange crayon, orange popsicle'. I love it because the kids can touch the orange word and then touch the noun. It's perfect and the kids think they're reading! 

I've also used it for functions and associations with the vocabulary. My fluency preschoolers worked on making sentences (The carrot is orange.) My articulation kiddos working on s-blends said, "I spy" sentences. 

I'm in LOVE with this book!  Have you used anything similar?!

Going on a Lion Hunt {book companion}

Raaaaawwrrrr! We're going on a lion hunt! This is one of my favorite spring units to use in the preschool and early elementary crowd. I've had this unti ready to share with you for a while and I'm happy to finally get it up in TpT in case you want to use it this summer! 

This unit is 22 pages in length. A perfect mini unit to accompany the book, which you can find below on Amazon! 

Story Retell: Laminate pages 3 & 4 (keep them whole). Tape the two pages together so

that students can see all 8 different story settings. Cut out and laminate the groups of kids

on page 5. To retell the story, move the characters across the settings (school, path, mud,

sticks, trees, river, grass, cave) and then back the same way!

• Comprehension Questions: Use the included comprehension questions to target receptive

and expressive language. (pages 6-9).

• Packing for the Future: Cut apart the cards on page 11. Have your students determine what

they would need/want to bring on a safari trip. Develop sentences with the future tense and

pack your suitcase on page 10.

• Not that: Use the included sentences to target receptive language of negation. (page 12).

• Size it up: Sort the included animals into size boxes and then describe them using

comparatives and superlatives. (pages 13-14). 

• Ticket: After you complete the lesson, give each student a ticket to take home for their

• journey (page 15).

• Sign it: Use the included animal signs for jungle animals (page 16).

• Do-a-Dot: Use the included sheet as a reinforcer. Students color dots as they answer stimulus

prompts (pg. 17)

• Hide-A-Paw: Hide the included paw cards (pg 18-19) in your room. Have student say a

sentence describing where they find them (ie: UNDER the chair).

• Safari Match: Give students articulation cards and a game board (pg. 20). Print 6 copies of

page 21 and have students draw cards. Read the number on each card and say that many

articulation words. The first to match each of the 6 animals wins.

My students loved all these activities and I hope yours will too! You can grab it in my TPT store to easily download, print and use! 

Do you use any other safari themed books? If you'd like to win a copy of this unit just enter the rafflecopter widget below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Watermelon Phonological Awareness {FREEBIE}

Monday already? Don't worry if you're like me and running summer ESY or programming,  I'm getting back to the grind. Today is the first day of the summer literacy program I'm co-leading.

During our first week we will run pre-assessments and do baseline gathering. In past years, most of our program focused on phonological awareness skills. With that in mind, I'm planning on focusing on segmenting and rhyming during the first week.

To make that work, I'm playing with watermelons! This freebie is a group activity where the group can chant the Watermelon rhyme. Then let the kiddos take turns grabbing watermelons from a bag and determining how many syllable parts are included. Clap it, tap it or heck 'chomp it' to give your students the multisensory experience!

You can grab my Watermlon Syllable Counting Activity for free on TpT. 

We can follow up with Raffi's  Down By The Bay. I have it in my iTunes account, which is only a little bit embarrassing when it comes on over the Bluetooth in my car. After we sing this a few times, we will make our own class book with this TpT freebie I found"Down by the Bay Book Freebie". Witha focus on segmenting and rhyme throughout the first week we should have a better idea where our students are starting from!

Enjoy the freebie and make sure you leave feedback if you take it!

Phono Learning Center (App Review & Giveaway)

Phono Learning Center (PLC) is the newest app produced through Smarty Ears. The app is developed by Mary Huston, MS, CCC-SLP. Based on the Hodson's Cycles Approach, PLC is developed to target phonological disorders in children. The PLC is developed to fit in with your Cycles Approach or traditional therapy with 4 different games and a multi-user format.

Start by clicking on New Session. Add the characters or import them from the Therapy Report Center. 

The front page also links you to a homework page. You can email them to parents directly from your iPad. 

Add a student picture or an avatar. If you select Auditory Bombardment as 'on' there will be a quick auditory bombardment section at the beginning of  the app. At the bottom of the page you can select your phonological targets. 

Select the players you want to play for this round. Adjust the settings to fit the students using the app. Extra tidbits I think are important.You can change the app data collection to the level of prompts (imitate, prompt, independent). The app settings can be set to limit a single phonological target at a time (the Hodson's Cycles Approach) or multiple targets (a traditional therapy approach). 

During the Auditory Bombardment, tap the balloons and listen to the words being said. This is available during single player games.  

From this point the student can select from 4 different activities to practice the phonological process. 

The balloon game features a hot air balloon. The student says the word on the card and then drags that card to the balloon basket. The basket slowly fills with air before taking off!  I have the app set to phrase level for multisyllable words during this example. 

The matching app features a picture card at the bottom of the page. Student then flip over the yellow-backed cards to find the match. It memory with a twist. My poor little kiddo was really sick of saying TOMATO by the end, because he wasn't exactly a 'memory' champ. I on the other hand was super happy to have a tone of data since I had him say the pairs each time! 

The paper toss game was my student's favorite part of the app. First read the word in the given picture. The student then touches the paper with the picture on it.

The paper will crumble and is ready to be tossed into the basket! 

For the puzzle activity, the student says the word on the puzzle piece. I have it set on s-blend phrases here. After you say the word or phrase, tap the puzzle piece. It will float to the puzzle and turn into a picture piece. We had lots of fun with the guessing game portion of this activity, trying to figure out what the picture would be! 

Data collection is available throughout the app in the top right hand corner. Reports are available to share. I like using the 'almost' as a way to give me the idea of the level of cueing. If the kid needed an extra prompt I used the 'almost' scoring. 

To hear the app explained thoroughly check out this video! 

Phono Learning Center by Smarty Ears from Smarty Ears on Vimeo.

Pros: I'd love that the app has researched word targets based on Hodson's cycles. approach.  The app meets the expectations for professionals familiar with the Smarty Ears brand. Phono Learning Center features 4 entertaining activities, paired with the research based methodology for treatment, topped off with effective and efficient data collection. Instead of adapting apps to meet evidence based strategies, PLC is an app developed fully around EBP! I love it!

Cons: Some of the game activities didn't really have an 'ending'. The paper toss game for example. I'd love it if the app had a counter attached. Kids work so much better when you can give them a goal. I had to count aloud the 'shots made' for my little guy to keep him working to 30 points. ((Kinda like when I need a goal set on the treadmill! So I don't blame the kidddo!)) I'd love if it the 4 activities had a better way to 'finish' to keep my students working for a goal.

Future improvements: This isn't an expectation of the app, just my 2 cents! I'd LOVE to see a chart to show a students mastery of goals or schedules of cycles. For example, the SLP could track which weeks/dates had been spent on each phonological process. As it stands you can look back through the reports to monitor progress but I'm envisioning a chart that the SLP could just look across and see that they had spend x amount of session on a certain phonological process.


Ok.  Phono Learning Center is on sale for $14.99. Regular price will be $24.99. You can find it on iTunes.

Smarty Ears has donated one code for a lucky SRN reader! Just use rafflecopter below to enter for your chance to win the app!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Smarty Ears provided the app for this review. No other compensation was provided.

12 Things I learned at my first SLP job.

I made it. Summer break. Whew.

My clean up at the end of this school year wasn't the typical ((shove it in the closet and deal with it next year)) kind of clean up.

It was more like... holy cow you're starting a new job next year so you have to take all this stuff you've accumulated with you....

So I drove it to my mom's barn to store it for the summer!

 I decided to make a change in districts this year. I had to say a lot of bittersweet goodbyes after 3 years. I had the best students, parents, co-workers and friends in my old district. It was seriously the best place to start my SLP career. Making a change is always really hard for me. Just when I was feeling un-easy about it I opened a package and found two of these cards tucked in a candle holder. It was a random raffle package that I won.  

This immediately made me feel like 1000 lb. got lifted off my shoulders. It also made me break out my ugly cry in the middle of the school day. Once I pulled it together, I taped it to my wall and finished out the last two months of school. 

Now that I'm on summer vacay I thought I'd do a little reflecting on the fact that I've learned about 1023498435 things in the last 3 years that I could never have learned in graduate school. If you're a CF starting a new job here are some of the best lessons I learned in the last few years at my first SLP job: 

1. Be kind. To everyone. Everyday. Learn everyone's names. Thank your secretaries, clerks and custodians as many times as you can. Seriously be nice and things will go a lot easier.

2. Go out of your way to connect with families. There are a lot of reasons this is important. You won't get the full picture of your student's life if you don't know something about their family and their life outside the school day. Your parents will be much more likely to buy-in to your homework plans and carryover if you've made a personal connection with them.  Lastly, you are taking care of their baby. The most precious thing to them in the whole word. If you're working with their 3 year old they will feel so much better if they know you the heck you are!

3. Don't procrastinate. You'll need help and there is no getting around that.  If you are writing an IEP at home at 9 pm for an 8am meeting and then the printer doesn't work, you won't have time to make other arrangements.

4. Be a team player. Bite the bullet and volunteer to do things that take extra time. If you have a talent use it to help others. For example, whipping up visuals is super easy for me. Even when a student isn't on my caseload, I often make up data sheets or visual posters to support students going through our RtI program. Your team will appreciate your talents and you will be able to ask your team to help you with their specific talents.

5. Think generalization from day one. Ask your student's teacher what is the ONE thing you can work on to make the biggest difference in the classroom.

6. If you make a mistake, admit it and find a way to solve it. Then don't make that mistake again. You're going to make mistakes, so be gracious when you do!

7. Ask for help, but do your own research first. Your co-workers and administrators will be willing to help as you get to know the paperwork. If you can do the research yourself and spend the time to try to solve problems yourself before you check in for help.

8. You aren't done learning. Get involved with ASHA, blogs, conferences, whatever it takes. When a kiddo comes along and you haven't seen that disorder before, get busy researching.

9. There's nothing worse than being out of compliance or completing paperwork incorrectly. Your supervisors might not see how great your therapy is everyday, but the minute you're out of compliance they will notice. The take home message? Get organized early. Double check your dates and get with your teachers, clerks and intervention specialists. Get yourself organized before you get busy decorating that cute therapy office!

10 Adovcate for all things Speech and Language in your buildings. You might even need to advocate for new ideas within the SLPs in your district. Speak up when you have a good idea, but remember that you're new. Sometimes it pays to be quiet and listen to what seasoned SLPs have to say. They seriously know so much!

11. Document, document, and document. Remember, if you don't document it, it didn't happen.

12. You're just one fish in the sea. Remember that when it comes to scheduling, therapy time, etc. everyone needs 'time' with the students. Work with your team. Just get over the fact that you think you're done with your schedule the first time. It will change monthly if not weekly.

After I wrote about half of these I decided to ask my SLP blogging friends what they would share as their biggest lessons from their first jobs. Here's what they said....

Be flexible! Schedules change constantly in the school setting and it pays to just ''roll with it!'  Oh and use TPT (especially the free stuff) while you get started! - Nicole Allison

In my CF I learned so much more from the OTs! My advice is to get to know the other disciplines and learn as much as you can from them! - Carrie Manchester

You may think you learned a lot in school, but you will learn just as much 'real-world' knowledge in your first years on the job. There will be more meetings and paperwork than you ever dream of. Make friends with the secretaries and janitors - cookies at Christmas time are always a good idea. - Natalie Snyders

Think outside the box. Being creative is a necessity when all the standard methods aren't working. And back up everything on a thumb drive! - Maureen Wilson

Yes! And back up your thumb drive to Dropbox - Carrie (haha I loved this one)

Try to work with the OT/PTs as much as you can... either school or medical settings. You will learn a ton from them! -Kristin Minden

-You're not going to have all the answers! Tips and tricks will come with practice. Be sure you have reliable professions around you that can answer your questions or point you in the right direction. -Lauren LaCour


-Some administrators will put speech therapy at the very bottom of their list of priorities. It isn't like graduate school where you are surrounded with individuals who understand and value all that you do. Special Ed. teachers can be a great help when learning the IEP process. If your first job isn't a positive work environment and isn't a good fit for you - don't stay!  - Courtney Gragg

Get to know the teachers and their quirks, Teacher will probably think you have an easy job because you don't have a classroom. - Patti Bohlman

Don't get prideful and think you know more than the teachers or veteran speechies. Be respectful of the teacher's classroom if you want a good working relationship and be willing to compromise. - Felice Clark

Learn the curriculum your school is using. It will help your kids SO much. It's also your ob to be present in your building and education others. Many people won't be familiar with what you do. Advocate for your kids and profession. So many doors will open when you start  making those connections with staff members. -Jenn Alcorn

It's ok to ask for help. It's important to work together as a team... there is no I in team! Also make sure you learn the 'culture' of the building. Find out who to be friends with and who you can trust! - Miss Speechie


What do you remember as the most important things you learned in your first SLP job?

End of Year Certificates!

I'm a bit of a 'last minute Lucy'. Tonight when I was prepping for my clinic kids that I see after school weekly I whipped up some super cute 'awards'. Today was the last day I would see them before we switch to the summer schedule where I run groups and evaluations instead of individual sessions. My office manager mentioned certificates and I found an amazing website to print really cute and unique awards. My preschoolers loved them! 

I just printed these quick and easy certificates from Certificate Street. ((The mustaches were added to cover their names!))The Princess Award was the favorite and my 4 year old loved it! When you download each certificate, just use the free one. It says the free version will have a watermark, but it's just their company name in the bottom left hand corner.

How do you recognize your kiddos at the end of the year?

Speech Corner Reviews

The Speech Corner is a materials company for Speech Language Pathologists. If you’ve been to a state conference lately you’ve probably seen their booth filled with ‘Dot’ and ‘Double Dice’ products. When Rachel reached out and asked if I would like to review some of their products I said a quick ‘yes’! I already have a stack of the ‘Dot’ series on my desk, so I knew their other products would be interesting too!

My box arrived full of Double Dice products. Double Dice products center on the use of a special die that includes a larger plastic 12-sided die with shapes. Inside that outer shell is a numbered 12-sided die. The activities throughout the workbooks and card decks center around this unique dice set. In most game instances of play the child rolls the die and determines which shape is on the outside. They can then use the number inside to determine how many repetitions of that skill to practice.

I was sent a copy of the /l/ and /l/ blends workbook. Here is what is included in the workbook:

·       Reproducible worksheets targeting one, two, and three syllable /l/ words in the initial, medial, and final positions at the word, phrase, sentence, and carry-over levels. It also addresses initial /bl/, /fl/, /gl/, /kl/, /pl/, /sl/, mixed clusters, and challenging ”rl” at the word, phrase, sentence, and carry-over levels.

·       Contains a guidelines for play page, a game variations/suggestions page, certificates, tracking chart, and blank master pages.

·       Includes a unique large twelve sided double dice.

I also tested out some of the card decks that accompany the double dice. My favorite was the inferences deck. Play by spreading out the 9 different shape cards the table. Roll the double dice and determine which shape to uncover. Then listen to the social story and answer the corresponding question.

Pros: As you can see in the picture above the biggest asset to this set is the ability to use it in mixed groups. Each student can work on their own goals using the common tool (the dice). The kids loved it and it was really entertaining but not so entertaining that we didn't get work done! ((It's a fine line you know!))

Cons: I wish there was an articulation book that covered all sounds. It would make it much easier to be prepared for all the kids on my caseload. To cover all my current caseload I would have to purchase about 7 more books! 

The products in this review were provided, although no other compensation was provided. The opinions are solely mine.