I learned so much from the Five Day Osmo Challenge last week!  One thing that I have never made before was a sensory bin (to be honest all the sand/rice or whatever most fill them kinda grosses me out with all the kids touching it and it makes a mess).  But, Felice from The Dabbling Speechie shared her ideas for a teletherapy sensory bin which included colored straws and I thought my little ones would love it!  Plus, now that we're all learning from home I am the only one touching the items for now. So, I ordered some supplies, and here is what I came up with! ...
 Even though I am beginning my school year virtually, I have been thinking a lot about what face to face therapy will look like when we get to return to school.  Before the pandemic, I was a big fan of "make and take" therapy activities.  These are games, crafts or worksheets where we would "make" them or complete them during our session and then they could "take" them home for home practice.  I am planning on sticking to this kind of therapy when we return, mainly because it's easy to print and go with specific goals targeted and it limits the sharing of materials when everyone has their one worksheet/game to make and do.  The best part is that no laminating is involved and most activities are just print and go! If you are currently working remotely these are also great activities to use when putting together a home practice packet.  Here are some "make and take" games, worksheets, and activities I like to use!  ...
I love mini-objects!  They are super cute and there are so many ways to play during therapy.  I decided it was time I organize my mini-objects!  I have a collection of mini-objects from Dinky Doodads (I bought the complete speech therapy set) and I also have the Lakeshore Alphabet Tubs.  So, when making labels I included both sets of objects on the label. Here's how I organized! ...
During my introduction to teletherapy this past spring I read quite a few books with my students.  I quickly found that not all books are great to read over teletherapy.  I mostly used a document camera to project the book to my students. I use the Osmo as a Document Camera but you could use a different one to get the same effect.  When choosing books for teletherapy I found that if I stuck to a certain set of criteria they were more effective.   First, the book couldn't be very large. If it was too big it didn't fit in the document camera frame very well.  Second, I wanted books that were not too wordy or long in length because keeping attention virtually can be a challenge (the books I chose are best for grade pre-K-2nd and they worked well with my students who have autism).  Third, I liked books that had some kind of interactive element like flip flaps which encouraged the students to respond or talk about the book while we're reading. I also trie......
Today I am sharing fifteen freebies that are great for back-to-school!  They are mostly for speech-language pathologists but some would be helpful to teachers too!  ...