Last week I wrote a post about using communication boards in a preschool classroom. This week I wanted to write a brief but hopefully thorough follow-up post about the effective use of such a tool in the classroom setting, and to examine its obvious limitations. One parent responded to last week's blog with the following: ''My daughter used ...

  Core words are a relatively small amount of frequently occurring words that are found in every language and make up about 85 percent of the vocabulary used. Core words are powerful and are the basis for communication. They are found in speaking, reading and writing and are mostly comprised of pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and ...

Working with young children with verbal apraxia in a preschool classroom poses many challenges. However, as we all know, there are also numerous opportunities for creative problem solving, especially with various technology and software programs at our fingertips. Today I would like to share a technique that has proven to be quite ...

Thank you to everyone who has been writing in over these past few weeks regarding the iPad apps and the many ways that the iPad can be used in speech therapy sessions. I love hearing your feedback and the various ways you are using these apps in your sessions! This week I would like to share my next iPad passion, namely the full version of ...

What better way to get children excited to learn language and communication skills than a birthday party? Toca Boca's ''Birthday Party'' is an interactive app that provides numerous opportunities to help speech-language pathologists expand language use and teach social skills, as well as AAC skills, in a fun and motivating way. ...

At the preschool where I work, we teach about the three holidays of Hanukkah, Kwanza and Christmas during the month of December. As you may or may not know, each holiday has various foods that are an important part of the core celebration, just as turkey is a key part of any traditional Thanksgiving meal. Last December I shared two ...

Today I have two fun activities that can be easily incorporated into your Thanksgiving curriculum sessions! OUR THANKSGIVING TABLE First is a language-based lesson that talks all about ''What We Eat On Thanksgiving Day!'' Using boardmaker pictures, I put together a sentence strip that reads, ''I EAT ____ ON THANKSGIVING DAY,'' and ...

Before writing today's recipe post, I decided to take a quick glance back at my November blog entries from the past three years. In doing so I realized that I have not written many recipes for turkey time! This year at our preschool, we are preparing a pint-sized turkey day feast right before our Thanksgiving holiday break. We have ...

Halloween is almost here! Have you been busy making all things pumpkin? Well here is a yummy recipe that can serve as the perfect use for left-over pumpkin puree and can be easily made in a classroom lesson setting! Ingredients 1 cup pumpkin puree 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 ...

Earlier this past week, one of the teachers I work with, Jamie Zarmanian, shared with our preschool classes this fabulous recipe for pumpkin spice Play-Doh. The entire classroom smelled like cinnamon cookies! The texture was perfect - soft, but not sticky and children really seemed to enjoy using a different type of Play-Doh to roll, ...