What A Crazy World

Good morning, guys!

It has been a crazy week so far and I am starting my day a bit later today, albeit with green tea in hand, like I always do. I was pleasantly surprised to get on Blogger this morning and see some surprising traffic on my dear blog here and it warmed my heart. So thank you!

Today I'll be going to see my most furthest away kiddos and ironically, they all are toddlers or younger, so many of the Easter activities I've been using lately just won't cut it. I'm mourning the loss of a couple pieces of Mr. Potato Head's body but the kids don't seem to care. I think this is maybe the fifth Mr. Potato Head that has been a part of my traveling therapy circus since 2011. :)

Anyways, yesterday was one of those days that I didn't have anything *new* for therapy really but I was proud to be able to make a few things "work" for my kiddos in a new way.

Take the cult favorite, "Articulation Chipper Chat" from Super Duper- I used it with a kindergarten friend who is working on an odd goal in my opinion, word-finding. We played a version of "I Spy" in which she both had to work at using descriptive terms to help me find objects and vice-versa, and then had to name all of the objects suggested. I purposely picked non-everyday vocabulary in each photo scene. Yes, it is struck me as very odd that I have found myself using some of the same strategies I used in grad school for my adult Wernicke's patients with a 5 year-old and it's actually been working. I might do a little more research into this as time goes on.

For the rest of my kiddos, we played with the Articulation Easter Basket Hunt game again, this time looking for the carrots. I'm for real, this game has been a hit and I can't believe I've already gotten 2-3 sessions out of it. I even was able to use it for grammar and language goals.

I also decided to make a visual for one of my kids working on using appropriate volume at home...it has a picture of a "loud lion" and "quiet mouse" to help them learn to self-identify their own vocal behaviors. You can get it for free right now for download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

                                                         Mouse/Lion Voice Poster 

I just want to encourage you guys, wherever you are, to keep doing what you can, with what you have, where you are, to quote one of my favorite sayings. If you are anything like me, your heart may be feeling a little heavy right now, but it is not anything you are not equipped to handle, no matter how much you may feel otherwise. Dig in your heels, do some killer therapy, and worry about the rest later.

The only things I can really control are my songs, and my behavior. The rest? If I focused on it, that would lead to insanity.” — Taylor Swift, in Glamour UK

Chips, Ranch, & Easter Articulation Fun

Saturday. I've had a splitting headache since yesterday around 8pm and it has yet to completely go away.

That being said, I just had to make a run to Albertson's a little bit ago and pick up some tortilla chips, salsa and ranch dressing. If you're not from Texas or not from the South, you should know that this trifecta is highly addictive and popular among us women down here. You can find many of us sitting at Chili's just getting our chips and salsa on for hours. Personally, I started craving this yesterday at the onset of my headache and finally just decided to give in.

Now that my craving's been conquered and my head is throbbing just a little bit less, I wanted to let ya'll in on Friday therapy going-on's. All of my kiddos were "afternooner's" which gave me time to put together a fun, new Easter-themed game: "Articulation Easter Basket Hunt"!

Using our articulation words/bunny puppet from "Bunny Body Parts"...

Going on an egg hunt...

It's hard to see through my less-than-professional iPhone photography skills, but the idea is that you cut out the hole in the Easter basket and then the kid can move it across the other page and wait for either a carrot or egg to pop into the "viewfinder", so to speak. Then the kid simply produces their target word as many times as is indicated on the egg or carrot! I slowed the activity down by giving them an actually Easter egg to put in a bag as they produced their target word.

All my kiddos thought it was super fun and enjoyed moving the basket around in search of an egg (we only looked for eggs yesterday). Next week I'll be using the same game but have the kids look for carrots, instead.

You can download "Articulation Easter Basket Hunt" in my TpT for a buck or like & share the link on the blog's Facebook page for a chance to win it free! No one has shared the link yet so I will be extending the giveaway until tomorrow (Sunday) night at 6pm. So go share and be the first to grab it! Facebook page is HERE @ Speech-Love-Texas.

Is there a snack popular to your region that you just crave time to time? Is it my beloved chips and ranch?

Let me know in the comments along with your favorite Easter/Spring themed articulation activity floating around right now. :)

Have a fantastic weekend, ya'll!