Core Vocabulary: Mr. Potato Head App: Create & Play

One of my VERY favorite apps to target language is the Mr. Potato Head: Create and Play! app.

With this app you can target SO much language and core vocabulary.  Better yet my students LOVE it!  Engagement, giggles AND targeting skills, what more can you ask for??!!

Who do you want to be?:  "who", "I", "you" Choose from about 30 different people such as princess, pirate, clown,  girl/boy, etc.

Where do you want to "go"?  "where", "you", "go" and 15 various locations such as circus, ocean, birthday party, outer space, etc.

What did he/she/it do?  OMG!  This app is so fun and creative.  I can't EVEN begin to tell some of the actions and/or core vocabulary you can target but I'll try: up, down, bad, good, eat, sleep, drink, finish, look, jump, make, ride, sleep, turn, etc.

Check this free app out! You won't regret it!  mr-potato-head-create-play

You get cue cards! You get cue cards! You all get cue cards!

     One of my "go to" tools to supports students is to use visuals.  The visuals I use most often are my lanyard cue cards.   I almost feel naked without them, lol!

       Visuals support so many of our students. We use visuals to teach, to prompt, and/or to remind our students of what is expected.  Classroom rules and/or expectations are often posted but some of our students require more than that. For others, we use visuals to teach or just to remind them of the hidden rules.  

      Here are just a few examples of when I've used my cue cards to support students in just the last week...Here's what they were doing the and cue card I showed them to demonstrate the expected behavior.

•        rolling around on the carpet → sit on floor
•        looking out the window → look at board
•        running around the classroom → sit in chair and/or walk
•        yelling out answers → raise hand or quiet mouth
•       grabbing things →  quiet hands or wait
•       yelling → deep breaths or ask for a break

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing staff tell my students what NOT to do rather than WHAT TO DO!  If we want people to be successful we should be clear with what we are expecting!!

I recently updated the cue cards for my school district, I'm sharing them with anyone who wants them.  Let's be clear with what is expected!  We use visuals to support ourselves each day.  Why wouldn't offer the same for our students?

You get cue cards, you get cue cards, we all get cue cards! 

6 sets of cue cards or just 1 set of cue cards?  

Print them back to back on card stock, laminate, hole punch, put them on a book ring and USE! :)

Becky

no, not, don't!

We definitely had some fun teaching the core vocabulary of no, not, don't in our primary classroom. 

The "mystery item" was the PieFace game.  All their little eyes were definitely on me which isn't always the easiest feat.  This game offers so many opportunities to target core vocabulary such as NO!, I don't want to, I don't like, not me! please don't make me, etc.  Believe me I was being sincere with my protests but in the same breath I will do just about anything to hear my students voices.  They made me "go'" and play some "more".  Good thing my mystery box was also packed with baby wipes and a hair tie, lol. 

Only one of my students was interested in braving it.  After being splashed with the whipped cream, he verbalized "I don't like" quite sincerely.

What would you put in the mystery box to teach no/not/don't? 

Core Language Group...the mystery box

Don't you love my interactive core board?!  I love it and so do my students! The power of communicating with these 60 words is incredible.

Within my 30 minute group, I utilize a variety of materials to keep my students engaged but try to stay within the same structured format using a mini schedule.  I use songs, quick repetitive books, some type of practice on the smart board, a fun YouTube video, and then the students favorite part...the mystery box.

My students LOVE to see what is in the mystery box at the end of each group. One of my students jumped up last week, ran to the core board, and pulled off "open".  I seriously teared up and may have raised the roof, lol!  But seriously, I just love when my students make these connections and recognize the power of communication.   

So "what is it"...  the mystery item varies depending on the core word of the week but so far it has included: balloon rockets, car tracks, gears, windups, my iPad, etc.  Today the mystery box item was "Pie Face". Yes, you heard me right, I let the kids splash whip cream on my face.  The language, the engagement, the joy made it worth it.  I told them, "I don't like" and "I don't want" but really in my heart I was saying "I love".  Crocodile dentist was the plan for tomorrow's mystery item but I believe Pie Face will return again tomorrow. 

Pictures to follow tomorrow... 

How do you build excitement and engagement during your language groups??  What would you put in the mystery box?

Are you okay?

I'm a pretty positive person and tend to wear a smile as my resting face, lol.  With that said yesterday just about everyone I interacted with said "hey...are you okay?".  I really tried to fake it but I guess I just don't have the best poker face.

Nope...it was a particularly rough day on top of a rough week. I'm a solver.  I LOVE challenges.  I love problem solving but some days or weeks can be just too much.  I really have a hard time seeing my teammates stressed out or even worse hurt.  Sometimes the behaviors in our classrooms can really just drain us.   For lack of a better word, it sucks.

I consider myself blessed to be a part of an amazing team!  We ended our day by going to our local watering hole.  We laughed, we problem solved, and then we chose to our end of day by agreeing to unplug and take care of ourselves this weekend.   Without a doubt, Monday will come.  By taking care of ourselves this weekend, we will be better able to address the issues and behaviors at hand.

I fell asleep watching a movie with my family at 7:30 last night.  So sad but SO needed.  Today, I went out to lunch with my hubby, took a nap, and now I"m working on my lessons for the week while I catch up on all my Dateline and 20/20 shows.  Tomorrow, we are headed to Six Flags as a family.  I''m not gonna lie, I'm still stressed about what Monday will bring but I know that by taking care of myself, I'll be ready.

How do you take care of yourself?   What do you do when things aren't "okay"?  What are you watching?

Listen and Do

Do you have students who you know ARE listening but who don't always demonstrate that they are by following through?  Many of my students REALLY struggle with this!  Many of my students understand the concept of following the group plan but don't always demonstrate the skill without prompts.  Is it prompt dependency?  Processing time?  There are so many variables...What to do??  The intermediate teacher and I decided to provide some explicit instruction and practice with our students during group last week.

First, the intermediate structured learning teacher, defined what "listening" is by reviewing whole body listening with the students.  She utilized the Whole Body Listening book from the We Thinkers curriculum. 

I then introduced a social story to teach the idea of "Listen and Do".  While reviewing the story, we prompted "listen" and "do" on our classroom core board.  We then practiced this skills with a game of following directions.  We utilized the "pretend to be like a" Boardmaker activity that I used when teaching the core vocabulary of "like".  The students had a blast listening to the various animals and vehicles and then pretending to "do". 

https://boardmakeronline.com/Boardmaker/Play/20728881/false

Finally, we ended the week by practicing many of the "all calls" the general education teachers are using in their classrooms.  We thought this would be a great way for our students to demonstrate to their peers that they are a part of their classrooms, help them to recognize that this is a cue for them to attend to a direction, as well as to "listen" and "do".   J emailed the general education teachers requesting all of their all calls and then I created a slide deck for our practice.

How do you support your students to "listen" and "do"?

Becky

What do you "like"? Or what do you want to be "like"?

What do you like???

I like a lot of things...coffee, wine, date nights, sleeping in,... :)
The things we like make us happy, they fill our buckets, and are what we seek.  Here's my plan to teach this vocabulary to my primary classroom this week.

Mini-Schedule	Core Group Mini-Schedule
Video	Power Words 16 Part 3 “Like” (TeachersPayTeachers)
Book	https://boardmakeronline.com/Boardmaker/Play/20640911/false
Practice	https://boardmakeronline.com/Boardmaker/Play/20642629/false
Song	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frN3nvhIHUk&t=0s&list=PLfglx-VvJeZGir6oQtz6RHupzMYeyGhVp&index=2
Mystery Item “Do you like?...I like!	Balls, cars, bus, ipad, ipad, candy, popcorn, farm animal, gears The mystery box this week will be filled with things that are liked. What do you like? Great opportunity to practice "I like"

We will also target what we can or want to be "like".  I can pretend to be "like" anything I want to be and so can my students.  Here's the plan to target to teach being like something else.

Mini-Schedule	Core Group Mini-Schedule
Video	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LIiyadPA6E&list=PLfglx-VvJeZGir6oQtz6RHupzMYeyGhVp&t=74s&index=13
Book	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUcdM5KbqwE
Practice	https://boardmakeronline.com/Boardmaker/Play/20643193/false
Song	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRmivbNgQk&list=PLfglx-VvJeZGir6oQtz6RHupzMYeyGhVp&index=9&t=0s
Mystery Item Be like...	various vehicles and various animals

What do you like?  How do you teach "like"? :)

Becky

Teaching expected behavior

We need to teach our students EXPLICITLY what is EXPECTED behavior.  But how do we do that?  

Michelle Garcia Winner uses the language “expected” and “unexpected” to define behavior within a group.   For some students the terms expected and unexpected can be a bit abstract. In order to make the concepts a bit more concrete, I've been using the terms "stop" and "go".

GO behaviors are things people do that are “expected”.  They often make people feel good or comfortable.

STOP behaviors are things people do that are “unexpected”.  They often make people feel bad or uncomfortable.

As soon as my students have an understanding of "stop" behaviors and "go" behaviors, I begin to introduce the vocabulary of "expected" or "unexpected".

I often teach this concept by simply sorting behaviors into stop and go with a Boardmaker sort Stop and Go Behavior Sort.   There are MANY books that can be used to teach this concept as well. Here are some of the books that I like to use.

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Cookies?	Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
I Can Make Good Choices	David Parker
I Have Manners	David Parker
Clark the Shark	Bruce Hale
David Goes to School	David Shannon
Duck Rabbit	Amy Krause Rosenthal Tom Lichtenheld
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?	Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
How Do Dinosaurs Say I'm MAD?	Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends?	Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
How Do Dinosaurs Stay SAFE?	Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker	Christianne Jones
Little Dino's Don't Hit	Michael Dahl
Little Miss Chatterbox	Roger Hargreaves
May I Please Have A Cookie?	Jennifer E. Morris
May I Please Have A Cookie?	Jennifer E. Morris
No, David	David Shannon
Should I Share my Ice Cream	Mo Willems
The Busy Beaver	Nicholas Oldland

Here's a fun video my students have really enjoyed that further illustrates this concept. :)

Becky

"Think About Others" kind of person vs. a "Just Me"

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Social Thinking?  I personally think Michelle Garcia Winner is a genius! Teaching others how to think about being social can be extremely challenging but the ideas and vocabulary she has shared has been game changing.

This week during a 2nd grade social language group, we will be introducing the students to the idea of being a "Just Me" vs. a "Think About Others" kind of person.  We all have "Just Me" moments but most of the time we try to "Think About Others".  We think about others ALL the time... in the grocery store, in traffic, in the lunchroom, etc.   For some of our students this is a really difficult concept to understand let alone apply.

In order to introduce this vocabulary, I wrote a story that we will review at the beginning of our group.  If you have a BoardMaker account you can check it out  here Just Me vs. Thinking About Others   If not, here's a PDF  Just Me vs. Think About Others

After we review the story, we will be watching some youtube videos and identifying if the characters are being a "Just Me" or a "Think About Others" kind of person.   Moving forward, we will follow one of Michelle Garcia's lessons in which the students each take a turn during group time being a "Just Me" while the "Think About Others" group has some fun together.

I try my best to be a "Think About Others" kind of SLP.  Let me know what you think!

Becky

"go" core vocabulary explicit instruction

Hi All,
We will be introducing the core words of "go" to the primary classroom this week .  I've attached the 
group instruction plan for this week!  I'm excited!

I will upload a picture of my mystery box later this week. :)

Hope someone finds this helpful!

Becky


Group #1

Mini-Schedule	Core Group Mini-Schedule
Video	stop and go (wing woroks)
Book	Go! Go! Go! (BM Core first book)
Practice	Animated Power Point -GO (TPT purchase)
Song	Go Video Model Song (TPT Purchase)
Mystery Item	Balloon rockets

Group #2

Mini-Schedule	Core Group Mini-Schedule
Video	Where are you going?
Book	Look at them Go! (TPT Purchase)
Practice	Animated Power Point -GO (TPT purchase)
Song	Go Video Model Song (TPT Purchase)
Mystery Item	Balls in a jar

SuperHero Goal Setting

This week in the intermediate classroom the theme is Superheroes.  With it being the beginning of the year, I thought it might be a great way to tie in “goal setting” by having the students identify a goal or two they’d like to work on during our group or in general at school.  They can create a superhero name and then develop an "I can" statement for their superhero.  If time allows, we will take a picture of the students wearing some fun props and then either use seesaw or the chatterpix app with seesaw to have them share these with their classmates and parents.  I've linked a google slide deck that we will be using as well as

Goal Setting Choice Board  via Boardmaker

SuperHero Goal Setting

Can't wait to see how these turn out!

Week 2

This week I FINALLY put the finishing touches on my interactive core board.

Mike, my awesome hubby, was super creative and found a way to attach it to an extra rolling pocket chart stand that we weren't using.  I'm excited to put this in place not just for groups but to also be rolled over to the various centers in the classroom!!!  

This week in the primary classroom we continued to revisit requesting by targeting the core word "want" with the following activities

Each week I'm planning on following a similar schedule for the primary classroom group.  Next week, I'll try to remember to add a picture of the mystery boxes that I made.

Mini-Schedule	Core Group Mini-Schedule
Video	What do you want to do?
Book	When I Want From Boardmaker Core First Learning
Practice	https://boardmakeronline.com/Boardmaker/Play/20158245/false Boardmaker stamping activity of students’ favorite items
Song	“I want” from Tuned Into Learning http://www.tunedintolearning.com/product/volume-7-emerging-speech-oral-motor-skills-music-cdcd-rom-set/
Mystery Item	Windups

Week 1

Week 1 is over.  As 1st weeks go this was a pretty great one! :)  Catching up with all my colleagues after an amazing summer was great but seeing my students was even better.  Hearing "Mrs. Edge!", the smiles, and the grab of my hand completely filled my bucket and reminded of why I do what I do.

Every year, I pick a professional goal to target.  My goal this year is to fully implement core vocabulary.  I've worked with our districts print center to create an interactive core board in both of the structured classrooms I work in.  I'm super excited to put them in place!  My husband is attaching them to some rolling carts that we had at school that weren't being used.  Once they are complete, I'll attach some pictures. :)

While the boards aren't done, therapy doesn't wait. :)  Within the primary classroom, we targeted the word "want" for the week.  I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of "want" but felt the first week was a good week to target using our words vs. behavior.  Our language group this week looked like this:

Video Song	What do you want?
Video Book	Want from AAC Language Lab (may require annual subscription of $19.99)
Interactive Smartboard	Animated PowerPoint "Want"  (TPT purchase)
Video Song	Want Video Model Song (TPT purchase)
Mystery Bag	A big old bag filled with preferred items that would be of interest to each student!

Over the summer, I purchased an annual subscription to AAC Language Lab.  Holy smokes!  Best $20 bucks, I"ve ever spent on a professional item.  What a wealth of information/materials!

Sam, the primary teacher, and I made eye contact multiple times during the group that stated "wow".  It was amazing how well the students were engaged and present especially during a week 1 group. "Want" for the win!

Year 20 and still LOVE my job!

Hi All!

I've decided this year is the year, lol.  Every year for 20 years, I've said that I need to write "IT" down.  My hope is that I will make the time to do just that even if it's only once a week.  My goal with this blog is to share my ideas but more importantly to share why I remain so passionate about being an Autism SLP.

I'm not going to lie...I'm disappointed about summer vacation coming to an end.  Being able to focus on myself, my family, my friends, etc. is critical.  If I'm being really honest, I'm not that great at the home-work balance thing.  "Work' seems to just take over my life. Or maybe it's that I'm an over achiever, a perfectionist, and that I love the rush I get every single time I see one my students "getting it".  Having these built in breaks requires me to practice self care which makes me a better everything.

So what is the "it" I'm planning to blog about?  I'm really not sure.  I'll probably share lessons and/or supports, some inspirational moments, definitely some of the funnies, but also some of those moments that aren't so great yet motivate myself and my team to find a way to support our students.

Here's to year 20!

Becky