Are you looking for ways to read with your preschool speech and language students while encouraging language growth and goals? Go beyond just reading TO your students and start reading WITH them! Here are five steps you can take to read a book with your preschool students. 1.  Talk About the Cover This is a great time to work on some predicting by asking, "Who do you think this book is about?" or, "What is this animal?" You'll love some of the responses.  The predicting skills used here are great.  You can help your students talk about who they think the characte ..read more

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in your speech room? If not, you may want to try it! There are so many fun activities and books that you can use to target speech and language goals at Thanksgiving. Your students will love this craft!  Try this easy turkey craft. It requires a little bit of prep work but really pays off. You'll need to cut: brown circles multiple colors of feathers turkey legs beaks (add a piece of red tissue for a wattle) I cut my students pieces for them, but if you have older students they may be able to do this quickly. When I am doing crafts like this I like to ha ..read more

Are you looking for ways to play with preschool-age children? It can be tricky to know what to do to encourage play and language while you are with small children. I know that when I started working with preschool students it took some time to really learn how important play was in their learning.  “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers. I learned quickly how much language learning happens during play with preschoolers. Here are some tip ..read more

  Next to summer, fall is definitely my favorite season. I love when you can start to wear sweatshirts and jeans outside, and I love to spend time outdoors with my family. One thing we love to do is go to the apple orchard that is right down the street from us and go apple picking. Last year I decided to bring the apples into the speech room, and it was a big hit with my preschoolers! Books: Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington Pinkalicious: Apples, Apples, Apples by Victoria Kann Song: Way Up High in the Apple Tree by the Learning Station Craft: This craft was so much fu ..read more

I don't know about you, but digital learning with my 3-5 year olds is making me tired!  For the first few weeks, I felt like I was really scrambling, but now I've gotten into kind of a groove and decided to bring back something that I used in my in-person therapy- THEMES!  I don't have any of my toys at home, so I've had to improvise and use more digital learning activities. This week, we've been using a farm theme.  Most everything I've done can be used in person or via teletherapy.  Here's what we've been using: Song: All Around the Farm by (my favorite) Jack Hartmann ..read more

Valentine's Day is coming! This is a great holiday to work on in your speech room.  Everyone can use a little kindness and love, right? This week in my speech room, we'll be working on Valentine's Day related vocabulary and activities.  Here's what we are up to: Songs: Valentine's Day Song by Jack Hartmann Boom Chicka Boom Valentine's Song by The Learning Station Books: Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond Activities: Preschool Language Theme Kit: Valentine's Day  This kit has 5 different interactive books to ..read more

Winter is such a fun time to use themes in your speech therapy room! Here are my plans to start working on winter over the next couple of weeks: Songs: Penguin Dance by Jack Hartmann Winter Hokey Pokey by The Kiboomers Books:  Let it Snow by Maryann Cocca-Leffler Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright and Stephen Gilpin The Snowy Day by Ezra  Jack Keats Activities:                                     The Snowy Day Craft- My students LOVED this craft.  Many of my students don't get the ..read more

I've been working with preschoolers who are brought in to me for speech therapy for over a year now.  When they arrive to my room we always play first, and then end our sessions with play.  So, with an average of 60 kids on my caseload, I've seen a LOT of play!  What I have found during this play time is that my students gravitate to a few of my toys most often.  While you may not have all of these toys available, you may have something similar that would engage your preschoolers too. Here is my list of 5 tried and true toys for preschool speech therapy: Play Kitchen ..read more

Reading books with my preschool speech and language students has truly been the highlight of my year.  Each week we have a new book that we read.  Most are big hits with my little friends.  I decided to start keeping track of our books in a very visual way- my bulletin board. Bulletin Board This honestly started out as a way to fill up a rather large board in my room, but has turned into so much more.  I have students who come in each week and look up at the board to see if our book of the week is up there.  They get so excited when they find it.  When we fir ..read more

Spring is coming!!!!  I don't know what it is about this winter, but I have never been more ready for spring before.  I can't wait for warmer temperatures, the smell of rain and flowers, and some warm sun on my face.  I also can't wait to use all of the cute ideas I have been starting to collect with my preschool articulation/phonological students! Bunny Ball Poppers! I found these bunny ball poppers at The Dollar Tree.  What a great find!  $1 for ball poppers!  Definitely going to keep this in mind throughout the year.  Hopefully they will continue to put ..read more