Color Me Frustrated!

I have a few friends who are debating what color "frustrated" is... The consensus seems to be a yellow/orange with some hints of red. Whatever the actual definition, that was how I was feeling as I left work today. For the record: If a student can't identify if a sentence is syntactically or grammatically correct when he reads it or hears it.... He *can't* find and fix subject-verb agreement errors in his writing. I'm not necessarily an expert on many things. But that one I do know. And even though I had my new "IEP Data Check" form (that I made for this week of IEP insanity), even that amount of data wouldn't have changed this teacher from her path of non-progress... I mean, her goal that she wrote for this student who can't ID that there are errors, much less fix them.... But I rant on. Ok. I had already declared it Hot Mess Monday, so I don't know why I was surprised!!

Because of this frustrating interaction, I've started pulling together more materials and new ways to show the different levels of skill acquisition. So that the next time I run into this, I can pull out the data and (maybe) make more of an impact. So stay tuned for some handy forms and materials to show what level a student is at... I'm not reinventing the wheel here, so if you have something else that's fabulous, then share!! :) But I've a fondness for forms that match my needs. And for fonts that feel fabulous. And for getting my kids the goals that they need. ;) So I'm still a little orangy-yellow. But I'll channel that into making some great (for me) materials that I will share with you!!













I had a major breakthrough with a lateral s/z student. I worked with him 8 years ago and have him again. He is still lateralized. A LOT. But. I used some of the tricks from the Eliciting Sounds book (I'm so glad I bought it years ago!!!) and made a cursive T for transitioning to /s/ (They refer to the "German Affricate ts"... I didn't remember that term, so called it a "Fancy T-S"). Same with transitioning d-z. Only in my only-half-a-cup-of-coffee-in-me state, I wrote a not-cursive Z.... I'm not entirely sure what I wrote, but he took to it like a duck to water! We practiced z+vowels! Although the /z/ was harder for his tongue, the motor-planning trouble of turning the voicing on when saying /s/ was harder, so we went with voiced. He was stunned!!!! And so very aware. "Oh, I need to slow down some when I say my Ds." "My tongue keeps bouncing up and down when I try to say that."

I used the envelope trick that I saw posted not long ago (and didn't purchase, because my middle school kids have later developing errors, but I totally used the idea and LOVE IT) paired with my usual set of vowels that I use in a circle, usually, but the slide worked well today!!! Here is a link to the vowels. A regular envelope that you seal closed works perfectly fine if you cut off the end. I'm sure I'll make labels that I can put on envelopes and laminate and everything. But for the first session of the morning? I was thrilled with the progress!!

Here is what else went on today during therapy!! I have to share some happies and some wonderful products from other TpT sellers!!!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything: Comprehension Book

By The Speech Bubble SLP

I pulled out this classic today when I realized just what a Hot Mess I was... Students screaming in the hallway, beginning orchestra class having kids practice in the hallway... Things were NOT going my way! So I pulled out the book and companion and we worked on sequencing, inferencing (who knew there was info to infer from this story! Why would she go into the woods? Why did she have to walk so far? Why would she need herbs and seeds?), predicting, and basic comprehension. And reading. Oh, man. Some of my students can read well. But most are at a maybe 2nd-3rd grade level. So this was pretty good for the to do!!

By the end of the day, the chaos-meter had hit the high level. I sent this young lady over to make me a sentence. I assumed (incorrectly) that having the wonderful cards stacked on the floor under their respective titles (adjectives, which are almost all 2 words and include a Capital Letter at the beginning, Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs) would be a clue for the order they go in. Oh, no. I printed and laminated all of the Parts of Speech Word Wall By Nicole Allison and added magnets on the back (Best invention? Adhesive Magnets for Business Cards). Voila! Perfect whiteboard activity! Once my student figured out the pattern, she was off to the races! I love the sentences that students on the spectrum come up with!!!! In this picture she is adding punctuation. Because "Mrs. Stevens is the Punctuation Police!" as she told me. :) I adore her!!!

 So those were my shining moments, in among the frustrating ones. :) New materials are coming along and blog ideas are percolating. Only 2 or 3 more IEPs this week.... And 4 evals...

Sarah