Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, filled with joy, peace, and lots of love. 

Jessica

Putumayo Music Holiday E-card

You have heard me mention the Putumayo World Music collections before ... AMAZING! I use the various kid's playground CDs in session, in particular.  Anyhow, I receive Putumayo updates through emails, and received this (see below) in a recent email. 

It's great! I was able to download a photo to send in an ecard to friends and family, and I loved that Putumayo holiday-inspired music was playing in the background.  I received a lot of feedback on this one from friends and family :) What is really exciting is that after sending your card, you are able to download a free song from a recent Putumayo collection (I believe it's a different one from the one that plays with the card).  See below for more information, and to create your ecard!

1. Choose a personal photo

2. Write your own custom holiday message

3. Send your personalized holiday e-card to
    your friends and family

4. Receive a free holiday song download!
Create your e-card now

Other languages : Español
Français
Deutsch
(The e-card will launch in a new window and requires the Flash player.)

Enjoy!
Jessica

"In My Stocking" (a speech related activity)

Here's another little holiday related activity that is very easy to implement ... I think anyone could do this one with no problem :)








"In My Stocking" (to the tune of: " Oh My Darlin' ")

In my stocking,
In my stocking,
In my special Christmas stocking,
Look inside for little prizes
In my special Christmas stocking!

Materials Needed:

• Stocking
• small toys or pictures of small toys/candy prizes

Directions:

1. Sing song through 1x.  (slowing down speech to enunciate/stress certain words and/or syllables on targeted words)
2. Have child reach into stocking to pull out 1 (only one) item.
3. Look at and name the item.  Repeat item name (i.e. "dinosaur", "ball", etc), being sure to encourage/practice verbal clarity and speech fluency. 
4. Make sure you have fun with this!

Targeted Goal Areas:

• Speech production/clarity/fluency
• Impulse control
• Auditory cueing/Auditory attention
• Attention to task for duration

NOTE:  If working mainly toward speech goals with this activity, be sure to choose items (to go in stocking) that include speech sounds/characteristics that fit your child's speech needs.  For example, if your child needs improvement on blended sounds, include an item with blended sounds in it's name (maybe a blue item /bl/).  If your child needs improvement on producing words with 2 or 2+ syllables, include items with multi syllables (maybe "dinosaur" or "alligator"). 

Have a great weekend!
Jessica

Gluten Free Chocolate Eclairs at Chucktown Coffee!

Wow - I just ate a gluten free chocolate eclair ... at a coffee shop! I went up to the register like a normal person and ordered a pastry! It was amazing.  It tasted like a chocolate eclair and the custard inside was perfection! Sweet Jennifer, the owner, has recently ordered several wonderful pastries from a local gluten free bakery.  In the case right now are gluten free Lemon Bars, gluten free Cheesecake Bombs, gluten free Chocolate Eclairs, and gluten free Coconut Macaroons. 

If you live in or near Mount Pleasant, stop in! If you have celiac/gluten intolerance, you know how few and far between gluten free options are (outside of making it yourself) ... especially in our area.  Starbucks used to carry a gluten free muffin, but stopped because they said they didn't sell.  I am convinced that it's just because noone knew! I surely didn't know, and I'm constantly online looking into GF options/looking up GF brands.  I never saw it posted anywhere. 

So, spread the word! Chucktown Coffee (in the Target shopping Center) has gluten free pastry options!

Jessica

a school social story

You have heard me mention the use of social stories.  Carol Gray has many wonderful social stories that I highly recommend.  (Search her on this site for blog postings on her). 

Anyhow, I have created a school social story (click on link to view and/or print).  Included are pictures to go with each scenario mentioned.  This is a good tool to implement when a child is being first introduced to school, returning from summer break or a holiday, or when he/she is demonstrating anxiety related to going to school.  This could help to prepare and acclimate your child. 

You may want to introduce this in a fun way ... in a song, a game, a story, a chant ... keep in mind what would work for your child.  Remember to build positive associations.

After introducing this, you may want to review it on a consistent basis (it can become a morning ritual).  You may even want to print and laminate a copy for your child to keep with him/her.

Feel free to contact me for other ideas on how to implement this.
Jessica

The Silly Elf (activity)

Anytime I can use a general theme for a session or activity, I do.  Developing a theme always seems to pull things together as well as faciliates increased attention and interest.  Simply put ... themes are fun!

Holidays provide perfect opportunities for themed concepts and activities.  Below is a little poem/rhyme that I came up with a couple years ago for use in sessions.  Due to it's simplicity, it's fairly easy to implement outside of session so I'm posting it here :) 

I typically use this activity for these goal areas:

• Facilitate/Improve auditory attention
• Increase Impulse control
• Decrease auditory response time
• Increase cognitive skill (color identification, sequence commands/events, reading/story comprehension, etc)
• Increase visual attention

If working on pre-reading skills, you may want to print this story  (focusing on 1 sentence at a time if necessary) rather than just reading it yourself.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
-  "Silly Elf" story
-  Pictures (street, elf, feet, tic tac toe, Nintendo, smiling)
-  Colored items (bells, instruments, scarves)
-  A drum (or like item)
-  "The End!" paper (for on top of drum)

DIRECTIONS for activity:

1. Set up items in semi circle or table around child/client.  Introduce each item.  If appropriate, present child/client with a "pointer" (this can be a special wand, drum stick/mallet, etc) for child to point to items as they are named in the story. 
2. Explain that the child/client will get to touch and point to each item/picture in the story, but he/she has to wait until they hear that word first. (see above for picture sheet you can print)
3. Practice saying the word of an item, and having child/client point to the item. 
4. Have the child practice "playing" a color item (i.e., when you say "red", the child will play the instrument/item associated with that color.  NOTE:  For the colors, I typically have colored bells that the child gets to play when he/she hears the color name.  This makes this more interactive, and provides the opportunity to change from different types of cues within the activity (pointing to some items, playing other items).  IN PLACE OF COLORED BELLS, you may want to gather instruments or items that can be used as instruments (or items that make funny sounds).  Have a solid colored scarf or paper next to/under each of the noise/instrument items (i.e., have one item placed on a green scarf or piece of paper, and when when child/client here's "green" said in the activity, he/she will play the that item).
5. OPTIONAL:  Have a drum (or like item) with paper on it ("THE END!").  Child/client has to wait until the very end when he/she hears you say, "The End!", to play the drum.  This is lots of fun - a great opportunity for impulse control, and it really creates increased auditory attentoin and anticipation ;) 

The Silly Elf

One day as I was walking down the street
I came upon a jolly elf with red shoes upon his feet.
He smiled at me and said, “Orange you going to play with me?”
It was a glorious, sunny day,
a sky decked in yellow.
I decided I'd play with my new red footed friend -
He was quite a nice fellow.

We played a game of tic tac toe,
and then a game of Nintendo.
Jumping jacks, and sliding down green hills -
Oh what a thrill!
Hide and seek, and purple cookies to eat.
A long day of fun we've had,
I said goodbye to my new red footed friend.
Smiling and waving, I said,
“The End!”