When I did an "apple" search on www.enchantedlearning.com, I came across an "Apple Book" that had a page of "Apple Facts" as well as some "Apple Questions" based on the facts. Andrew was reading but I wanted him to practice his oral reading because he would drop sounds and read too fast. I also wanted to work on the reading comprehension skill of reading for information. I decided to use these printouts to go together but set up as two separate stations. For the first station, I cut the … [Read more...] about Apple Fact Reading and Answering Questions
Oral Motor
Apple Themed Puff Blowing
In keeping with the apple theme, here is a station activity which uses red cotton puff balls as “apples” to blow to build oral motor skills. Here is a previous post, Puff Blowing, I did which details why I began using this activity with Andrew. I like to keep Andrew on his toes when working with him so I placed the cotton puffs and some cut up straw pieces into an eyeglass container so when he got to the station, he’d have to open the container (fine motor skills) in order to see what he … [Read more...] about Apple Themed Puff Blowing
Patriotic Pinwheel Blowing
You may have picked some of these up for your yard or bicycle this Memorial Day but did you also realize that you can use this patriotic yard decoration to help your child build oral motor skills? Andrew had a lot of difficulty trying to figure out how to blow air out of his mouth so I was always on the lookout for ways to help him. I found this particular pinwheel at Michael's and thought that I could have him blow it to make it spin, giving meaning and purpose to something he finds … [Read more...] about Patriotic Pinwheel Blowing
Practicing Speech Words
It really can be as easy as this next My Obstacle Course station activity that I am going to tell you about! When Andrew goes to speech, we usually get a sheet of words, mostly with pictures, to take home to practice. My apologies to the maker of this sheet but as it is, it is not very exciting and I found it difficult to motivate my child to want to practice this at home as is. I know this can be much more fun without a great deal of effort and so I decided to just cut apart the pictures … [Read more...] about Practicing Speech Words
Practicing Speech Sounds
Most speech pathologists will send home practice pages with words that have the target sound for the child to work on. If they do not, contact them and let them know that you would like to reinforce what they are doing and would like to stay current on the sounds your child needs to practice. This is particularly helpful if they receive services while they are at school and you are not able to speak with the pathologist each time. Andrew receives his speech therapy after school so I am there … [Read more...] about Practicing Speech Sounds
Using A Mirror To Practice Speech Sounds
This is a very basic idea that we have used quite a bit with Andrew. He has apraxia of speech which makes it very difficult for him to make certain sounds. What comes naturally and easily over time with most children is something he has to practice A LOT! Part of that practice involves him being aware of what his tongue and lips are doing when trying to make a certain sound. This is where our hand-held mirror comes into play. While we are doing My Obstacle Course station activities, such as … [Read more...] about Using A Mirror To Practice Speech Sounds