Multiple Meaning Words, Homophones, Homonyms

One part of my job involves providing virtual speech therapy to middle school and high school students.  We use a webcam, and I can upload internet games, movies as well as write on a virtual whiteboard.   Here are some of the online resources I use to introduce multiple meaning words: 

Videos: 
Youtube is a good resource for short teaching videos.  These are a few that I like to use:   

• Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms by Charles Johnson at Edusoul.net.  I like this one.  I usually make kids listen to it each session until they are able to independently define each term.  
• Homophones/Between the Lions  Brian McKnight sings about homophones.  We usually watch this and have a contest to see how many of the homophones the kids can remember.  Afterwards we make a list and define each word.  
• Homophone Photos:  Teaches initial concepts and then presents photos contrasts of multiple meaning words.  As we are watching, we write a list of the words and work on definitions for each word.  
• Words with Multiple Meanings:  This contains videos of different multiple meaning words set to music.  I think the music makes it seem a little more fun. 

Power Point Activities:  
This is the best website for FREE powerpoint activities.  They also have links to lesson plans and some online games to play.  Two of my favorites are Homophones!  and Homophone Search.  The Homonphones! gives clues like "Two of a Fruit"  I usually hide the answer to see if they are able to figure out what the answer is (pair of a pear.)  For bonus points, we see if they can spell the words correctly. 

Games: 
Vocabulary Games:  This website has lots of games for vocabulary building.  The games are pretty basic but it's a nice review of the material, plus they change the game based on grade levels. 

Zoom was a children's television show on PBS.  They had a segment called Zoom Zinger's where they would play a game that was sent in.  These are 2 good ones for multiple meaning words. 

• Zoom Zinger: Porcupine Homonyms 
• Zoom Zinger Homonym Game:  

Books:
I really like the Words are Categorical Series by Brian P. Cleary.  I use How Much can a Bare bear Bear a lot in therapy.  It has a sentence with 2 homonym/homophone pairs with illustrations.  I usually have the student pick the word they want to define.  Then I can give them a model of how to define the word.  

Jokes and riddles are good and fun for kids to uses in therapy.  The Dove Dove:Funny Homograph Riddles by Marvin Terban is one source I've used. 

The Amelia Bedelia books often have situations where Amelia confuses the meanings of multiple meaning words.  They are also good for discussing different thoughts (What did she think she was supposed to do, what did they want her to do...)  

These are a few of the activities I use, what are some that you've found? 

Squinkies

There is a book I recommend to parents called, "Just Give Him the Whale: 20 ways to Use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise and Strengths to Support Children with Autism" by Paula Kluth and Patrick Scharz.   It's an easy read which gives ideas for teaching skills using interest areas of children diagnosed with ASD.  I strongly believe that using the child's own interests is the IN that we need to get them learning.  I see most kids for 30 to 60 minutes per week max, so I want to make the best use of my therapy time by gaining their interest and attention right away.  As they begin to trust me more, we may experiment to see if we can expand their interest levels.

My new favorite product is: Squinkies.  They are really, really tiny figurines, so you could buy one of each set and they would fit in a pencil case.  They just started coming out with "accessories" which makes them great for following directions and basic spatial concepts.  Plus, they have sets for most of the "interest" areas for most of my caseload: Cars, Super heroes, Nemo, Disney princesses, Sponge bob, Power rangers, WWF, Toy Story, Barbies among others.   

Mainly I've been using for following directions, spatial concepts and answering where questions, but I'm sure there are lots of other ways to use these.  

Sentence Block Building

This is an adapted Pinterest project for sentence building which has been really popular with my clients this week. 

 Materials Needed:

• Blocks or legos
• Address labels that match size of blocks
• Picture Symbols or Google images search.

I used the Avery address labels and return address labels.  I think it would be nice to color coordinate based on noun/verb etc. but wasn't able becuase I didn't have enough of one color.  I tried to use similar sizes for the different parts of the sentences, though.

Then I just typed in the words that I wanted, printed them off and put them on the blocks.  I also put Boardmaker pictures on the sides of the blocks for non readers and to reinforce the meaning of the sentences I made. 

I tried to organize present tense on one side and past tense on the other side (tickles/tickled) to help teach which is the correct form to use in the sentences.  I also found adding popular singers, super heroes, sports teams added increased motivation for the clients. 

Here are some ways I've used them in therapy:

1.  Fill in the blank activities:  I create part of a sentence and then the student finishes it.  Ex. He ___ riding a bike (is/are)  The child puts in the correct sentence.

2.  Basic Sentence building: Start with N-V-O and then add adjectives etc.  Who can build the tallest sentence. 

3.   Pronouns: Start with a basic sentence and then have the child replace the Subject with the correct pronoun.

4.  Mixed up sentences:  Can you put the sentence in order? 

5.  Subject Verb Agreement:  Start with one sentence (ex. Darth Vader is walking) What happens if we changed it to Storm troopers?  What else needs to change?  I like that this adds more of a physical component to something which may seem more abstract.

I think there are lots of ways these could be used in therapy.  How would you use them?

Sentence Obstacle Course

This year, I've been working on incorporating more movement into my therapy sessions.  First, because it makes therapy more fun.  Second, because I'm hoping the combination of movement with drill work will improve memory and carryover of the skills we are teaching.

Which brings me to my favorite activity of the week: Sentence Obstacle Course.  It definitely needs a better name. 

My first thought was to use directions (forward and back) to help teach the concept of future and past tense.  So the students go through the obstacle course normally to say a sentence like "He is going home."  And they go backward through the course to say, "He was going home."

Here's how we've addressed it in therapy:

1.  Regular/Irregular Verb tenses.  Set up one part of a balance beam, piece of tape or obstacle for the child to jump over.  Have the child state the present tense form when jumping forward and the past tense when moving backwards. 

You can also set up a row of 5 pieces of tape placed horizontally to each other to get more drill practice.  As the child is moving forward they say (word/sentence level) the present tense form.  (ex. driving, driving, driving, driving, driving.)  then they go backwards and practice the past tense.  drove, drove, drove, drove, drove.) 

2.  Auxiliary +ing forms.   Set up balance beams, pieces of tape or obstacles for the child to climb over.  Depending on their level, I may start with an obstacle for each word.  As they get better, I may decrease the number and lump into: Subject verb predicate.

Here is how we had it set up last week:

I used three different colors with the is + walking the same color to teach that this goes with the verb.  Other ideas for basic sentences:

• Coordinate with some of the great resources available on Teachers pay teachers or the free therapy blogs.  Last week we used the Grammar Gumballs download Jenna Rayburn (Speechroom news) had on her TPT store.  You can find that here:   Grammar Sweets  I had IS/ARE taped up in the front of the room and WAS/WERE taped up at the back of the room.  They walked forward to put a gumball in the IS/ARE bucket and backward to put it in the WAS/WERE.
• Coordinate colors/colored tape with the colors used in the Rainbow Sentences App.  
• To expand sentences, practice a base sentence for a few turns, then add another obstacle (Now we have to describe the boy...)

3.  Compound Sentences:
2 sets of sentences with Balance beam in between.  The child says the first sentence, walks across the balance beam and walks back saying the next sentence.  If possible color coordinating the nouns/verbs.

4.  Complex Sentences:
4 pieces (I used pool noodles I got at the Dollar store), balance beam, pillows to crash into.  I do this in our OT gym.  The students say their regular sentence, then the reason: as they are walking across the balance beam.  As a fun reinforcer they can jump from the beam into the pillows for the last part.

I think that there are lots of ways to get this to work in therapy. How would you use this in your therapy room? 

Tense Builder Giveaway

Mobile Education Store has released a new app called Tensebuilder which sounds like a motivating activity for working on verb tenses.  I have been using their Rainbow Sentences App and Conversation Builder and find that they are motivating to kids. 

Here is a link to a giveaway that ends today: 

http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2012/08/brand-new-release-tensebuilder-15.html#

Same and Different Kits

Speech Kits

I have an obsession with plastic boxes.   A few years ago, I cleaned out my speech cabinet and replaced all of the different boxes and game boxes with the same set of rubbermaid containers.  Then I labeled them all and put them back in.  It was awesome.  Apparently the perfectly stacked boxes made up for all of the progress reports and runny noses that I was dealing with that week.

One of my favorite therapy tools are boxes that I've set up to address different therapy goals.  Most of the boxes contain small manipulatives, dollhouse parts, or Barbie accessories.  I collected these over the years from garage sales, fast food toys, 75% off toy clearances and my biggest score: a 6 pound box of Barbie accessories I found on Ebay.  I have kits for: 

• Big and Little Concepts-
• Basic and Advanced Categories
• Object Functions
• CVCV and CVCVCV words
• Same and Different

My favorite kit is the Same and Different Kit.

Teaching Imitation:  This is my favorite way to use the box.  First I let the client choose the toys and play with them.  I imitate what they are doing.  I try to imitate their actions AND their sounds.  Using a mirror makes it even more fun.  Eventually the clients figure out that I am imitating them.   It's fun to see how motivated they are once they "get" what we are doing.

Teaching Imitation of Others:  Once the child is understanding that I am imitating them, then it's time to work on them imitating me using the objects.  I found that simple toys which have 1-2 steps work best.  (Like a car that you pull back and then let go.)  The pom-pom's work well for this.  We make them go uuuuuuuuuuup and doooooooown.  We put them on our head.  We put them in front of our head and play peek a boo.  

Strengthening visual referencing, gaze shifting and joint attention:  For my clients diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, we use the kit to work on visual referencing and joint attention.  Do they notice what I'm doing?  Can they match it without verbal cues.   Two sets of building materials tends to work well (blocks, legos, balance stacking toys) or drums (can they match my rhythm?)  

Requesting and understanding Symbolic Language:  Take pictures of all of the items in the kit.  I'd also add line drawings and PCS symbols of the items.  Then you can work on requesting first with actual objects, then photos and then symbols.  If your clients are having a hard time transitioning between photos to PCS/Boardmaker symbols, try using a photo editing program and using the "cartoon/comic" page.  These will create a black and white image with the lines in the photos.   

Other Ideas for this box:  

• Teaching Plurals:
• Teaching same/different
• Teaching Personal pronouns: my/your, my turn/your turn. 

Have you made your own kits?  What types of ones work for you?  

Hello there!

I'm starting this blog because I've been inspired by the many amazing activities and freebies posted by my fellow speech pathologists on Pinterest and other blogs. 

A bit about me, I love to incorporate speech therapy within play activities.  On lazy days, I'll pull out a worksheet but modify it by calling it a Superhero interview or replacing all the names with Darth Vader and Justin Bieber.  I love to collect materials and think of new ways to address the same goals with the materials I have.

My goal is to review the resources/toys that I have-and how I use or COULD potentially use them in therapy. I'm hoping this will help me organize and pair down to the essentials as well as continue to grow as a creative therapist.  We'll see.