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School Closure Activities

 
 
 
 
 
 

Dear Families,

I hope you will find these resources useful. You can use these over the extended school closure to help with maintaining your child’s speech and language skills. If you have any questions about what they have been working on, please consult the IEP or progress notes that have been sent home, or you can always contact Mr. Riggle or Mrs. Schaal at the email addresses below and we would be happy to help in any way we can. Thank you and please stay safe!

 

Mr. Riggle and Mrs. Schaal

[email protected]              

[email protected]

 

 

Articulation:

Mommy Speech Therapy word lists

Home-Speech-Home word lists

Articulation activities by sound

Multisyllabic word lists (more comprehensive)

Multisyllabic word lists

 

Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary:

Scholastic Learn at Home

Language flash cards

Basic concepts scavenger hunt

Guess My Monster game (good for identifying, labeling, and describing attributes)

 

Receptive and Expressive grammar/sentence structure:

Grammar and Language - Mad Libs - Crazy Tales

Grammar and Language - Mad Libs - Mad Glibs

“Picture the Sentence HD Lite” app - $0.99

 

Receptive Language:

Hear Builder

“HB Following Directions” app – free

“Fun with Directions Lite” app – $0.99

“Autism iHelp - WH Questions” app – FREE but paid options, NOT just for Autism! Good for auditory comprehension (also many other apps made by this company, search ‘Autism iHelp’ to see the others)

Enchanted Learning crafts

 

Pragmatic/Social Language:

Social Skills activities

Social/Communication skills

 

Functional communication skills/assistive technology:

Functional Language resources

Signing Savvy

 

Fluency:

Stuttering Help resources

A special page for kids who stutter

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posts

Super Quick Summer Speech and Language Activities

I wanted to thank all of you for ALL your hard work.  I have loved hearing from you and seeing all the great things you have been doing.  Parents and Guardians your job has NOT been easy.  Your time, effort, and kindness has been greatly appreciated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!    Every day of this process has not been roses, but we will continue to get through this together.  
 
I realize many of you were just trying to make it to this point with work/loss of work, kids learning from home, and all the other stressors of everyday life.  Hopefully summer welcomes you with a little more down time.  There may be time to squeeze in some quick daily speech and language activities.  I wanted to share a link to speech and language summer calendars:
(click link above)
*Articulation
*Language for grades K-2 and 3
*Social Skills
*Speech Fluency (stuttering)
 
Each calendar has quick and helpful practice Monday- Friday.  I plan to put a calendar similar to this on our refrigerator to work on my daughter's academics over the summer.  Just five minutes a day (or every few days) can make a difference!  Please stay safe this summer and enjoy your kids! 
 
All my respect,
Mrs. Schaal 

Auditory Comprehension - Hear Builder Links

This is a fun and easy way to practice auditory comprehension skills over the summer! 
 
If your child is working on improving auditory comprehension skills, you may see goals for sequencing, following directions, and answering "wh" questions.  In school, the students may use Hear Builder to improve these skills. 
 
The attached file contains links to free demos for:

Following Directions, Auditory Memory, and Sequencing.  These are game based activities to improve these skill areas.  The kids really enjoy playing them!

The demos have levels of LOW – MEDIUM – HIGH.  I can let you know what area and level that is suggested for your child within Following Directions, Auditory Memory, or Sequencing. 

Ice Cream Articulation

Today is a great day for ice cream!  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?  Mine is CHOCOLATE!  The kids know how much I love my desserts!  :) 
 
Here is an articulation activity that targets TH, L and L-blends, S and S-blends, Z, SH, CH, CVC words, and R.  You can select to work at the word, phrase, or sentence level. 
 
For my friends working on using your final sounds (CVC words), I really like that this practices a variety of your target sounds. 
 
Feel free to print them and color the pictures or just open them on the computer. Have your child practice each word, phrase, or sentence 3 times each.  Make sure it is a good production before moving on to the next repetition. 

Spring Listen Up!

Here is some auditory comprehension practice with following directions.  There are two levels of two-step directions.  If you begin level one and it seems too easy, move on to level two.  If either level is too difficult, have your child do one part of the direction by locating and pointing to the items named, and then put the direction together (e.g., Pretend to make an "X" on the  snail's shell.  Pretend to make a circle around one butterfly.  Lastly carry out the direction on the paper.  "Draw an X on the snail's shell and circle one butterfly." )
 
If you do not want to print or can not print, pull this up on Kami to complete.

Spring and Summer Pronoun Practice

Time for some spoken grammar practice!  Here is a quick activity to practice "he", "she", "hers", and "his".  After you complete the worksheet page, say each sentence aloud.  Your child may need you to model the sentence for them to repeat.  
 
If you do not want to print, you can pull this up on Kami or just touch your screen.  Practice this by making a  circle around all the pictures that show "she" (right on your screen) and have your child put their finger under those that show "he".  Complete the sentences verbally rather than in writing.  

Guess My Monster! - Vocabulary - Describing Game

"Guess My Monster" is a resource from my website and it is super fun. This targets describing vocabulary.  If you have played "Guess Who?" this is very similar.  Take turns choosing a monster.  The opponent then needs to ask "yes"/"no" questions containing various attributes (e.g., red, stripes, fangs, antenna, feathers) to guess correctly.  This also targets use of complete sentences (e.g., "Does your monster have more than two eyes?").  This is a language activity for all ability levels. 

Spring Time Idioms Activity Pack

Children with Autism struggle with figurative language and idioms because the language is not literal and concrete.  The meaning of an idiom needs learned or inferred. Review these with your child first before mixing them up or playing a game.  You can review these without printing. Use one a day in your home for extra practice!  Idioms can become "A piece of cake." with practice.   

Garden Articulation Game

I am ready to get my garden started!  Are any of you?  Since it is to be SO cold this weekend, keep those little plants inside!  We can play a garden articulation game in the meantime.
 
I am not a big game player at home.  Guilty!  I get to play games with you all at school!  Here is a quick and easy game working on LOTS of s-blends, l-blends, and r-blends.  All my friends who work on these tricky sounds, you can do this! 
 
If you do not want to or can not print, you can say your target words and draw a caterpillar (little circles) as you go.  See how long you can make your caterpillar! ;)
 
For s-blend friends, don't forget to use your "skinny air" sound.  Without it, "stop" turns to "top".
 
For l-blend friends, lift your tongue for the /l/ sound ("lifter sound")
 
For r-blend friends,  work REALLY hard to pull the back of the tongue up to that "mushy spot" and don't let those lips round.  :)
 
 

Balloons! Receptive and Expressive Language Concepts

Here's a quick activity with lots of good practice!  Practice spatial concepts (above, under, over, beside, in between, in front of, behind, etc.), receptive language (listening comprehension, direction following, etc.), and expressive language (being able to make sentences about the pictures). 
 
Your child can:
Tell you where the balloon is by answering "where" questions ("Where is the balloon?")
Follow directions to find the correct picture from your description (e.g., "Point to the balloon under the chicken.") 
Describe the picture with a detailed sentence (e.g., "The balloon is between the spiders.")
 
The end of the file provides a printable portion so your child can place the balloons where the directions state, if you are able to print.  The beginning of the file gives nice non-printable options for practice.  
 
Have fun!

May Calendar - Language Distance Learning

It's May!  April showers bring May flowers.  Let's hope now we can get more sunshine.  
 
This calendar has a SUPER quick daily vocabulary task.  Doing the following will help grow your child's vocabulary skills:
Describe items by playing "I Spy!"
Name opposites
Name synonyms
Use multiple meaning words
 
Today is Monday, May 4th so I need to talk about two different meanings of the word "mean". 
"I did not mean to do that!" (I hear that at my house a lot! haha)  Meaning - I wasn't supposed to do that or intend to do that.
 
"She was being mean to me."  Meaning - unkind or not nice
 
 

Pragmatic Language - Distance Learning

As we enter May, you can follow along with the quick daily social language activities listed on this calendar. 
 
This gives quick and easy practice Monday- Friday on those important skills such as:
practice with polite initiations/manners
non-verbal language
"talking tricks "(Things to say or do in a situation)
big problems versus small problems
simple problem solving

Spring Directions - Temporal directions

Learning and following before/after directions can be difficult.  Here are some tips for working through these. (The directions are upside down so you can read them and your child can follow along while working across from you.  These before/after directions are mixed up. 
 
If your child is having difficulty, do all those directions with "before" in the middle of the sentence.  These are the easiest ones because the direction will be followed in the order it is said.  Then move to "before" at the beginning.  This is more difficult because it changes the order the direction is followed.  
 
After works the other way around. Begin with "after" directions at the beginning. "After" at the beginning is followed in the order it is said.  
 
Yes!  They are confusing!  Have fun playing around with before/after. 

Rainy Day Vocabulary

Expand vocabulary by filling in the raindrops with synonyms, antonyms, and/or descriptive words.   Directions are at the end of this file.  
 
Fill in 2 synonyms on the raindrops - Happy/glad/cheerful
 
Fill in 2 antonyms on the raindrops - Happy/ sad/ unhappy
 
Fill in 2 descriptive words (Use these giding questions if need be: e.g., category, what does it do?, what does it look like?, where does it come from?, what is it made of?) 
Raincoat - clothing/ made of fabric or made of rubber/plastic

Baseball articulation!

Many of us miss having some baseball in our lives!  Here's an articulation activity that targets CH, SH, TH, F, V, S, Z, R, Vocalic R, J, L, K, and G sounds.  
Find your sound(s) and fill your baseball mitt.  You can also pull it up on Kami and color the baseball items.  Say your word, phrase, or sentence three times each for extra practice.  
 
My grandma was one of the biggest fans of Pittsburgh Pirate baseball! <3 

Butterfly life cylce

Sequencing activities can be helpful improving  auditory comprehension skills.  Read a story like "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".  Once finished reading, complete sequencing the events of the life cycle on the worksheet.  Lastly, retell the sequence using the vocabulary of first, next, then, and last.  Writing about the sequence can be optional.