Monday Muncher- Apple Chips

Today's Monday Muncher post is about Apple Chips! They are a quick go to snack that I can stuff in a baggie when I will be on the run during the day. These ones are my favorite.

Such and Such Saturday and Sunday: The Holidays

The Holidays are a very fun time of year! I enjoy spending time with my friends and family and having some time off of work. This is the first year I have taken a week off and I am glad I did. I really needed it. I did get a lot of materials made though. I am not going to write a lot today as I am still enjoying some time off with my husband. I will return to work this week as my medical speech path self! I enjoy serving those in the hospital around the holidays and bringing some joy to them with good service and a smile at a time when there is sickness and sadness for their current situation. Thanks to all of the nurses, doctors and all of the other important hospital staff that work at all hours during the holidays- we as a society could not survive without you (no pun intended).

Free Space Friday: Storage of Response Recordings

I pride myself on my organization and this is something I started back when I was in graduate school as an intern at my school rotation. I use the Binder Dividers with tabs and pockets. I have a divider for each group session. I place my response recording sheets that includes each student's name, goals, IEP date and 3 year evaluation date in the front section of the pocket. Then, I place the attendance record and any other print out in the back pocket. I usually will have a divider in the back for all of my testing information. I place protocols in that divider for planning. So if I know I want to test Student C on monday- I will put the protocols I plan to use in that tab when doing my weekly planning. I tend to have a divider for each of my consult students, as I have a monthly check off paper included with my attendance record, so I can make sure I see each of them as stated on their IEP. These are some pictures of the items that I use:

In the tab section, I put 1st graders, 4th graders, 2nd graders etc so I know which group of students I will get next in my speech classroom. I hope this sheds some light into how I organize my student response recordings and attendance records. 

How do you organize your daily paperwork?

Thank Goodness for.....The Chain Letter Link Up Idea!!!!!!!

So I was involved in the Chain Letter Link up from my buddy over at Word Nerd Speech Teach =) You can find her interview with me here at her blog Chain Letter Link with Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

The idea originally began with TeachSpeech365 and her blog post here Original Chain Letter Link Up Blog Post

It has been fun to read everyone's answers to the interview questions and gather all the freebies offered by everyone.

I interviewed two amazing ladies this last week from Sublime Speech and Let's Talk! Here is what each of them had to say =)

Here is my interview with a great blogger: Danielle of Sublime Speech!

Chain Letter Link Up Interview Questions!

Your name, email, blog address, link to TpT store if you have one

Danielle Reed, sublimespeech@gmail.com

http://sublimespeech.blogspot.com/

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Danielle-Reed

When and why did you start blogging?

My first Sublime Speech blog post was on January 2, 2012

I had dabbled in blogging with a personal blog and my work in photography for many years.  It never occurred to me to combine my love of creating/adapting therapy materials with blogging until winter break of 2011.  It was during that break that I came across another SLP blog and decided to begin my own.  I knew that it would be a challenge for me as well as inspiration to create materials that would make therapy fun for my students AND myself!

What is your favorite population to work with?

I became a Speech-language Pathologist to work with those with severe disabilities and with Augmentative and Alternative Communication.  Being a small contributor to a person gaining/regaining the ability to communicate is an amazing feeling!

How much time per week do you spend blogging and/or creating materials?

I spend 10-30 hours per week blogging/twittering/facebooking/Pinteresting/creating/etc.  During breaks and summers it increases a little because my stack of evals and paperwork is not haunting me from the corner of my desk!

What's your favorite topic to create materials for?

I enjoy creating materials for language and AAC.  However, my articulation students are what I create materials for more often because they have fewer goals and therefore see the same materials.  I also get bored with articulation therapy a bit more quickly than language and AAC so creating new materials for those students also helps me survive endless /r/ and /s/ therapy sessions!

What's the best thing about blogging?

I have come to truly appreciate the creativity and amazing talent of the SLPs across the world!  It is incredible to network and access materials from those who do what you do each day.  SLPs have a great understanding of content that is unmatched by big companies.  I love seeing what pops out of the brain of a fellow SLP through their blogs and love to share my light bulb moments with others as well!

Do you have any blogging tips?

Blog about what you love and put quality ahead of quantity.  If you're just posting to have posts, regardless of the quality of the post you are doing, it won't be worth it.  Try to post about once per week or more... though this gets a little more difficult after you've been blogging for a while.  However, no matter how many "followers" you have, keep blogging.  If for nothing else than to inspire yourself!

What do you do outside of being a SLP and blogger?
I also do photography on the side (I worked for a professional photographer throughout grad school), as well as coach a 12U competitive fastpitch team and work part time at KidsGap and BabyGap (discounts!).  It can get a little crazy to basically have 5 jobs, but I love them all too much to give any of them up just yet!

Next Comes another great blogger: Whitney of Let's Talk! 

Chain Letter Link Up Interview Questions!

1.   Your name, email, blog address, link to TpT store if you have one

My name is Whitney Smith. My email is: whit.smith.1987@gmail.com, and my TpT store link is: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Whitneyslp

2. When and why did you start blogging?

            I started the Let’s Talk blog in June of 2012. “Learn how to Blog” had been on my bucket list for over a year, but I just hadn’t had the time to do it. Over the summer I had the time, so I was motivated to make it happen. I really wanted a way to connect with other professionals and parents, to gain advice and knowledge from them, and share some of my own.

3. What is your favorite population to work with?

            I enjoy all (ok, most) of the kids on my caseload! I enjoy doing “language” therapy more than “speech,” but my favorite population would be a close tie between kids with Autism and Aspergers, and kids who are deaf or hard of hearing. I love teaching social skills, as well as using sign language. 

4. How much time per week do you spend blogging and/or creating materials?

The amount of time I spend each week blogging and/or creating materials has steadily increased over the past few months. It has now pretty much become a second job! My normal daily schedule usually looks like this:
                                    5:15-Wake up, put dinner in crockpot, get dressed, drive to work

                                    6:50-2:15: Arrive at school, therapy, meetings, paperwork etc. all day

                                    2:30-5:30: See private clients after school, work on IEPs or materials if time

                                    6:00-7:30: Finish dinner, eat dinner, spend time with the husband and pups
                                    7:30-9:30: Work on materials, blog, therapy planning, etc.
                                    9:30: Fall asleep!

I also spend several hours over the weekends working on materials. If I’m in the middle of a bigger project that I’m trying to finish, I fit in a few extra minutes wherever I can!

5. What's your favorite topic to create materials for?

           

            I really love doing language therapy. I even do language-based speech whenever possible. I enjoy creating materials to use when addressing language goals, including those with holiday themes. I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE books! I use the Story Grammar Marker program all the time, so right now I’m on a kick creating materials for specific books we are using. I also really enjoy writing social scenarios and making social-language materials. 

6. What's the best thing about blogging?

The best thing about blogging is by far the readers! When I first started my blog, I figured I’d be happy if my best SLP friends read the blog occasionally in addition to my grandma, who doesn’t know anything about speech therapy, but likes to keep up with what I’m doing! I am still overwhelmed at the response and sometimes with the added responsibility. Having readers ask questions, offer suggestions, or give encouragement has been such a blessing. I started blogging to collaborate with parents and others professionals. I love learning from others and pushing myself. I feel like blogging and creating my own materials forces me out of my comfort zone, keeps my creative juices flowing, and makes me a better therapist!

7. Do you have any blogging tips?

My best blogging tip is to stay organized. I use a blogging calendar, as well as try to schedule actual time to blog, or at least plan for future blogs, each day. I also try to stay balanced, though. If I let myself (and I could make it work financially), I could blog as a full-time job! There was a little while when I felt like blogging was taking over. That’s when the scheduling came in. Now family time is first, and I blog when I have time. If I miss my blog time for the day, I don’t sweat it!

8. Other than working, blogging, and making materials, what do you like to do during your spare time?

            What spare time!?!? I am very rarely still for long. I like going and doing. I don’t do well with a lot of downtime. That being said, here lately, I would pay money for a good afternoon nap! When I’m not working, I’m usually doing something around the house, making crafts, scrapbooking, or piddling around town. My tv shows of choice right now are: Dexter, Homeland, Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, and of course, you can never go wrong with Friends reruns! I create a lot of my materials with a tv show going on in the background. Come to think of it, I don’t really “watch” tv as much as a “listen” to it! Over the summer, I spend as much time at the beach and Disney World as possible.  

Thank you to both Danielle and Whitney for participating in the Chain Letter Link Up!  I have a freebie for everyone over at my TPT store here: CH Freebie I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time until New Years Day! There will be another Tangled Tuesday with Home Sweet Speech Room January 1st, 2013. Find another 2 freebies with that blogpost =)

Wacky Wednesday

This made me laugh out loud when I came across it on Pinterest. 

This joke did remind me of some of the things I learned in graduate school not too long ago. I will use this moment to do some cultural diversity education.

There is a phonological process for this called metathesis and it is typical in the African American English dialect. I remember learning that in graduate school from my amazing teacher Dr. Buckingham-- we had to do an end of the year presentation and I completed my presentation on the phonological processes of the African American English dialect. It was very interesting and as most of you speech path's know- we don't treat phonological processes if they are a part of the dialect of english that is spoken at home or in the community culture. Now if it is affecting how a student is being graded during oral assignments and such at school- then it can be addressed and you would do therapy and educate the student that there are multiple "registers" in which language is used. There is a formal register and an informal register. The formal register would be school, where the standard english dialect (SAE) is appropriate, the informal register is at home where the african american dialect (AAE) is appropriate. I am a HUGE proponent of cultural diversity and I encourage all of you to learn about the various dialects of english and how they might differ from standard american english.  It will make you a better clinician!

Two Speechie's Tangled on a Tuesday: Word Nerd Speech Teach and Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

The second Tangled Tuesday features Lindsey from Word Nerd Teach Speech Blogspot! The first Tangled Tuesday was a hit and I have received a lot of positive feedback! Again, I am SO excited about this activity- I know you will love it as much as I did!

Today, I am reviewing her Polar Bear Articulation- Early 8 (/m/ /b/ /n/ and "y"). The other 4 sounds will be featured in another activity produced by Lindsey as the document would have been much to long to have all 8 sounds together.

Here are a few photos of the cards that are featured in this activity.

/b/ in initial position card

/y/ in initial position card

/n/ in initial position card

"y" in medial position card

 /n/ in final position card

/m/ in medial position card

This is how the activity works! You cut apart the Polar Bear card- which is already sectioned off into initial/medial/final positions for you. See below.

Then you place each section over a light buzzer as shown in the picture below.

The child will choose a card from the stack. If you are working with a group, you could include all of the sounds or if you are working in an individual session you can utilize one group of the cards. The child will see the picture and tell the clinician what the word target word is that is on the card. The child will then buzz the correct placment of the sound using the light buzzers above.

Alternatives for pre-school population and elementary population: This is my specialty! How to play a game more than once without losing the integrity of the task! If you don't have buzzers, you could use chipper chat magnets and a magnetic chip on each of the polar bear sections for the child to pick up the chip where the sound is located. Another option is to have the child pick up the part of the polar bear that has their sound in it. You could make it a game with this too by telling the students whoever gets the most completed polar bears at the end- wins! If you wanted to make it a quick game, you could tell the kids whoever makes a polar bear first wins the game. You could make it a game show opportunity- the child who buzzes in with the right answer first "wins" the card and keeps it in their stash and whoever has the most cards at the end wins! There are so many possibilities.

Alternative game use for older elementary and junior high: If you want to make this activity to fit older kids, you could have them grab a multiple cards, then have them write a sentence using their words (sentence formulation, grammar, increasing length of utterance) I used it with my older kids by having them following multi-step commands (put the lion beneath the mayo after you put the yarn above the bat)

I hope you enjoyed this review of Polar Bear Articulation! I think it is a great game that cane be used for pre-school, elementary and homeschool children. It would also be a great grab for mom's to work on their child's sounds at home to add more language stimulation to their day.

Check out her blog at http://wordnerdspeechteach.blogspot.com for a review of my activity "Germy Battle Game" and "Germy Definitions"! I usually play those activities together and my kids love it!

Here is a link to Lindsey's activity on TPT: Polar Bear Articulation

Here is a link to a FREEBIE offered by Lindsey as well: Where is the Snowman FREEBIE

Her Polar Bear Articulation Activity will be on sale for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Here is a link to my items that Lindsey reviewed over at WordNerdSpeechTeach:

Germy Definitions and  Germy Battle Both of these items will be on sale this Tuesday and Wednesday as well!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all of my friends and followers!

If you would like to be a part of Tangled Tuesday, let me know-- either leave a comment in the comment section below, message me on my facebook page or leave a post on my facebook page! I look forward to more Tangled Tuesdays! The next Tangled Tuesday will be with Home Sweet Speech Room next Tuesday January 1st, 2013! Two more freebies will be featured in this post as well!

Follow me on Facebook for some fun giveaways, freebies and fun information  www.facebook.com/MinorSLP



Monday Muncher-- Organic Valley Raw Mild Cheddar Cheese

There are many ways to get protein in your diet and my sister, Katelyn, taught me that cheese has protein too. I really LOVE cheese and I can eat it any time of day. Katelyn has got me hooked on raw cheddar cheese. I guess its better for you since it has not gone through the processing that other more commercial cheeses have. The brand below is the brand I prefer. My sister and her fiance order theirs online- if you are interested I can get the information for you. I find my Organic Valley cheese at Whole Foods in my area.

This is a great snack that provides good nutrition for the day! 

Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist. I just blog about what I feel about certain products and I try to be as informed of a blogger as possible. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE to all of my friends and family out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such and Such Saturday and Sunday: The Road to Diagnosis

I have had many people ask me "How did you know to go get tested for a gluten intolerance"? So, here is my story- its long, but all of the components are necessary to get a good glimpse of how I was suffering from a young age and had no idea!

I have been an athlete all my life, but primarily a tennis player. I played junior tennis nationally and competed almost every weekend growing up! I traveled a lot! My parents were highly involved in my tennis. My dad was my coach and both of my parents were VERY big supporters. My mom and dad both did a lot of reasearch regarding nutrition, so they could best prepare my body for competition each weekend. Typically, the few nights prior to a tournament, my mom would prepare meals with many carbs. Well at the time thats what we thought was best for my system, since I was going to be burning through a lot of energy the following weekend. Well soon after that I would start to get nervous and have some serious GI issues. Especially before matches, I would sit in the bathroom for 20-30 minutes with a big stomach ache. We just always thought I had anxiety and was nervous for my upcoming match. This happened all the way through the end of my college tennis career at University of Wyoming in 2007.

Jump ahead 2 years to 2009. I have been 120 lbs since 8th grade. Suddenly, after graduate school, I jumped up to about 140 for no reason at all. I worked out, ate better and there was no budging from that number. I just told myself "I must be getting older. Everyone said you can't stay that small forever". That year in 2009, I graduated from graduate school at OU Health Sciences Center, bought a house, got married and started a new job all within a few months! Talk about stress! I got diagnosied with Generalized Anxiety Disorder at this time, but chose to deal with it through my Faith and compensatory strategies. This will be important later on in my story. When we moved out to our new house, I got allergies too and I have never had allergies in my life. I just thought it was because it was out in the country with new bushes/trees etc.

Jump to 2011, I trained for a half marathon for a few months. I was ready! I of course, carbo-loaded the day before in preperation for the longest run I had ever attempted. Well, I was at Walmart with my husband getting a few last minute items and it HIT ME! I had severe, yes, severe, cramps in my side and I couldn't breathe nor talk. I was scared! The severe pain lasted about 20 minutes, then subsided. I had a lingering soreness from it though. My husband said that if it did not go away by the next morning then I couldn't run- He wouldn't let me! Well, it was still there, so I watched the race in my hometown from the comfort of my couch. All that training down the drain.

Jump to today, 2012. I trained for a marathon (YES 26 MILES) starting in November of 2011. I ran the marathon in May of this year, 2012. Well, I had completed all of this training without losing ANY weight! Weird, right! You would think running 15-20 miles a week would result in something!

Since that marathon, my fatigue had increased dramatically and my GI issues were getting worse and worse. I would wake up for work at 6:00 am each morning, go to work until about 2:30-3:00 then come home and sleep for 3-4 hours. I would wake up from my "nap" to make dinner for my husband and I, then be physically exhausted by 8:00 and want to go to bed. My husband seriously thought I was nuts and I'm sure he thought depression was flowing through my system. It was becoming a big issue because I NEVER had any energy to do ANYTHING! I would be at work at 2:00 and ALL I could think about was "when can I get home and get to bed".

This summer I got sick and mentioned something to my doctor about this severe fatigue. She did the normal "fatigue workup": Anemia, Thyroid etc and did blood work: nothing! I just wanted some answers. I did some research on my own before this visit and mentioned that my symptoms of Gluten Intolerance/Celiacs Disease fit almost perfectly. She agreed to do another blood test to test fo antibodies of some protein- I forgot what it is now. Anyways, there IT WAS! I had a gluten intolerance! She recommended me not to go for further testing for Celiacs as it was in her opinion to not have a "diagnosis" when going gluten free would fix my symptoms! I agreed with her recommendation and went gluten free.

Since I went gluten free here is what has changed in my life.
1) I have only taken 2 naps in 3 months! My energy has come back!
2)I can stay up til midnight and NOT be tired the next day- this would have never happened before!
3) My GI issues have completely gone away- ya I can go out to eat without worrying about how long it will take to get home.
4) My anxiety has significantly decreased. Apparently, when you have an intolerance of any kind, your body is off kilter and creates a feeling of anxiety in your system! Makes sense right!
5) My allergies have completely gone away: turns out it wasn't my house, but an allergy to the food I was eating.
6) I have lost 15 pounds in 3 months- now thats better! I knew something was wrong when I was running marathons and not losing any weight.

So how does this all connect to the items above:
Well, when I was carbo-loading all of those years, I was putting something in my mouth that was filled with wheat-flour or wheat and it was poisoning my system causing anxiety and GI issues prior to all of my tennis matches: I carbo-loaded for my half marathon and had a "gluten attack" from it! Allergies were not from my new house environment, but from an allergy to something in my system. A big life change (starting a new job, graduating grad school, getting married and buying a new house) was my trigger for the gluten intolerance to become worse! Thus thats when my symptoms increased! I was keeping weight on because my body was in "maintain fat stores" mode because it was getting any nourishment from my food passing through my system.

Anyways, that is my story and although it was long. I wanted everyone to get an idea of how much it has changed MY LIFE! It really has! I am so grateful for my diagnosis and although I had to make some diet changes, it is totally worth it!

Free Space Friday: Super Duper Carry All Cart

I bought a Carrying Cart from Super Duper at the beginning of last years school year. I love it! It is great for the traveling therapist that has a lot of fun materials to bring back and forth between schools, between home and school or wherever else you may need your stuff. This is a picture of it from the Super Duper Inc website. I found it on sale for 50% off during one of their summer specials. Today it is 50% off due to overstock; so go grab it now while its on sale =)
Here is a link as well: Super Duper Carry All Cart

Thank Goodness for....Social Groups

So today I am thankful for social groups. This is a growing area of service provided by speech language pathologists and I personally think it is one of the hardest areas to plan.

One of the speech pathologists in my school district started a social group called "Lunch Buzz" at her high school. I wanted to bring focus to it because ITS AWESOME and when I say "its awesome, ITS AWESOME".

This is the mission statement: Enhance student’s social communication skills 
in the school environment with assistance from peer mentors

Goals: 

1.) Mentors assist in developing social skills / social communication, role modeling, and developing friendships.

2.) Have fun with peers while practicing social skills.

3.) Eat good food!

4.) Always Practice confidentiality.

    We will be focusing on the following areas during lunch buzz:

1. Greetings/Closings  

2. Initiating conversations

3. Maintaining a conversational topic

4. Asking/answering topic related questions

5. Making comments in a conversation

6. Interpreting reactions (facial expressions/body language)

7. Using/understanding figurative language/humor

8. Positive Reminders (over-focus on favorite subject,  appropriate eye contact,  appropriate reactions,  facial expressions, body language, etc….)

9. Perspective Taking

There is a group of high school kids in her school that are a part of the FUSE program. FUSE is a program that stands for Freshman Utilizing Senior Experience. These kids are very involved in many aspects of the school, but today I am going to focus on how they are utilized in the "Lunch Buzz" program. There are typically developing students that are involved in the FUSE program that volunteer to be trained for this program. The first year this program was in effect, the FUSE students were only trained on how to model and demonstrate the social skill that was targeted that week. Here is how my friend introduces the program: (I did not use the real school name on purpose)

"We are very excited to offer a voluntary social skills group at Lala High School!  Lunch Buzz targets social communication skill development for our students on the autism spectrum or students with needs in this area.  The Lunch Buzz meets twice monthly offering fun, pizza, social skills practice and interactions with trained student peers from FUSE". 

So this is how it works: Twice a month, students that are on the autism spectrum or have difficulties with social language meet in a separate location for lunch with a group of typically developing peers (the FUSE students). The first group of the month pizza is provided for all of the students participating. This money comes from the special education teacher who donates the vending machine money to fund the pizzas each month. The second monthly meeting the students bring their own sack lunch from home. During the session, a social skill is taught. The FUSE students model the social skill and all of the students practice that particular skill during the lunch!   

Now that the program is in it's 3rd year at the high school, the speech pathologist and teacher have decided to let the students from the FUSE program lead the entire session. The FUSE students teach the lesson, introduce the social skill and help model the social skill during the lunch session.

It has been said the the students who volunteer from the FUSE program are future speech pathologists, future psychologists and future special education teachers since they do SUCH a great job! 

I have another social group activity that I will share with you another time. What are some of the ways that you do social language intervention or therapy for students who have social skill deficits? 

In honor of "Thank Goodness for Social Groups Thursday" there is a social activity on my TPT page for you all to grab! 

What Would You Do Or Say Social Skills Activity

Wacky Wednesday

Yup, GUILTY!

Two Tangled Speechie's on a Tuesday-- LiveLoveSpeech and Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

I met Kristine over at LiveLoveSpeech through proofreading one of her items that she has up on her Teachers Pay Teachers page. I have exchanged materials with other speech's prior to this date and decided it would be fun to write reviews on the products that we do exchange, so others can benefit from other people's viewpoints on the activities.

I brought this idea up to Kristine and she thought it was a great idea- thus Tangled Tuesday was born.

Today, I am reviewing Monster Speech Jeopardy by LiveLoveSpeech!

The cute little monsters on each of the pages were a hit with my students. This activity features 5 areas: Choosing Appropriate Questions, Gathering Information, Question Comprehension, Formulating Questions and Starting a Conversation. Each area features 8 cards of cards worth 100 points, 8 cards worth 200 points, 8 cards word 300 points, 8 cards worth 400 points and 8 cards worth 500 points for a total of 40 question cards per activity area. Due to the large amount of options for each point level- I played this game 8 different times using different cards for each of those sessions! Now thats flexibility! I included a sample question from each of her activity areas, so you can get an idea of what each of the target tasks look like.

Starting a Conversation Card (above)

Gathering Information Card (above)

Choosing Questions Card (above)

Question Comprehension Card (above)

Formulating Question Card (above)

She has included a game board and little monster cards that she suggests that you place velcro on. Then the student would come up to the game board take off the point value and complete the card task. I played it a little bit differently.

I had bought some library card pockets a long time ago and did not really have a use for them. I labeled each library card pocket by the category and point value amount. For example, "Choosing Questions for 200". Then I placed all of the questions for that category and point value in that pocket. Sometimes, I had all 8 cards in the pocket and in other pockets I may have only put 5 cards in there. This keeps the students guessing and gives each of them opportunity to answer the questions with low and high point values. Be sure to put the front of the cards facing the inside of the pocket because the students may find a surprise card.
     <--------These are what the library card pockets look like =)

For the surprise card, I used her "Lucky Monster Bonus Points" cards! I randomly put them in different pockets. If the student drew a Bonus Card then that automatically doubled the point value of the question IF the student answers the question correct.

I used this activity with my junior high students, but it could be easily utilized with elementary students as well. I had so much fun reviewing this activity and a special thank you to Kristine for joining me in my first Tangled Tuesday.

Go over to LiveLoveSpeech Blog and check out her review of my activity "Crayon Color Definitions"
http://livelovespeechkl.blogspot.com/   Go to her blogsite for a FREEBIE from me and a review of "Crayon Color Definitions".

This activity can be found in her TPT store- it is on sale today and tomorrow! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kristine-Lamb   

Here is a link to one of LiveLoveSpeech's FREEBIE's just for you =) http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowy-WH-Questions

My Crayon Color Definitions activity will be on sale Tuesday and Wednesday only- you can grab it at my TPT page http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Major-Speech-Pathology-Fun-By-A-Minor-Girl

If you would like to be a part of Tangled Tuesday, let me know-- either leave a comment in the comment section below, message me on my facebook page or leave a post on my facebook page! I look forward to more Tangled Tuesdays! The next Tangled Tuesday will be with Word Nerd Speech Teach next Tuesday December 25th! Two more freebies will be featured in this post as well!

Follow me on Facebook for some fun giveaways, freebies and fun information  www.facebook.com/MinorSLP



Monday Muncher: Chick Fil A

Ok my Monday Muncher is on Chick Fil A today! It's hard to eat out when you have diet restrictions. I have been researching a lot of menu's online before I go out with friends, family and my husband. It makes it a lot easier. My husband likes to eat out sometimes and other times I just need a quick bite on my way between jobs. I forgot my lunch one day at school and I was thinking crap! now what I am going to do. I quickly looked up the menu for Chick Fil A and was surprised that they had one! Here is the gluten free menu for all of you that are gluten intolerant.

http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Gluten 

I happened to have had the chicken nuggets and a drink because at the time I didn't even look at the sides because I do not like cole slaw and I wasn't feeling like fruit that day. When I got back I was pleasantly surprised that Chick Fil A's french fries are gluten free- WOW! Never would have expected that! Anyways, I loved this restaurant before I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance and now I can love it too!

This is one of the salads that are gluten free from Chick Fil A. I have been very good about not eating out. I eat out for lunch probably one day a month. At least this gives me another option for my monthly eat out adventure =)

BE SURE TO TUNE INTO TOMORROW FOR TANGLED TUESDAY WITH FREEBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such and Such Saturday and Sunday: Catch Up

I have finished all of my Christmas Shopping except for the two lovely speech pathologists that I work with at my elementary school. I was thinking a gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers because we all could use some fun therapy items for the new year. But I haven't made my final decision yet, so we'll see. My husband and I decided we are just going to do stockings this year to each other. We just put a BUNCH of money into a 30X50 shop building in our backyard (we live on 2 acres), so we decided that was a big enough gift for us for the year =)

We played Secret Santa at my school this year and I received a Scentsy pot with 3 scents from my secret santa! We each got a gift for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it was neat to include all 3 holidays, as we could spread the joy out for more months. It was pretty fun. I need to buy another Secret Santa gift for my elementary school special ed party next week.

Ok so so far thats 3 more gifts! Everytime I think I am finished with gifts- more pop up! Thats ok because I would rather buy for others anyway. I love the thought process behind gifts and I do not like that gift giving is now about christmas lists, black friday and sales. I think it takes away from the meaning and thought behind the gift. I personally think that you should know a person well enough to get them a gift without the person making you a list of items. Christmas isn't about getting the person what they WANT- its about giving a gift that shows you care. I always tell my parents each year. I would be happy with a simple letter from them.

One of the best gifts I ever received as a Christmas gift was a 2 dollar bill from my aunt and uncle. Money was a challenge for them at the time and they sent that simple gift to use anyways. I still have it today along with the card that it came in. THAT is the true meaning of gift giving! What is the most meaningful gift you have ever received?

Free Space Friday-- Blog Posts Organization

I have decided I want to start trying to post certain posts of information on certain days. Here is going to be the days and their titles.

Monday Muncher: these posts will feature gluten free options for eating and various food posts.

Tangled Tuesday: these posts will feature an activity review of another speech pathologist's activities. The SLP that is "Tangled Up" with my page for the day will feature a review of one of my activities whether it be a freebie or an activity that is for sell in my TPT store =)

Wacky Wednesday: these posts will feature funny things that have happened to me or funny things that my students have done. It might be a funny picture I see on pinterest or it might just be a joke. Hopefully, it will be something that makes you smile or laugh1

Thank Goodness for..... Thursday: these posts will be about things that I have had good success with in my speech classroom or in my practice as a medical speech language pathologist. It might be an app, review a neat thing another therapist does or something I think is unique.

Free Space Friday: these posts will be organization ideas. It might be ways I keep my speech classroom organized, ways I keep my life organized or just organization in general. I work 4 jobs and I am at 2 different schools for one of those jobs, so organizing my time and my life is of the utmost importance.

Such and Such Saturday and Sunday: these posts will be about miscellaneous information that pops into my head. I named it Such and Such because there is a game that I recently blogged about in my game post called Such and Such and in that game the answers come in pairs- so fitting for Saturday and Sunday.


This by no means mean that I will write a post everyday every week, but that is going to be my GOAL! I am all about goal setting in life- a lesson I learned from my wonderful parents. This is going to be my way of organizing when I post information about different topics. Since this is an organization topic, I posted it on Friday! SEE it works! =)