Thank Goodness for Erik Raj and Multiple Choice Articulation App

First of all, I would like to thank Erik Raj for allowing me to be able to do my FIRST app giveaway opportunity! He did give me the code for the app, but the opinions are only mine =) As you'll soon see I just flat out LOVED the app and that's all there is to it. His website is here: http://www.erikxraj.com/ I will tell you more about it later on in the post.

Today, I am writing about how I used the Multiple Choice Articulation app in various clinical settings. This post is quite lengthy, but I wanted to share how I used this particular app in many of the settings I work in! This is the kind of app that can help save you time and save your arms. What do I mean by that? I mean this: I travel between two schools during the week and at the hospital, whatever you can carry is what you have with you to treat patients. Thus, my Ipad has come in handy for being able to transport all my "articulation and speech intelligibility" materials from place to place or in the hospital's case room to room. This app would be great for the outpatient rehabilitation setting as well for children and/or adults if you use the Ipad app for stimulus information like I do!

So for working in the schools, obviously this Multiple Choice Articulation App is really beneficial. It is a motivating and engaging activity to where students can work on their sound development and experience learning as fun! The nice thing is all the sounds are at my fingertips to be able to retrieve at a moment's notice. "Brad" is doing well on /ch/ today- lets move to /sh/ and boom- a set a words within seconds! This is a time saver because I do not have to interrupt my session to get up and go looking for a card deck. Card decks do have their place in my therapy room, so I by no means am saying that the articulation app is better than the card decks. I am saying that this articulation app is a great item to have in addition or as a stand alone item (if you are short on funds like my school district) to enable you as a clinician to have access to many sounds and stimulus questions within seconds! I think the app is very good for other goals as well. I used it for thought organization and topic maintenance EVEN just answering questions. Some of my students have trouble hearing a question and giving a relevant answer. BOOM- it works for that too! I even used it as a comprehension task- "Why would Erik prefer to flip into a pool full of cheese"? If they were able to tell me what Erik said the student would get a point! Last but not least, you could even target reasoning. "Why would it be a bad idea to choose flipping into a pool full of chopsticks versus a pool full of cheese?" OK enough about how it can be used in the school- lets go onto the medical settings of speech pathology! I bet I came up with ideas you never thought of!

For all you outpatient medical speech pathologists, this app would be very beneficial to your setting as well! Again everything I said above applies here too! All the sounds are at the tip of your fingers, so if you don't have very much time between sessions then boom you have one less therapy material to go retrieve! Your children will appreciate the fun activity and you can focus on their sound production instead of trying to keep them from throwing the cards on the floor. The same thing would apply if you are an early intervention child developmental therapist and travel to children's home to provide early intervention therapy.

For all of my followers that are medical speech pathologists in the acute care childrens setting (those that work with kids in Children's Hospitals, child based rehabalititation etc). This is a must have item! I know swallowing and feeding disorders are usually priority in this environment, but I also know that we treat developmental speech/language/cognitive goals too. We can use this app to work on children's speech intelligibility while using the Ipad in their hospital rooms. Ipads easily fit in your clipboard and therefore if you have the Multiple Choice Articulation App that means you have access to 500 multiple choice questions and 7 phonemes and MOST importantly no more bulky treatment books to haul around! The silly answers Erik has just make children gigle and bring a smile to their face in what might not be the most fun place to be! I see it as a no-brainer! If you read the next paragraph, you can see how I used the app to target other goal areas- these suggestions could be easily adapted to fit children's language goals in the medical setting.  SLP role at University of Oklahom Children's Hospital

Believe it or not, I have even used this app with my adults in acute care hospitals and the rehab hospital that I work at. I know, right? I bet you didn't see that coming! The adults laughed and laughed at some of the silly questions asked. One lady stated "I haven't laughed this hard since I was a child and it feels good to laugh again". The same lady asked me multiple times in the session "What is Erik's answer?" because for each of the questions Erik has a "hear an answer" option at the bottom of the screen (see screens below). She would laugh and laugh at his answers and his reasonings! They appreciated the fun questions and adults like to have fun too while recovering from a stroke or "anesthesia brain" as I call it after they get out from a hip surgery. I've had adults practice reading on this app. I have had them practice paying attention by navigating the app instead of me doing all of the clicking. I especially used it for speech intelligibility. I would read the sentence or sentences from the app and the patient would need to repeat me in a slow, over-articulating fashion! The adult doesn't even have to look at the app if you are afraid the patient might think it is "too young" for them! Just read it yourself (or have the app read it for you) and have the patient repeat you! Use the app as stimulus items to prevent yourself from going blank and use it to address memory. I had the patient listen to the question and the answer given by Erik then ask comprehension questions! "Why did Erik prefer to sit with a porcupine instead of a skunk on the ferris wheel?" Word finding can be addressed as the patients answer the questions (example question: Would you rather be an award winning soccer player or an award winning hockey player- Why?) SEE! As the patient tells you all about his/her dreams of being an award winning soccer player, you as the clinician are helping with thought organization, topic maintenance and word finding!

I am ALL about using an app for multiple settings and multiple uses- it gives me MULTIPLE CHOICES (play on words haha). That is kind of my self-proclaimed specialty- taking an item and adapting it to fit other areas of my caseload or other settings! I save money (by using one material many ways), time planning (by using one material to fit multiple goals on a caseload) and I keep my creative wheels turning to make therapy more enjoyable for my students/patients.

Erik has a FREE online workshop as well that has handouts and specifics on articulation strategies. You can view that on this link here: Articulation Workshop There are some neat ideas, so I encourage you all to go over there and check them out!

He also has a very fun and engaging blog that can be viewed here: Erik Raj Blog
I find him very funny and his ideas for speech activities are beyond fun! My students loved the games from this post: Wacky Zombies! Who said you can't be loud in speech?

Here are a few screenshots from Multiple Choice Articulation app! I wish this review could have audio- it would make the review SO much better!

                       <-------These are all the sounds available in the app as well as blends in the s, l, and r areas.

 Each of the articulation targets are in a question format. You can have the voice of Erik ask the question by pressing "Hear the Question" and you can hear what Erik's answer is by pressing the "Hear an answer" button.

Enter the giveaway below or on my facebook page and I hope the lucky winner finds the app as interesting and fun as I did!  There will be TWO winners! First Prize will be the Multiple Choice Articulation App and Second Prize will be an item of your choice from my store!

Thanks for reading!

Amy @ Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The opinions expressed in this post are my opinions only- not the voice of any of my employers or app provider, Erik Raj. No payment was provided for completing this review of Multiple Choice Articulation.

Wacky Wednesday

Some of my students get this face a lot! Happy Wednesday!

Two Speechie's Tangled on a Tuesday: The Speech Bubble and Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

Tangled Tuesday continues! Today I have joined blogs with The Speech Bubble! I am reviewing her 56 page document "Receptive Language Circus"! It has cute graphics and since I collect clowns and I am extra in love with the clipart!

I took a lot of pictures for this review because there are many areas of this activity to feature!

 This is the title page to the activity!

Following Directions Title Page

One Step Directions Example

Two Step Directions Example

If-Then Following Directions Example

Contingency Component Following Directions Card

WH Question Title Page

Example Cards:

 There is also some cute incentive cards included!

Listening Comprehension Title Page

Example Cards (long versions and short versions):

Inferencing Title Page

 Inferencing Visual for teaching:

Example Card:

Predictions Title Page

Prediction Visual Page:

 Prediction Example Card:

There is not much to explain because the activity features SOOO many activities that target many different goals! I love being able to purchase one thing and use it with all of my groups for the day. This activity can be transformed into an expressive task so easily too. I had played it where I picked a card and did the 1 step direction or 2 step direction and had my students verbalize what I was doing! I made it a sequencing task as well.

The inferencing portion was amazing because so many of my students have trouble with abstract thinking and I was glad to have something I could pull out of my pocket to target this area.

I liked the listening comprehension activity best because all of my students are in need of this area!

The WH questions I used as a receptive and expressive language task. I just LOVE when an activity is moldable into another activity that I can use. SO even though this activity targets receptive language it is EASILY transformed into an expressive language activity too!

Overall I recommend this activity and I think it would be a great addition to your speech rooms because it was a great addition to mine! I really liked how there were posters to explain what an inference was or how to make a prediction. This helped a lot when teaching this area to my students. I always try to use a multi-modality approach to teaching my students, so this helped me out tons!

Check out The Speech Bubble's blog here to see her review of my activity Circus Is/Are Activity!

The Speech Bubble Blog Follow her for some great activities and some good speech knowledge!

Here is a link to her freebie: The Speech Bubble's Freebie!

Here is a link to this activity in her TPT store: Receptive Language Circus

Here is a link to the activity that The Speech Bubble reviewed on her blog: Circus Is/Are Activity

Here is a link to my freebie: January Chores Freebie

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 Kristin of Simply Speech, February 5th, 2013! 

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

Monday Muncher: Gluten Free Chex

I have never been a morning person, but since I have started the GF eating I have been eating breakfast more to help give me nourishment throughout the day. I usually have a plastic baggie of this GF Chex Cereal on me at all times- so in case I am ever in a bind and need something to eat, I know I have something that is ok for me to eat all the time. You know those times that your husband calls you on your way home (and you are already starving and thinking about what you are going to grab out of the pantry when you get home) and says "Hey honey, can you go pick up my dry cleaners or the vehicle is due for an oil change and I scheduled it for today" and you are thinking GOSH I am just hungry- well GF Chex cereal to the rescue.

I prefer the plain and the apple cinnimon kind. Here are the pictures of some. There are many GF cereals now, but I tend to stay close to the Chex. No reason really, I just found something I like and stuck to it. I also included a nutrition label for my favorite GF Apple-Chex for you guys to peak at!

Such and Such Saturday and Sunday: My new hobby to add to other things that I LOVE

I am so excited to be a part of this journey in this blogging world. It has made me a better speech pathologist in my own classroom (maybe a slightly worse wife due to all the time I put into this) and I feel like I add more to society in some small way. My husband has been supportive this whole way through and even though I get comments like "Are you going to have your nose stuck in that computer all night again?" or "I think you like making materials more than you like making dinner anymore". He has been supportive and likes to see me have a hobby that I enjoy.

I never really had a hobby before blogging/creating materials. I spent so much time growing up playing tennis and traveling with that sport that I didn't have time to do anything else (besides sleep, eat and do school homework).

My husband on the other hand has SO many hobbies they are hard to count. He often would try include me in his hobbies because he thought it was so weird that I didn't have a hobby!

SO now he is happy that I have a hobby and that I have something of my own that I can work on outside of work and something that I find enjoyable! I bought a massage with some of my profits from TPT last quarter and my husband just thought that was hilarious! He tells me "After all the time you spend on that blog, you need to schedule more massages to keep your creative ideas flowing" haha!

Here are a few other things that I like to do:

I LOVE to camp! I am such an outdoor person and I love the "quietness" of it all. No electronics, No lights...just the stars and a battery powered radio =)


I LOVE to cook (especially with vegetables now that I am GF). I love to make up my own recipes and put my own spin on recipes that are already out there in the world!


I LOVE reading on my Kindle: My favorite author is Jodi Piccoult. I also liked the 50 Shades Series- I know a bit controversial to like those books or not, but I read them and liked the story but I was by no means obsessed with the book like so many others.

I LOVE to sleep! I like to take naps, go to bed early at night and stay in bed as long as I can on weekends. However, I do not sleep in as much anymore. I COULD if I let myself, but I try to make my weekends as productive as my weekdays. That is not always possible, but I try to take advantage of any day I am alive and accomplish something!

Enter the giveaway for my Gator Social Skills Activity here:  Giveaway

Free Space Friday: Tupperware Containers and Their Many Uses!

Check out this post for an easy way to store items in your speech classroom! Also there is an idea at the bottom of the post that I am sure you will use in your therapy room once you read it! It's a way to answer the dreaded question "Can I go first?"

We all have those cards, little game pieces and dice that we do not know where to put! An easy and really stackable solution is to use plastic containers by Glad, Ziplock or whichever is your go-to brand.

There are all kinds of sizes. I also get plastic travel containers of various shapes and use them to store little items in my classroom.

 Plastic Toothbrush holders work GREAT for holding pens or tongue depressors. 

A MUST READ: 

Speaking of tongue depressors and toothbrush holders....there is a really easy way to determine who goes first in a game. Use a sharpie and write a number for each student in the group on the tongue depressors. For example, if you have 5 kids you will have a tongue depressor numbered 1, another labeled 2, another labeled 3 and so on to 5. Then place each in  a separate toothbrush holder. The students will each pick a toothbrush holder and open to see which number they each get! The student with the #1 goes first and so on! The kids love being surprised and its an easy and non-biased way of determining "Who Goes First!"

Thank Goodness for Mirror-Tic by Teach Speech 365!

Today I am reviewing ITEMS by Teach Speech 365! I fell in love with her Mirror-tic activities and I know you will too! Basically, the student will hold up a card to the mirror to read what it says! She has Mirror-Tic for /R/, /K and G/, Antonyms and Synonyms, and /SH CH and J/ AND Categories!

Thats 5 different sets that you could use for language and articulation! I personally like using one activity for all my groups during the day and this allows me to do that! Here is how I see it- one plan, one day! (if possible- it isn't always possible!).

Here are some pictures from the various activities! I love how the items have pictures also for use with the younger students.

Here is what you do: you need a mirror for all of the activities. Have a student hold the card up to the mirror and it will reveal the word and picture on the card in a way that the student can read easily and state the articulation word! Now you might think: how in the world did she do that? I sure did and I had to play around with powerpoint and such for a while hehe. Such a neat trick that Teach Speech 365 has up her sleeves! She is SO dang creative and I LOVE it! I stumbled upon the first one she made, the /r/ version, and was like WOW that is SO cool (I kinda really fell in love). SO now I have all of them and wanted to tell you all about them!

Here is the Title Page for Mirror-Synonyms and Antonyms!

There is an instruction page with each activity:

 A word list is included with each activity:

 This is an example page of the cards: 9 cards on each page!

Here is an example card from the synonyms card deck:

An an example from the antonyms card deck:

There are even cards with no camera's in case you don't have a color printer!

Here is one of the Title Pages for the /sh/ /ch/ and /j/ version of this activity!

Here is an example card of /ch/ in initial position:

Here is an example card of the /sh/ initial position: 

Here is the Title page for the Mirror Categories Activity:

 Here is the Title page for the /r/ version of this activity:

And again a title page for the /th/ version:

 And yet ANOTHER activity featuring /k/ and /g/:

Here is an example card of the /g/ in medial position:

All of these activities have cute "broken camera" cards as well to make the game a little more interesting =)

I hope I gave you a good idea about what her activities look like so you can make an informed decision on purchases! I am here to INFORM you that it will be a GOOD decision to purchase this product- like ALL of them!

Here is a link to her TPT page so you can go them right now: Teach Speech 365- BUY!