Past projects 5
Traveling Speech Therapist Needs Books!
Funded Dec 12, 2022We love to use books as part of our speech-language therapy session. For students working on articulation skills, the students pick out words in the book that have their speech sound in them. We write these words down and use them in sentences about the book we read. For students working on language goals, we compare and contrast the scenes, make predictions, and find pronouns or vocabulary words. We like to write our words down on something that we can then incorporate into a craft (like flower petals on a paper flower).
In speech we try and read at least one book per month. We have to complete a lot of drill work in order to remediate speech sounds or language needs, so it is fun for the students when we get the opportunity to put drill work aside and immerse ourselves in a book. We typically spend two weeks on the same book from start to finish. We start with learning new vocabulary and making predictions about what we think will happen. When we finish up the book we always do a fun craft so the students can take the craft home and tell their parents about the story.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears was a favorite this year! We made pots of porridge with our speech words in it. The students loved to pretend to eat the speech words while practicing the words in sentences. Surprisingly, I think the fourth graders enjoy the books and activities the most! They like getting to be little kids versus always having to complete drill work.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Roberts
Talking Tools for Pre K!
Funded Aug 8, 2022All the materials you donated have been used to increase the communication in the pre-k students, my exceptional needs students, and even some of my kindergarten students! I am so very thankful. My student's eyes lit up when they saw the baby dolls and the farm set. Some of the students even initiated conversation, which is something I haven't seen them do before. The toys donated by you for my Pre-K students have been an enormous blessing.
My little learners are so happy to have hands-on objects to talk about versus just picture cards and worksheets. We have used the balls donated to learn basic concepts such as in, on, under, and next to. We used the farm set to identify the animals, talk about the sounds the animals make, identify big versus little, and start learning about action verbs (The horse is jumping). The baby dolls were a huge hit with the girls and boys in my groups. We have found and labeled body parts, used our words to make choices, pretend played to increase our imagination, and targeted action verbs.
Next, we plan on using the shape sorter to continue talking about basic concepts: in, on, and under. In my pre-k and autism groups, we will use the shape boxes to sort the objects by shape and then hopefully label the shapes. We could mix the farm animals, shapes, and baby doll items in a larger box and then sort the items by category. My students will love digging through all the materials!
Thank you again for donating to my project! I greatly appreciate all you do for students.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by Center for Disaster Philanthropy and 5 other donors.Bringing Technology and Words Together In An Educational Communication Atmosphere
Funded Aug 31, 2020Thank you so much for the OSMO! We are enjoying using the document camera during this time of remote learning. The document camera is especially helpful with my lower level communicators that do better when talking about real objects versus talking about pictures of objects or worksheets. When I showed the OSMO hands-on play abilities via virtual learning, it really excited my students to know what they have to look forward to when we return to the classroom. They really look forward to playing the Pizza Co. learning game. Because we aren't able to be in person yet, my 15-year-old son and I checked out all the games together. FYI even the 15-year old says the OSMO is awesome! He said the company needs to do a play learning set for his age group too. I enjoyed getting to bond with my son and show him what I do for a living and having him help me set up the technology. Even though we can't use the hands-on portion in speech therapy yet (due to covid), I will have the knowledge of how to do it, thanks to my son. I also enjoyed sharing the experience with all my students. They can't wait to use the rest of the OSMO system. Until then, we are enjoying the document camera and really appreciate the gift of technology you have given us. Thank you!!!”
With gratitude,
Dr. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by AT&T and one other donor.High Repetition = High Learning With Interactive Notebooks!
Funded Aug 14, 2019Thank you so much for your donation of notebooks, scissors, glue, and a carpet. We have been able to use the resources to make interactive learning books. Interactive learning allows the students to remain actively involved in creating their own practice book for speech therapy. We can even use the carpet to sit on and practice upper body strength while we work on speech sounds.
We spend our sessions practicing sounds Over and over, and that can sometimes get boring. But with our interactive notebooks, we get to color and cut and glue while practicing our sounds. We also learn seasonal vocabulary that have our speech sounds in them!
My favorite part of using the notebooks is watching the students share resources. Students don't always like to share, but the interactive notebooks have use using our words to ask nicely for things we need. It has promoted sharing within the group. I'm really excited to see how the notebooks are received by the parents when the books go home for the summer. I think it will be a pleasant surprise. Thank you again.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Roberts
Modernizing Speech Language Therapy for Our Future Leaders!
Funded Dec 21, 2016My students absolutely love having an IPad to use in speech therapy. We have watched videos on fluency skills, played language games, tried out augmentative communication apps, worked on articulation apps, and have even drawn on it! Thank you for supporting my classroom. Sixty four students just this year were impacted by your donation. I am expecting to get to use the device for many years to come, with many more children. Thank you again!!!
Technology inspires students to imagine the impossible and to look forward to coming to speech therapy. It allows us to explore communication with an electronic device. It allows easy portability between schools for more students to benefit from. There are hundreds of educational apps as well as speech therapy apps we can access and use in the therapy setting to help improve articulation, expressive and receptive language skills, fluency, and even voice.
I really believe having something other than a typical board game available to use as a therapy tool, helps students see therapy as fun and exciting and less like work.
My intellectually disabled students have really been inspired by using the IPad during our speech therapy session. It has given a voice to some of my voiceless students allowing them to speak and tell us what they are thinking.”
With gratitude,
Dr. Roberts
This classroom project was brought to life by The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools and 4 other donors.