A Lid for Every Pot! Quirky Valentine’s Books (to use all year) for Communication!

Ah, Valentine’s Day! That holiday you either love or hate depending on your romance status! Although, I am sans Valentine this year, my heart is filled with love. I have amazing friends, family, the best caseload ever and a job that I love! Perhaps my single, yet hopeful, status and my work with so many kids struggling to form friendships led me to this year’s selection of quirky and fun Valentine’s books to include in therapy. Best thing about these books, they are not Valentine’s specific, so you can use them all year round!

Mr. Prickles: A Quill Fated Love Story  written by Kara LaReau; illustrations Scott Magoon

Poor Mr. Prickles! This charming little porcupine only wants to find a friend but “by their very nature porcupines are very hard to get close to.” After failing to fit in with the other woodland creatures, Mr. Prickles finds his perfect match and discovers porcupines do hug….very carefully! Great book for children 3 to 8 years old. Younger children will enjoy this story on its fundamental level  - someone looking for a friend. Older children will enjoy the puns, subtle humor and may identify with being teased, left out and struggling to find a true friend.  Language: This book is packed with powerful adjectives. Help your child find the picture that illustrates the adjective. This is also a great story to practice making predictions. The author and illustrator beautifully build the story. Before turning the page, ask, “what do you think happens next?” Another favorite language exercise is to look at the pictures and explain what is funny. Kids love this game! My favorite, is the picture of Mr. Prickles using his quills to make shish-kabobs! For kids with more sophisticated language skills, have them look for and explain the plays on words. Articulation:  Loads of words with consonant clusters (i.e., “Prickles,” “close,” “fruitless”) allow for plenty of practice pronouncing consonant blends!  Social Skills: Parents, teachers and SLPs, there are enough social skills lessons here to keep you busy for weeks! At the most basic level, talk about emotions (lonely, angry/”prickly”, bored, happy) presented throughout the story. Work on buidling empathy skills. “How does Mr. Prickles feel when the other animals are unfriendly to him?” “Have you ever been teased?” “Have you ever teased someone?” At an even higher level, talk about how to handle bullying and what makes a true friend! Activity:  Check out Kara LaReau’s website for her ready-to-make Mr. Prickles Valentines and have a Prickly Party!

Zombie in Love written by Kelly DiPucchio illustrated by Scott Campbell

I LOVE this book and so will kids 4 and older! Your kids will laugh at this hysterical and wonderfully illustrated story about “Tall, dead and handsome,” Mortimer, as he looks for his soulmate. All of the girls seem immune to his charms.  In a last gasp effort to find his dream ghoul, misunderstood, yet sincere Mortimer, places an ad on Stalemate.com: “If you like taking walks in the graveyard and falling down in the rain. If you are not into cooking, if you have half a brain…”  (SING ALONG! Enhance your reading enjoyment by playing this in the background!)  Language: SO many opportunities to play the “what is funny about this game”! Provide a model for your responses such as, “this funny because ______” or “this makes me laugh because ________.”  Social Skills:  Mortimer is the poster zombie for being misunderstood. Talk with your child about how they might be misunderstood by others. What can your child do to make friends?  What kind qualities does he look for in a friend? Discuss how shared interests create a foundation for great friendships.  Activity:  Have your child (or speech therapy group or classroom) write his/her own personal ad in search of a friend. Start by having your child list his or her best characteristics. Next, list the qualities they think make a good friend. Then, take a Mortimer-esque picture of your little zombie (wouldn’t the personal ads and pictures make a fabulous display for a bulletin board, classroom or refrigerator!) Finally, throw a Zombie Party!!!  I would serve dirt cakes and of course BRAINS! So. Much. FUN! (I would actually do this with my grown up friends who have come to expect just such quirky festivities from me!) (If anyone has a GFCF recipe for dirt cake, post it in the comments and share the love!)

Plant a Kiss written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrations Peter H. Reynolds

Lest you think I have a truly warped sense of love, here is a more traditional (but no less magical) book for you! This sweet book is appropriate for toddlers up through adults who are kids at heart! “Little Miss” plants a kiss. What do you think happens when you plant a kiss? LOVE GROWS! And in this book, love grows in sparkly, glittery grandeur!  Little Miss’ friends are in such awe of the love that they warn her to keep this beautiful love to herself for fear that it “go bare” if she plucks any off and gives it away. Little Miss ignores her friends’ well meant advice and gives and gives of her love! So what do you suppose happens then?! Grab at least two copies of this book (one for yourself and one to give away) and find out what happens! Language: Focus on the great verbs in this book. Model them in sentences for your child to repeat. Also, try reading the book once in present progressive tense (verb+ing….”Little Miss is watering the kiss”). After you read the book, close it and announce “all done!” Then ask, “what happened?” and go back and read it in the past tense (“Little Miss watered the kiss”). Another great lesson in Social Skills. Discuss how it feels when we are kind and loving to other people! Activity: I found this picture for centerpieces at a wedding while perusing the web and thought it would make for a great sequencing activity. Have your child plant a seed in small pot (bonus activity…decorate the pot making sure to have your child make requests for all the craft supplies). Add a little paper grass or moss to the top and top with a chocolate kiss or two. Even better – personalize the message coming out of the chocolate kiss! Before starting this activity, have your child sequence the steps involved (e.g., decorate the pot; fill with some soil; add a seed; add more dirt; top with moss; plant your kiss!). What a fantastic gift for your child to give to someone he or she loves – a plant AND a kiss! I am betting you will see the love grow!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! I think this year I will plant a kiss and head over to my brother’s house, snuggle up my little niece and nephew, read them a story or three and watch some love grow!

What makes a good app? Part 2, finally!

Ugh!  Where does the time go?  Since I have given up GUILT as a word, we shall proceed…..

In a previous blog, I was writing about the features I look for in an app (perhaps you should refresh your memory since it has been a while).  After my initial downloading frenzy when I first started using the iPad, I came up for air only to find that I many apps were not as useful or captivating as I had hoped.  Since then, I have developed better criteria when considering purchasing an app. Here are some additional features I look for in an app.

Data Collection.  As an SLP, I am a data collecting maniac.  Data tells me if the task is too easy or too tough for my client and whether or not the client is making progress.  Even if you are not a clinician or an educator, the ability to analyze your child’s performance is very important.  If an app is too difficult for your child, they will quickly become frustrated; too easy and they will lose interest.  Here are some loose guidelines for data interpretation, keeping in mind that each child is different!  The trick is to find an app or level that is challenging but not frustrating!

• 40% accuracy (calculated by number correct divided by the number of opportunities presented) or lower means the task is either too difficult or needs significant teaching and support by the adult.  You can provide support by working along side the child and modeling and providing examples for each trial.  (Watch your data over time.  If your child’s performance is not improving or remains below 40% accuracy over 3 consecutive uses of the app, this app/task is too difficult and should be set aside for later).
• Initial scores of 85% or higher would suggest that this is an emerging skill for your child and they will likely master this app very quickly.  If there is an opportunity to work at a higher level of difficulty, your child is probably ready for the next level.
• Mastery of a skill usually occurs when a child is able to perform at 85% accuracy or higher over 3 or more consecutive uses of the app.  Congratulations!  This means your work with the app is really paying off and your child has gained a new skill that they are likely to carryover to other learning opportunities!

Of course you can take data informally (I highly recommend this if there is not a data

Data collection screen for Pocket SLP articulation

collection option on the app), but I sure do love apps that have this feature!  Even better are apps that allow me to collect and store data for multiple kids.  I love the Pocket SLP  Articulation app for all its data collecting goodness!  (If you are an SLP or a parent of a child with multiple articulation errors, this app is a great buy!)

Ample Stimulus Set.  This may sound technical, but basically, I am looking for apps that provide plenty of opportunities for my clients to practice a target set of skills.  Practice, practice and more practice leads to learning!  You also need a decent set of trials to derive adequate data.  (My college students used to ask me why my exams were so long.  I told them, “if I only gave you 10 questions and you missed one, the best you could get would be a 90.”  This was enough to induce grade related tremors from students who never complained about lengthy exams again!).  Early on, I bought an app to work on simple wh-questions.  The first time I used the app was with a client (Big mistake! I always “play” with the app myself before using it in therapy!) There were only 12 questions!  At the end of the app, my client looked at me and

Screen shot of "Receptive Combined" app. Requires children to identify objects by function, feature or class.

asked, “is that it?”  Yup. Into the “eh” folder for that app!  The apps from Kindergarten.com  provide robust stimulus sets and have apps that target many great language concepts such as receptive/expressive nouns, verbs, associations, and emotions.

Facilitates Motivation and Reinforces Behavior! Simply using the iPad with your child is a motivating activity!  As parents and clinicians, I often feel we are sales people – constantly pitching ideas to our kids.  ”You LOVE broccoli!  It is like eating tiny trees!”  Make sure to promote iPad time as a reward, “I love your good listening!  Now we can play on the iPad together!”  ”Once we are done in the grocery store, we can play with your favorite app.”  If you routinely hand your iPhone, iPad or other handheld device over to your child to simply entertain him/her or occupy your child when you are busy, the device will lose it’s magic. Anything can be a reward or reinforcer – the secret is to keep it special!  (If you were sent flowers everyday, the thrill of receiving them would dwindle over time.)

I “sell” each app that I use with my kids.  ”Oh goodie!  Now we get to make a movie with Milo!” (Speech with Milo – Sequencing) or “If you are a good listener, next we get to play the spelling game!” (FirstWords: Deluxe).  My clients routinely ask to “play” with particular learning apps that have become favorites.  I also have apps that I use strictly for reinforcement.  Some of the apps I use for reinforcement are simply games, like Angry Birds and Racing Penguin.  I have one client, who will “work” for a solid 55 minutes in therapy so that she can play Angry Birds for the last 5 minutes of our session while I talk to her mother.  In fact, she greets me with, “3:55, Angry Birds!”  (She also lets me know when there is a new update!).  I would argue that most games have some therapeutic advantage: fine motor development, eye-hand coordination, attention, planning and following directions.

My favorite reinforcer apps to use are those that are highly motivating, very quick to play AND sneak in a little learning!  I incorporate just a few minutes of use of these apps throughout the session; sandwiching therapeutic apps and just straight up therapy with a little play time.  Two of my favorites are Go Go Mongo and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox. Go Go Mongo is a ridiculously simply game in which you have to tilt the device to position Mongo to catch the specified food (ex: apples, bananas, oranges) that falls from the sky. Be careful, occasionally other foods like cookies and cake fall that will make Mongo sick! My kids always crack up when I shout, “ACK!! Not the cake!!!!”  One round of Go Go Mongo takes less than 1 minute and it is just long enough to get the child motivated and ready for more “work.”  While playing, the kids are working on attention, following directions and developing visual-spatial skills!

My current favorite super fast, highly motivating AND educational app to use for reinforcement is Bugs and Buttons.  I have yet to find a kid who doesn’t love it (I have to confess, I enjoy playing it too!).  Great for kids 4 and up. Once you press start, a random

Just two of the eighteen games in Bugs and Buttons!

sequence of games begins.  Each game is played for approximately 1-3 minutes.  Each game incorporates a learning component in the task which gradually increases in difficulty (matching, sequencing, sorting, fine motor, visual-motor, following directions).  One of my favorites is a game that requires you to use a  superior pincer grasp to pick up bugs and put them in jar or cardboard and cans for recycling bins.  The graphics, music and creativity are fantastic!  Once we have finished one game, I wait a second to see what game is coming up next, “Oh, ROACH RACE!!!!”, then I hit the pause button.  ”Let’s work on our sentences and THEN we can come back and play Roach Race!”.  The anticipation of the reward to come makes even the most wiggly and non-compliant of my kids eager to work diligently on the next task!

What’s in a Word?

As a speech language pathologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about words.  What words will open the door of communication for a toddler with an expressive language delay?  (“Open,” “More,” “Help,” and “All Done” are my standard initial set of toddler power words.) What words would be most meaningful to a non-verbal child?  What words do parents need from their child?  Exactly which word precisely expresses the nuance I am trying to communicate?  Words are the embodiment of our thoughts, emotions and ideas.  Powerful!

As the New Year has dawned, I have been contemplating words.  Guilt is a word…. I have been behind on my blogging, internet exploration, projects and to-do lists.  December was a crazy month… my father had hip replacement surgery; my son, “Hurricane Jimmie” was home from college and I felt like “Tropical Storm Chaser Elizabeth”; HOLIDAYS (plus, THREE December birthdays!); and the chest cold that has been pursuing me since Thanksgiving finally landed!  But GUILT is not a productive word.  I am intimately acquainted with this word but feel it is time to let this one go…it is over used and worn out! Buh-bye!

My friend, Alessandra, author of Tribal Times, embraces her word, SHINE, as she dances in the snow!

I kicked off the year very differently!  No RESOLUTIONS! Instead, I took a lovely yoga workshop New Year’s Day.  During the workshop, we were encouraged to choose a few powerful WORDS to define ourselves for the New Year.  Wordsmith that I am, I loved  this idea!  I chose COURAGE, ACTION and VULNERABILITY.  The first two are pretty self-explanatory.  When I get to vulnerability, people tend to squinch up their nose and ask, “really, that is how you want to define yourself??”  Dictionaries do not paint a kind picture of the word vulnerability – using terms such as “weakness,” “open to damage,” “susceptible to injury.”  Ick, doesn’t sound too powerful!  However, in defining vulnerability, I am not reading from printed dictionaries, instead I am consulting my internal dictionary… the semantics based from experience which is how we truly define words.  To me, vulnerability means being open to new ideas and new things; surrendering control; not having to be superwoman, right, or flawless.  It means asking for help when I need it; looking to the experience of others; and fully experiencing failures along with successes.  Hmmm… a little scary… but that is where courage and action come into play!

For the many parents, educators, and speech pathologists who read this blog, we think so carefully about the words we teach and use around our children with communication impairments.  I encourage you to take a minute and think about the words that you want to define yourself as you move forward into 2012!  While you are at it, determine which words are no longer serving you and bid them farewell!  I would love to hear your powerful words!

Need a little inspiration????  Here are some strong words to consider!

Abundance, Acceptance, Action, Adventure, Attention, Awareness, Awe, Change, Choice, Clarity, Commitment, Compassion, Confidence, Courage, Creativity, Deliberateness, Delight, Discipline, Energy, Focus, Forgiveness, Freedom, Friendship, Fun, Expansion, Exploration, Generosity, Gentleness, Grace, Gratitude, Growth, Health, Integrity, Joy, Kindness, Knowing, Laughter, Love, Mastery, Openness, Patience, Peace, Perseverance, Playfulness, Presence, Risk, Self-love, Shine, Spirit, Trust, Wealth, Willingness….

For more inspiration, check out Alessandra’s blog, Tribal Times, and watch her SHINE!

What makes a good app? (Part 1)

Parents often ask me, which apps do you like?  My answer is always a bit hedgy, “well, that depends…”  It depends on what you want it to do, your child’s language skills, your child’s cognitive and developmental levels, interests and personality!  It also depends on how you are going to use it (together, independently, for entertainment, for learning?) I know that does not seem very helpful!  BUT, if I have some information about the child, their needs and what you are trying to accomplish, I can give you a definitive answer! Since I don’t know what YOU are searching for, I can tell you the features I look for when I am purchasing new apps!

I am constantly looking at, evaluating and buying apps. I do shop for apps developed for speech and language purposes and have most of those.  However, the majority of apps I use to address speech, language and communication skills were not developed for that purpose.  Most are apps that fall under the category of “education” and were created for children.   (I also use lots of apps like You Tube, dictionaries, thesauruses, Wikapedia, organizers, and weather apps…but that is a topic for another blog!) Some of my purchases become instant favorites and I can use them with a variety of kiddos with differing needs. Some are a complete bust – they don’t interest my kids, are cumbersome to use, or lack sound theoretical and developmentally appropriate content. These apps go into a folder I have labeled, “eh”, on my iPad.  I can’t bring myself to delete them but I hardly ever use them.  When I am considering an app purchase, I am wearing my speech-language pathologist hat – looking for apps that will help stimulate language development, communication and encourage functional skills.  So, what are the features that decrease the likelihood of an app going into the “eh” folder?

Strong visual appeal.  I like apps that are visually engaging.  This means clear, uncluttered, consistent, colorful graphics.  Some programs are bright and colorful but have WAY too much going on!  My kids (and I) get overwhelmed – it is too hard to focus on the important details.  The items in apps should clearly depict the subject. Yesterday, I was using a spelling app with a child.  The objective was to spell the pictured item – in this case a yam (really???  This is not a high frequency word for any early elementary student…see developmentally appropriate below) and we could not figure out what the rusty colored, oval-ish picture was supposed to be (my client’s father thought it was a rock)!  Some apps are visually inconsistent – they use a variety of visual stimuli from line drawings, illustrations and photographs -for some children this leads to confusion. When apps use a consistent look and feel, kids

"Itsy Bitsy Spider" from Duck Duck Moose

begin to recognize characters, features and patterns.  This predictability is great for language development and I find the kids begin to develop a comfort, attachment and “relationship”with the characters and app.  Take a look at the sample items in the app description to see if the app you are considering meets this criteria.  The apps from Duck Duck Moose are great exemplars of strong visual appeal!

Theoretically and Developmentally Appropriate.  When I purchase an app designed for a specific population (e.g., preschoolers, elementary, high school) or for a specific task (early nouns, verbs, wh-questions) my expectation is that the language and stimuli will clearly address the targets as specified in the app description.  My expectations are particularly high when the app is targeting language development.  I have encountered some disappointment in this arena – poor choice of vocabulary, confusing stimuli, and ambiguous pictures.  Very rarely does this apply to the entire app (but there are a few in the “eh” folder) – usually it is just a few items.  I can generally adjust for this if the app has built in some user controls that allow me to select the stimuli to use (keep reading for more details!).  To avoid this issue, I look for apps that were developed by or with consultation

"Verbs with Milo" from Doonan Speech Therapy

from a speech-language pathologist, educator or developmental specialist.  The “Speech with Milo” apps from Doonan Speech Therapy are excellent theoretically and developmental appropriate apps!  (They also pass my criteria for strong visual interest!)

Flexibility.  I tend to look for apps that allow for some degree of customization.  Some children are sensitive to or distracted by sounds (background music, reinforcers) – can I turn on and off the audio? Can I control the stimuli?  For instance, if I am using an app to work on verbs, can I select the set of verbs that I want to work on?  This is can be a important feature!  Children generally do best with repeated exposure to a set of stimuli so that they can practice with that material until they achieve a degree of accuracy (85% or better accuracy generally means that the child is mastering the information and will begin to carry over and generalize that information to other environments).  If different material is presented randomly every time you use the app you can end up in a “spray and pray” situation (randomly bombard the child with information and hope that something sticks!).  Can I delete or hide items that are above/below the child’s language level or are confusing/non-functional items (like the ambiguous yam)? Is there a receptive (comprehension) and expressive (production) mode?  This is a feature in some apps produced for language, spelling and reading development.  If so, be sure to work on the receptive skills first, then expressive (we can’t talk well about things we don’t understand!).  In some apps this feature is designated as “learn” (receptive) and “practice” (expressive)modes.  Can I turn on and off text?  I often like words that accompany pictures because it is a nice boost to literacy skills, but for some children this can be distracting, limits how I can work with the app (for example, I might be working on past tense, but the

Customizable features for "My First Words" by Alligator Apps

text only labels the picture in present tense). In some cases, the child’s reading skills are better than language skills.  I was recently working with a child who was whipping through the items that I knew should be a bit more challenging.  I finally realized he was reading the words!  (I hate when I am outsmarted by a 5 year old!). When I covered the text with a piece of paper, the items were much more challenging and we were able to focus on really learning the material!  I also love it when I can create my own items to insure that the stimulus is meaningful and just the right fit for my client!  Read through the developer’s descriptions of the app to determine if the app has the flexibility you need. The Alligator Apps flashcards are great for early vocabulary development and provide a lot of flexibility!

Stay tuned for more information to help you become an app savvy shopper in our next blog!

e-Pubs for the iPad!

I am so happy to introduce my first guest blogger!  Joshua Taylor is a special education teacher extraordinare!  I have gotten to know him as he is working with one of my high school clients with autism!  Josh is a fantastic teacher who is constantly coming up with new ways to engage his students.  I was so impressed with the e-Pubs he and his students were creating that I asked him to share this information in the form of a guest blog!

If you’re looking for one of the best applications of the iPad for students, you may find that it’s not an “app” at all! Need a social story with video modeling embedded? Easy! Want to put a recording  of a student reading his or her writing? No problem. Interactive and engaging eBooks are easy to create on your own by using the ePub function of Pages (the word processing software for Mac). It’s incredibly motivating for students to produce written work that looks like a professionally-made eBook and can be shared with peers and others.

Some great uses for ePubs include:

-Student-written stories

-Research papers/presentations

-Social Stories (with embedded video modeling)

-Review of content area units

-Journaling

All of the tools and options that are available through iBooks and other eBook readers can be used with ePubs, including interactive Table of Contents, text readers, bookmarks, chapter links and linked notes. Using Apple’s ePub template, it’s easy to create your own interactive iBooks. It’s available at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4168.

Just type over the formatted text and the hard work is already done for you–the chapter  links and other formatting are already set up! Write your text, drag and drop your photos and video, and export as an ePub (Share>Export>ePub). Then just move the file to your iPad, iPhone or other device, and you’ll find it in your iBooks or other eBook reader.

After you’ve put it on the iPad, it’s there to read as often as you like, and since you’re the author, it can be shared with anyone you’d like.

Josh Taylor  is a second year SpEd teacher (fourth year in the classroom) at the Stratford Program (Arlington Public Schools) who loves finding creative ways to use technology to enable students to show their knowledge and ability. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Virginia, where he is pursuing a Master’s in Special Education.

Super Flex Saves the Day!

At the end of a very busy Monday, Nathan (my thanks to Nathan’s mom for letting me tell his story) walked…well stomped, into my office wearing his “funghi” face (great Italian expression I stole from someone… literally means “mushroom” face… trust me, its not pretty!), in a MOOD!  His mother rolled her eyes at me and mouthed, “good luck”! Hmmm… I served up my best smile and cheerful, “what’s up, Buddy?”  I got nothing!  We slunk into my office to begin what might turn into a very loooong therapy session. Thank goodness Nathan and I had been working with Michelle Garcia Winner’s “Social Thinking” curriculum.  We just might be able to turn this around!

I had the pleasure of hearing Michelle Garcia Winner speak at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) convention in November 2010.  After years of wading through tons of “social skills” protocols, here was a person who really gets it!  She described social thinking as, “the process through which we think about people, their thoughts, intentions, point of view and emotions.”  In a nutshell, our social thinking skills drive our behaviors (social skills)! To develop effective social skills, one must first develop social thinking skills. I became a convert! Right after her presentation, I bought an armful of her literature and started using her Social Thinking curriculum with my clients with Aspergers, high functioning autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and weaknesses in executive functioning. The results are impressive!

Back to Nathan…. We had already finished reading and discussing, “You Are a Social Detective“, over a series of sessions.  Written in engaging, cartoon and prose format, this book introduces some basic Social Thinking concepts:  social smarts (social thinking skills); having your “brain in the group” (shows you are paying attention); “thinking with your eyes” (where you are looking tells a lot about what you are thinking) and “expected/unexpected behaviors” (expected behaviors lead others to have good thoughts about us!). We were in the midst of the “Superflex curriculum“, where our favorite hero, Superflex, (who doesn’t love a hero?) uses his awesome social thinking skills to defeat the villainous team of “Unthinkables”…dun..dun..DUN!  The “Unthinkables” are my favorite part of the whole program! Dastardly characters like: “Rock Brain” (makes your brain stuck on one thought), “Glassman” (causes huge overreactions), “Mean Jean” (makes you a little snarky), “Grumpy Grumpaniny” (well, I bet you can guess what he does!) and a host of other foes sneak into your brain and interfere with your good social thinking! So, I pulled out our Superflex book to get down to business as usual.  As we were reviewing the cast of Unthinkables (we do this each time to make sure they are fresh in our brains), Nathan turned to me and said, “I think the Unthinkables got in my head today!” (*fake surprise from me*) “REAALLLY??” I responded, “Which ones?” This started a great dialogue in which Nathan told me that something bothered him at school (at this point neither of us can remember just what that something was) and now he was being attacked by Rock Brain, Glassman and Grumpy Grumpaniny!  Just talking about it solved half the problem. Nathan took care of the rest of the problem by pretending to escort this trio of evil-doers over to the shredder, thus ending their campaign to take over his brain! Lo and Behold – a smile returned to my sweet Nathan’s face!

This is just one (but one of the BEST) examples of putting Social Thinking into action. There are so many reasons I love the Social Thinking approach! The books are created to capture a child’s interest visually and conceptually. Kids can relate to the characters and find a comfortable way to talk about themselves and their behavior (“Glassman invaded my head and I really got mad.”). The program is flexible! Garcia Winner has a range of products tailored for children 4 years old through high school.  For middle and high schoolers, we read “Socially Curious and Curiously Social” out loud and discuss how the Social Thinking concepts apply to family, school and friends. Targeting social behaviors without good social thinking often leads to developing behaviors that are odd (I have encountered several kids over the years who have been prompted to “greet” unfamiliar people with an intro such as, “Hi.  My name is _________ and I like______.” Call me crazy, but that comes off as a little strange. (Would you introduce yourself that way?). But, the best part of using Social Thinking is turning funghi faces into faces like this!

Social Thinking makes sense! Check out some of the Social Thinking books and read them with your child. Perhaps together, you too can harness your super social thinking skills to defeat a team Unthinkables who are plotting to ruin your day! If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend taking one Michelle’s seminars the next time she is in your area!

(This blog was written by Miss Elizabeth; edited and approved by Nathan)

What’s the Weather?

I have recently stumbled upon a nifty little app (actually, my 22 year old son had it on his iPhone!) which is sure to be a hit with kids young and old!  Swackett is a unique weather app, available for your Mac and all your nifty handheld devices, that provides a visual weather report featuring an array of figures they call “Peeps” (male, female, dog and kitty icons) dressed for the weather!  So,  your “Peep” might be dressed in shorts and a tank top carrying a water bottle on a hot day or in a coat and earmuffs when temperatures plummet!  You can view current weather, weather changes across the day, or a week at a glance. For hardcore weather junkies, it includes satellite and radar images as well as watches and warnings.  Oh, and did I mention it is FREE?  (Swackett is a well developed app that generates its income from an ad banner that runs across the bottom of the screen – you can pay $.99 to have the ads disabled).  You can also customize your Swackett by uploading pictures and or purchasing special editions (I could not resist the 1950′s edition – which tells me that today I should be dressing in my poodle skirt and sweater set!  I do love a sweater set on a crisp Fall day!)  A “Little Peeple” edition with full color icons of kids engaged in weather appropriate activities is due to be released soon!

Besides the cool factor – this app offers tons of language opportunities!

• Start your child’s day with a quick check of the weather forecast – stress weather vocabulary (For little guys: “rainy, sunny, cold, warm, wet, cloudy.” For your budding meteorologist, emphasize terms like “temperature, forecast, advisory”).  Great material for practicing adjectives!
• Build comprehension of temporal concepts (time related concepts such as before, after, now, soon, earlier, later, tonight, tomorrow).  ”Now it is sunny, later it will be raining”  The ability to scroll from screen to screen is a nice visual aid to help teach these concepts (start on the “current” weather tab, as you move from left to right, you are moving into the future – today, tonight, tomorrow).
• While using temporal terms, don’t forget to review verb tense!  ”Right now, it IS raining!”  Tonight it WILL be sunny!”  ”Yesterday WAS cloudy!”
• Avoid those clothing choice confrontations!  (Even the youngest of my clients seem to have very definite fashion opinions!)  Together, check the forecast and help your child pick out their clothes.  Be sure to offer choices, “It is going to be cold today, you need a sweater – do want to wear the blue or the green sweater?”
• Develop categorizing skills – what kinds of clothes/activities go with a sunny/cold/rainy day?
• Work on those essential planning skills (so important for children with Executive Functioning weaknesses).  ”Today is Tuesday.  Let’s check the weather for the weekend.  It is going rain.  What are some rainy day activities we could plan?”
• Throw in a little Occupational Therapy!  Clothes are great for developing those fine motor skills.  While donning and doffing (Oh, how I love those words!) clothes have your child work the snaps, buttons and zippers.  Bonus – while your child is dressing emphasize prepositions!  ”The shirt goes under your sweater.”  ”Your hat is on your head.”
• Use this app in Circle Time when discussing the weather.  Sing the weather song: (to the tune of My Darling Clementine) “What’s the weather?  What’s the weather?  What’s the weather like today?  Is it sunny?  Is it cloudy?  Is it rainy out today?”

So many fun ways to use this app!  Ooops, while writing it has started to rain. My Swackett Peep says I need to find my umbrella. Don’t want to get my poodle skirt wet!