Need to make a commitment

So I started the school year thinking I would use this blog to help me create a diary of my therapy activities and ideas.  Well then the school year actually began and boy did time fly.  So as much as I am happy that I actually started the blog… I need to get a system to actually post and write for the blog.  I really am in awe of all the bloggers I follow that post weekly or even more frequently then that.

So here is to a new year and maybe some more time to blog.  I think I will seek out some guidance from those amazing blogging SLP's that I follow for some tips on posting more frequently.  Oh and for a challenge here is my first attempt at using a graphic.  I am so jealous of these beautiful blogs out there so I decided to try to jazz my post up with a freebie from The 3AM Teacher.  It took me a little bit to figure out how to do it but here it is :)… Hurray!  If you want to check out her blog here is the link… the 3AM teacher

graphics from 

A little something from the speech room

We started a "100 Day contest" a few years ago and found that the some of our students love it. Basically it is an extra contest that my student's can decide to participate in.  It is only for artic kiddos and it basically is a challenge to see if they can practice 2-3 minutes a day for 100 consecutive days.  There is no pressure to participate and when they complete the challenge they receive a prize from the 100 day prize box... which has "higher" quality prizes.  For those competitive kiddos this has been a great incentive and has helped some of my students exit from artic therapy pretty quickly!  Hurray!

There is a chart in the speech room where they track their progress along and this is an additional incentive for the 100 day participants.  They don't want to fall behind.  Oh I forgot to mention the one big rule that was hard to enforce at first....... if you miss a day of practice (with the exception of illness) they have to start all over.  They never complain since I explain this rule from the very beginning.  They just jump right back in.  What a great way to develop perseverance!

All of my students obviously have a chance to win points for a speech prize by doing their assigned homework, trying their best in speech, using good listening skills, and bringing their speech book with them to the session.  This is just an added incentive that seems to push some kids to increase the frequency of their practice.

This is the back of the speech room door.

The start of something new! New school year .... new blog!

So I am finally taking the plunge and starting a blog all about  speech and language. After following several blogs over the past year I am inspired to start one as a challenge for myself as a therapist.  I figured it is the start of a new school year so let's start my blog too!   The name "chat play learn" felt like the right one because it really sums up what I do all day as an SLP.   I do think I am very fortunate to be able to do this for a living and learn something new every day from the little cherubs I see.

So I am hoping that someone will find my posts interesting and creative.  Hopefully some parents will also discover this blog as a resource of activities that they can use at home as their child develops  speech and language skills.  I have always thought that all children can benefit from the types of activities we use as SLPs.

So here I go..... finally jumping into the world of blogging.

Andrea