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It’s a Sale- click on banner for direct link

It’s a Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers.   Sorry, but  I have to get my spiel in here first.  Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s is having the annual  back to school sale and there are some really good deals there.  You can’t really beat the prices when you compare products to the commercial products.    A lot of the stores have 20% off with an additional 8% if the code BTS15 is used at checkout.  This makes for some significant savings when buying bundles. So if you haven’t discovered it yet, you should make a visit.

I would love it if you came and took a look at my store and “followed” me even if you choose not to buy anything.  By following me you get updates on any changes or new products.  If you click on the image at the top of the page, it will take you directly to my store. You can also click on any of the slides on the slide show  on the sidebar if you want more information on a particular item.

There are so many new stores with clever clipart  I am beginning to feel outclassed.   I decided mine really needed to get an uplift.   I spent a lot of time this summer putting new covers on and updating some of my older products.  The content has remained mostly the same however some have larger print, more clipart, and numbers added.  If you have purchased products in the last couple of years you may want to get the updated versions.  You can download them  again for  free because the system will have record of your previous purchase in your account.  I also created two bundles that will be included in the sale  so will be 28% off the listed price.

These bundles include the task card sets pictured on the covers. You can  click on the images for more specific information.

As I was going through my materials, trying to see what needed updating, I was marveling how many changes have occurred with therapy materials over the years. When I first started working in the schools  we used something called a ditto machine. You would write or type on carbons which then went on a roller that you would crank and make multiple copies.  Don’t laugh, but I actually have a few articulation worksheets made from carbons stuck in my files.   The print is usually blue and a yellow plastic page protector can make it possible to copy it in a copier.   I bet you don’t need to know that trick though.  Back to the ditto machine.  You could tell the teachers who spent too much  time with the ditto machine because they would have a glazed look from the fumes and purple fingers.  There were no concerns for toxic environment then.

I never liked the ditto machine or the copy machine. It always seemed to wait  for me to  jam up. Some things don’t change I guess because it still seems to jam up or there is a long line.  I started using task cards pretty early on.  I found task cards were the easiest to work with  groups of students with varied needs and I didn’t need to visit any version of a copier machine.  Most of my task cards started out as handwritten notes on index cards. I have revised them through the years as some of our objects become obsolete.  It was in about 1995 that I actually used a computer that made it practical to save them in files.  This led to placing them on the blog for easy download no matter what school I was at.  The last 5 years I have added clipart to the cards.  I like the clipart to be part of the visual cue for the written material so I avoid the repetitive cutesy stuff.  I also like to save on using colored ink which can be a problem at many schools.

The blog downloads have saved me many times when I have lost materials or forgotten them.  I have downloaded and brought them up on my iPad on occasion.  So there you have the progression from ditto machine to iPad in one career.  That is quite a jump.  I wonder what the new SLPs will  have 30 yrs.  from now.

Many parts of the country have had their last days of school but we are still finishing up the last couple of weeks of our year.  It is easy to feel defeated and wonder if the whole thing is just one big paper using,  report making,  operation.  It is times like these that it is important to remember the things that made you smile through out the year.  Some the following gave me a smile.

The task cards I make for TPT are usually made for specific student goals.  Some of my students have attention deficit disorders and I am always trying to find creative ways to keep their attention.  I remembered when I was a child that my  name never seemed to be in any stories.  I thought that some of my students may feel the same way so I decided to use the names from one of my classes on the task cards.  One of the boys saw his name and was thrilled.  He had to take the card and show his teacher. They were also thrilled to find their teacher’s name.  Such a simple thing to keep them enthused about task cards. It is one advantage  to making your own materials.

My students with Downs and Autism make me smile a lot.  They continue to show me the value of play and that a toy’s worth is determined best by it’s ability to spin.  Tops can spin almost anywhere for preposition development. A box of happy meal toys is priceless for cause and effect. Do not decide the value of a toy by its cost. Free is sometimes the best.

Good Will was a gold mine this year.  After a year of searching I  almost  fell over when I discovered a Cariboo game for $5.00.  It was only missing the key which I replaced with a golf tee.  My husband couldn’t quite figure out why I acted like it was Christmas.  It is truly a great game for speech therapy so don’t give up on the search.  When you least expect it the game shows up.

I have had an  iPad with some game apps available for reinforcement. When given a choice my students were choosing a game off my shelf rather than the iPad. I have to smile when technology doesn’t always win over the old fashion games. I find this encouraging because I feel board games are still better when it comes to developing social communication.  I know that many therapist are implementing 5 minute individual speech drill  sessions and are foregoing the games.  However, I have only a  few students who see me only for articulation.  They usually have a mix of language, articulation and social skill deficits.   The games play an important part in  therapy and give me a better idea of their skills then drill.

You may notice I have been  playing around with the design of my Blog.  I am not sure if I will ever be truly satisfied.  It is something else that keeps me entertained.  I fixed a few links lately that were not working.  Sometimes updates throw things off. Please make a comment if you can’t get to something.