3rd Blogiversary Celebration!!!!

Wow! Today is a special day because three years ago I started my blogging journey writing this Building Successful Lives blog. At that time,  I was in my 9th year as an SLP and completing my Education Specialist degree in Curriculum & Instruction. 

I enjoy staying current with best practices in speech-language pathology and education. I am committed to building successful lives of children with special needs. I believe that communication, language, and literacy are the foundation for kids' success in school and in life. 

Over the past three years, I have truly enjoyed sharing my speech-language therapy activities, favorite children's books, instructional products, and information for parents too on this blog! I am grateful for all of you that have read my blog, used my FREEBIES in therapy, and purchased my products. I look forward to sharing more evidence based therapy techniques and engaging activities for speech fluency, language, and literacy. These are my favorite areas to address in therapy and the majority of my current caseload revolves around these necessary skills. 

Make sure that you subscribe to the blog so that you don't miss out on the latest Building Successful Lives scoop! There will be plenty of new content in 2016 and products in my TPT store as well. 

To celebrate my new personal milestone, I will have some FANTASTIC giveaways of speech-language therapy products from some great SLP bloggers and TPT sellers very SOON! I will also raffle off some BSL products too! I don't want you to miss out on a chance to WIN! 

Here's a picture of Building Successful Lives, LLC founder and I. My mother, Dr. Jacqueline Anderson, is definitely a big inspiration for my desire to enrich the lives of children and families. She is a retired school psychologist, but still works as a licensed clinical psychologist with children, adults, and families in Florida. 

I appreciate your support since 2013! Check back soon to enter my 3rd Year Blogiversary Celebration raffle! You can check out my 1st post from 1/21/13 here and last year's recap too! 

Tamara Anderson

January 2016 Sale-bration! 1/20th-1/21st

I have some great news to share! My Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) curriculum store will be on sale this Wednesday and Thursday! I am joining in on the fun for the Start Your Year Inspired TPT sale! You can save 28 % when you enter the sale code, START16, when you checkout. This is a great way to gain immediate access to some great speech-language therapy and English/Language Arts products. Don't miss out on purchasing my specially created resources if you haven't already!! Make sure that you follow my blog this week because it is also my 3 year Blogiversary and there will be other EXCITING announcements!!!!

It's always great to have new activities to use in speech-language therapy and time-saving progress monitoring tools too! As busy SLPs or educators, it's helpful when we have a variety of effective materials to improve the communication, language, and literacy skills of children! Thanks for reading my blog today. Until next time...

Visit my curriculum store here!

Tamara Anderson

Product Feature: The Mitten Speech-Language Activities

It's now the third week of 2016 and it's been a great, yet busy start of the year. The artic blast is in full effect here in Atlanta which makes for great winter story telling in speech-language therapy sessions. Here's a snapshot of a few winter themed selections that I'm using in my speech language room this year. 

The Mitten, by Jan Brett, is one of my favorite stories to read aloud at this time of year. I recently created a speech-language activity pack with 5 extension activities to accompany this book. My students enjoyed the book as well as comprehension and vocabulary activities last week. 

This speech-language activities pack is geared towards improving the language comprehension, vocabulary, and speech articulation skills of children in 2nd-5th grade. The activities should be used after an SLP read aloud of the text. Select the activities that best correspond with the learning needs of children on your speech-language therapy caseload. The Mitten has an "accelerated reading" level of approximately 3.9, but may be used with students in 2nd-5th grade. 

Today I used my articulation word list while a student played my Winter Land Game in a group session. The student had her own copy while I provided auditory bombardment with verbal model of correct pronunciation. She had plenty of speech articulation practice with mixed /r/ words. Here's a snapshot of a completed checklist. 

In this unit, you will receive:

1) WH questions worksheet with a field of 4 choices (text only)

2) 2 synonyms worksheets with 2 levels of terms and word bank

3) 2 antonyms worksheets with 2 levels of terms and word bank

4) 3 tier 2 vocabulary worksheets with words used in sentences; students write definitions based on context clues

5) 1 articulation worksheet with 5 wordlists for /s/, /sh/, /s/ blends, /r/, and /r/ blends

Here's a snapshot of a few more winter themed books that I love reading aloud to my students. 

You can read more about my favorite winter themed selections here. Make sure that you get the digital download for The Mitten Speech-Language Activities in my TPT curriculum store. 

Thanks for reading my blog today! 

Tamara Anderson

Wrapping Up 2015! Thanks For Your Support!

Another year is quickly coming to a close! I truly appreciate the support of my fellow speech-language pathologists, educators, and parents who have read my blog this year. I share my ideas so that others will have strategies and activities to use in speech-language therapy, in the classroom, and at home to improve communication skills of children with special needs. 

It has been almost three years since I started this Building Successful Lives blog! I can't wait for all the things that are in store in 2016! I would love for those who purchased curriculum material to leave feedback in my TPT store. I am going to give away some complimentary resources to a few lucky winners! The amount of prizes are TBD! :) I am committed to making quality informal assessments, speech-language therapy activities, and E/LA common core aligned instructional materials. 

Enjoy the rest of 2015 and I wish you all the best in 2016! 

Tamara Anderson

Five Ways to Practice Speech-Language Skills Over Winter Break

Hey there everyone! Today is the last day of school for 2015 in my district and I am beyond excited about being on winter break for 2 weeks! I am sure that all the students are as well. Although the students will be on break from school, there are so many ways that they can practice their communication skills in their daily routines. I know that some of you will have private practice clients or a few days of work next week as school-based speech language pathologists. Make sure that you share these tips with parents.

5 Ways to Practice Speech-Language Skills Over Winter Break: 

1) Retell events and experiences
*Children should practice describing specific family outings, activities, and experiences with as much detail as possible. They should try their best to recall and retell information in the correct sequence of events whether it is going to the ice skating rink or to grandma's house. 

2) Answer questions after listening to fiction or non-fiction story read by parents
*Children and families can visit the public library and check out books appropriate for their age. Parents should read aloud to their kids and ask them who, what, where, when, and why questions about the text. 

3) Play speech-language games on interactive websites
*There are many websites that children can enjoy practicing their speech-language skills. Some of my top recommendations are
spellingcity.com, jacobslessons.com, do2learn.com, learninggamesforkids.com, and pbskids.org

You can access a more comprehensive list in Parent Handouts for Communication Disorders in my TPT store.

4) Play speech-language games on iPad
*Many children have either an iPad or android tablet. They can practice a variety of skills such as speech articulation, following directions, vocabulary, grammar, sequencing, and overall comprehension on apps. Parents can search for related apps in the app store by companies such as Speech with Milo, Super Duper, PocketSLP, Hamaguchi, I Can Do Apps, Smarty Ears and so many more! Many companies have free trial versions that enable kids to practice many skills while others will need to be purchased. 

5) Use speech articulation and fluency strategies 
*At home and in the community, children should practice using their best pronunciation of the sounds they are working on in speech-language therapy. Parents can remind their children to use the correct placement of speech muscles when asking questions, answering questions, and speaking to family and friends.

Overall, children can practice their speech-language skills in everyday routines! I hope you found these 5 tips beneficial. Have a great rest of 2015!

Tamara Anderson

Pete the Cat Holiday Freebie

My speech language students LOVE when I read Pete the Cat stories to them. The holiday themed book, Pete the Cat Saves Christmas is no exception! This book is great to read aloud with preschool and elementary school aged kids on your speech language caseload. I created a quick "wh" questions comprehension check that has a field of 4 choices.  You can access it in my TPT curriculum store.

Many of my students have IEP objectives that require them to answer literal questions from fiction text so this FREEBIE will be a great practice and work sample for that! I know many SLPs like having fun book companions with numerous activities, but I have found that sometimes it's best to KISS.  With this complimentary worksheet, you can keep it simple by having a quick and functional activity after your read aloud in a 30 minute session.  I even used it with success in my moderate intellectual disability speech-language therapy groups! 

I appreciate you reading my blog today. When you download this resource, kindly leave feedback in my TPT curriculum store. Thanks in advance! 

Tamara Anderson

Cyber Sale 2015

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your family. I certainly enjoyed my week long break here in Atlanta and my family visiting from Florida. 

There is just one month left of 2015 so it's a great time to stock up on speech-language therapy and educator resources for December and 2016! I have 2 winter themed products that target Tier I and Tier III English/Language Arts vocabulary. 

I also highly recommend my progress monitoring tools and bundles available in my TPT store. 

I also recently revised my FREE Parent Handouts for Communication Disorders. I also suggest you download my FREE Communication Success Tips for Colleagues to make sure that you maintain effective relationships at work. 

Have a great week! 

Tamara Anderson
Building Successful Lives

Building the communication, literacy, & life success of children