Join the Celebration! 2nd year Blogiversary!

Hey there. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog today and join in the fun! January 21st 2015 will mark the 2nd year since I wrote my first BSL Speech Language blog post and it has been a great experience writing articles for my readers! In August of 2012, I started reading SLP blogs and discovered Teacher's Pay Teachers (TPT) while I was working on my Education Specialist degree (Ed.S.) in curriculum and instruction. In December of 2012, I made it a professional goal for myself to start a blog to share my knowledge as a SLP and also to specially create speech-language therapy and language arts resources for others. I have made products for years to use with children on my caseload so when I learned about TPT, I thought it would be an ideal avenue to share new resources with others. To celebrate my blogiversary, I will have raffles of speech-language resources from my store and other bloggers as well! You'll have to read future posts for more details.

So what does BSL stand for? Building Successful Lives

I believe that speech-language pathologists and educators not only provide therapy and instruction for children, but teach them practical skills to be successful in life. Children learn self-confidence, how to communicate, how to problem solve, how to overcome challenges, how to get along with their peers, and so much more! 

Building Successful Lives Speech & Language Services has been a a vision of mine since I finished my Master's degree in Speech & Hearing Science from UNC Chapel Hill 10 years ago! I am committed to sharing best practices for speech-language therapy, special education, regular education curriculum/instruction as well providing exemplary pediatric speech-language therapy services. Literacy is also a passion of mine and I believe SLPs have the expertise to assist children with phonological/phonemic awareness, listening comprehension, and oral communication. 

My inspiration for Building Successful Lives Speech & Language Services is my mother, Dr. Jacqueline Anderson. She is a clinical psychologist and the Founder of Building Successful Lives, LLC. She has over 30 years combined experience as an educator, school psychologist, and clinical psychologist working with both children and adults. 

Ed.S. Graduation Picture from December 2013

Keep reading the blog this month to enter to win awesome time-saving resources to enrich your SLP and educator life! :) Subscribe to the blog by entering your email on the right hand side of this page. You will then get BSL's blog articles and updates sent directly to your email.  

Thanks for your support, 

Tamara Anderson

Setting Goals for Success in 2015

Happy New Year! I am so excited about all that is in store for Building Successful Lives Speech & Language Services  in 2015 and in my personal life! I always love a new year because it is a fresh start for new goals. I am definitely a list person as I especially enjoy reflecting on what I plan to accomplish and writing them down. 

I recommend writing quarterly goals for the year so that you have tangible steps to work towards in three month increments. I did this yesterday on January 1st and I am beyond thrilled about all that is to come! Definitely subscribe to the blog this year so that you will 
not miss a post. Just enter your email at the top right of this page where it says subscribe. I will write lots of new content including information about new products and have guest bloggers as well. 

I have had a wonderful holiday break and I will return to work full time on Monday. It's time to continue providing quality speech-language evaluation and therapy services for all the elementary school aged children on my caseload. Here is a motivational list that I have posted in my therapy room. I think you will like it too. 

I have one for parents as well that you can share with them. 

You can get a complimentary copy to display in your therapy room, classroom, or speech office in my TPT store. You can also get the complimentary parent version as well. 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Seven-Keys-for-a-Successful-School-Year-1626831

All the best in 2015. Remember, you can do all things if you only BELIEVE! 


Tamara Anderson

End of Year SALE-bration!

The end of 2014 is rapidly coming to a close. There are just 3 days left including today! I encourage you to make the most of this remaining time by spending it with those you love most dearly. Here's a picture collage of some of my recent family moments.

I am having a 20 % sale on all products in my TPT store 
until December 31st! You definitely need my various progress monitoring, English/Language Arts common core standards, and language intervention resources to make your SLP and educator life much easier in 2015! So head on over to teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Anderson and access the digital downloads for complimentary products and on sale time-saving resources. 

Tamara Anderson

Happy Holidays - Thanks for Your Support!

Hey everyone. Thanks so much for reading my blog this year. I have enjoyed writing the articles, creating new speech/language products, and getting to know many new SLP bloggers this year. One of my highlights was definitely meeting several bloggers at the ASHA conference in Orlando, FL back in November. I wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season. Happy Hannukah if you are in midst of celebrating this special season of remembrance! Merry Christmas to those who will celebrate this time! I am especially glad that I am able to spend time with family as we reflect on our true reason for celebrating the season, the birth of Jesus Christ! 

I am so grateful for so many things and would like to give you all a little gift. My winter word associations will be available at no cost to you until Friday, December 19th. My entire store will also remain on sale 20 % off. You do not want to miss out! Stock up now on assessment and intervention materials so you'll be all set to go in 2015! Make your life a breeze in 2015! teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Anderson

Happy Holidays! 

Sincerely, 

Tamara Anderson

Happy Holidays and Summarization {Evidence Based Strategy}

Happy Holidays from Building Successful Lives (BSL) Speech & Language! I am writing from the comforts of home today as I am now on day 3 of recovering from the flu. As the year is quickly coming to an end, this is a great time to naturally reflect on skills that you have taught your students and the progress that they have made.  However, it is equally important that you teach students, especially students with language disorders the evidence based strategy of summarization. 

Summarization is a skill that requires an individual to synthesize or bring together information that they have heard, read, and learned in a simplified and organized manner. It may involve a verbal summary, written summary, or both. This strategy can be applied in all the content areas of language arts, math, science, social studies, and various specials or electives classes. Once students learn how to use this skill and practice it effectively, it will have positive implications in their ability to master academic standards as well as become more effective communicators.

Now educators and speech-language pathologists may think, "oh, I have my students do this all the time." But do you really do this on a consistent basis? This is an excellent strategy that allows the teacher or SLP to check for a student's understanding of curriculum relevant standards as well as their oral/written language skills. It is ideal that this strategy is paired with an age appropriate graphic organizer to aid a child's recall and organization of content related to a particular topic. As children develop it is important to increase the expectations for them to have increasing depth of knowledge on a topic. A teacher or SLP may even use a rubric to progress monitor growth of summarization skills such as:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oral-Story-Retelling-Rubric-819201

Teachers and SLPs of children in grades K-3 can have students summarize fiction text both verbally and in writing. Here are some suggestions for great holiday and winter themed books:

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell by Lucille Colandro

Footprints in the Snow by Mei Matsuoka

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Snow Dog, Go Dog by Deborah Heiligman

Teachers and SLPs of children in grades 4-8 can have students summarize non-fiction information both verbally and in writing. They can summarize main ideas and related details learned in social studies and science content. I love having my students make metacognitive maps which are a visual representation of main ideas, vocabulary, and details on a selected topic. You can read more about that here: http://bslspeechlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/10/i-love-semantic-maps-evidence-based.html

Here are some examples of graphic organizers that require increasing linguistic or language complexity:

K-W-L Chart

*interactive computer made & printable chart: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/creator-30846.html
*printable chart http://printables.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/00/ORG00_009.pdf

Beginning-Middle-End/Story Train Chart: 

http://printables.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/00/TEA00_205.pdf

Story Board Chart:
http://printables.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/07/1000000107_f.pdf

5 WH Q's Chart: 
http://printables.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/00/TEA00_205.pdf

Main Idea and Details Chart:
http://printables.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/00/ORG00_008.pdf

Non-Fiction News Chart: http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/detail/?id=40879

Venn Diagram:
*interactive computer made & printable visual: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/venn-diagram-30973.html

Metacognitive Map: http://drleaf.com/about/dr-leafs-research/

Gist Template:
 http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson290/Template.pdf

Make sure to integrate summarization, an evidence-based strategy into your speech-language therapy sessions and classrooms on a regular basis! You will see positive gains in your students over time!

Reference: 

Better: Evidence-based Education Magazine

Published by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Research and Reform in Education, Better magazine takes an evidence-based approach to figuring out what works in teaching.

• Summarizing text: "Explicitly teach students procedures for summarizing what they read. Summarization allows students to practice concise, clear writing to convey an accurate message of the main ideas in a text. Teaching summary writing can involve explicit strategies for producing effective summaries or gradual fading of models of a good summary as students become more proficient with the skill."   http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Better/articles/Winter2011.html

Tamara Anderson, Ed.S.. CCC-SLP

Speech-language pathlogist

Education Specialist

Writer

7 Days Until Vacation! Say What? Celebrate with a Sale!

I am thrilled that I will soon be on winter break until 2015! I can not wait. Now is a great time to add new resources to your speech/language therapy materials to make your sessions a breeze for the rest of the year and beginning in January. My TPT store is on sale  20 % off starting today-Thursday December 18th. I definitely recommend my progress monitoring tools and winter themed activities. You can find these easily in my store at the top of the page at: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Anderson

I have been doing lots of winter themed activities to keep my students' interest and of course to provide their necessary speech/language interventions. This week, I read aloud, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell, Snow Dog Go Dog, and Matt & Molly snowman story with various groups. 

My students also practiced oral language skills with correct subject/verb agreement. I also used lots of activities to build their receptive grammar knowledge such as is/are sorting with fill-in-the blank sentences. 

My 5th grade students practiced Tier II vocabulary by using context clues to figure out the meanings of words in written sentences and paragraphs. Some groups made semantic maps to review Tier III or English/Language Arts vocabulary by making semantic maps. For example, a few of them were struggling with remembering the differences between the types of writing so I modeled how to make a semantic map for these key words. Making and using semantic maps to recall content is an evidence based strategy to improve comprehension of vocabulary and key ideas. 

Always remember that as SLPs, we frequently make adjustments in our intervention approaches and activities based on the responses of our students. So its always great to have a few resources available each session that you can use to instruct students and to switch it up as needed. 

Get your time-saving resources:
www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Anderson

Tamara 

TPT Cyber Sale!!!

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. The past 2 days have been super busy at work. I feel like it should be Friday already! Yikes!

I bought some great speech-language therapy products during the TPT Cyber Sale today such as:

Nicole Allison's Leveled Vocabulary Intervention

 Jenn Alcorn's Book Companions

Lauren LaCour's Fluency Treatment Packet

Maureen's (The Speech Bubble's) Can You See It My Way activity to address pragmatic language/perspective taking. 

I have several products that you definitely need in your speech-language sessions as well to make your life much easier. I highly recommend my Vocabulary Progress Monitoring Tool. This assesses 300 vocabulary terms according to a semantic processing hierarchy. 

My Speech Progress Monitoring will help you quickly and easily take data on speech fluency and speech intelligibility. 

You definitely need to purchase my English/Language Arts Comprehensive Categorization Bundle. This is a perfect intervention packet for students in grades 1-5 and even middle school to work on classifying Tier III English/Language Arts vocabulary. There are 5 activities included in this great resource! Each item is available separately in my store if you prefer just 1 or 2 items. 

My winter word associations activity is a great way to introduce the season while working on students' expressive vocabulary and word retrieval skills. 

Here is the direct link to my store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Anderson Remember to use the code: TPTCYBER to receive the full discount of 28 % off! 

Happy Shopping! Check out the links on Jenna's blog at Speech Room News for other great products. 
http://thespeechroomnews.com/2014/11/whats-in-your-cart-linky-party-3.html

Tamara Anderson