Snow Listening Bins

One of my favorite winter activities is snow listening bins. Sometimes I bring snow inside and we play and talk about the characteristics of snow (cold, white, freezing, melting…) but this is a short-lived LSL activity. I model this as a fun home activity. So in our LSL sessions, I fill a bin with white styrofoam packing peanuts and include a mini snow shovel. I hide well-chosen winter based vocabulary objects such as a snowman, little mittens, a sled, a polar bear, an ice skater and so in. The objects coordinate with the vocabulary goals and often associate with a storybook.

 The parent/caregiver and I take turns cueing the child to listen. Then using AUDITION FIRST we either make a related L2L sound, talk about the object or for a little older listener describing the hidden object. The child hears the sound/words before seeing the toy which provides ear contact before eye contact. Next, we sing a short repetitive song about shoveling the snow and the child begins to dig and uncovers the toy. The connection is made between what was described and the object. Depending on the goals we may then use the toys and recreate pulling a  sled up a hill and sliding down, ice skating and more.

Thanks for the shout out from 
Monica Faherty, at Rule-the-School! 

Monica Faherty wrote, "In June, 2017 I attended the AG Bell Listening and Spoken Language Symposium where I heard Rehab Audiologist Lynn Wood give an excellent presentation on her favorite games.  So I dug up that information, looked at all the games and decided to purchase Tall Tales on Amazon."
Tall Tales Story Telling Board Game
The Family Game of Infinite Storytelling 


Rule-the-School's mission is to foster the independence of students with hearing loss through self-advocacy. The blog is authored by Monica Faherty, who received an M.S. in Speech Pathology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, PA and an M.S. in Education of the Deaf from Central Institute for the Deaf, Washington University, St. Louis.
According to Monica Faherty, there were several reasons that I chose. Tall Tales Story Telling Board Game

√  It is a simple concept – the student picks at least 8 objects out of the bag one at a time and tells a story as she goes along.

√  The interest level is appropriate for a wide age range.  I needed something to use with my 12-year-old working on complex language as well as a new 5-year old that I’m evaluating.

√  It can be used with widely different language levels.

√  It can be used to teach early literacy vocabulary such as setting, character, beginning, middle and ends of stories, as well as phonological awareness targets such as stating the beginning sound in a word used, giving a rhyming word or segmenting a word used.  The activity can be video recorded to help with this.

√  It can be used to gather a spontaneous or narrative language sample in a fun way that is different every time you use it.

Tall Tales has been a big hit with both students mentioned above!

If you would like tons of language and listening ideas, visit Lynn’s award-winning website:  http://www.HEARSAYLW.com."

HearSayLW - Awarded 100 Top Blogs and Websites for 2018.

I’m happy to announce this is the 4th year my blog made the list. 2015, 2016, 2017 and now for 2018! 
4th Annual 100 Top Blogs and Websites for Speech and Language Pathology for 2018. 

Kidmunicate says, “Visit this site if you need information on cochlear implant rehabilitation, auditory verbal therapy, and auditory processing. Its the only site on the list from an audiologist.”

HERE is the link to the 2018 Kidmunciate Top 100 Websites and Blogs for Speech and Language Pathology. The 2018 list is in categories to make it easier to find the most relevant sites. General SLP Blogs, Resource Websites, SLP Disorder Websites, SLP Technology Websites

Here are the links to 2015, 2016 and 2017 Kidmunciate Top 100 Websites and Blogs for Speech and Language Pathology.