App Spreadsheet

I've been wanting to make a spreadsheet of all the speech-related apps out there.. but I don't have to, because another SLP has already done it! I've seen lots of lists about apps, but this is by far the most comprehensive and combines many of those together. It breaks apps down into detailed subject areas, includes apps for both adults and children, and conveniently links you straight to iTunes. Thank you, Deb!! Check the list out here: Speech Gadget's SLP App List

Newsletter

I wanted to share an article I wrote for my hospital's Children's Services newsletter this month. It aims to provide parents with information about speech and occupational therapy (OT), as well as ideas for carryover at home (no drill work required!) Enjoy - and if you like it, please comment (I'm trying to assess whether anyone actually reads this thing!) Thanks :)

Therapy Corner

by Lacy Wright, MS, OTR/L

and Louise Chamberlin, MS, CCC-SLP

Virtually all children with autism related disorders require therapeutic interventions, whether speech, occupational, physical or otherwise. Life can quickly become chaotic trying to balance the various therapy sessions, much less trying to understandwhat is being done in therapy and completing the homework that therapists suggest you do. You may even wonder, What is my child doing in therapy? How will it help? What can I do? With this in mind, we would like to take a moment to introduce you to speech/language and occupational therapy as it pertains to autism, and suggest some activities that you can work into your daily life at home.

Speech deficits among children with autism can vary widely, but the primary concern is typically language skills. Your child may exhibit echolalia(echoing words he hears), scripting (repetition of memorized scripts), or impaired receptive-expressive language skills such as following directions, answering questions or expressing wants and needs. Speech therapy addresses these deficits by teaching attention, vocabulary, core language skills, and social interaction and conversational skills.

From an occupational therapy perspective, many children with autism have difficulty processing the sensory world around them. Occupational therapy addresses sensory integration needs as well as fine motor skills, self-care skills, motor planning and play. Increasing a child’s exposure to a variety of sensory experiences helps nourish their nervous system. Watch your children to see how they respond. Do they seek out swinging on a swing or avoid it? Do they enjoy getting sand all over themselves in the sand box or get upset when sand gets stuck to their skin? Getting to know the unique pattern of how your child processes sensory information will give you and your occupational therapist clues as to the kind of sensory activities to participate in.

The most beneficial “homework” parents can do for their child with autism is not what most peopleexpect homework to be. Yes, we may give worksheets from time to time, but the best kind of homework is the kind that works into the activities that are already a part of your daily routine at home. While this suggestion can initially seem daunting or time-consuming, activities for speech and occupational therapy are actually easy to work in if you just know how! For example, at the park, have a picnic and enjoy the delicious seasonal summer fruits or try a new food while talking about the way they look and taste. Feel free to get messy! Have a watermelon eating contest and praise both the fastest and messiest eaters. Play games like Duck, Duck, Goose while you sit down and feel the grass on your legs. Play Simon Says or Hokey Pokey to work on auditory processing skills. Find a new park with equipment to challenge your child’s motor planning skills as he or she plays.

The ultimate goal of therapy is for your child to be able to participate in daily activities.With a little creativity, sensory and language activities can be a part of every day.

For more ideas, check out one of our favorite books: “The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder” by Carol Stock Kranowitz.

Enjoy your summer and have fun playing and learning!

More pragmatics apps

I always seem to be finding new apps for social skills! Here are some new favorites:

1) Sosh Lite - FREE 7 day trial, $39.99 full
A no-frills app that is appropriate for teens and adults, modeled for self-study of various social skills. Categories of topics include: Relax, Reason, Regulate, Recognize, and Relate. Under each category, there are subtopics (e.g. under Relate: What did that mean?, First impressions, Common ground, Out and About, Talking strategies.) It is interactive and encourages the user to practice skills, whether recording voice and listening for rate of speech, or matching an emotion in a given picture by taking a picture of himself. This one is a bit pricey, but worth it for those who would benefit.


2) Odd Face Out - FREE
Another straightforward app aimed at teens/adults, to work on recognition of facial expressions. Faces are presented in a grid, and the user must identify which is the "odd face out" by a chosen criteria (mood or age) - by the way, even the age mode is beneficial in learning to discriminate between different faces.  Then within each category of mood or age, there are multiple levels of difficulty. The first selection is whether the faces presented are all the same person (easier) or different people (harder), and the second selection is a level of difficulty from 1-6 on how many faces are presented in the grid. Level 6 is hard even for me when I'm racing against the clock (the app times you so you can compare yourself). I like that the mistakes are reviewed at the end of 10 trials, and that the faces presented are not always in obvious opposite pairs e.g. happy vs. sad - they are often difficult such as distinguishing the worried face in a sea of angry ones.


3) Middle School Confidential: Be Confident in Who you Are - FREE (Real Friends edition is $2.99)
This e-book is cool for teens for several reasons: it deals with real issues in a believable way, it has 1-liner lesson summaries after each chapter, it includes self-quizzes (Real Friends only) .. and it's a graphic novel (comic-book style) so it's a super-easy read. This app isn't something I've used in therapy, but I would recommend it for home to learn about social dynamics and those issues every teen has to face at school.

4) DialSafe - FREE
This app to learn about phone skills definitely has a kid-friendly slant, but would be appropriate for some teens/adults as well. It includes introductory lessons (911, stranger skills), memory game for remembering phone numbers, phone simulators for calling 911 or other numbers that you can program in. There are some pre-recorded lessons, e.g. 911 but it would be good to also practice everyday conversations in the context of this app (i.e. practice dialing the number and pretending to carry on a chat).

5) Feel Electric! - FREE
I love this app for emotion skills - it is very teen-friendly and so entertaining that it almost feels like watching a TV show. It is highly interactive, personalized, and has interesting activities that both teach and practice skills. Each activity requires the user to reflect on his/her own feelings, and includes repetitions of the vocabulary (including higher-level: stressed, thrilled, petrified etc) with accompanying faces and definitions. It even has fun extras like a music player.. I could go on and on about this one but it's free so just go check it out!

Free educational apps (for kids)

I had to share this list - I'm working on compiling my own list but these are some great ones! http://www.smartappsforkids.com/top-10-free-apps-1.html

Fun blog

While I always seem to be lagging on my own blog entries (I have 3 in drafts that I just need time to sit down and finish!) there are some other SLPs that are much better disciplined in this area. There are even dogs getting in on the action - take Murphy the dog, for instance! He "writes" a blog (with the help of his SLP owner) that is a lot of fun for kids. Each post consists of a picture and highlights a vocabulary word or asks a language-stimulating question; this is great for kids to work on reading skills, and it's foolproof for parents. It would even be an excellent writing activity to post comments back to Murphy. Check him out at  http://www.murphythedogblog.com/

Everyday Language - Part 2

As a follow-up to my last post, I'd like to talk more about "everyday language". While speech therapists may give out concrete activities like worksheets to complete at home, the best "homework" is the kind that you do anywhere - and everywhere - you are. You should not always feel that you are doing therapy, but being aware of how you use language and engage with your child is important to fostering their language development. I recently came across a wonderful parent-directed document on how you may do this in a variety of everyday activities - thanks to Angela Notari Syverson, and Tatyana Elleseff for sharing. Supporting Early Literacy in Natural Environments


Additionally, I would like to point out that this idea of "everyday language" does not apply only to children. In my work with adults I encourage spouses and other family members not to fill in so much for the patient. For example, with a patient with aphasia, don't jump to give him the word right away; allow him time to think, or give him a cue as your therapist has demonstrated. If he needs help with the foot pedal on his wheelchair, you could say "You need help with your f..." so that he may say "foot". Allowing this time to process not only helps rebuild language skills, but also feelings of independence.

Everyday Language

In the name of more frequent updates, many will likely be short - but hopefully helpful! I always get great ideas from my various SLP blogs, Pinterest subscriptions, etc and many parents probably don't spend as much of their time reading these things as a speech-nerd like me. So to pass some of that on, here is a great article on working language into summer activities (even includes photo icons for those that use AAC):

ASHASphere - Making the Most of Summer Fun

Pragmatics Apps

It has been FAR too long, but I have an excuse (or several, really). Since my last post, I have changed jobs, moved to a new apartment, attended a wedding in Hawaii, and spent all kinds of time studying up and creating materials for said new job. But, much of that preparation has also included downloading tons of new apps and learning all kinds of new things to share! So, as promised in my last entry, I will pick up about apps for pragmatics skills. But check back again soon, I will try to come here more often and I hope you do too!

iPad Apps

1) ABA Flashcards, Emotions - FREE
A great, straight-forward app that is styled like flashcards. I really like this one for the pictures, which are big, clear and shot in a very natural way. Includes a whole variety of emotions, from low-level (hungry, tired) to high-level (focused, curious). I also like that it is very customizable; you can turn voice/labels on and off, record your own voice naming the cards, or even add your own by taking a picture of your child making a face. This last feature is nice for practicing expressions and comparing them to others in the deck.

2) Social Express -$89.99
This one comes with a whopper of a price tag, but I want to mention it because it is worth the price if it's the right fit for your child. It is a highly interactive program that keeps kids engaged, and gives a "group context" when an actual peer social group is unavailable. What sets it apart is that (among other things) it teaches non-verbal language and "unspoken rules" of social situations, conversational skills such as topic selection and maintenance, and coping strategies for anxiety/anger. I haven't personally seen another app that targets these specific skills in this way. It's available as either and iPad app or a computer program; click the link above for more info and a free demo on their website.

3) Hannah Rose Knows - FREE
An e-book about "making angry feelings go away"; helpful for teaching coping skills. Includes coloring pages and ideas on a Parents page for how to use it with your child.

4) Social Skills Sampler and Life Skills Sampler - FREE
Two apps by the Conover Company that are appropriate for older children and adults learning social skills. These are wonderful because of their videos illustrating real-life scenarios; they remind me a bit of those videos from my driver's ed classes but get the message across! Social Skills Sampler covers topics such as being polite, joining a conversation, and handling criticism. Life Skills Sampler includes things like using an ATM, crossing a crosswalk, and even uses for bread!

5) Going Places - FREE
Similar to the apps listed above, but directed at younger children. Includes nice pictures set in social-story format to address situations like going to the mall, the hairdresser, and a restaurant.

Websites

I also want to share a couple of my favorite websites for practicing pragmatics skills...

1) Do 2 Learn Emotions Color Wheel This tool is perfect for higher-level children or adults that are learning the spectrum of emotions and practicing their emotional vocabulary. The color-wheel concept is ingenious in the way that it links colors to emotions, visually illustrates how emotions are related (if 2 emotions are across from each other they are opposites; if they are close they are similar in feeling). Especially great for those on the autism spectrum that relate strongly to visual information and colors.

2) Smyface A fun website that reminds me of those "Today I'm feeling..." magnets (which are also a fantastic way to learn about emotion!) You use a slide-bar to change the cartoon face from negative to positive and everything in between - there are no vocabulary words associated with the picture, which makes it a nice activity to practice generating your own vocabulary. The face is hilarious to watch as he morphs from one expression to another, making it a fun group activity as well. Below the slide-bar is a box that allows you to enter why you are feeling that way, and you can even share via facebook or email! I have asked my patients to email me one of these emotions as homework, and I have also used it as a story-telling activity, like so:
(happy face) I woke up in a happy mood and walked to school
(shocked) but then I saw my best friend walking with someone new!
(angry) I was jealous of his new friend
(crying) and I felt so lonely I could cry.
(hopeful) Then my friend turned and waved to me
(grimacing) and even though I was nervous, I introduced myself to the new boy.
(laughing) He was really nice and invited me to play soccer after school. We had a lot of fun!

Adolescent Social Group

There are lots of subjects under the umbrella of speech therapy that I never knew about when I decided to become an SLP - swallowing? AAC? pragmatics? But oddly enough, these topics have come to be some of my favorites! Today I want to address that last one: pragmatic language, i.e. social skills.

On my last day at the clinic, I was saying goodbye to one of my favorite patients (I know I'm probably not supposed to say that, shhh) and his mother asked me for recommendations to work on pragmatics at home - he is a teenager with autism, and struggles with social language. He has come SO far in the last 2 years, but still has difficulties with skills like understanding emotion, tone of voice, solving social problems, and carrying a conversation. His mom was toying with the idea of starting a teen social group outside the clinic, and we talked about creating a group on meetup.com - but then she said "I don't know what else to do besides board games and that kind of thing." Well, I am choc full of ideas so here we go! Just a note: this group structure would also apply to adults who need to practice social skills or general verbal communication - it may easily be adapted to stroke or traumatic brain injury populations.

Materials

Let's start with more formal materials. Linguisystems is a big therapy materials company with lots of great products - you can peruse some of these on their site under "social skills", but I will just take a minute to highlight one of my favorite (and parent-friendly) books: Spotlight on Social Skills. It is actually a 6-book series, each on a different topic and containing worksheets and activities for that topic (Conversations, Getting Along, Emotions, Interpersonal Negotiation, Social Inferences, Nonverbal Language). Depending on your needs you can buy the books individually, and use them as a lesson plan guide for your own social groups. 

https://www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10514

Less formal materials I like to use include Table Topics cards, which are a collection of questions and conversation starters and come in a variety of topics/ages. There are tons of categories from silly to serious, but I like the basic sets: Original (for adults), Teen, and Kids to Go. They are a great way to practice conversation skills (asking questions, commenting, continuing the topic), nonverbal language (facing your listener, using eye contact), tone of voice (excited vs serious), and problem solving (expressing opinions appropriately, disagreeing). As a side note, they are also perfect for adult patients with Parkinson's who need to practice using an appropriate voice volume in conversation, or an aphasic patient who need to practice communicating. Not to mention just for fun around the dinner table!

http://www.tabletopics.com/

**Update: Yes, there is an app for that! I recently found the app "What If?" (FREE) which functions the same as Table Topics cards, with interesting all-ages conversation starters - in the super-convenient packaging of an iPad.

Group Structure

Now that we have a few materials to get us going, let's talk about the structure of a social group. Ideally, the group would consist of 2-5 people, some with pragmatics skills difficulties and some with socially typical "helpers" to act as models and facilitate the group. It's best to match by age, and sometimes by gender depending on the preferences of those involved. I like to start with age-appropriate greetings ("hey", "what's up") and then a "get to know you" conversation at the beginning of every session - this is where the Table Topics cards come in handy. Everyone can alternate turns asking a question and answering, but ideally this is not too formal - the idea is to keep it natural, and not alternating too rigidly lends opportunities to work on interrupting and waiting skills! The helpers should react naturally and use age-appropriate language e.g. "Hang on man, I'm not done." These conversations should not feel like a classroom. 

The next portion of the group, however, is a more formal lesson on specific skills or situations - for these I recommend parents follow a specific program e.g. the Linguisystems books above. Or, they could occur from a situation that has come up and involve a group brainstorming session; if an argument occurred during the conversational portion, use a whiteboard to list "ok" and "not-ok" things to say when expressing yourself, or make a bubble diagram of other ways the situation could be handled.

If there is still time, I like to end my groups with another less-structured activity - yes, this is where the board games come in! Or at home you can encourage a game of basketball, building something together, or another activity of interest to the group. Some weeks could even be "field trip" outings to a local restaurant, pool hall, or movie theater (followed by discussion of the game, food or film). These activities lend lots of opportunities to use pragmatic language in a natural setting, which is the key to a successful social group.

If you are looking for even MORE inspirational topics, check out Jill Kuzma's blog which is all about social skills - it is very parent-friendly and has tons of info: http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/welcome-to-jills-social-thinking-blog/ 

And keep checking back here - my next blog will feature iPad apps for pragmatics skills!

First Post

"You should put all of this stuff on facebook."

Innocent words, but I think they may have created a monster. This is what one of my favorite parents at the clinic told me after one of our sessions last week, while I was rattling off a list of iPad apps she should check out for her son. It hit me then: I really do have so much information that I am eager to share, but can never possibly tell every single one of my patients. I went home and created a new facebook page (Louise Chamberlin SLP - look me up!) and attempted to sort out how to possibly include all of those apps I was talking about with her into a facebook "note", before quickly realizing it would become a giant jumble of lost information. And then, my blog was born.

I already am thinking of things that I would like to post on here constantly - I have a pile of sticky notes from the last week with notes scribbled on them like "red flags!" and "social stories"... so where to begin? In the spirit of that "special mom" (you know who you are!), I'm going to start with the apps I was excited to tell her about. The rest will come in due time.

These apps are aimed at the preschool-to-young-elementary set, but are so captivating that I even spent a bit longer than I probably should have playing with them by myself!

1) My PlayHome - Full $3.99, Lite FREE
This app is like a virtual dollhouse, with multiple rooms and characters to play with (the Lite version comes with 2 rooms, the kitchen and living room). You can move the family members around the room and use different objects in the room to interact with them - for instance, hold a cupcake to the boy's mouth and a bite will be missing; or put the dad on the couch and watch him bounce! I love the detailed animations and functions of items in the room, which makes this app great for receptive/expressive language skills. Some ideas:
Open the oven. Touch the popscicle. (Following directions)
Put the baby in front of the table. Put Mom beside the TV. (Spatial concepts)
Put all of the fruit on the table. Show me all of the furniture. (Categories)
Make the room dark. Close both of the curtains. (Linguistic concepts)
Does the vase go in the fish tank? Is the TV on? (Y/N questions)
Where is the girl? What do you do with that washing machine? (WH questions)
What is Dad doing? He is drinking the soda. (Syntax)


2) Toddler's Seek and Find HD - FREE
Here is an interesting factoid: originally I downloaded Seek and Find (non-HD) which included the morning scene for free but required an in-app purchase for the afternoon and evening scenes. Then I tried the HD to see if there is a difference (there isn't from what I can tell, on my iPad 2) and found that all of the scenes are free in this version! So be sure to get the HD to maximize the fun :)

For the app itself: It is another fun language app that includes lots of interactive items and characters. When you touch the pictures they react, sometimes in funny and unpredictable ways which is such a delight!
When did the exercising man go to the park? In the afternoon. When do you go to sleep? Is it daytime? (Time concepts)
Why is the lady mad? Because the bird pooped on her head. Why is the man mad? Because the people upstairs are too loud. (Reasoning and cause-effect)
Who is skateboarding? Where is the alligator? What is the man holding? (WH questions)
Show me all of the people playing sports. Let's find all of the animals. (Categories)
Make the helicopter fly faster. Which is going fastest, the helicopter or the airplane? (Comparatives)
They are riding the bus. The bear is playing the trumpet. He is walking across the street. (Syntax)


I could do this all day... oh wait, I do. But I love this stuff, and I LOVE the amazing apps you can get for free.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave any comments and requests for future posts below - see you again soon!