A Short Letter for a Short Month
Hello everyone, from the depths of midwinter! This February has felt impossibly long. Here in the south we’re vacillating between weather that teases of spring and cold so deep it goes straight to the bone. I keep hoping that the permanent return of spring is on its way, but March has frequently decided to throw snow and ice into the mix, so we shall see! At any rate, the winter wreath has been taken down not to be replaced because the birds will soon be looking for places to nest and they always chose our door! I’m dreaming of flowers and will be headed to the garden center this evening after work. So, let’s get to it!
From My Desk
This month has been full speed ahead with assessments, baselines, and meetings. The other day, as I sat messaging a parent after dinner, my husband commented on the fact that I seemed to be working later than usual.
“IEP season has started,” I replied.
“Ah. I get it.”
Month’s Most Used Therapy Materials
I just checked back on January’s newsletter because as I thought about what I’d been using most this month, I felt like I’d already written about it. And I have! February has been a continuation of January in more ways than one.
I’m still using Spiffy Speech’s Semantic Feature Analysis Charts. My students really enjoy getting to pick their stamp and completing these grids. When I’m working with groups, they’ve been a great way to encourage students to discuss the words together. I love watching them ask each other questions about the different features and work to come up with an answer.
I’m also still getting a lot of use out of Kristine Nannini’s Context Clues Stories. Having the option to choose between different lexile levels has been perfect for my kiddos and the vocabulary has been just the right mix of challenging and familiar for most of my students.
Teletherapy tip: take a screenshot of the question page so that you can display the text and questions at the same time!
And since it’s baseline time, I’m still using the heck out of my informal Comprehensive Language Assessment. If I have enough time, I’ll be adding my Language Sample into the mix, as well!
One other thing I’ve used and enjoyed is this Executive Function Assessment from Life Skills Advocate. You have to sign up for the newsletter to get the free dowload, but I found this really helpful for an older Autistic student who wasn’t sure what he needed to work on. Once we started going through the questions, he had a lot to say!
Plans for Next Month
March is when IEP season goes into full effect and when most of us get Spring Break, so ease is the name of the game! When I start planning for March, I start to shift more towards a structure of baselines/discrete trials and games. Attention is starting to wane as we creep toward the end of the year, but there’s still a lot going on—we can’t slump just yet!
I highly recommend having a few baseline materials and quick and easy options for discrete trials for the broad skills on your caseload. Data becomes a little more important as we’re writing IEP goals and working toward one of our final progress reports of the year. Yes, there’s a 4th quarter but…. I find that 4th quarter is often so disrupted by end of the year activities that I do my last big push for data during 3rd quarter.
But to keep up with those antsy, pre-Spring Break moods? Sprinkle in games! As long as I’ve hit some good practice at the beginning of the session, I start lettings students choose more games that are just plain fun to keep them engaged for the next time.
P.S. Want something seasonal and discrete for context clues? My Irish Slang Context Clues unit is fun!
What’s Giving Me Life
Something you can’t buy: the slow return of birdsong and warmer weather. There’s something about those days when the weather creeps above 60 after months of cold. And I know, here in the south “months of cold’ means like 3… but still!
Side note: I opened my front door yesterday to let in some fresh air and a bird flew in, landed on my Lego Whomping Willow, and flew back out.
Something else you can’t buy: working on routines. They’re still in process, but I’m getting a little bit better at developing some rhythms that are working for me.
“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?”
I hope this short letter for a short month has found you well! Take a breath and make sure you’re making time for yourself before we enter this crazy time of year.
I’ve made the intentional choice to keep The Calm SLP ad-free. If you appreciate what I do here, there are a couple of ways to support me.
You can check out the products I offer in my TpT store. This will hopefully help you also!
You can also visit my Buy Me a Coffee link, though I’ll openly admit your donation will go to tea and books instead.
