Teaching Tuesday: Learning on an iPhone

Once I discovered all the great Speech Therapy applications that I could use on my semi-iPhone, I had to look up teaching apps for my own children.

The following are the ones I highly recommend for children of similar ages/levels as my kids (4.5 and 6.5). I've even paid for a few of them!





1. Teach Me: Kindergarten
I can't say enough great things about this program, and I noticed it's 50% off right now! It works on addition, subtraction, spelling, and sight words for children of approximately Kindergarten level. This one is a must have!













2. ABC Tracer
Again, amazing! Schools these days don't have the time or teacher-power to teach proper handwriting. I cringe when I watch my students (and my son) form letters in the most inefficient ways possible. But this program teaches kids how to form their letters. Amazing! I showed it to an Occupational Therapist friend and she was in awe!









3. Math Drills Lite
This is just what is sounds like, math drills. I like that they can be timed as I have ever intention of torturing my son this summer when lots of timed math practice! :)

















4. Pop Math Lite
This is a pretty fun math program where you get to "pop" the problems and answers that go together. I may even spring for the full paid version later this summer.













5. KidCalc
On sale right now! This one has great things for everyone! Counting, flash cards, tracing numbers, a puzzle. It is a super math app for both of my kids. I highly recommend this one. Especially for it's sale price of $0.99!












6. FirstWords Sampler
My daughter really likes this, and I think it is good for spelling and phonics, but she is a little too high academically to justify purchasing it. You match letters and drag them to the correct spot and then a little reinforcer animation comes on. Overall, very cute. Especially the free sampler!













7. Computer Carl
Guide the robot through a math maze with multiple choice addition or subtraction problems. I like this game quite a bit, but my son complains.







8. Feed Me
Ashley told me about this game. My daughter loves it! Most of it is very easy for her (shapes, colors, letters), but then they throw in a fractions (!!) or time (!!) question and she can now get it right! The adorable monster "eats" your answer and makes a happy sound when you are right, or his stomach turns green when you are wrong. This game is adorable. Plus, you can down load it in many different languages (Chinese, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanense). Wow!


Any other cheap or free learning game apps I should know about? I fully intend to use these for my "home school summer school" this summer, as well as our long vacation drives.

Gifts, Remebering, and a Flirty Apron review

For Mother's Day this year I requested two things:
complete car washes (annual gift request)
a Flirty Apron (on sale for 40% off with a sale code!)

My husband has a lot of trouble thinking and remembering details. Such as, oh, coupon codes....

So it was with a lump in my throat that I saw the credit card bill and noticed that we were charged full price for my gift, and not the sale price. He said he would contact the company right away to try to get the sale code applied. And, to his credit, he did contact them the next day.

But the company said they cannot retroactively apply sale codes. So I intervened. I begged, pleaded, told my husband's story, and promised to write a review of the apron. I did not want to have to return my Mother's Day gift. Thankfully, they agreed to apply the code in return for a review! I apologize in advance, as I have not wanted this to be a review blog.

My gift:

This super cute apron is double layered and contains long, thick ribbons to make it fully adjustable. There are two useful pockets. It is just the right length for my myriad of kitchen spills. My only real complaint is the that ribbons are too long for my smaller size and I will probably have to cut and re-sew them later.

To get the BEST deal on these Flirty aprons, check out the clearance section. These add up to an even better deal than I got and I'm considering purchasing another at these great prices!

Now, if I can just get my husband to remember to go to the car wash...

Brilliance Dulled

I married a brilliant man.

Seriously.

Not to brag on him or anything (okay, yes to brag on him)... He has an Ivy League degree in bio-physics. After working in a lab, he switched fields all together to work as a computer programmer in a start-up company.

The man scored a perfect score on the problem solving/logic portion of the GRE for goodness sake!

Just to keep everyone on their toes, he switched fields again and entered seminary. He completed a Master's of Divinity and was working towards a Master's of Theology (and eventually hoped to obtain a PhD), when the pain went from somewhat manageable* to debilitating when the nerve pain crippled the lower half of his body and consumed the rest of his thoughts.

*Somewhat manageable here means that his cluster headaches consumed him 6 hours of each day for approximately 8 months of each year.

He went from a brilliant diamond to a dulled spoon. And by spoons, I have a double meaning. Christine Miserandino wrote an article about The Spoon Theory of living with disability. Each spoon represents innate abilities, energy, knowledge, and memory that most healthy people have in excess. Those with sickness or disability, however, have a limited number of spoons, which they are forced to use sparingly in order to get through their day.

Thankfully, I am healthy and have unlimited spoons. Because this is how my typical morning looks: alarm goes off at 5:30 and I hit snooze a few times. Get up. Go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, put in my contacts. Get dressed in workout clothes. Start a load of laundry. Make coffee. Toast a muffin. Pour a glass of water. Eat breakfast. Check email. Read Bible. Push dishes in the dishwasher. Tidy bonus room. Do 30-45 minutes of exercise. Switch laundry into the dryer. Drink another cup of water. put out breakfast for the kids. Change into work clothes. Wash face, brush teeth, put on make-up. Write a list of to-dos for the family. Kiss everyone and leave for work.

Phew! I'm tired just writing it out!

In comparison, since this time last year Professor X has been stripped of his energy and abilities. Some days Professor X seems to only has four spoons for the entire day: One spoon to get up in the morning. One to take The Flash to school. One to feed Marvel Girl lunch. And one final spoon to pick The Flash up from school. If he needs to get out of the car, he pulls out his wheelchair. Because he can't walk for more than 20 feet. And the rest of the day? Spent recovering in bed or on the couch.

It is hard to remember that on a bad day, I can do more in 30 minutes than he can do in an entire day.

And it's tragic. Not only because my children don't blink when they hear "Daddy can't do that right now because he's in too much pain", but also because Professor X now must redefine his goals. He can't remember to complete routine tasks. He forgets coupon codes. He can't think his way through simple household problems. Finishing his PhD seems impossible with all of his energy fighting pain. It's hard to even think beyond this week and contemplate what he'll be able to do this summer.

In my years in graduate school, I learned to help other people's husband's disabilities (from stroke, head injury, etc.). Not my own.

And I really, really miss that sparkle in his eye as he redefined the quantum theory of physics or the nature of God with vocabulary that was far beyond my comprehension. But, I need to breathe. Pray. And remember, it could always be worse.

I believe in Child Labor

After The Flash tragically broke my $40 necklace, I was irate. I stomped so hard on the ground that I hurt my hip for 2 days. If I had super powers, I probably would have broken through our wood floor.

When Professor X and I had calmed down, we decided on a consequence that seemed somewhat fitting of the crime.

The Flash had to pay Professor X one hour of manual labor for the hour he spent fixing the necklace.

And he had to play me one hour of manual labor for the grief I experienced.

He was not allowed to do any fun activities (videos, playdates, etc.) until he had completed his work. He hated this idea and was eager to get his two hours out of the way. So here's what he did:

• folded three baskets of laundry
• dusted the house (primarily while lying on his belly????)
• dusted the house again (to make up for the bad job on his belly)
• cleaned windows

But these tasks only added up to 90 minutes. What else could he do to complete his sentence?

Weed the garden of course.


At 7 in the morning. In his jammies and snow boots. With a pair of loppers. And recruit his sister to help.

I wish I could say this was a successful task, but since he pulled out exactly zero weeds, I could not count any of this time.

Alas, before the day was done he had served his time and was very happy to have it behind him.



I know that there will be many more consequences in store for him. I just need ideas as to how he can labor for us. Any suggestions?

Therapy on an iphone.

No. Not that kind.

The speech kind. ;)



I confess, I love my semi-iphone* more and more every day.
*I inherited my mother's disabled phone when she upgraded to the 3GS. So I have the cool features of an iTouch PLUS the camera and microphone of an iPhone.

In the last 2 months I have discovered a myriad of ways to use it in speech therapy sessions. Below are some of the apps that I've used and recommend:

1. The camera and video camera. Okay, not an app. But I am sooooo much more likely to take a picture of a student or a quick video when I can easily email it to myself and print it out.

A few weeks ago I made paper dolls out of the actual student photos so we can talk about different clothing types. I took the picture, emailed it to myself, and printed it in less than 5 minutes. We've been continuing that activity for weeks now!

2. Dress Me Up Lite. Works on adjectives, vocabulary of clothing and body parts, and comparing/contrasting.

3. Learn to Talk Sampler.This is a cool idea for basic vocabulary and flash cards. However, I'm not sure if I'd ever pay the $1.99 for the full version.

4. Kindergarten.com offers a lot of great picture flashcards (many for free!). These include: foods, actions, things you wear, emotions, etc. Although when I downloaded it, the Receptive Functions app was free, it might be worth the $0.99 to work on these harder concepts.

5. Question Builder Lite. This app has a lot of potential for answering a variety of Wh- questions. It is somewhat difficult for a small hand to access. So it is great in the lite version, not sure if I'd upgrade to the full version.




Some apps I'd love to try and review if someone wants to let me download the app for free (hint, hint).

iCommunicate: basic communication words and schedules for daily life

SLP Mobile Articulation Probes: over 900 pictures for articulation work

Pocket SLP Articulation: over 400 articulation pictures

Hidden Curriculum for Kids: tips for the "unwritten social rules", especially useful for high functioning kids with Autism


There is so much potential for speech and language therapy using the iPhone and iTouch. I imagine that the iPad would also be incredible for bringing therapy to the student as well as engaging and motivating them. I am having a lot of fun with mine. :)



Coming eventually.... teaching applications for reading, writing, and math.

Happy Mother's Day!

It should have been made with unicorn hair

Several weeks ago The Flash came to me in tears.

(This needs to be read in the whiniest voice possible) "Mommmmmmmmy... you aren't going to the school auction so you aren't going to buy the necklace I made."

I reassured him that although mommy is too cheap wasn't going to attend the auction, I could have a friend buy it for me. He was satisfied.

The auction was a great success. I mean, really great. They raised $30,000 dollars for the school. And now I know how this public school with 40% of the students on free/reduced lunch raised so much money.

Extortion.


This pretty necklace (which my own son made by-the-way) cost me $40.

Forty.

As in $35 more than any other jewelry I ever wear.

And if every first grade student whined their way into having their necklace purchased, the school raised $2000 on beaded necklaces made by six year olds.

To make the situation worse, The Flash claimed ownership over my new forty dollar necklace. He swiped it while I was taking a shower and slept with it the first night we had it home.

Then begged to wear it to school the next day.

The second evening, he took it from my hands and played with it while I washed dishes.

And then...

He. Broke. It.

Half the beads scattering on the ground. The clasp missing. And everyone yelling and in tears.

I still get shivers of anger when I think about the breakage. Luckily, Professor X was eventually able to string it back together and fix the clasp.

And now The Flash owes me. Big time.

Teaching weather and clothing

My buddy Joe lives in the Life Skills room across the hall from my room.

Joe is a crude paper doll with velcro and simple paper clothes that can be added or taken off.

Every day my students dress Joe. He wears long or short sleeves, long or short pants. We practice talking about types of clothes.

But behold... Joe will soon under-go a major transformation. Such a great change that he will even be re-named. And twinned.

Meet Sam. And Samantha.

And check out some of their clothing options!



There are many great ways to use paper dolls, including:
1. weather vocabulary
2. season vocabulary
3. clothing vocabulary
4. prepositions (on, under, next to)
5. describing (yellow, long-sleeve)

I am just itching to laminate Sam and Samantha and add velcro so I can use them during circle.

Make your own paper dolls and clothes at this great free website.