A Mid-November Update

Well, I had the best intentions to keep up at least a quarterly post but this first quarter flew by and we are almost three weeks into the second quarter.  By now, we are well underway in the speech room learning to produce new sounds, increasing vocabulary, learning to communicate more effectively through many different modalities, learning active listening strategies, increasing grammatical structures and improving social skills to name a few.

The kiddos are in a good rhythm and are making strides in meeting their individual goals and objectives.  Some of the skills the kids are learning are
1) Picture writing to aid in story retell
2) Using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words
3) Using graphic organizers such as Expanding Expression Tool to help with describing skills
3) Using literature at all levels to work on improving oral expression and listening comprehension
4) Using picture cues to aid in comprehension
5) Listening and looking for clues and pairing it with prior knowledge to make inferences

Our Social Skills group has been learning
1) Identifying polite vs. rude comments
3) Accepting differences
2) Social problem solving
2) Idiomatic expressions
4) Conversational turn-taking

Just ten short days until Thanksgiving, which brings the following books into the speech room
- The Plump and Perky Turkey
- Fall Leaves Fall
- Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
- There was and Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie
- Five Little Turkeys (adapted book)
- Leaves (adapted book)
-10 Little Turkeys (adapted book)
- What Happens in the Fall (adapted book)
- Granny Swallowed a ? (adapted book)

We have been using these books as a springboard to address many of our speech/language goals.  It's certainly making us hungry for Thanksgiving dinner!

Mrs. Hodgson

It's August already!!!!!

It's the second Friday in August and in less than two weeks we will be back to school!  It's hard to believe summer is coming to an end.  Actually, it doesn't seem like summer ever really arrived in terms of the weather.  Today was my first day back in the building to get my little room ready for the start of the school year.  I got quite a bit accomplished today despite having three kids in tow.

This year I will be in the building Mondays and Wednesdays and Friday mornings.  Mrs. Amick will be joining me at Highland Drive and will be in the building Tuesdays and Thursdays and Friday mornings.  Mrs. Amick comes to us from our preschool program. 

During the first week of school, we will be assessing the speech and language skills of our new kindergartners at Phase In.  Once homerooms and master schedules are finalized, we will be determining who will be on each of our individual caseloads.  You will be notified of who will be working with your child as soon as everything is finalized.

The week of August 26th will be spent collecting baseline data, observing students, and consulting with classroom staff.  Direct therapy sessions will begin on September 4th following Waiver Day on September 3rd.

Welcome Back!!
Mrs. Hodgson

The Home Stretch!

The third quarter is officially over!  I have had the pleasure of meeting with many parents over the past couple weeks during IEP meetings.  For those of you who I have not met with, as well as those on intervention plans, please look for updated progress in your child's report card.

 For most of my students, we will be introducing and addressing the new IEP goals and objectives over the course of the fourth quarter.  Many of my intervention students will be continuing on their current intervention plan, and some have been dismissed.

Language lessons in Mrs. Lea's room will focus on Spring, Bugs, Farm and Zoo Animals.  Hopefully we can start getting some consistent spring-like weather to help us out!

April marks Autism Awareness Month and May marks Better Speech and Hearing Month.  Look for some app sales in the App store!

Here's to the last nine weeks :)
Mrs. Hodgson

Third Quarter

Today ends the second quarter of school as well as the first semester.  I've been busy collecting and calculating data.  I am amazed at how far the kids have come since the beginning of the school year.  Progress notes will be sent home with the student report cards next week so be on the look out.  As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  IEP annual reviews will be here before we know it.  Much of February and March will be spent probing for new goals and objectives based upon when the annual review is due as well as assessing those students who are due for their three year reevaluation.  Along with all that, we will continue to address current goals and objectives that have not yet been mastered.  Topics for group language lessons in Mrs. Lea's class will include Valentines Day, Friends, Fairy Tales, and St. Patrick's Day.  As we move from Winter to Spring near the end of the third quarter we will begin to touch upon the change of seasons. 

Mrs. Hodgson