I only have two PKers that I work with right now…my school doesn't have a PK program, so I get a few walk-ins each year. Between me and the other SLP at my school, we have 5 total. I kinda wish I had more little guys to play with, but I must settle for my current cuties. I actually made the time in my schedule to see mine one-on-one…one has a more severe phonological delay, the other simple /k, g/. One more behaviorally involved, the other can sit in a chair for 30 minutes straight (WHAT?!). One is 3 and the other is 4. They are as different as night and day.
My behaviorally challenged friend is a firecracker. I adore him, but he has an attention span of about 5 minutes, likes to always be moving, could care less about my iPad, and hates crafts. This is a challenge for me. However, when I can hook him, he is a sweet as pie and absolutely melts my heart with huge blue eyes. Today was one of those days that everything went perfectly right…why? Because of Monster Trucks!
This is the kiddo who is the reason I made this download. If you have monster trucks enthusiasts in your speech room, you can check it out HERE. Anyways, the look on his face the first time I showed him this was priceless. The power of using your students' interests in undeniable. This worked for me for a session without any modifications. Today, I whipped it out, kinda hoping for the same response…not so much. But I did pull out a dry erase marker to make the game board more ‘tricky' and I had his attention. I let him tell me where to put the ‘lose a turns', ‘roll' agains', etc. He even chose to do one space as ‘Go back 8 spaces'. Wellllll this was AWESOME….why? It took us almost 20 minutes to finish the game. He was so tickled when he landed on those spaces he picked! It was awesome.
Another thing I let him do is roll the foam dice on the floor. These are the dice from Chipper Chat, that are little and foam and can't hurt a fly. Why do I let him throw it? Cause he has to go pick up…getting more of that movement that he so desperately needs to stay focused. And he gets a little thrill out of me letting him throw it. We do have rules…it has to land in a certain area and it must be an underhand throw 🙂 But it works for us. I don't think I could do this if I wasn't seeing him individually.
Do you have walk-ins at your school? Do you get to see them together or separately? Do you have any simple modifications that help with the movers and shakers?
Brea says
I see five bring-ins along with my regular Pre-K kiddos. All of my bring-ins are seen 1:1. Most of them are pretty well behaved and can sit still… especially if bribed with stickers. 🙂 Sometimes we will do a hide and seek game in the therapy room where I hide artic cards. Thanks for these great ideas!
SLP Gone Wild says
The kids who love stickers are little gifts from heaven! Lol. I love the idea and seek artic card game!
Cindy and Kristina says
I have one walk-in and I see him one on one. He does great with focusing for the 30 minutes, but it helps if I change activities every 10 to 15 minutes.
SLP Gone Wild says
That sounds like my other little guy!
Cindy L Meester says
Fun!
All our preK kids receive speech at our preschool special Ed sites or in their homes. The Elementary buildings only see K-6th graders.
Jessica Smith says
I have 11 preks that are all walk-ins, and because of scheduling I see most of them in groups of 2-3. One that is more severe I see 1:1. Most of them are phonological, so we have found about a million things to do with artic cards/pictures. Their favorite game is Cranium Cariboo, that I have made special cards for to target their sounds!
Kacie Kirk says
I was actually so blessed to win this giveaway (first time to ever win anything!) and my boys LOVED it! I had three different boys and I used the artic for one, sentence structure for the other, and ‘wh’ questions with the final student. This activity gave me the ability to modify it for my kiddos needs. They loved it because every time their turn was finished, they got to pick a ‘monster truck’ out of my pile and save it in their pile! The last 5 minutes, they played with the trucks on a road rug I have in my room! SUCCESS!! Another great activity from Jenn!!!