Whether it’s your Thursday afternoon (Northern H Whether it’s your Thursday afternoon (Northern Hemisphere) or Friday morning (Southern Hemisphere), don’t miss my SLP Summit talk on the Minimal Pairs Approach!!

Who has signed up????

#ebpslp #adventuresinspeechpathology #slpsummit #slp
I don’t want to be REMEMBERED for my games!!! I I don’t want to be REMEMBERED for my games!!!

I want to be remembered as that lady WHO HELPED ME say my sounds correctly!!!

The older I get, the less games I play, and the more I keep my keep my kids engaged doing novel things like earning LEGO bricks 🧱 to build something while I’m chatting to Dad at the end of my session.

Are you with me?? 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

#speechtherapy #speechpathology #slp #slplife #slpsofinstagram #slp2b #speech #speechpathology #adventuresinspeechpathology
Did you know that these are the two most FREQUENTL Did you know that these are the two most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS I get asked about minimal pairs?

So if you’ve thought these, you’re not alone!

Answer to the first question: well, there are options!!!! Which is great, right?! Options mean that you can individualize therapy for your child. I usually choose about 5, but have gone higher and less as well!

Answer to the second question: the minimal pairs stay the same! So I pick my treatment set carefully. The only reason why I might change my set is if the child isn’t generalizing and that system-wide change isn’t occurring (then I’ll add more to the treatment set).

For those who have read these pages in the Minimal Pairs Handbook, I’d love to know if the information makes sense 👇🏻

#speechtherapy #speechpathology #minimalpairshandbook #phonology #ebpslp #privatepracticeslp #preschoolslp #speechdelay #speech #speechdelaykids
I’ve decided to be a folder girl this year!!! I I’ve decided to be a folder girl this year!!!

I’ve got so many handouts, visuals, posters, and factsheets (pictured 😍), that I’m just going to get my act together and have everything in one place!

Let me know if you want me to do a video of what I come up with.

Pictured: Speech Development Fact Sheets by Age

#speechlanguagetherapy #ebpslp #speechtherapy #slp #slpsofinstagram #slporganization #speechdelay #speechdevelopment #speech
One of the questions I get asked is: what activiti One of the questions I get asked is: what activities do you use for minimal pairs?

A: the same that I use for all my other kids! The only difference is my TEACHING and FEEDBACK!!

I generally pick 3-5 simple SIMPLE activities or reinforcer style games and just aim to keep my kids motivated and engaged enough to get a lot of practice in.

So please don’t think that you have to sit at a table and have kids point to cards. That’s an example, that’s not how you do it every session 🙅🏻‍♀️

For those who have looked through the activity ideas in the Minimal Pairs Handbook, I would love to know what you think of this section about activity ideas 👇🏻

#speechdelay #phonology #slpa #slpgradstudent #speechtherapy #speechpathology #slp #slp2b #minimalpairshandbook #speechdelaykids #speechactivities
In case you missed it.... the Minimal Pairs Handbo In case you missed it.... the Minimal Pairs Handbook has been released 🎉

If you don’t know the journey, this has been six months of researching, reading, collaborating, and creating!

I want new grads, CFY, and early career SLPs to learn this approach CORRECTLY from the start of their career...

...and more experience SLPs to tweak their practice to be even more effective 👏

The 30% sale price ends in less than 24 hours, so go to the link in my profile and start the year treating speech confidently 💪🏻

#ebpslp #speechtherapy #slp2b #slp #speech #speechpathologist #privatepracticeslp #preschoolslp #schoolslp #speechdelay
This is why the minimal pairs approach is a GREAT This is why the minimal pairs approach is a GREAT option ☝🏼.

Because even if your child ISN’T stimulable for the sound, you can still follow the principles of minimal pairs therapy!

The Minimal Pairs Handbook will be breaking down the differences between these two options, and helping you problem solve everything else 👏

Can’t wait for its release this week!!

#minimalpairshandbook #phonology #slp #slp2b #speechtherapy #schoolslp #ebpslp #speechpathology #preschoolslp
Children need to make words SOUND DIFFERENT becaus Children need to make words SOUND DIFFERENT because they have different meanings!!

At the start of minimal pairs intervention I usually find myself using those sentences, such as:

“Green means..... (go)”
“We play with.... (dough)”

The reason WHY I do this is because if the child answers that green means DOUGH, well I’m going to act totally confused and confront my little one with the communication breakdown, because I’ve added some context and meaning to it.

I do fade this out pretty quickly. And FYI - I don’t think you’ll find this in a journal article, it’s just something that MY clinical practice and experience has lead me to do!

Ask me a question 🙋🏻‍♀️ if you have one!

(and only a few more days til the Minimal Pairs Handbook is released 🤗)

#minimalpairs #speechtherapist #speechpathology #digitalslp #ebpslp #slp2b #speechdelay #phonology #speech
That’s okay!!! I learn best from watching other That’s okay!!!

I learn best from watching other people too.

But if you feel like minimal pairs was glossed over in your studies, or you’ve never really seen it be implemented PLEASE DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM LEARNING THIS APPROACH!!!

The Minimal Pairs Handbook is being released this week 🤗 and it contains three video tutorials AND a 25 minute therapy session using the minimal pairs approach from Step 1-3.

Make this YOUR year to make progress with your speech kids ❤️

🤗🤗🤗🤗 WHO’s EXCITED????

👉🏻 Sign up for the waitlist and get notified when this is released! The link is in my profile.

#speechlanguagetherapy #speechtherapy #phonology #speechsounddisorders #slp #slp2b #minimalpairshandbook #speechdelay #slpgradstudent #slpgradschool #preschoolslp #schoolslp
👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 SWIPE 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻

Minimal pairs can be confusing stuff to a little brain!!!

Sometimes I take my time to teach the ‘rule’ and explain in a child-friendly what we are working on and why!

These stories are included in my Minimal Pairs Toolkit 🤗

#speechpathology #speechtherapy #slp #schoolslp
Whether it’s your Thursday afternoon (Northern H Whether it’s your Thursday afternoon (Northern Hemisphere) or Friday morning (Southern Hemisphere), don’t miss my SLP Summit talk on the Minimal Pairs Approach!!

Who has signed up????

#ebpslp #adventuresinspeechpathology #slpsummit #slp
I don’t want to be REMEMBERED for my games!!! I I don’t want to be REMEMBERED for my games!!!

I want to be remembered as that lady WHO HELPED ME say my sounds correctly!!!

The older I get, the less games I play, and the more I keep my keep my kids engaged doing novel things like earning LEGO bricks 🧱 to build something while I’m chatting to Dad at the end of my session.

Are you with me?? 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

#speechtherapy #speechpathology #slp #slplife #slpsofinstagram #slp2b #speech #speechpathology #adventuresinspeechpathology
Did you know that these are the two most FREQUENTL Did you know that these are the two most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS I get asked about minimal pairs?

So if you’ve thought these, you’re not alone!

Answer to the first question: well, there are options!!!! Which is great, right?! Options mean that you can individualize therapy for your child. I usually choose about 5, but have gone higher and less as well!

Answer to the second question: the minimal pairs stay the same! So I pick my treatment set carefully. The only reason why I might change my set is if the child isn’t generalizing and that system-wide change isn’t occurring (then I’ll add more to the treatment set).

For those who have read these pages in the Minimal Pairs Handbook, I’d love to know if the information makes sense 👇🏻

#speechtherapy #speechpathology #minimalpairshandbook #phonology #ebpslp #privatepracticeslp #preschoolslp #speechdelay #speech #speechdelaykids
I’ve decided to be a folder girl this year!!! I I’ve decided to be a folder girl this year!!!

I’ve got so many handouts, visuals, posters, and factsheets (pictured 😍), that I’m just going to get my act together and have everything in one place!

Let me know if you want me to do a video of what I come up with.

Pictured: Speech Development Fact Sheets by Age

#speechlanguagetherapy #ebpslp #speechtherapy #slp #slpsofinstagram #slporganization #speechdelay #speechdevelopment #speech
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Adventures in Speech Pathology

Feel confident treating speech sound disorders

Social Communication, Therapy Activities · March 12, 2019

Why you should STOP using conversation topic cards

stop using conversation topic cards

Be honest here. How often do you have an extended conversation about your favorite food? I mean sure, you might get three exchanges maximum, but then it pretty much falls flat, right? Conversations naturally bend and move. They are fluid. And this is why conversation topic cards are my pet peeve because we DON’T memorize trivial questions like this. We use what we know about someone and the conversation springs from there.

I don’t believe that conversations are easy to teach.

They are hard. Really hard. And they are really complex. There are SO many skills and things to remember. And I’m sorry but whipping out a deck of conversation topics is not going to do those ‘work on conversation skills’ goals justice.

Just Google the word ‘conversation’ and you will see what I’m talking about: a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged.

It’s a great definition and I love the part about an ‘exchange’.

Maybe conversation is your end goal and you just didn’t realize it. Maybe you need to work on a lot of little goals to get you to where you need to be. Think about it from a language point of view. If you were hoping to increase your student’s ability to tell a narrative, you wouldn’t just keep getting them to tell you stories. No, you would look at a framework and the individual skills needed to get you there.

Well then why aren’t we treating conversation skills like this?

So, I’m going to share two big things that I teach and really look for in the context of conversations: asking questions and making comments. Let’s think about it a little more.

Questions– I’m not talking about ‘what’s your favorite color?’ type questions here. Those questions really don’t go anywhere. The point about asking questions is to find out more information and connect with someone… then the conversational topic can occur naturally. So, these are the question things that go through my brain:

  • Can the student ask a variety of questions – what, where, who, when, why?
  • Do they understand the purpose of asking questions (such as to clarify or find out more information?
  • Can they initiate, or do they need visuals?
  • Do they know different ways to ask one question type (e.g. ‘what?’)
  • Can your student use follow up questions?
Use visuals for conversation prompts

If you have a love of colored craft sticks, then I have a new use for you: Question prompts! This is usually my starting place for students who don’t even know the right type of question to ask BUT have the language skills to formulate questions. Simply stick different question types onto craft sticks, hold them up throughout your conversation as an initiation prompt… then fade away once your student understands how, when and why to ask questions. Now just pause for a minute and think. Focusing on ‘questions’ could literally be a whole term of therapy. Maybe even more. And this is just scratching the surface because we haven’t even started to look at using comments.

Comments – I cannot tell you how many times I engage with teenagers who have age appropriate language skills, know how to ask me questions and then when I make statements or tell them something pretty cool, they just sit there. And stare at me. And it’s really quite awkward.

And it’s because they aren’t commenting. They aren’t responding to what I’m saying. They aren’t giving me some signal that I should elaborate, that they are interested or that they even care. It’s like dead air.

But here’s the thing… there are different types of comments that you should be using depending on the situation. Do your students know the situation? Do they know that you shouldn’t respond ‘okay’ when you tell sad news such as “I went to a funeral on the weekend”, or just stare at you when you tell them you are about to go on holidays?

If your students can identify the emotion, or the feeling of the message, then hopefully they can match that with an appropriate comment. Phew. That’s pretty in-depth, right? So, I like to really explore commenting and visuals are obviously my best friend in this situation because they can help scaffold and support so much.

Teach comments for different feelings

I hope that you can see why those decks of conversation cards can be null and void in the grand scheme of conversations. There are bigger things to work on and your students have to really understand the mechanics and dynamics of a conversation to say that they are properly participating. Now there ARE more areas, this won’t be your conversation ‘cure’. There’s all that nonverbal stuff that I haven’t even upon touched yet. Take a closer look at my Conversation Supports for Questions & Comments for more step-by-step goals, activities, pre and post measures and of course: VISUALS! My go-to reference (and framework) for working on conversations is included in the Thinking About You, Thinking About Me text by Michelle Garcia Winner.

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Hi, I'm Rebecca.
I encourage SLPs to feel more confident treating speech sound disorders, and make faster progress with their students.

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