Speech Time Fun: Speech and Language Activities

Sharing the fun from one speech room to another!

Introducing: Custom Boards App!

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Don't have Boardmaker?  Can't afford to buy your own Boardmaker because your district won't provide?  Don't have to fret any longer!!  Introducing, Smarty Ears' Custom Boards App!  The generous people over at Smarty Ears provided with me this code.  The opinions and ideas are all mine though!

Yes, this app creates materials for Speech Therapists and other educators!!!  Keep reading to learn what great features this app has to offer!!

When you click “new” the app brings you to a menu of choices.

As you can see, the app allows you to create activities & games, AAC boards for devices & switches, signs & labels, grids & boards, schedule & calendars, and worksheets.  I had the best time trying out each type to show you!

Activities & Games:

You can create tons of activities with these templates.  You can create BINGO, dominoes, dot worksheets, board games, and more!  I will take you through as I made a dominoes activity to work on adjectives.  You can pick the category from countless ones, modify fonts, placement of font, and background colors.

 

For all materials you make, if you click the “check” you can save, print, and email to yourself.

Grids & Boards:
This allows you to create picture cards and basic displays.  You can see I created a basic communication display for students not able to express if they are ready or not.

 

It was so simple!  Just click, I found these symbols under the category “communication.”  Note, when you can't find what you are looking for, you can use the search tab!

Devices & Switches:  Take a look and see all the devices you can create communication boards for!!  I don't have any students using any of these in particular so I did not create a sample, sorry!

Schedules & Calendars: You can create simple visuals for your students to follow.  Whether you are creating the sequence of activities of the day or in a speech session, it is so easy to create!  You can see below, I made a simple first-then-last board for a therapy session.  I can use this with students that have difficulties attending and dealing with change in routine.  If you have students that can't sit for the duration of a session, you can quickly print out a schedule of activities so they know when each is completed, the session is complete.  This could minimize or eliminate negative behaviors!

 

Signs & Labels:  Need a sign for your door?  Teaching road signs for students?  Or just want to be creative, use this section to create!  Students remember logos and signs and is a great pre-reading skill.  This section could be great to make fun signs that your students can remember and use in the classroom.  I personally like the traffic light to teach noise levels!

Worksheets:
Gotta love the fun and easy way to make a cute worksheet for use in the therapy room or homework.  You can easily create, email, and/or print.  Wished you had a worksheet to review a concept in a session, take out your iPad, quickly create one on the spot!  You can see below one I made easily to sort fruits and vegetables.  It was so easy!  The fruits and vegetables have their own sections in the images.

 

Wish for another type of board?  Can't find what you are looking for?  Smarty Ears even thought of that!  They made a tab for you to click to easily send an email to request!  You can find this option on the opening page.

Also from the opening page, you can visit your archived materials.  You can modify those previously made, resend or reprint, etc.  You can see below some of the materials I created.  One you can see is a “color ant.”  I used this when doing a picnic theme.  I have students working on color vocabulary and following directions.  As a follow up activity after reviewing picnic vocabulary, students labeled the colors on the ant and then got to follow directions and color the spaces.  You can get your copy of this worksheet here!

The price of this app might seem high, $39.99, but it does make the life of an SLP easier.  I wish I knew about this app so much sooner!!  The ideas of how to use this app to make quick and easy materials for my students are pouring out of me!  Can't think of any?  Here are some I plan on doing in the near future:

  • sequence of how to play basic board games to send home for the summer
  • game boards for summer vocabulary to use with summer school
  • make game boards to use with my chipper chat magnets
  • worksheets to review articulation sounds
  • beginning, middle, end graphic organizers for listening to stories
  • SO MUCH MORE!!

I hope I have convinced you to look into this app.  I love how easy it is to use, that you can import images from you iPad, and the extensive library of images they have to use.  It was easy to figure out which is a nice feature.  Other than the high cost, I cannot think of negatives.  They are open to suggestions for templates, so you can request those in need!

Not sure? Feel free to email me for more ideas and opinions. You can learn more about this product by visiting iTunes or smartyearsapps.

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