Category: March (Pets)

Please visit my original post here to learn the basics about therapy dogs and animal-assisted intervention in speech-language pathology. Expressive langauge skills are the easiest to address with AAI. You simply have the animal do things (or wait until they do things) then use common techniques such as communication temptations to get the child to …

Here’s my video tutorial on how I’ve been using Toca Pet Doctor with more details on the least-to-most cueing hierarchy I use when I’m targeting these skills. A special note: When inferencing the cause of emotions I prefer to ask “what made him feel sad?” rather than “why does he feel sad?”  I find if I use …

Please visit my original post here to learn the basics about using a therapy dog in speech & language treatment. Once you have the basics you can start thinking about using AAI for social skills. Most kids start greeting Zooey before they start greeting me. It’s an interesting example of dogs being helpful for kids …

Please read about the basics about therapy dogs and animal-assisted intervention in speech-language pathology on my original post here. AAI receptive langauge activities are as varied as receptive langauge goals. When working on single-step directions I set out color sorting bowls and tell the patient which bowl to put each treat into. When working on …

A “weighted lap buddy” is like a small weighted blanket in the form of a stuffed animal. These help kids who have trouble sitting in their seats, kids who feel nervous, or even just kids who love stuffed animals! You can find weighted lap buddies for $40 – $50 on Amazon, but I wanted to …

I’m constantly looking for new and fun ways to work on following directions; especially for my patients who have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, which is best treated by varying activities and tasks. One of my favorite apps to use for any and all speech and language treatment is Toca Pet Doctor. This app isn’t one of the …

I think this is my patients’ favorite game! Although many Toca Boca games are free, this one costs $3.99. I usually use it for social inferencing (identifying each pets’ feelings and the cause of those feelings), but I use it for irregular past-tense verbs, too. As we play the game I’ll ask the kids questions …