Traditional Stories

Last fall, I attended a Listening and Spoken Language presentation by Kathryn Wilson and Beth Walker {love!}.  They discussed the importance of reading “traditional literature”-types of stories with kids with hearing loss.  Stories like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Three Bears,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” are what we think to be “common knowledge” for all; and for hearing kids, it most often is.  But kids with hearing loss have many times missed these along the way.  Knowledge of these stories is important because it’s not only common knowledge, but there are also references made to these stories all the time in popular culture. 

I took this message to heart, and have really made an effort since then to read traditional literature-stories with my kiddos (at their levels). 

Recently, I created two Listening & Language Activity packs for two stories, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.  (With “Oz the Great and Powerful” coming out soon, I thought this would be a good one!)  I have used both of these with my upper elementary-early middle school kiddos, and they’ve been great!  I ordered a couple of easy readers from Amazon, and also found a few at thrift stores.  The students were able to understand the key concepts of the stories, especially those that might be referenced in pop culture.  In addition to comprehension activities, each pack includes other language games targeting skills such as categories, functions, grammar, inferencing, etc. 

The Wizard of Oz Listening and Language Pack games

The Alice in Wonderland Listening and Language Games

I got the clipart from Melonheadz Illustrating, which I just love!  All-in-all, I think they turned out well and have been really fun!

If you’re interested, each activity pack has a full free game in the preview on TPT.  Here are the links:

Alice in Wonderland in TPT

Wizard of Oz in TPT

Thanks for looking!

Wow!  I've let too much time pass between blog posts!  I've been thinking about this post for the past couple of weeks, but am just now getting to it!  I wanted to talk about the Learning to Listen Sounds.  The Learning to Listen sounds are sound-object associations which are used early in aural habilitation.  They’re very important because they teach the child to attend to sounds (detection), help the child learn to distinguish one sound from another (discrimination), and link a sound to meaning (identification). The Learning to Listen sounds also introduce the child to sounds that will later be used in their speech.  The Learning to Listen sounds are often naturally used by parents, in general.  They’re important for all children, but especially important for kids with hearing loss who are learning listening and spoken language.

I won’t reinvent the wheel with materials because there’s a lot out there on the web.  A module about the Learning to Listen Sounds created by Ellen Rhoads can be found here:  Learning to Listen Sounds Module

For older kids working on the LTL sounds, I use the cards in the above module.  I like them because they also note what the sound is.  They're a good resource for both parents and professionals so that the sounds are consistent.

However, my MOST often used materials for working on the LTL sounds is a box of toys.  These were collected over time from thrift stores and garage sales.  I suggest making yourself a list (from the objects in the module).  It doesn’t take long to find all the items you need to make your own box!

Cochlear Online has also created a listing of books which contain the LTL sounds. That list can be found here:  Books with Learning to Listen Sounds

You can also use these sounds in known songs, such as Old MacDonald and The Wheels on the Bus.  Old MacDonald has lots of animals that make sounds!  Anything can ride on the bus and make its sound!

Play, sing, read, and cement these sound-object associations!  They are critical for laying the foundation for listening and speech!

Happy Groundhog Day!

In honor of Groundhog Day, I created a few freebies which are in my TPT store.  The first one is an Old Maid-inspired game which I titled "Old Man Winter."  It's played just like Old Maid, but you're matching items with their shadows and trying to avoid the Old Man Winter card.  It can be found by clicking on the title below:

Groundhog Day Old Man Winter Game

My second freebie is a writing activity, Groundhog Day Roll-A-Story.  The student rolls cubes to determine story elements.  Based on those elements, he/she creates a story.  It can be found by clicking on the title below:

Groundhog Day Roll-A-Story

My final Groundhog Day freebie is a short poem/emergent reader. It's a cute way to introduce the concept of Groundhog Day!  It can be found by clicking on the title below:

On Groundhog Day

I hope you have a great Groundhog Day!