Review: The Role of Frontal Lobe in Speech and Language Functions {plus GIVEAWAY}

I was so excited when Tatyana Elleseff of Smart Speech Therapy contacted me to be part of a materials swap. If you haven’t stopped by her store, I would highly recommend it. I chose to review her packet: The Role of Frontal Lobe in Speech and Language Functions. 

This 21-page presentation covered the following information: 

• Difference Between Damage And Impairment
• Frontal Lobe and Executive Functions
• How Executive Functions Affect Learning
• What happens when executive functions are impaired
• Symptoms of impaired executive functions
• Association between psychiatric impairments and executive functions
• How executive function deficits are treated in the context of speech language therapy

I loved that Tatyana started this packet off with an overview of the brain and its functions as they related to the frontal lobe, language, and executive functioning. She also had a nice piece on the differences between damage and impairment.  She defined executive functioning and gave examples of how executive functioning affects learning, and then what that might look like if executive functions were impaired.  She went into detail about what symptoms you might see in a student with executive functioning deficits. Tatyana did a nice job of touching on the different types of disorders that may be associated with deficits of executive functioning, and noted that they appear to play a role in anti-social behavior. She closed the presentation with a statement about our scope of practice, a list of considerations for treatment, and therapy suggestions. I especially love her last statement, “You may not fix it but you can make it better by teaching our clients to compensate!” And that’s what I've found with my students, providing strategies to help them compensate is key. 

Tatyana did a nice job on this packet. It was very well organized, easy to read, and research based. To check out this packet, or the many other offerings she has in her store, click HERE. She also has a giveaway posted on her site. Click HERE to stop by and enter. 

Tatyana chose to review one of my bear book companions; Bear Says Thanks. Click HERE to read her review.  For your chance to win your own copy of Bear Says Thanks, enter your information in the Rafflecopter below.  To see more of my book Thanksgiving themed books companions, click HERE to visit my TpT store. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for Thanksgiving or Fall Themed Books? Check these out!

Listed below are a few of my favorite Thanksgiving/Fall Themed books (Amazon Affiliate links included for your convenience). I've also created book companions for each of the books listed below, click here to see them in my TpT store. Enjoy!

1. There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, By: Lucille Colandro (Check out my throw back post here )

2. The Busy Little Squirrel, By: Nancy Tafuri (Check out my throw back post here)

 

3. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, By: Alison Jackson (Check out my throw back post here)

 

4. Bear Says Thanks, By: Karma Wilson (Check out my throw back post here)

 

 

5. Turkey Trouble, By: Wendi Silvano (Check out my throw back post here)

 

 

Would love to hear from you all too! Which books do you love pulling out for the Thanksgiving season? 



More from Bear...

Just in time for Thanksgiving! I recently posted my book companion for Bear Says Thanks, by: Karma Wilson. I love the Bear series, and this book is one of my favorites to pull out right before Thanksgiving break. Click here to see the set in my store (amazon affiliate link included for your convenience).  Enjoy!

Bear Says Thanks - Speech and Language Book Companion

 



Yes, I LOVE books!

I LOVE my caseload, and if I haven't said it enough in the past I'll say it AGAIN! I l.o.v.e. my caseload. I get to work with many different students with a huge variety of communication needs. I am responsible for providing services to an elementary K-5 building and 2 self-contained functional academic classrooms. I have a little bit of everything on my plate, and I couldn't be happier. With that being said, I try to create activities I can use with all of my students. If my weekly theme is based on "fall" I like to select one (or two books) to use when targeting my student's goals. All of my activities for that week are then based off of that book. Which is a reason you'll see so many book companions in my store. You can target almost ANY speech or language goal using a good book!

Another thing I LOVE (and I know I've mentioned it before) is fall! I've created a few more fall/autumn themed book companions to use during therapy. Check them out below. (Don't miss the FREEBIE near the end of this post).

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything - Book Companion

 

 

Turkey Trouble - Book Companion

 

Old Lady Leaf Counting {FREEBIE}

 

 

Happy fall, friends! Enjoy!



Looking for a quick activity?!? Let's have some fun with DOTS!

I created these activities for some of my students who are working on matching and/or sorting, picture identification, and following directions. In my store I currently have the Animal Dots Set  (jungle, farm, forest, sea) and the Autumn Dots Set (Halloween, Harvest, Thanksgiving). There will be more sets coming in the future (e.g., Holiday Dots, Winter Dots, Spring Dots, Summer Dots, etc...). Check them out below and click here to see the sets in my store.

 

 

 

 

Directions: Give your student one of the dots sheets; using either the picture cards (or the name cards); have your student identify the picture, or the word on the card, and then match it to their “dot sheet”. You can have your student cover the pictures with markers, color in the dot, or use a BINGO dauber, etc…

Keep in mind; this is just one way the set can be used. It’s a great set for targeting both receptive and expressive language tasks.

 

As always, enjoy!

Fall themes, already?!? Yep!

I try to run my therapy sessions based on themes throughout the school year. Typically, I'll start with back to school activities (getting to know you, going back to school, books, etc...), then I move into the fall themes (Halloween, leaves, cooler weather, football, Thanksgiving, hibernation), then into winter (holidays, cold weather, snowflakes, etc...), then into spring (Valentine's Day, plants, butterflies, flowers, etc...), and finally into SUMMER (beach, warm weather, vacations, swimming, etc...). I usually have a year long calendar made up - I'll try to post it later (once it's finished for this school year). I always try to coordinate my activities with my special education/regular education teachers (remember we want our activities to compliment what's happening in our students classrooms.) I've attached a link to my latest Old Lady Companion Set (To use with the book - I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, by: Alison Jackson). This is a great fall/Thanksgiving activity to do with your students after reading this book. Again, my students LOVE the Old Lady sets! I know yours will too!

**Just a little disclaimer...when I read this book to my students the old lady cries - I change it from "dies". We like the Old Lady, and she makes many more appearances during the school year! No dying allowed!**

Enjoy!

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie - Language Packet



I'm gearing up for fall...I know, a bit early...

I just posted another Old Lady Swallowed...Language Packet. This one is companion to

the book - There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, by Lucille Colandro.  Again, Included in this packet are activities that target sequencing, story retell and comprehension, basic language concepts, following directions, and more. Click on the link to check it out on my TpT site.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves - Language Packet

My kids love the Old Lady sets and I know yours will too! **Keep an eye out for more Old Lady sets to come...(a book, a bell, and more...)**

Enjoy!