For a fun New Years activity to get Richard pumped up for our goals off 2022, we made a book titled "My Cup of Courage." In the book, we discussed the many things we do that are brave and how we don't give up when it is challenging. It was an excellent language activity with many describing words and qualities of courage like: patience, practice, encouragement, positive affirmations, love, and trying new things. We sprinkled all those qualities onto our CUP of Courage. We then made a cup of hot chocolate with colorful marshmallows representing all of our courage. The steps of prepping, making and cleaning up from the hot chocolate made for a great lesson. Richard was very pleased with himself, his book, and hot chocolate.

Santino was greeted as he finished with his previous session. Upon speaking with Ms. Dorothy, we collaborated on current language goals how how to implement them during academic sessions since he is with her the most. I believe it is important to implement as much language into his sessions throughout the day. He did very well today with joint attention and spontaneous commenting/requesting. With commenting, we're working on using a descriptor + object. He has done quite well with this with fading cues. We did a book activity outside at the table today. He seemed content in the outdoor environment however required more cues to maintain attention to the book. We targeted verbs, nouns, and answering questions. We did a craft activity to target language skills as well as fine motor. For requesting, using a clear Ziplock bag with something of high interest has been effective with verbal requesting. Without the use of cues, Santino independently requested for pretend food during a "cooking activity" multiple times. It was a great, successful activity. Increased spontaneous communication overall. We played a game that required turn taking, using pronouns correctly with " my turn, your turn" with moderate cueing. Well done Santino.

Santino was greeted in the pre-k classroom. He was happy upon arrival. I briefly spoke to Ms. Dorothy regarding current goals and academics. We discussed in depth the importance of incorporating language goals as much as possible during the day. Santino already demonstrates area of strengths in concrete concepts such as numbers, letters, reading, etc. We started the lesson with a craft activity. When Santino was given a choice, he chose the craft. We targeted requesting with descriptive + noun. For example, with crayons. Rather than accepting "I want blue". I am prompting for "I want blue crayon". This was a productive and achievable goal today. We also targeted using verbs in context (cutting, coloring, gluing, etc). We did some fine motor work. Santino is improving with using scissors with the verbal cues "open, closed". Attention was improved during this. Joint attention and eye contact was fleeting. We are targeting turn taking and use of my turn/your turn during a game activity in the cafeteria after lunch period was over. There were a few other students present. It is imperative to expose Santino to social situations and peers for many reasons. Finding opportunities for him to be around peers and enjoy interactions with them would be greatly beneficial. We also targeted answering simple "What" questions without the use of echolalia in addition to safety questions. Santino continues to require prompting to answer these. Overall, today was a great day. Santino is making steady progress in the area of functional, spontaneous communication in speech therapy. Additional language support is recommended in the academic setting.

Chris rapidly initiated conversation as the session commenced by asking 3-4 questions in succession. Questions were specific to the content of the 2 new videos that he had posted on his "YouTube" channel. His questions allowed for conversational expansion highlighting familiar aspects of categorization, similarities and differences and additional semantic relationships between story lines and characters within his videos. Strong aspects of listener perspective was once more highlighted within the framework of conversation, narrative, and monologue with emphasis placed on the use of cohesive ties and temporal links. Chris was noted to continue to utilize varied topic transition phrases this session with increased frequency. Continued support for generalization of target /s/ phoneme use was also emphasized. Strong session once again.

Richard was seen for an hour speech and language session. We transitioned to his room from the lobby. We discussed safety of walking for ourselves and others walking in the hallways. We quickly organized his room. There were things scattered throughout the room/floor. We talked about accountability of keeping our space organized to help our brain stay organized throughout the school day. We targeted many goals today including articulation, language, and executive functioning tasks. Richard was excited to report he was going to Colorado in March. He got the calendar from the wall to show me when he was leaving. He has grown to enjoy the calendar and demonstrates the understanding of dates which is great. We targeted /th/ at word and phrase level. We discussed how we have always wanted to keep our tongue back behind our teeth with the /s/ and /z/ sound however with the last sound to work on being /th/, we have to actually protrude the tongue. We targeted past tense, possessives and figurative language as well. Richard has been following directions and showing increased interest in learning topics by engaging for extended periods of times, asking appropriate questions about the current topic. Richard continues to require cues to reduce rate of speech during topics of interest. Overall, Richard is continuing to improve in all areas of ST. Well done.

Santino was greeted in the pre-k classroom as he finished with his previous teacher. Ms. Janis was present for our session and expressed her excitement for Santino's progress with his language skills. We started the session targeting naming verbs in a structured session. Santino's accuracy increases with structured tasks however generalizing the skill is more difficult due to it being an abstract concept. Santino is starting to combine word combinations answering "wh" questions. I.e. "What are they doing", Santinos answer "riding bike" or "swimming pool", etc. It is important to start targeting other uses of words besides naming objects. Also, rather than saying "say ___", it is important to model exactly what is said. We did a book activity to target "Wh" questions and following directions. As for answering name question, Santino did not answer independently however with a visual cue, answered 6/6. When asked to write his name, he did not respond by doing so however with a visual model, he did. We did functional tasks such as changing pull up, washing hands, getting out back pack/lunch box. Santino has been responding so well to these tasks. I am proud of his independence in these areas. Requesting and commenting were targeted on the playground.

Santino was greeted as he was walking back to the pre-k classroom. He reportedly ate lunch right before school and had a bubble bath. He was happy upon arrival. He started to walk around the classroom however with simple direction, Santino assisted with preparing the room for session. He got two chairs to bring to the table and helped pick out books for the week. Santino verbally requested for books. We are working on answering yes/no questions as well as simple "wh" questions. Giving him choices appears to be helpful, for example - when asked "where are the books?" the choices "in the bathroom or the library?" and Santino will often choose one of the two. Today, he repeated "book? yes". We will continue to work on where questions in addition to functional yes/no questions. We did the book of Santinos choice. During these activities, not only do we read aloud - we target mostly commenting on illustrations. This is beneficial for auditory bombardment of language concepts including verbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositions and pronouns. Attention was fleeting today. We started working n the Boom apps which is on the iPad or computer and it is geared toward goals that are individualized for Santino. This is a nice activity for Santino since he is more motivated by high tech. We went on the playground for approximately 10 minutes. Santino has been demonstrating fear the last few times going on the play ground. There was nobody else out there however he continued to look back at the door. He was requesting to go inside. I am not sure where this recent fear came from since he used to enjoy being on the playground targeting speech/language goals. I spoke to his music teacher and she reported Santino is having difficulty going outside as well. I would like for him to be around other children for social/peer interaction. He would benefit from more peer to peer interactions throughout the day and the playground is a great place to establish that. When asked his name, Santino did not independently answer any of the opportunities. Prompting was offered however today, he required modeling for each opportunity.

Richard greeted me happily in the lobby. Richard did very well today - it was pleasant to see his progress in the area of speech & language. In my professional opinion, I believe reducing to 2x weekly of therapy would be adequate and spend the extra hour a week on reading/academics. Richard's speech intelligibility has significantly increased over the last few months. We spoke in depth about his improvement and he reported that people understand him more now and he is "happy with his sounds". He is more aware of the social impacts it has had on him and how his improvement in speech has helped. We discussed the last sound to target is /th/ and now that his /s/ in conversation has been nearly met, it is time to start working on /th/. It is also age appropriate to have correct production of both voiced and voiceless /th/. We also targeted past tense in both structured and conversational tasks. These are more difficult for him during unstructured environments however he is more aware of the errors when prompted. We did some figurative language goals which Richard has definitely improved with. Lastly, we worked on the calendar which Richard has grown to really enjoy. He likes to plan what holidays/breaks are approaching. Overall, he has done well and I believe reducing speech therapy to 2x weekly is appropriate.

Chris happily shared his enthusiasm as the session commenced. A list of detailed questions was presented regarding the four videos the he had posted over the last few days. He provided elaborate detail within a sequential format when supported with cues. Strong focus was placed upon presupposition, aspects of self awareness, and the dynamics of cohesive "connectors" was highlighted. Aspects of listener perspective within the framework of conversation ( having a talking partner) as well as when providing a narrative, or generating a monologue were reviewed and supported with strategies for increased self awareness. Chris was noted to utilize varied topic transition phrases with increased frequency this session. Strong session.

Tristan was not full of energy for our Thursday afternoon session. Sometimes he is excited to get outside and shoot hoops while we practice our speech sounds and sometimes he knows it will "wake him up" and give him more energy. He was not very talkative so I did a lot of talking and sharing and reflecting on 2021 and the goals he accomplished. I also talked about how exciting 2022 is to start a new year and we used some fun handouts and visuals. I shared some stories about myself and my son (who he met at a carnival during the holiday break).