Category Archives: Vintage SLP

Symbol Supported Language Stimulation: visual supports to expand verbal utterances (updated 6/24/23)

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Symbol Supported Language Stimulation: visual supports to expand verbal utterances

You are a “vintage” SLP if you remember using the Fokes Sentence Builder as a visual means of teaching kids how words go together to form sentences. For the past 27 years, I’ve infused that concept into how I model language. The pictures in the old Fokes were very outdated plus the copy of it at the facility where I work was very musty. So I use Boardmaker, the Custom Boards app by Smarty Ears, the GoTalk Now Plus AAC app with SymbolStix and PCS library add-ons (can export as PDF) or the Tools2Talk+ app to make my own customized visual supports. I’m “old school” and am still using a Boardmaker CD on a computer. I’ve considered using one of the many online options but haven’t so far since I didn’t want to have to pay for an ongoing subscription.

Most of the kids on my caseload have Autism or similar diagnoses and respond well to use of visual supports. For kids who are verbal, I use a variety of visual supports to show them how to create sentences. The picture at the top of this post is an example of my latest creation to go with my vintage Illco Sesame Street House (circa 1988) and wooden Fisher Price Mini Bus and Little People (circa 1969). It’s always cool to see how well my patients respond with use of these visual supports. Instead of imitating a word or maybe two, they are much more likely to imitate a whole utterance and then often use that utterance again spontaneously within that session.

For kids who are AAC users, I use aided language stimulation in activities that are interesting and highly motivating for them to model creation of sentences either directly on their device or on a companion device with the same vocabulary.
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I also use several great sentence building apps (yeah… I’m a cool mix of vintage & modern 😉 ):

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I use and love the Storyteller Writing Box from Lakeshore. I use it both to create sentences and as a visual support for answering Wh-questions: https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/ca/p/LL904

 

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If you have Boardmaker, check out these free printable symbols and frames for the vocabulary in the Fokes Sentence Builder:

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(Update: 6/1/20 – That website has disappeared. Thankfully I had these saved a modified version of the Boardmaker Fokes Sentence Builder on my computer and just uploaded them to my blog as three PDF files:
1) https://omazingkidsllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/fokes-sentence-frames-prints-on-fewer-pages.pdf
2) https://omazingkidsllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/fokes-sentence-builder-who-what-doing-modified.pdf
3) https://omazingkidsllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/fokes-sentence-builder-which-where-modified.pdf

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Subscription-based symbol site where you can easily make your own visual supports:

* http://www.boardmakeronline.com (has free 30-day trial)
* https://www.n2y.com/store/n2y-Products/SSX
* https://smartysymbols.com/our-plans-pricing/

Updated 6/24/23:

A few of the resources that I purchased on TPT and used:

Describe the Dog with Adjective + Noun (Book + Boom Cards!), https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Describe-the-Dog-with-Adjective-Noun-Book-Boom-Cards-1732379?st=05b867d6d339d81c22b48d4153a52f4a
Who, What, Where Scenes: Wh-Questions w. BOOM CARDS, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Who-What-Where-Scenes-Wh-Questions-w-BOOM-CARDS-2651065
Freebie Interactive Book! “What Are They Doing?” Noun + Verb, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freebie-Interactive-Book-What-Are-They-Doing-Noun-Verb-1769864
Describing Cats Interactive Book: Adjective + Noun Combinations w. BOOM CARDS, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Describing-Cats-Interactive-Book-Adjective-Noun-Combinations-w-BOOM-CARDS-1859578
Form-a-Phrase Dough Mats: Practice Combining Word + Boom Cards!, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Form-a-Phrase-Dough-Mats-Practice-Combining-Word-Boom-Cards-2368240
Form-a-Phrase Dough Mats: DESCRIBING! MLU: Phrases + Sentences with Boom Cards!, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Form-a-Phrase-Dough-Mats-DESCRIBING-MLU-Phrases-Sentences-with-Boom-Cards-2976117

Looking for sentence building resources with GIFs? https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:Sentence%20building%20GIFs

Important Note: Use of these types of visual supports for combining words into phrases or sentences is NOT promoting “symbolated text” for reading (an outdated practice that has now been found to interfere with learning to read). Use of these symbols is NOT PECS®. I used these types of visuals to help kids see how words could be combined and found them very helpful. When working with AAC users I created visual supports that matched whatever AAC they were using along with modeling on that app on my iPad.

Have a question? The best way to reach me is via Facebook messaging over on my OMazing Kids page: https://www.facebook.com/OMazingKidsAAC/

Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC, OMazing Kids AAC Consulting

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You might be a “vintage” SLP if …

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You may be a “vintage” SLP if …..

* a patient’s grandmother says “I played with that toy when I was a child” (ummm… yes I am still using my Fisher Price Mini Bus, circa 1969)

* a patient’s father states “that’s the year I was born” (ummm…. yeah I’m still using the Illco Sesame Street House I bought while in grad school in 1988)

* you remember the smell and color of mimeograph handouts

It’s a smell you never forget 😂

* you “laminated” with clear contact paper

* you photocopied PCS symbols and colored them with map pencils because Boardmaker had not been invented yet (or you remember the even older Bliss symbols)

* you had to use a pay phone to find out why the Early Intervention office had “paged” you because cell phones had not been invented yet

* you had to figure out how to get to EI home visits soley based on a map and the Resource Coordinator’s handwritten directions (nope. GPS and the Internet weren’t available back in the early part of my career either)

* there was no e-mail

* there was no internet

* you had materials from Communication Skillbuilders

* there was no Super Duper

* you were proud of the artic cards you made with magazine pictures or stickers on index cards.

* there was no Teachers Pay Teachers

* IEPs and IFSPs were written by hand

* you used an external mic to record your voice on a child’s new Dynavox 2c because no 3 year old should have to have a robotic voice

* you felt super high tech with your Apple 2c and dot matrix printer that was so loud your roommate left when you printed

* you remember the huge Peabody cards in the metal box or the Fokes Sentence Builder kit

* you remember the horrid SICD test in the tackle box (ummm…. yeah many of those items were a choking hazard for infants & toddlers)

* you started a Yahoo listserve group as a way to distribute info to other therapists (in the pre-Facebook days)

* you are excited to find your “speechie tribe” in the Boomer SLPs group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1723356147877821/1785606184986150

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Printable PDF of the Vintage SLP sign: 

Click to access vintage-slp.pdf

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Any other “vintage” SLPs out there? What do you remember from the early days of your career? See my post on OMazing Kids:

I laughed so hard as I read all the comments in my cross posts over on these two groups:

Speech Pathologists at Large: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2212002912/permalink/10153954025942913/

School-Based Speech And Language Therapy: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SchoolSLPs/permalink/996462560465199/
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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with 27 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.