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I did it!! On Friday, I finally, officially have saw all of my students!  I got pneumonia, already, in September.  Yuck.  I missed a huge 6 days of work and finally have managed to get all of my students.  Next week was supposed to be my 1 in the 3:1 model, but I'll be making up most of the missed sessions.  I'm still coughing, but am feeling much better and even am working on new materials.

Starting therapy this year has been interesting.  The past two years I've had primarily upper elementary (2nd - 6th)  and a mix of upper elementary and middle/high school (I had younger students if they were in the EBD, DCD or ASD programs.  This year there were some structural changes and 6th grade has moved out of the building, leaving me with 1st through 5th grades.

I'm going through a bit of transitional shock as I'm working with my first graders.  It seems like, in the past 2 years, I've forgotten the difference between 1st and 2nd grade.  1st graders are squirrelly!  Wow.  I'm definitely switching up my therapy style for a few of my groups for them.  I am extra happy that I always offer kids the choice to stand or sit in my room, and discussing the option is part of the first day speech rules talk.  I've never had more standers.

I introduced some of them to Chipper Chat today, which as usual was a resounding success.  I find it great for behaviors.  I give kids chips on everyone's turn.  They get 1-2 chips on their turn for doing their best work, and a chip on their friends turns for being respectful.  I do want them paying attention, so if they have something to share, or want to help if someone is stuck, my students are encouraged to raise their hands.  They do love that magic wand, and love it more with my magic trick!

Three chips will stick together when directly above the magic wand.  With two chips you can get about 2 feet apart in every direction, but you need to start above the wand.  I especially love this for my kids who are screaming magnet. 

My super-good news of the fall is that I wrote, and got a grant through my school district.  $600 of new therapy materials divided among me and the 2 therapists I work with.  The last of the boxes came yesterday.  I was laughing Friday morning because the back-ordered Linguisystems item came before any of the Super Duper products did. (Both arrived completely a week from when I ordered).  After school on Friday, I had given up hope on FexEx arriving before I left for the weekend.  As I was standing in the office, waiting for our (amazing) interpreter to translate a form, the truck arrived. It was perfect timing, and the FedEx guy was a little surprised to have the person with the name on the box waiting in the front office.

I didn't take a picture of all of the contents of the boxes, some of it it's for birth-5 and the high school so as happy for my friends as I am, those aren't going to be the things I'm using.  I *might* have even given Turtle Talk a little hug I was so excited it was finally here.

We also got some great things from Linguisytems that aren't pictured.

Anyone else ready to admit to hugging new SLP materials?  Or have a particularly interesting start to the school year?