Book Review: Play Games with S

Lucy Sanctuary kindly sent me a copy of her book: Play Games With S, to review here. It’s a resource that contains 15 games to help children generalise the ’s’ sound from single words in therapy sessions, to their everyday conversations.

Lucy states in the introduction that “the resource is for children who have had speech therapy to say the speech sound ’s’ but are not yet using it in their everyday talking.” It was designed for children aged five to ten years old. It’s helpful that she is so clear about the intended audience. Continue reading →

Staying Motivated: progress, online CPD and books

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I’ve found it challenging to get back into work mode after the winter break. It’s dark when I leave the house and dark when I get home.

Here are three things that have inspired me:

Observing the progress my clients are making. I’ve reminded myself to slow down and notice the changes in each client. One is now able to produce s clusters, another can make a choice between two options, and a third has started asking questions. Their exciting progress keeps me motivated.
Doing a little CPD at a time that suits me, sitting at my own desk. I watched this Hanen eSeminar: Choosing Initial Vocabulary Targets for Children Who Are Late Talkers, which deserves a blog post of it’s own. It made me think about which of my children Hanen would classify as Late Talkers and gave practical ideas about the types of words to choose for targets.
Reading beautiful books which aren’t about speech therapy. I received Erin Boyle’s book Simple Matters in the post this week. The gorgeous photography and inspiring ideas were just what I needed to get out of my winter funk. And I’m sure there are principles I can apply to therapy, for example I’ll definitely think twice about buying more plastic toys, or resources. I also had another look through Joel Henriques’ book Made to Play. Another book with gorgeous photographs and the craft projects range for simple to pretty complicated. I’m going to pick a couple and have a go.

What do you do to stay motivated through winter?

Homemade therapy resources: Toilet roll Octopuses

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One of my goals for 2016 is to make as many therapy resources as possible. I’m trying to spend more time rummaging through the recycling box and less time browsing on Amazon. I want to keep my clients interested, so I need a variety of materials. Continue reading →

The Hanen Preschool Language and Literacy Calendar

I’ve been meaning to write about the 2016 Hanen Preschool Language and Literacy Calendar for several months, but the days and weeks fly by in a blur and it’s almost the end of the year. If you want to help your child (clients or pupils) to develop creative solutions to problems but your days are already full, and it’s hard to find the time, this resource might help. Continue reading →

Reflecting on past CPD to design a new conference

Therapy Ideas Live

I was selected for the HCPC Continuing Professional Development audit, so I’ve been reflecting on how we apply what we learn to our therapy. As I put together my CPD “portfolio” I noticed some common features of the CPD that I’d found most useful. I’ve used these common features to make my new conference an effective learning experience. Continue reading →

Speech and Language Therapy and Professional Identity

Cover of J Stokes book

In the conclusion to their book, Jane Stokes and Marian McCormick wrote that they hope it makes you think “Hmmm…” – it certainly does.

As Jane and Marion designed the curriculum for a new postgraduate course in speech and language therapy they collected stories, and then wrote this book to add to the conversation about issues that underlie the SLT profession. The book has 10 chapters, 5 written by Jane and Marian, and 5 contributed by other people. It raises challenging questions and explicitly invites the reader to examine their professional beliefs. Continue reading →

I’m organising a conference about using person-centred techniques in speech therapy

therapy ideas live conference

I’m organising the Therapy Ideas Live Conference on 2 November 2015 in London. Speech and language therapists will practise person-centred techniques that help clients to meet their needs.

When I started working independently I looked for ways to continue developing my skills. Continue reading →

Using music to engage children with Autism: tips, techniques and resources

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I recently attended a workshop at The Music House for Children on introducing musical learning to children with Autism. I was energised and inspired by the session and left with several practical ideas I’m keen to try out. The workshop was led by Kirsty Keogh, it was refreshing to hear from a professional outside of speech therapy. Kirsty is experienced at working with children and young people with Autism, I could see from the videos examples how well the children responded to her. Continue reading →

Becoming Independent: Ways of working and scheduling

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To finish this series on Becoming Independent I’m going to write about two challenges I have: resisting doing things the way I always did them in the NHS and scheduling clients.

When I started working independently I kept asking myself: am I doing this because it meets my client’s needs or because this is the way I’ve always done it? Continue reading →

Therapy Ideas Blog by Rhiannan Walton

Ideas, events, and inspiration for speech and language therapists