Author Archives: Mary Huston, PhD; MS, CCC-SLP

Adventures in Review – 2012

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I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for reading my blog.

I resisted blogging for a long time because I wasn’t sure I could “do it right.” I’m still not sure I’m “doing it right,” but at least I’m doing it. For those of you who have stuck with me the last 5 months (can you believe that’s all it’s been?), THANK YOU!

In the last few months, this blog has been named a finalist in the Edublog Awards (one of the top 5 in new blogs!!!). We’ve been named One of the top 15 SLP websites according to my friend Erik X Raj..(and I have to tell you – that is special to me. I think the world of Erik and value his opinion a lot. When I read his post, it made me tear up a bit.) We’ve also been named one of the top 100 Best Websites for SLPs.

Now, I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything here…but WOW! I am incredibly honored and pleased to have been recognized like this. Thank you ALL for nominating, voting, talking, commenting, posting, tweeting, and all the wonderful things you do. You inspire me…you make me think and ponder…and you lead me to take action. Without each of you none of this would be happening.

I received an email today from WordPress…and it was about the stats for my site. I thought I’d share it with you all. I found it ...interesting…entertaining. I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings!

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Adventures in Certification…part two.

Posted in General, SLP Issues by

Also known as Adventures in Action…

Alternatively known as Quit your Whining and DO something!

More effectively known as: It’s Time to Work Together to Accomplish Change!

Earlier this year, I posted this about how certain states require SLPs working in schools to have a teaching certification or at least lead people to believe those requirements exist.

After a conversation on twitter, this subject has come up again. There was much outrage, anger, and disgust. So I decided to do some research…Want to know what I found out?

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Adventures in Sequencing with HearBuilder

Posted in Applications, Language, Literacy by

Also known as How to Teach Story Telling…

Otherwise known as Why Yes, I Can Tell You What Happened!

In previous posts, I’ve written about HearBuilder Following Directions (three posts even….talk about verbose!). Today, I have the pleasure of writing about HearBuilder Sequencing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I like it as well as, possibly even better than, the following directions software. Continue reading →

Chain Letter Link Up

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Now that just sounds interesting doesn’t it?

In the course of the few months that I’ve been blogging, I’ve written app reviews, hot topics, and various posts. I’ve helped write a social media ebook with Pediastaff and other bloggers, and participated in a Blog Hop.  It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise when I was asked to participate in a Chain Letter Link Up…but since I’d never heard of one before, suffice it to say, I was a bit surprised.

What is a Chain Letter Link up (and why do I keep wanting to write chain-mail instead of chain letter) you ask? Good question… Here’s the answer. Continue reading →

Adventures with Conversation Builder – Teen

Posted in App Review, Applications, Language by

There are many apps available for speech-language therapy…particularly for the younger student. However, it’s not just younger students who need speech-language therapy. Then what do we do?

There are a few developers that offer activities for older students – Tactus Therapy offers TherAppy apps for adults that could be used for teens…Smarty-Ears offers apps for older elementary that could be used for teens (particularly Language Adventures, Social Quest) and soon to be released Language Empires….But until now there hasn’t been one designed for to help teens with conversation skills (at least not that I know of). Conversation Builder – Teen definitely fills a gap and in a fantastic way!

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Essential Social Media Tools for the SLP: A letter from a founding member of the #SLPeeps

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At the recent ASHA convention, I was proud to volunteer at the Social Medial Learning Center booth.  At the booth we talked about why it is imperative SLPs understand and embrace the world of social media that is taking our profession by storm. Whether you want to interact daily or prefer to sit back and read, social media has become an invaluable resource for communicating with colleagues and staying on top of recent research and trends.

Blog Hop graphic

The Pediastaff booth and Learning Lab were both quite popular at ASHA12 and visitors expressed an interest in learning more that they could take home with them to digest at their leisure.  We anticipated that this would be the case, so several of the “#SLPeeps,” together with Heidi Kay at PediaStaff, co-authored and produced a simple e-book that we would like to share with you as a blog hop.

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Adventures with Nominations!

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I’m very pleased to report that Speech Adventures has been nominated for an EduBlog award. Not only was it nominated, but is on the short-list of nominations…which means it’s time to vote. I am incredibly honored to be included in this list. Thank you!

If you find Speech-Adventures helpful, I’d love to have you vote for it.

There are a number of SLPs Blogs, Podcasts, and Apps that have been nominated. You can get a brief rundown from Sean Sweeney’s website Speech Techie. Sean very kindly compiled all the “important” categories. 🙂

As with any vote – while I would love to have you vote for me… it’s more important that you vote…for anyone. Your vote helps recognize the work that goes into creating a blog that’s worth reading. So… go vote… for anyone (even if it’s not me!).

Voting closes on December 9th. Vote daily…Until then…Adventure on!

 

Adventures with Academics…no wait… Education

Posted in Articulation/Phonology, RTI by

In the past week, I have had several instances where the phrase “does it impact his/her education” has come up. report card

The first, was a discussion I was having with my principal and a few teachers. The Principal mentioned how in one of her previous schools, an older elementary student (5th or 6th grade) had an /r/ problem and was not being seen because “it didn’t affect his education” since he had all As and Bs.

In another instance, a discussion was held in an online forum where SLPs were not allowed to help students with single-sound errors because it was “not impacting their education.” In yet another instance, in the ASHA School Based Issues list-serve  the  need for “educational impact” was raised.

What I’d like to know is: when did grades become all of education?

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Adventures with Legalities

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Also known as I’m supposed to do WHAT now?

It has come to my attention that the more I know – the more I need to know. While that may sound trite to many, it’s absolutely true. I find myself wishing there was a class (or three) that I could take to learn more about Special Education law and Education law in general. I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered whether the information you’re working from is correct? It seems to come up a lot for me. For instance, I recently learned  Continue reading →

Adventures with EduBlog

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This time last year, I wasn’t blogging so I read all the nominations for the Edublog awards, but didn’t really feel like I had input. This year, I’m even more pleased to have an input.

If you are a blogger and want to participate, please go to the Edublog Awards website.

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