An idea that I have implemented in my therapy sessions is a stoplight for behavior modification. What I have done is every day for therapy I print off a stoplight. When my client first gets to therapy, I have them color in one of the lights green. If they continue to follow the rules the whole session, they can color the stoplight completely green. However, if they break a rule or continue to break the rules I have them color the second light yellow. If they continue to misbehave, they color the final light red. There are a couple ways this can be effective with long term and short term rewards-
1. If they go until the end of the session without having to color a stoplight red, they get to play a game at the end of the session. Another small prize could be a piece of candy.
2. You can make an agreement that if they go a certain amount of sessions without having to color a light red, then they get a "big" prize. This could be going outside for five minutes of the therapy session, they get to bring a game that they picked to play, etc.
Number 2 is my personal favorite. This does not get the client in the habit of expecting immediate positive feedback in the form of a reward after doing a good job. It also gives them a reason to have good behavior every therapy session, and not just the ones that they feel like being positive in.
In order to keep up with all of these, I have a "stoplight" poster board. After every therapy session, I write the date on the stoplight and glue it on the poster. That way, it is a visual reminder of how their behavior is improving/changing, etc.
If you use this, let me know your results! Or if you have any more ideas for behavior modification, shoot me an e-mail at slptoolbox@gmail.com.
Have a wonderful day!
~Hannah~
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
StudyBlue
Some of you reading this may be excellent at taking data. I, however, am not one of these people. I struggle with trying to keep data and not letting my clients know that I am taking data. I have learned it can be a bit distracting, and I have seen clients constantly trying to peer over the table to see what their clinician is writing. So, data taking has not proved to be my strong suit.
Something that a friend recently showed me was a wonderful website called StudyBlue. He was showing it to me so that I could make notecards for one of my classes, but I saw the potential for use in speech therapy. StudyBlue allows you to make notecards with two sides. It will show you the first side, then you tap it and it will "flip" the card. It gives you the option of a "thumbs up" if you got the question right and a "thumbs down" if you got the question wrong. It then moves on to the next card. I haven't quite figured out how to apply this to articulation, but it is very easily applicable to language. One way you could use it is if you are working on social behavior. The first card could say "A boy in my class hits me. Should I... A) hit him back, B) tell my teacher, or C) lay down on the floor, screaming and crying until someone comes up to me." The other side of the card would simply have to say "B".
I haven't gotten to the best part though. At the end of the notecards, it gives you this information:
1. Percentage correct
2. Amount studied vs. Amount right and wrong
3. Progress on mastery of information
4. History of the questions (it has little cubes next to each notecard that are either green or red, so if you use the same set more than one it will have the progression, i.e 2 red cubes and 1 green cube if the first two times he/she did that notecard he got it wrong but the third time he/she got it right.
I will include the StudyBlue link for you below. It is also an app that can be downloaded on the android market or the apple store, so you can use it on your phone, Ipad, tablet, or laptop.
Let me know if you use StudyBlue and how it works for you in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
StudyBlue
Something that a friend recently showed me was a wonderful website called StudyBlue. He was showing it to me so that I could make notecards for one of my classes, but I saw the potential for use in speech therapy. StudyBlue allows you to make notecards with two sides. It will show you the first side, then you tap it and it will "flip" the card. It gives you the option of a "thumbs up" if you got the question right and a "thumbs down" if you got the question wrong. It then moves on to the next card. I haven't quite figured out how to apply this to articulation, but it is very easily applicable to language. One way you could use it is if you are working on social behavior. The first card could say "A boy in my class hits me. Should I... A) hit him back, B) tell my teacher, or C) lay down on the floor, screaming and crying until someone comes up to me." The other side of the card would simply have to say "B".
I haven't gotten to the best part though. At the end of the notecards, it gives you this information:
1. Percentage correct
2. Amount studied vs. Amount right and wrong
3. Progress on mastery of information
4. History of the questions (it has little cubes next to each notecard that are either green or red, so if you use the same set more than one it will have the progression, i.e 2 red cubes and 1 green cube if the first two times he/she did that notecard he got it wrong but the third time he/she got it right.
I will include the StudyBlue link for you below. It is also an app that can be downloaded on the android market or the apple store, so you can use it on your phone, Ipad, tablet, or laptop.
Let me know if you use StudyBlue and how it works for you in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
StudyBlue
About this Blog
My name is Hannah, and I am a senior in college studying to be a speech-language pathologist. I had the idea of making this blog when I was searching the internet for advice in order to better help the client I am serving right now. I thought that it would be really great to create a blog where I could post advice, tips, tricks, etc that I have learned, and somewhere where other people could post their advice as well. So first, if you have a piece of advice you want me to write about-please please PLEASE! leave a comment. I'll be setting up a new e-mail address shortly where you can also sent me articles, tips, or whatever you'd like. I know that I am always hearing something useful from other clinicians or my professors, write them down, and then lose that piece of paper. This will be a place with all the information that I have learned right in one place! I am very excited about this, and hope that it will be as much help to other people as I am confident it will be to me. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
~Hannah~
~Hannah~
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