October 15, 2017

I see these buttons everywhere around schools.  Then I read about some fun ideas on  using them in speech-language therapy from SLP Talk with Desiree.   Her blog and video describe how she uses them in phonological awareness, language and articulation activities.

I thought they sounded like a lot of fun for the kids.  But, as an itinerant teacher of deaf/hard of hearing students my first thought with any materials needed during a session is the size and weight since I will be carrying them.  However, I found an old plastic container that worked perfectly.

So how could I use these in working with deaf/hard of hearing students?

My first thought was a self-advocacy activity.   I came up with some statements for the students to judge if it was something they should or should not do.  I made these into Yes-No Questions that you can use if you like!   I also added them to the Free Resources page of this website.  My younger students loved it!

Another way to use these buttons is to tie into retrieval practice from the previous blogs and review the vocabulary for hearing aids and/or FM.  This is really important for ADD students.  There are three sets of cards that are part of Hearing Aid Bingo, FM inspiro Bingo and or Roger Pen FM Bingo.  One set is pictures, one is labels of the parts and the other is function of the parts.  Select any two of the decks and shuffle the cards but keep the decks separate (EX:  Shuffle all the labels together.)  The student selects a card from each deck.  If they go together the student presses the “Yes” button; if not then the “No” button.  The student may keep selecting cards from 1 pile until she gets a “Yes”.  This can be used as a quick review of 3-5 vocabulary words. 

These buttons can be used in the same way for any kind of vocabulary practice.  I love the website Quizlet.  You can print the word and definition cards off and play a similar game with the two decks.

Another idea is to create a set of sentences with some containing grammatical errors that the student typically makes.  The student or adult reads a sentence and if it is grammatically correct, hits the “Yes” button.  Examples:  “The dog eating” –  hit the “No” button.  “She is cutting the playdough” – hit the “Yes” button.

That makes me think of “ear training”.  Van Riper, anyone?  OK, how about Hodson?  You could produce the student’s target sound correctly or incorrectly and they have to listen to judge Yes or No.  You could also say words and the student must listen for the presence or absence of the target sound.  Example for /s/:  Student hits the No button when the adult says “football” and Yes for “basketball”.

Thanks, Desiree, for your ideas!

How else would you use these fun buttons?