MindWing Concepts Blog

‘Tis the season! No matter what one’s religious beliefs are, the holiday season involves giving, and this is a context that is ripe for critical thinking, description, perspective-taking, and social scripts.  It can be quite difficult to engineer learning situations in which children are giving each other actual gifts, what with the need for stores, money, and the fine-motor aspects of wrapping.  However, technology can cut through some of that sticky tape for us and provide us with a virtual-gift-giving activity!

I first learned of the Gift Wrap App (FREE for iPad)...

There are a great many easy-to-use apps for iPad that fall into the category of digital storytelling. This may sound like a daunting concept, but digital storytelling is just using technological tools such as digital pictures, video, audio, animation, or drawing in order to convey a story or information. Apps that combine these tools use the intuitive interface of the iPad to bring together different kinds of content in an engaging process of creation — all with your fingertips. Even better, these apps provide a great context to utilize Mindwing Tools such as Braidy, the StoryBraid, Story Grammar Marker, ThemeMaker and their accompanying story or expository planning maps...

Well, another ASHA Convention has come and gone and we are on our way into the holiday season! We enjoyed ASHA ATLANTA!

We enjoyed seeing so many friends and colleagues and met so many new SLPs! We want to thank our team at the booth for all of their help in answering questions and explaining Story Grammar Marker® to SLPs visiting the booth.

Judy K. Montgomery visited the booth and met with Maryellen Rooney Moreau about their NEW BOOK coming in 2013 that is for University and College professors and their graduate students. More information about this new book is coming soon!...

We are looking forward to seeing you at ASHA this week!

Please visit us at Booth #1220 for raffles, special offers and to say hello! Also, you can get our new Character Mini-Magnets (below) FREE with the purchase of our new book: The “Core” of the Core.

We would love to see you at our session #1441: “The SLP & Literacy Night: Supporting Common Core State Standards” by Maryellen Rooney Moreau, M.Ed.,  CCC-SLP and Linda Lafontaine, M.A., CCC-SLP, Saturday, November 17, 9:30am-10:30am...

The arrival of the iPad has presented us with all kinds of opportunities to boost the engagement factor for our students. In many cases, students will be more engaged in what we would consider “paper and pencil” tasks when we “app-itize” them utilizing some of the tools available as free or cheap apps. For example, in recent posts on my blog SpeechTechie, I discussed how the iBooks app could be used to excite students about printed materials and also present PDF files that are often provided with published intervention materials (you don’t need to read those posts to understand this one, but they provide some related information)...

The aligning of the Common Core State Standards with MindWing’s methodology can provide effective, evidence-based interventions to help students who are “at-risk” and those with identified disabilities to develop the communicative competence necessary to meet grade level standards and be prepared for college and/or career. In light of this goal, we have a new book which we have written to:

• Demonstrate the proven 20-year track record of Story Grammar Marker® and how it applies to the Common Core State Standards and meets today’s curricular demands
• Encourage collaboration among professionals and parents to support all students in reaching grade-level CCSS including those who are considered at-risk, those for whom English is a second language, those with Autism and those with other identified disabilities
• Provide concrete lessons and activities aligned to specific CCSS (in reading, writing, speaking & listening) to be used as interventions in therapy, at Centers and/or for whole class instruction