SPOTS OF FUN!

(SP Speech Language Pathologist & OT Occupational Therapist & PT Physical Therapist = SPOTS)

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to preschool!  Or, if you are new to Ms. Shelley’s class – Welcome!

Spots of Fun is a group the occupational therapist, JoAnn Hradsky, the speech therapist, Kelly Klecka Winters, the physical therapist, Carolyn Brown, Ms. Shelley, and the classroom paraprofessional conduct twice a week (Monday and Wednesday mornings and Wednesday and Friday afternoons).  Additionally, Carolyn conducts gross motor groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We are seeing the children both in small and large groups and individually, with each session focusing on:

• Gross motor/sensory activities, including yoga, which help to get the students at an optimal level of alertness, improve their ability to focus, pay attention, listen and participate, and improve their stability, balance, and coordination. 
• Oral motor activities to increase their awareness of their cheeks, tongue, lips, and jaw, which facilitates language, articulation, and eating and drinking skills. 
• Fine motor activities to develop hand and visual-motor skills. 
• Speech and language activities focusing on individual goals and incorporated during all activities to develop vocabulary, expand sentence length, improve sound production/articulation, develop the ability to follow directions, describe, ask and answer questions, understand and use selected concepts (spatial, location, quantity, quality, comparisons), and sequencing.   
• Structured play activities (guided/facilitated play)  to teach names of objects, action words, location words, following directions, and social skills.  Play, especially appropriate play, is essential to help children understand and organize their world and experience a variety of emotions, actions and relationships.  Play is often referred to as the work of children.  

The specific activities each month will be selected based upon the goals and objectives of each student and are addressed each session.  The students enjoy the activities, actively interact with each other and learn from each other. We are quite pleased with the growth seen in the past with our students and the excitement and enthusiasm they show during group.

We will be posting a monthly newsletter on the Mona Shores website to inform you of the themes we are focusing on and will include things you can do at home to help your child. 

If your schedule allows and you would like to come observe or participate, please call or email and schedule a time to come in and join us for a group session. 

Sincerely,

Kelly Klecka Winters, M.A. CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

winterkk@monashores.net 

798-1276, ext. 8935  

JoAnn Hradsky, OTR

Occupational Therapist

Hradskj1@monashores.net

798-1773, ext. 8662

Carolyn Brown, PT

Physical Therapist

brownc@monashores.net

798-1773, ext. 8662