Cozy chats about speech, language and learning

Rakovic Speech and Language Chat

Rakovic Speech and Language Chat

Cozy chats about speech, language and learning

Recent Posts

Circle Time Song Choice Board

Circle Time Song Choice Board

Circle Time Song Choice Boards is my go-to for new students. As I prepare for back to school I begin to organize my supplies and things that I will need to begin therapy. The first thing I always pull out is my Circle Time Song…

Top 7 Reasons Why an SLP  is Important to your Literacy Program

Top 7 Reasons Why an SLP is Important to your Literacy Program

Top seven reasons why a speech and language pathologist should be part and indeed play an integral role in your school’s literacy program.

Prepositions their Importance and How to Teach

Prepositions their Importance and How to Teach

Why should we teach prepositions? Prepositions are part of our everyday conversation. They are a big part of what we use when we give directions. Think about some of the early directions that we give our own children. ” Put on your shoes”, “Get in…

Understanding the Complexity of Choosing Tier Two Vocabulary

Understanding the Complexity of Choosing Tier Two Vocabulary

It is important to have an understanding of the tiers of vocabulary. Recently I was working with a group of Providence College graduate students as we created a reading lesson plan using the story ‘Caps for Sale’ for students with autism spectrum disorder. As part…

Articulation:                   Making Drill Work Fun

Articulation: Making Drill Work Fun

It is progress report time which has meant that I have administered an articulation test to all my speech students. I am consistently amazed at how well they do each quarter with many of them reaching their yearly goal within the quarter. How is this…

Phonics Manipulatives That Make Learning Stick

Phonics Manipulatives That Make Learning Stick

Phonics comes alive when children can see, touch, and move the sounds they are learning. Manipulatives turn abstract concepts—letter-sound correspondence, blending, segmenting, and spelling—into concrete, meaningful experiences. For many elementary learners, especially those with language or literacy vulnerabilities, this multisensory approach is not simply helpful…it…

Elementary Literacy Tools That Boost Reading, Writing, and Language Success

Elementary Literacy Tools That Boost Reading, Writing, and Language Success

Literacy growth in the elementary years shapes everything that follows—confidence, communication, academic momentum, and a child’s belief in themselves as a learner. As educators and speech-language pathologists, we know that literacy is not built through one program or one method. It develops through consistent, evidence-based…

Unlock Literacy and Language Growth with Multi-sensory Learning

Unlock Literacy and Language Growth with Multi-sensory Learning

Multisensory learning—pairing visual, auditory, tactile, and movement-based experiences—has become one of the most powerful trends in education, and for good reason. Research consistently shows that students learn more effectively when they see it, hear it, touch it, and do it. For Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and…

Top 10 SLP Classroom Tools Every Elementary Educator Needs

Top 10 SLP Classroom Tools Every Elementary Educator Needs

The Power of Collaboration Speech-Language Pathologists are not just specialists who “pull out” students for therapy—they are language and learning partners who bring communication to life within the classroom. Whether you’re an SLP or an elementary educator, having the right tools makes collaboration smoother, lessons…

Thanksgiving Language Fun: Songs for Preschool and Special Education

Thanksgiving Language Fun: Songs for Preschool and Special Education

As educators and speech-language pathologists working with preschoolers or learners in special-education settings, we’re always looking for ways to make language growth meaningful, engaging, and relevant. The Thanksgiving season offers just that: a theme children already bring into school, full of imagery, emotion, tradition ……

Fostering a Growth Mindset in Speech and Language Therapy at School

Fostering a Growth Mindset in Speech and Language Therapy at School

Why Growth Mindset Matters in Speech and Language Therapy In every school, there are children who need a little extra support developing their communication skills. As a speech-language pathologist, I believe deeply in the power of a growth mindset—the belief that ability can improve through…

Understanding Your Child’s Grammar: Verb Tense, Agreement, and Growth

Understanding Your Child’s Grammar: Verb Tense, Agreement, and Growth

Language development unfolds in remarkable stages during early childhood, and one of the most important building blocks is a child’s ability to use grammar—especially verb tense (when something happened) and subject-verb agreement (making verbs “match” the subject). These skills help children tell stories, share experiences,…

10 Ways to Make a Cozy Reading Corner in the Classroom

10 Ways to Make a Cozy Reading Corner in the Classroom

Cozy Reading Nook There’s something magical about creating a space where young children can curl up with a book, breathe a little deeper, and lose themselves in a story. In K–2 classrooms, a cozy reading corner does more than decorate a room—it nurtures early literacy,…

Bridging Sound and Symbol — One Voice at a Time

Bridging Sound and Symbol — One Voice at a Time

Discover how the Lively Letters multisensory reading program builds sound-symbol awareness, articulation, and confidence for students with speech and language challenges.

Empowering Every Child to Learn, Belong, and Thrive

Empowering Every Child to Learn, Belong, and Thrive

In early education, inclusion isn’t just a setting — it’s a mindset. It’s the belief that every child brings unique strengths, perspectives, and ways of learning that enrich our classrooms. Today, more educators and speech-language pathologists are embracing the concept of neurodiversity — the understanding…


My Diary

Hello world!

Hello world!

A New Day

You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute. ~ Tina Fey

I have been standing at the top of the water slide, afraid to take the plunge into a different blogging experience. In June 2013, I began a blog on Edublogs. I was new to blogging but wanted the opportunity for my graduate students to be able to read, comment, and make suggestions on a variety of topics.

Teaching students whether they are school age or adults is still my passion in life. What has evolved from the beginning blog has been the opportunity to share with a wider audience.

The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things”

This new blog will continue to have educational related topics but it will also have resources that I would like to share with you. My goal is to create a space that we can continue to discover together.

Will you take the plunge with me? Follow my blog with Bloglovin


All Time Favorites

Phonics Manipulatives That Make Learning Stick

Phonics Manipulatives That Make Learning Stick

Phonics comes alive when children can see, touch, and move the sounds they are learning. Manipulatives turn abstract concepts—letter-sound correspondence, blending, segmenting, and spelling—into concrete, meaningful experiences. For many elementary learners, especially those with language or literacy vulnerabilities, this multisensory approach is not simply helpful…it…

🐦 Bring Stories To Life: Bird-themed Literacy Center with Make Way for Ducklings

🐦 Bring Stories To Life: Bird-themed Literacy Center with Make Way for Ducklings

A thematic literacy center is a powerful way to bring learning to life—and when it comes to engaging young learners, few topics capture their imagination quite like animals. In particular, birds offer a rich foundation for integrating fiction and nonfiction texts, building vocabulary, and practicing…

3  Ways To Teach Greetings and Names a Beginning Social Skill

3 Ways To Teach Greetings and Names a Beginning Social Skill

A potential friend is only a ‘Hello’ away. Paul Liebau One of the first social skills that I love to teach is greetings and student’s names. As a speech and language pathologist I know that although it might seem like a very simple skill when you…

Songs Are An Important Language Development Tool and Free Download

Songs Are An Important Language Development Tool and Free Download

Songs are an important language development learning tool. One of my favorite speech and language therapy techniques is using singing to develop language. Using songs for preschoolers for language learning is fun and effective. Preschoolers can learn so much through songs. Why use songs in…

TILT-WHIRL: School Year 2020-2021 and Some Solutions

TILT-WHIRL: School Year 2020-2021 and Some Solutions

I am not sure what your year has been like, but mine has been crazy.  Our administration has told us that we need to ‘pivot’ to adjust to the changes that seem to happen daily.   I begin to feel like I am on the…