Northern Speech Services: Color My Conversation {Crew Review}

Having a child with speech issues, I’m often looking for products that we can use at home for therapy.  When Northern Speech Services appeared on the Vendor Information Forms or VIF, I was intrigued and immediately went to check out the product offered.  I was excited to find Color My Conversation listed as the choice for this review.

Now I have never personally heard of Northern Speech Services or of Color My Conversation but I was very interested for several reasons.  One I have a child who suffers a speech impediment and learning delays due to her Epilepsy and because she is tongue-tied.  I have a child who is older, who is shy and challenged in his conversations with others.  I also have a child who is just learning to have conversations with others and could use skills to better develop his personal voice.  Yes, my children were the real reason for my interest in this review.

Color My Conversation or CMC for short, was quickly shipped to my door.  I was so excited by the colorful box that it’s contained in that I could hardly wait to rip into it!  Trust me, it wasn’t disappointing at all!

The box is imprinted with the sky which also grabbed my children’s attention right away.  Centered for feature is the product title Color My Conversations in bright, rainbow colors.  The version I received was the 2nd edition of the product.

CMC is designed for children in grades Kindergarten through 7th but can be used with any age student who may benefit from the lessons.  It is a multi-sensory program developed for neuro-typical children and developmental challenged children, such as those with autism.  My children of varied special needs fit this expectation perfectly.

Inside the CMC you will find the following:

12 Stepping Stone Floor Graphics – these have non-skid backs to help keep your child from sliding across the floor.

50 Game Tokens

100 Picture/Emotion Cards – these were a favorite in our house.

50 Dry Erasable Wall Display Cards – anything dry-erase is another household favorite for us.

2 Dry Erase Pens – these are classic black pens but we used our colored ones as well.

CMC Ball

Classroom Poster

Game Board

Cloth Ribbon – approximately 9.5ft in length

Instruction Manual & Music CD’s – the CD manual also includes reproducible activities for printing that go along with the program.

Greeting others

Engaging in chitchat or small conversations

Engaging in topics of conversation

Asking effective questions and making effective comments

and much more.

The program itself is designed to be taught in a 14-16 week period or longer if needed.  It can be expanded to cover a year for educational purpose.  We reviewed this over a 6 week period which only gave us a glimpse of what the product truly does.  Still it was plenty of time to see this product really does work.

The game board folds in half to store neatly within the box.  It has glossy images on both sides for easily wiping off when needed.  One side shows an image of stepping stones like those also included in the box.  The opposite side shows images related to different parts of the program.

The 12 stepping stones, as I mentioned above, are rubber with cloth tops in bright colors which are also non-skid for your child to step or jump on as they are used in the program.  This extra non-skid touch helps keep the often over-excited child (like mine) from slipping across the floor and getting hurt.  I was very happy with these as my children love jumping spots thanks to previous therapy we’ve had in the past.

The ball is yellow and not overly big.  Perfect for little hands to hold on to.  It’s made with a glossy surface so you can write on it with dry-erase marker.

The 50 game tokens are blue and come in a purple cloth bag for safe keeping.  They are octagonal in shape and easy to hold on to for little ones.  Jackson loved these.

I really love the 100 picture/emotion cards.  They are small in size but the images are awesome.  I especially like the happy, sad, smiley faced emotion cards the best.

The 50 dry-erase wall display cards are really awesome.  They are in various shapes and can be used on a wall but are small enough to use on a table instead.  Jack and Laycie both really liked these.

It is recommended that you, the teacher/parent, go through the whole CD Manual before beginning the program.  This, of course, takes a little time but it’s well worth it to understand the program and how it works.  

We began the program at the Beginner Level because I was mostly using this program with my younger two children.  The first conversation we covered was Hello and Goodbye.  I like that the program also includes learning American Sign Language with the lessons.  Learning ASL is something we have enjoyed through our lessons at home in the past.

Because we’re doing CMC at home together, we slowed it down a lot and really took time to have fun and enjoy playing through the lessons.  I wanted this to be fun for Laycie and Jackson.  It went very well with Jack’s pre-school time and Laycie enjoyed slowing down the lessons as well.  I did use some of the more advanced skills covered with my older two kids who needed a little encouragement in speaking out with their voices.  

I think the program has worked well for both age groups of my children.  I see definite differences in the answers they give me.  I see them speaking with one another better.  I see them playing these games and using the skills they’ve learned even when we aren’t working on lessons.  It’s a beautiful thing to experience when your child opens up and blooms.

Color My Conversation is available from Northern Speech Services for $149.  This includes everything mentioned above.  There are also lesson support videos available for the program as well.

Other Places to Find Northern Speech Services:

Social Media Links:
NSS Facebook:  www.facebook.com/northernspeech 
CMC Facebook:  www.facebook.com/colormyconversation/ 
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/northernspeech   @northernspeech
Pinterest:  www.pinterest.com/northernspeech 
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/northernspeech 
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/northernspeechservices/