Quick Ideas for Spicing up those therapy sessions!
Book Talk
I have only recently started incorporating books into my therapy sessions. I use them for little ones because we all know reading to children is a great language activity and even the youngest ones love to be able to help 'read' because they can memorize and learn the phrasing so quickly. I also recently used a familiar children's book to target sounds at the reading level with a 10 year old for articulation therapy. Because of the repetitive nature, it was (almost) like they were speaking at the conversation level. This activity helped the child and parent understand that even though the sounds are clear at the word and phrase level, we still had work to do until they had mastered the sounds at the conversation level! To help keep track of the sounds, I created this data sheet for all the /r/ words - grouped them by vocalic /r/ the positions in the word for easier calculations! Then I made /l/ too!
I would love to share these with you! To get your .pdf of the /r/ or /l/ data collection sheets for Polar Bear Polar Bear, What do you Hear? Email me: lbtheslp@gmail.com
Trash Talk
You know these cute little pencil holders/recycle bins that are at Dollar Tree? I have used mine repeatedly in so many ways and the kids love it! Here are a few possibilities to use or to get you thinking of your own ways...
- Articulation: target /r/+blends or final /sh/, using small picture cards and extra practice with using the phrase "in the trash" when they put the picture inside the can
- Phonology: final end sounds focused on potential words like: in, can, bin, dump, take, out, trash
- Expanding language: one word: in/out, open/close; two words: put in, take out, it's empty, open up; three word phrases: put ____ in!, take ___ out, trash is full
- Motivation: use mini sticky notes to write words or print mini pictures of target sounds, and let the child scrunch up the paper after their practice of the word and toss it in the can
- Game: practice all the target words 3-5 times scrunching up each picture, then see how many 'points' they can make by trying to make it in the trash can