Using a Single Activity to Achieve Multiple Speech Therapy Objectives
As a speech language pathologist, you are no doubt busy working with several groups of students and individuals either in person or online with telespeech therapy. It is possible to use a single activity to work on multiple objectives in speech therapy. This approach is helpful for both group therapy and traveling therapists who only work with a limited number of materials.
Reading Books
When reading a book, you can talk about the vocabulary in pictures. You can also ask questions about the stories and the pictures. Work on re-telling portions of the story to reinforce grammar. Discuss the social situations and expected behavior. At the child or children to point to various objects in the book for following directions. Listen forward that contain the child or children speech sounds and practice as they come up.
Games and Puzzles
Label the parts of the game and ask questions about it. Ask children to practice certain words a specific number of times before they take their turn. Ask them to describe the rules of the game to reinforce grammar lessons. Discuss how to be a good winner and how to take turns. Give the children directions about how to set up the game, play the game, and break it down to put it away.
In puzzles, have children name the objects in the picture or guess what the picture could be. Have them practice their speech sounds three to five times before getting another piece. Have children work together to complete the puzzle, and give them directions to follow with the pieces.
Marbles and Tracks
Set up a series of marbles and tracks for the children to play with. Use descriptive words to discuss the different marbles and tracks. Ask questions about what the marble is doing, or how the kids are setting up the tracks. Have the children practice their sounds three to five times before advancing to the next track. Ask the child to use full sentences to describe what’s happening so they can work on grammar. Give the children directions to create something, and have them work together to do it.
Playdough/Clay
Use the dough to build something, or use a series of cookie cutters to create shapes and objects. Ask the children to describe what it is. Ask them questions about what they’re doing when they’re building their own things with the dough. Use play dough to make letters and practice their sounds. Give the children a series of directions to follow with the playdough.
These activities are fun and enjoyable, but can really give you the most bang for your buck in terms of speech therapy practice, and can be a great way for parents to bond with their children at home, too.