What can be done in speech therapy to help a toddler with autism that isn't talking yet? Carrie shares some great therapy ideas in this helpful video
This post outlines an evidence-based approach for parent-coaching that you can use in your early intervention sessions, inc. a free handout.
Did you know that the average school-aged student learns between 3000 to 5000 words per year? That means they learn eight to 12 words per day (Biemiller & Boote, 2006). Most children are like little sponges soaking up new information. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for students with language disorders who have limited word knowledge. Students...
Feel confident you're delivering effective early intervention and parent coaching sessions with the Early Intervention Handbook.
Learn if there's a scope and sentence for language therapy and syntax intervention the speech-language pathologists can follow in this article.
It's Tuesday and the last of you are likely heading back to work today! Don't worry, some of us have been working for an entire month now! I'm continuing the SLP 101 series this week.
So many kiddos have WH question goals… in some form or another. The ability to answer WH questions is important, in all settings: school, home, in conversation, etc… I knew this, but I always wondered how to teach WH questions without feeling like I was testing the kiddo. I didn’t want to repeat the question […]
Check out this blog post for tips and ideas for using a "what's in the bag?" activity to support early language skills in your EI sessions.
Check out this blog post for tips and ideas for using a "what's in the bag?" activity to support early language skills in your EI sessions.
Check out this blog post for tips and ideas for using a "what's in the bag?" activity to support early language skills in your EI sessions.
“How many words should a 2 year old be saying?”, “When do children use their first words?”, “How can I help my child’s language skills?”.These are questions parents & caregivers often search online, and questions
If you're working with a family that doesn't own many common toys, this post has 5 alternatives to use in your early intervention sessions.
Toy cars are great for developing early language skills. I've shared 5 ways you can use toy cars to support early language in your therapy sessions.
If you work with students who have phonological process errors, the SCIP app (Sound Constrast in Phonology) is a game changer for speech pathologists!
Are you a speech-language pathologist looking for speech therapy activities for preschoolers? This article contains tons of effective activities and speech therapy ideas that will motivate young children to work on a variety of goals. It includes tips for engaging preschoolers during speech therapy sessions, as well as ideas for movement, sensory play, and recommended
In my previous post, I showed some examples of and linked to some of my favorite apps to use in the SNF and LTC for your speech therapy sessions.Today I would like to show you another way I have used the iPad when working with patients.If you are working in the SNF setting, you know how ... Read More about More Than Just Apps: Creative and Skilled Therapy Using the iPad
Are you a speech pathologist that works with 4th and 5th graders? Do you need tips on how to work best with your upper elementary students? This is the ultimate SLP Guide for working with 4th and 5th grade in a school setting! In this blog post, I'm going to share some of my favorite
One question I am asked a lot is, "What are your favorite games and activities to use with middle school students in speech-language therapy?" Today, I would like to share with you my top 13 favorites! One
Are you on a hunt for free speech therapy online activities and games that are perfect for teletherapy? Then be sure to check out this list!
There are SO many everyday items that can be super fun and effective to use when targeting speech and language skills. In this blog post you will find ideas about how to use muffin tins and cups in the therapy room or at home.These activity ideas are ideal for preschoolers and early elementary aged children. CUP IDEAS
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Gross motor activities can keep your toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary students engaged in your speech therapy session for a long time because children are designed to MOVE! By incorporating movement activities in speech therapy, your students will not only have fun, but will learn quickly! Research has shown that movement is linked to memory and unfortunately, opportunities for movement are decreasing in school. As Speech Therapists, we can incorporate simple speech therapy activities the
Update 2021: This item is now included in the comprehensive Activity Studio+ __________________________________________________________________________________ Functional Treatment for Motor Speech Disorders is a 70-page download for speech-language pathologists treating apraxia and dysarthria. Focus on meaningful treatment of motor speech activities by using evidence-based treatments with personally-relevant words and communication practice.
Interactive books are an amazing tool to use in speech therapy! Read about what they are, why to use them, some ideas, and grab a FREE one!
Articulation Therapy for S Your student has an interdental lisp– or maybe a lateral lisp– and you’re feeling stuck. This feeling is something I came across often in my speech therapy sessions. One day, I decided it was time to do something about it. I wanted to correct those lisps. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist...
It's no secret that I love toys and including play into my therapy sessions. If you haven't already downloaded my FREE Play-Based Speech Therapy Homework you can download it HERE! One toy that I use often but have never really included is a shape sorter. Sometimes this one may seem a little "babyish" but I am always surprised by my kiddos who want to play with it. This toy can be used to target many language goals and I thought I'd put together a little list of ten goals you can target with a shape sorter. I usually bring it out with my Pre-K-Kinder population or my younger students who have autism. Please know these are just general ideas, really the possibilities are endless and you may need to adjust to what your student needs. Here are some ideas of how to use a shape sorter to target language skills! First is obvious, naming or identifying colors. Now with this particular sorter, I am limited to five colors but usually, that is a good number to start with. You can give directions such as "Give me a purple block." or ask questions "What color is the triangle?" to target this goal. Next is requesting! This is a goal I work on often, many of my kiddos enjoy independent or parallel play and are used to grabbing what they want. But often I want to encourage cooperative play where they acknowledge a partner playing with them, not just next to them. I will hold the sorter bucket with the blocks and put the top in front of the student. Or I may hold all the blocks but give them the bucket with the top. Then prompt them to request what they want using as much detail as possible. My end goal would be for them to verbalize "I want a red square please!" or "Can I have the purple circle?" but we will work up to that with maybe just verbalizing or signing "more" or "please" at first. You may have to use some more structure when playing to target following directions by withholding some of the blocks. You could maybe give your student half the blocks and you keep half. Give them directions while handing one of your blocks such as "Put this block in the bucket" or "Stack this block on the star". Understanding quantities can be tricky for my younger kiddos. With the blocks, you can work on understanding "more", "some", "all" and "none". You can sort the blocks into two unequal groups and ask which group has more. You can instruct the student to put all the blocks in the bucket. You can ask the student to give you "some" blocks. You can show them an empty bucket and ask how many are inside. This one can go hand-in-hand with following directions. Prompt the student to give you a block with negation. For example "Find a block that is NOT red" or "Give me a block that is NOT round". You can use the top of sorter to match or you can put a set of blocks in a row and encourage your student to match them up with another set of blocks as shown in the picture. Positional Words, Spatial Concepts, or prepositions...whatever you call them they are all essentially the same and you can use the sorter to target them! The easiest positional words to target with the sorter are "in", "out", "on", "off", "under" and "over". You can either have the student follow your direction "Put the square on the triangle" or answer a question "Where is the orange block?" while holding it over or under another object/block. Take turns putting the blocks in, taking them out, requesting, lining them up, naming them, counting them...any of the skills you are working with! Count the blocks, it may be easiest to put them all in a straight line to help work on one-to-one correspondence when counting. For older students (end of kinder, 1st grade), you can use the blocks to count by 5's or 10's. And last but not least you can work on naming or identifying the shapes. Ask the student "What shape is this?" while pointing to the block. Request a block by naming the shape such as "Can I have a star?". If your student is good with naming/identifying the basic shapes work on the attributes instead. For example "What shape has three points?" or "Give me a shape that has four sides". That's it! One little toy and so many possibilities!
This blog post includes ideas for 3 engaging activities for expanding utterances that you can use in your Speech Therapy sessions today!
Toy cars are great for developing early language skills. I've shared 5 ways you can use toy cars to support early language in your therapy sessions.
**EDIT** Please feel free to continue reading this post. However, I must insert here that now I am a bagless EI SLP. If you’re interested in more information about this, please check out my…
Playdough has been a staple in my speech therapy bag for years. Here you'll find speech and language goals linked to playdough activities.
If you're anything like me, I felt like I had no idea what I was doing as a Speech-Language Pathologist for a LONG TIME. Thirteen years later, I can tell you one thing - I should have given myself more credit and you should, too! During my career, I have had some really good first sessions, and some really bad first sessions. (kids running away, toys with missing pieces, parents yelling - I've seen it all). These "stand out sessions" always left me self-reflecting about how I can improve. Thin
I’m so excited to introduce a brand new blog series – Toys as Tools! At least once a month, I’ll stop in and share ways to use some of my favorite toys in speech-language therapy. I know that I often say that books are my favorite therapy tools, but toys come in as a very ... Read More about Toys as Tools: Critter Clinic
Keep teletherapy fresh with these FREE speech therapy websites, resources, games, and materials.
Lateral lisp information, exercises, speech therapy activities, and resources. Learn how to help a child with a lateral /s/ lisp
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Simple, everyday reinforcers and mini trinkets can make therapy motivating and engaging. So read these ideas, and start collecting!
Have fun with these 15 awesome speech delay exercises for your toddler to boost your toddler's language and help them to talk!
I am a big proponent of using books in therapy. Literacy has been a big push recently, and I am a firm believer that you can use books to target ANY goal in therapy. Today's topic is about books--more specifically about repetitive books. Repetitive books have many benefits. They encourage participation from all students or clients. They are perfect for individual sessions and group sessions. They have a pattern, so they are easier for children to pick up on and thus participate more. I ask my clients to repeat those lines with me. I will model the line a couple of times, say "Say it with me," a few times, and then just pause the next couple of times to see if one or more of them will fill in the gap. I also use repetitive books with my clients who use AAC devices. This allows them to participate as well. I do similar things as I mentioned above. This helps encourage vocabulary, language development, and allows them to explore various folders on their devices. For articulation sessions, I choose books that have repetitive words or phrases that contain my clients' sounds. For example, if I have a child working on CH, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is perfect. Here are my top ten repetitive books for use in therapy (in no particular order): 1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle 2. We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury 3. Any of the There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a ___ books 4. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault 5. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 6. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow 7. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell 8. Are You My Mother? by. P. D. Eastman 9. Polar Bear, Polar Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle 10. Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins What are your favorite repetitive books to use in therapy?
Help your students learn how to answer wh questions with these 108 wh questions worksheets task cards. Be sure to print the wh questions poster...
