THERAPY TIPS

Name: Tracy Gillett
School Dist.: Grosse Pointe Public Schools

Activity: Category Game

Age Range: Kdg. to second grade. 

Materials: Construction paper cut into 1 1/2" squares, various packages of stickers, 8 1/2" X 11" pages labeled with the category

Procedures: Stick one sticker on each square of construction paper. Write the name of the object under it. Laminate and cut out. Place all squares in a small bag. Have students choose a square and place it on the correct category page. I have found stickers for the following: fruit, vegetables, transportation, instruments, tools, insects, wild animals, farm animals, pets, kitchen utensils, colors, flowers, weather.

Name: Sallie Lebenbom
School Dist.: Godwin Heights Public Sch.

Activity: Fruit Shakes

Age Range: Preschool to 5th Grade

Materials: Variety of frozen fruit, bananas, orange juice, blender, straws, Dixie cups.

Objectives: Improved oral motor skills, vocabulary, wh questions. 

Procedures: Have students take turns naming the frozen fruit. At this time you can talk about color, size, smell, texture, etc. Students then take turns putting frozen fruit in blender. Again, you can focus on vocabulary, ask “wh” questions, etc. Once all fruit is in the blender, including the banana, you add juice enough so that it will blend, but not to make it soupy. Blend the fruit until slushy and thick. Talk about what happened and how it happened, etc. Serve the fruit shake to students with thin or thick or curly or long or short straws. They taste like popsicles and kids love them!

Name: Katherine Mazawey
School Dist.: Utica Community Schools

Activity: Strategy

Age Range: 0 to 26 years

Materials: A sign which is a picture of an owl with the words Observe, Wait, Listen stacked beside it.

Objective: A visual reminder to SLPs, teachers and all staff, to allow a child response time. 

Procedures: Hang the sign throughout the school in hallways, classrooms, etc. This is great reminder for staff working with students with auditory processing disorders, word retrieval difficulties, etc.

Name: Lori McElveny
School Dist.: Lakewood Public Schools

Activity: Blending sounds into words-making spiders, sun, octopus, flowers

Age Range: Any age

Materials: Mirror, dry-erase marker or transparency marker

Objective: Blending sounds into words 

Procedures: I heard about this technique on the internet. I use a large stand-up mirror so that my student (apraxic) can see my mouth and theirs, too. I use a dry erase marker/transparency marker to put a consonant in the center of the mirror in a circle. I write all the vowels surrounding the circle. My student can produce all of her sounds individually but not connected. So, I have her tell me what each letter sounds like. She then draws a tine from the circle to the vowel helping her to blend her sounds together. My student doesn’t like spiders so we changed to suns, octopus, and flowers. She thinks it’s really fun to write on the mirror and that she can watch herself in the mirror.

Name: Judy Morgan
School Dist.: Freeland Community Sch.

Activity: Flip It

Age Range: Preschool -  Early Elementary

Materials: Plastic spatulas, Picture cards

Objective: May be used with any objective using small picture cards; articulation or language

Procedures: Discuss the use of the spatula at home then in speech/language class. Practice using “Flipper” with control. Organize cards and review task (sound, association, etc.) Turn over cards using a memory game format. Can be used to follow directions - top, bottom, middle row, turn over 1, 2, 3, etc. Lends itself to many games. Flip It works best on a carpeted floor.

Name: Nicole Powell
School Dist.: Lakewood Public Schools

Activity: Students typing their own articulation practice lists

Age Range: Third grade to high school

Materials: Computer

Objective: To gain awareness of target sound in words and practice target sound in words, phrases or sentences. Procedures: If your school has a computer lab, take students to the lab during a free period. Have them type a list of words containing their target sound. If they are at the phrase or sentence level, have them type phrases or sentences with their target sound. Print the lists at the end of the session. Then the next group uses those lists as practice for the day. The students love this because they are using computers, and it requires little prep. If you don’t have a computer lab, but do have a computer in your room, you could allow one student at a time to do the activity.

Name: Martie Repaskey
School Dist.: Dansville Public School 

Activity: Friendship Group: “The Oreo Bunch”

Age Range: 7-8 years, Second grade 

Materials: Toys, games, cookie treats 

Objective: To encourage socialization and develop pragmatic skills in a child with Autism

Procedures: This friendship group was developed for a 7-year-old boy who exhibits moderate characteristics of Autism. He is mainstreamed in a 2nd grade classroom. Once a week he and his new friends meet for games and play, followed by treats of Oreos and juice. With clinician guidance, the skills of increased expressive language, turn-taking, and following rules are fostered. Emotional bonds are starting to occur with positive carry-over noted in the classroom.

Name: Paula Parker
School Dist.: lmlay City Com. Schools 

Activity: Sound Development Time (SDT) 

Age Range: 8 years and up

Materials: Index cards cut to 2x3, crayon/pencil

Objective: Using sounds in different positions or words.

Procedures: The beginning of every therapy session is started by saying the (5) SDT cards. The targeted sound is worked on for five minutes at the beginning of the session. After two weeks, the cards are sent home with a list of 20 or more words with the same target sound with a note to the parents on how the child did with that particular sound. The next session, the students will draw a simple picture to go with the word and the process continues for the school year.

Name: Pam Polan
School Dist.: Lake Orion

Activity: Game boards, drill lists 

Procedures: Whenever I make a game board or drill list, I put it on a file folder. If there are game pieces, I make a pocket to hold them. I laminate the folder and when it’s not in use, it can be easily stored in a file cabinet with a tab.

Name: Katie Sechrist
School Dist.: Romulus Com. Schools 

Activity: Celebrity Interview 

Age Range: 4th grade and up 

Materials: Internet, paper, pencil 

Objective: For students to use correct question grammar.

Procedures: Have students choose a favorite celebrity. Brainstorm a list of topics which would be interesting to know about the celebrity, e.g., pets, favorite foods, hobbies. Have students ask a question related to each topic; questions may be recorded by SLP or by students themselves. Once a list of questions has been developed, work together to compose a short letter describing the purpose of the activity to the celebrities. Be sure to include a request for a response and a return address. Use the internet to locate a mailing address of the celebrities.

Name: Marcy Torres
School Dist.: Barry ISD in Hastings 

Activity: Articulation carry-over 

Age Range: First Grade and up 

Materials: Pictures of animals, household items, sports....anything that fits in a category

Objectives: Carry-over/generalization 

Procedures: Have one child in the group look at the picture. He/she then gives three clues about that object using his/her best speech. The other children must listen and try to guess. This keeps all of the children involved.

Name: Sally L. Shumway
School Dist.: Jenison Public Schools

Activity: Early Retention of Orally Presented Information 

Age Range: 7 years and up 

Materials: White or chalk board, photos (nouns and action verbs) 

Objective: The child will increase memory for orally presented information 

Procedures: 1. Intro.: “I’m going to teach you how to find and use the white board in your brain today.” 2. Attach one picture at a time to white board, talking about each one. (describing color, use, action, etc.) Begin with 2 pictures up to 5 depending on the child’s skill). 3. Have the child close their eyes and ask them to try and see those same (2 or more) pictures “in the head/brain.” "Can you see the? What’s the first picture? What’s the last picture? What’s the middle one?" Tell me what it looks like. 4. “Now close your eyes again and make your own pictures on your brain white board.” First, put up an elephant. What does he look like? Where is he? What is he doing? Ready for the next picture. Put up a beach ball... continue adding another picture or more (you know how many your child can remember). After the child has told you a little about each picture, begin asking, “What is the first picture on your white board? What is the last one?" etc. Actions, directions, numbers, names, etc. can be incorporated in these activities. They can picture themselves doing the 2-3 activities before carrying them out with the help of their brain “white board.” This provides the child with a memory skill she may not have been accessing.

Name: Dorothea Smith
School Dist.: Detroit Public Schools 

Activity: Sight Words Bingo 

Age Range: 6 to 9 years 

Materials: Sight Words Bingo Game 

Objectives: Follow multiple directions, produce grammatical sentences, and practice spontaneous speech.

Procedures: Clinician will give directions. Each player (3 or more) has a board and chips. Select a leader/caller to say or spell the words. When a player has the word called, he/she must spell, say, and use the word in a sentence in order to put a chip on the word. The winner becomes the leader/caller.

Name: Kary Swionter
School Dist.: Jackson County ISD 

Activity: Making a log cabin 

Age Range: Adult SMI, SXI, 3-8 year olds 

Materials: Empty milk cartons, pretzels, peanut butter, and graham crackers 

Objectives: Learning about President’s Day, sequencing events with picture icons 

Procedures: Introduce all materials. Talk about the Presidents. Pass out a picture board with no pictures on it. Work through the steps to put the log cabin together:

1. Cover milk carton with peanut butter 2. For walls, cover peanut butter with the pretzels. 3. Make a roof with the graham crackers. When the activity is finished, review the activity using the picture board so each student gets a chance to verbalize each step through speech, signs, or icons.

Name: Jean Usner
School Dist.: Warren Woods

Activity: Say it - Sing it

Age Range: Early elementary

Objectives: To prepare a student to answer the question "What did you do today?” and a beginning activity for a group

Procedures: Even a monotone non-singer can sing (and recall) the tune “The Farmer in the Dell.” To this tune sing the words:

To (school name) we go.

To (school name) we go.

Oh how we love our school.

To (school name) we go.

Then tell one thing we did - say it in unison (grammatically rephrased) then sing it as the next verse.

We wrote some words today.

We wrote some words today.

Oh, how we love our school.

We wrote some words today.

Parents tell me their children daily say 3 to 5 sentences to tell about their day. Some sing it.

Name: Michelle Webb 
School Dist.: Grand Rapids Public Sch.

Activity: Oral motor stimulation with focus on tongue lateralization

Age Range: 12 mo. to about 5 years 

Materials: Mirror, straws, fruit roll-ups Objectives: Tongue lateralization, oral-stimulation

Procedures: Wrap roll-up tightly around the straw and place the mirror in front of the child. Let the child explore the roll-up independently. Encourage exploration in and outside of the oral cavity. After child’s acceptance and increased tolerance of the roll-up (may take several experiences), use/place roll-up around the child’s mouth at varying positions to promote tongue extension, tongue lateralization, lip smacking, etc. With this activity, remember to use bibs.

Name: Julie White 
School Dist.: Lake Orion 

Activity: Stick Game 

Age Range: Pre K to Fourth Grade

Materials: Coffee mug and 33 tongue depressors

Objective: Improve articulation Procedures: Color tip of sticks, 10 red, 10 green, 10 purple and 3 brown. Have a student pick a stick. If they pick a red stick they use their sound in a single word, green stick-a phrase and a purple stick-a sentence. If they pick a brown stick, they put all of their sticks back in the cup. Whoever has the most sticks at the end is the winner. The students love this game and ask to play it daily.

Name: Fran Zakalik 
School Dist.: Farmington 

Activity: Describing and Listening

Age Range: Second grade and up 

Materials: Blackboard and colored chalk, 3x5 cards with simple pictures 

Objectives: To be better listeners; to describe using critical attributes, use of spatial terms.

Procedures: One child is at the board, the other has a picture card to describe. The child at the board draws the description that he hears. Look at the card to see if drawing matches the words he hears. May be tape recorded to hear the “matching” words.

Name: Gwen Spiess 
School Dist.: Port Huron 

Activity: Jack Pot Age Range: Second Grade and above 

Materials: 9x12 tag board, word cards from colored construction paper - laminating

Objectives: To improve articulation of target sounds in single words and/or sentences

Procedures: Make one playing board from oak tag by marking nine equal squares on it and a space across the bottom. Number the squares 1 to 9. Label the space across the bottom, “Jack Pot.” Make drill cards with words containing target sounds and a number from I to 9 written on each card. Make cards small enough to fit in the numbered spaces on the board.

The child draws a card, says the word or uses it in a sentence and then places the card on the matching number on the board. If the number on the board is already covered, the card goes In the Jack Pot area. The child who covers the last number on the board wins the game and takes all of the cards on the board. Usually you can play several games in a session to see who is the Big Winner.

Above tips are from the MSHA Conference 2000.

Submitted by: Elissa Kaufman
School District: Birmingham
Age Range: Pre K - High School
Goal: Language
Materials: Blank recipe book (one per student), cooking activities, picture cards to sequence cooking activity.

Plan: When doing a group cooking activity, have the students arrange pictures in sequential order according to the recipe.  Then have them glue the pictures into a blank recipe book that they can take home at the end of the school year. The students will love making the food over the summer!!!

Submitted by: Michelle Ward
School District: Birmingham
Age Range: 4th grade and up
Goal: Following and writing specific directions

Plan: Have the students write down step by step directions on how to get from one place in the school to another. Then have another child try to follow the written directions and see if they end up in the proper place.

Submitted by: Jennifer Townsend
School District: Walled Lake
Age Range: Any age
Goal: Articulation
Materials: Jenga Game (generic can be purchased at Big Lots)

Plan: Choose 4 different target sounds and a color for each sound. Write words containing target sounds on the sides of the blocks, 1 for each color. Student practices their color word before placing it on top of the tower. Students can use the words in phrases and sentences as well.

Submitted by: Fran Zakalik
School District: Farmington
Age Range: All ages (depending on maturity)
Goal: To establish articulation carryover
Materials: None necessary, or you can play any articulation game available

Plan: Each child in the therapy group may invite a friend to the therapy session.  During that session, the student is required to use his/her sound accurately and their friend is required to misarticulate the student's sound with equal accuracy.  This is a great way to demonstrate to students not enrolled in therapy that it takes an enormous amount of concentration, practice, and effort to make changes in one's speech.