articulation Archives -

Here is how to do this fall themed activity.

1.) Pick the targets that aligns with your student’s speech goals. Print, cut, and laminate those cards. You can store them on a binder ring, or they fit nicely into these task card boxes from Michael’s.

2.) Take some time to teach your student about the vocabulary words on his/her cards. Look at pictures, videos, and discuss the words. This is important, because, as the student hears them in class or at home in the upcoming months, s/he will be familiar with them!

3.) Follow the steps on the cards. Have your student move a clothespin as you complete each step on the right hand side of the card. In the first step, you will model the word for your student. I would do this maybe 5x or so.

Move the clothes pin down, this is the fun section! Have your student touch the circle as he/she says the sound. I would do this at least 5x for each word so that you can get in as many trials as possible.

Fall

You could also use pom poms, play dough, dry erase markers, or paint dabbers to mix things up. These fine motor activities are really great for kiddos who need to keep moving their hands!

Finally, move the clip to the last step. In this step the student practices saying the word as independently as possible.

Preschool Fall Speech Therapy Articulation Activity

This articulation activity is awesome because, once your student is familiar with the process, you can review and practice all fall long. They make a great warm up or exit activity for your speech therapy sessions!

These cards do all the things a good speech therapy resource does:

Target multiple goals

Support different styles of learning

Are evidence based

Engage little learners

Provide a lot of visuals!

I am so excited to have this fall articulation activity for the preschoolers in my life. If you need them in your life, you can find them in my TpT store!

P.S. Did you know I have a YouTube Channel where I share my best tips and tricks for teaching social communication skills? Be sure and check out my list of videos before you leave!

Back To School Speech Therapy Activities

Student: “Mrs. Davault, why do I come to speech?”

Me: You are learning how to correctly say the /r/ sound.

Student: “Ok, why does HE come to speech” *student gestures to a boy in the group that has autism and perfect articulation*

Me: (fumbling, as I quickly try and find age appropriate words to explain a pragmatic language disorder): Um, well, he is working on something different.

Have you ever had the “Why do I come to speech” conversation? Or worse, the “Why does he come to speech” conversation? It’s tricky, you know.

Some disorders are easy to explain, others, not so much.

As a newer clinician, I would frequently experience some version of that conversation. Group therapy makes this conversation even more difficult, because let’s be honest, you cannot be 100% confidential in group therapy. You just can’t. I had no idea how to explain why a student came to speech, without totally violating all confidentiality.

Finally, after what felt like the millionth time of having this conversation, I had a light bulb moment. I needed to be doing a better job of explaining to my students why they were coming to speech. I already talked about goals with my kids, but I wasn’t doing a very good job. We would quickly address it at the beginning of the year, and then I usually would forget about it until the start of the next school year.

What I wasn’t doing, was teaching my students why they had to come see me in the first place.

When you take the time to explain the different kinds of speech and language disorders to your students, you can help each student understand what they are working on when they come to speech, and then you can draw on this knowledge for the rest of the time they are in speech therapy. You can also use this knowledge to open a conversation about specific goals, and how you are going to go about mastering those goals.

Here is how I do this:

I do an age appropriate activity with my students that explains why they come to speech. If they are younger, we do an interactive mini-book that gives a very broad summary of their disorder (although I do not use the word disorder with them). If they are older, I like to do a reading passage and comprehension question activity (that way we are still working on other things while we address this task #multitasking). Each student gets a reading passage or book, that is specific to their individual disorder.
After they know why they are coming to speech, we talk about when they will come and we talk about their individual goals. You can use your discretion on this step to make it as confidential as you feel comfortable with. For example, you can choose to pull students aside individually and discuss goals one at a time while the other students in the group work on coloring the mini-book or answering the comprehension questions.
We talk about how it might take a long time to master our goals, and that the more we practice, the faster we will master them.

The beauty of using this method, is that it opens the doors of communication. Students have an opportunity to have their questions answered and they understand the process. They also get to learn about many different kinds of speech disorders, and that everyone who comes to speech, has goals to work on.

What’s even more beautiful, is that we can use this method for any “first day of speech”. It could be the first day back from summer, the first day of a new IEP year, or the first day of a new insurance authorization period. It works all the time!

If you are interested in using my method, please let me save you some time! I have already done all the hard work of creating, so you don’t have to. Click here so you can see the entire resource!

This resource contains the following first day of speech therapy activities:

Classroom posters you can hang in your room to remind students why they come to speech. (see below)

Interactive mini books for younger students. There is one for each disorder (language, articulation, fluency, pragmatic language, and voice).
Reading passages and comprehension questions for older students. There is one for each disorder (language, articulation, fluency, pragmatic language, and voice).

If you are not sure what this school year will bring and would like a digital version of this resource, I’ve got you covered! Just click here!

If you’re interested in upping your pragmatic language therapy/evaluation game then you have come to the right place. Let me share my tips and tricks with you so that you can approach this tricky area with confidence. Click here and we can start learning together–I even want to give you a free pragmatic language evaluation checklist so you can sample my work. If my style isn’t your cup of tea, you can unsubscribe at anytime 🙂

Tag: articulation

Engaging Fall Articulation Activity For Preschoolers

Wouldn’t it be nice if your preschool students had an engaging fall themed activity where they **learned new, salient, vocabulary while they work on their articulation**?

Have you experienced this? Are you bored of using the same articulation cards with words that aren’t even relevant to this child’s life?

Here is how to do this fall themed activity.

These cards do all the things a good speech therapy resource does:

Like this:

Like this:

Why Do I Come To Speech?

Some disorders are easy to explain, others, not so much.

What I wasn’t doing, was teaching my students why they had to come see me in the first place.

What’s even more beautiful, is that we can use this method for any “first day of speech”. It could be the first day back from summer, the first day of a new IEP year, or the first day of a new insurance authorization period. It works all the time!

Like this:

Like this:

Wouldn’t it be nice if your preschool students had an engaging fall themed activity where they learned new, salient, vocabulary while they work on their articulation?

Have you experienced this? Are you bored of using the same articulation cards with words that aren’t even relevant to this child’s life?

Here is how to do this fall themed activity.

These cards do all the things a good speech therapy resource does:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Some disorders are easy to explain, others, not so much.

What I wasn’t doing, was teaching my students why they had to come see me in the first place.

What’s even more beautiful, is that we can use this method for any “first day of speech”. It could be the first day back from summer, the first day of a new IEP year, or the first day of a new insurance authorization period. It works all the time!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Wouldn’t it be nice if your preschool students had an engaging fall themed activity where they **learned new, salient, vocabulary while they work on their articulation**?