Language Therapy – The Speech Meadow

Using Musical Books in Preschool Push-In Therapy

Collette — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 21:53:27 +0000

It can be daunting to decide what materials to use when doing push-in therapy, especially if you do whole class lessons. I love to use books. I also love to use music. One of the best options for preschool is to use musical books.

Benefits of Musical Books

They have built-in visuals. You don’t have to prep different visuals or as many visuals as other non-book activities.
They are predictable. This allows children to understand and learn different vocabulary and concepts from the book.
Children generally love them. You can play them again and again and again without the children getting bored. They may get lodged in your brain. The repetition is beneficial for children.
There are many that you can incorporate into many different themes.
Typically there are lots of options to do a smaller group or individual therapy.

Extension ideas for Preschool Push-In Therapy

Take the characters/animals/objects from the book and use them in sensory bins, with playdough, free play etc. This will allow the students many opportunities to practice those names in many different contexts.
Use the characters/animals/objects in unrelated speech and language therapy activities. If you are working on prepositions, use the animals from the book. If you are working on describing, use pictures and characters from the book.
Use the actions from the song as movement breaks. If the book has actions, have the students do them when they need a movement break.
Use the characters/animals/objects in speech therapy.

Favourite Musical Books for Preschool Push-In Therapy

Driving My Tractor by Jan Dobbins
Up, Up, Up by Susan Reed
The Shape Song Swingalong By Stevesongs
We All Go Traveling By By Sheena Roberts
Walking Through the Jungle By Debbie Harter and Fred Penner
The Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter and Fred Penner

If you are looking for more ideas for preschool push-in therapy, visit these blog posts (here and here). Do you use musical books in push-in therapy?

Functional Teletherapy Activities For SLPs

Collette — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 18:34:04 +0000

Doing functional teletherapy activities can be challenging during these times. However, they can be done; you just need to be more creative. Here are some ideas for incorporating functional SLP teletherapy activities.

Do activities together on teletherapy

As I have mentioned in a previous post on using food on teletherapy, you can make things on teletherapy. One idea is to make playdough, sensory bin, or calm down bottles. You would need to make sure that your family has all the ingredients. As well, they can use these ingredients for other purposes. For some families, the school was able to provide the materials. Making a sensory bin etc. together over teletherapy, you are still able to model language and set up the session to work on specific goals. A bonus is that you can show caregivers how to do this with their child(ren). Plus, they will have something to occupy their time throughout the week.

Another idea is to do a craft together. Again you need to know what the family has and are willing to use in a craft. I love to do free crafting with children. For younger children, it is developmentally appropriate. It allows them to develop their fine motor skills and explore their creativity. It can also work on fine motor skills for older children, and it a break from the stress of having to do something in a certain way as an adult. Unfortunately, this can and does happen. You can see more info on free crafting here.

Involve the parents

One of the great benefits of doing teletherapy at home has been more contact with caregivers. Especially for school children, this has been a blessing. Being able to talk and strategize and coach parents has been beneficial to both the parents and their children.

They have been able to use the skills they have learned or fine-tuned skills they already had. This has allowed us to problem solve and work on adding language to everyday functional activities. For example, talking about how to work on language skills when putting the laundry away, setting the table, or baking. Using short language activities throughout their week allows for positive change.

If you are interested in working on sending functional language skills at home, here are some handouts that you may find helpful. If you provide your email address, you will be emailed the freebie on how to use child-directed art at school or at home. Click Here. What are your favourite functional teletherapy activities?

Setting Up the Environment for Play

Collette — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 13:00:50 +0000

Did you know that the environment is almost as important as the toys you choose. In previous blog posts, I have talked about how to use play to help improve language skills (go here for more information). This time I thought I would talk about how to set up the environment for play.

Limit Choices

It’s important to use toys, games, or activities that the child likes. The problem can be that if you have too many desirable toys out, children can become overwhelmed and not know what to play. This can lead to a meltdown or for children to flit from one toy to another. It’s complicated to plan how to play when there are so many toys for the child to pick.

Think about a couple of toys that the child likes to play with (for more information, go here). These toys should be ones that they want to play with but try to avoid toys that are so highly preferred that the child gets lost in the toy and tends to ignore the outside world. Put them out in front of the child and see which one they choose.

If you are playing people games (e.g., up/down, tickles, etc.), to give them choices, you can use pictures to represent the game or song. If you use the same images to represent the different games or songs so that the children learn to associate the picture with the specific activity. Another way you can help with making choices is to use your hands. When giving two options, use your hands to help with the decision. Say the first option, shake one hand. When saying another game, shake the other hand. Play the game that the child names or the hand that the child reaches.

If a child has difficulties making choices, then pick a preferred activity and a less preferred activity. This tends to make it easier to make choices. For more information on making choices, go here.

Remove distractions

Doing some simple actions such as turning off the TV, have siblings/adults use technology in another room can help children focus. Move pets to another place. Having a clean environment (e.g., non-target toys put away) can help the child focus on the toys you are playing.

Choose optimal times

Changing the environment can also mean changing the time you play. Pick times that the child can focus. E.g., if the child gets tired around 3 pm, then planning to play at 2:30 or later may not be the best time. If your child is napping, then generally playing after their nap would be a good time to play.

Setting up the right environment can be just as important as the toys you choose. For ideas on how to target different goals, check out the Come Play! book (click here). There are over 150 play ideas for developing language.

Happy playing!

5 More Tips to Develop Language Through Play

Collette — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 13:00:28 +0000

Play is such a powerful tool to help develop a variety of skills, which is why many professionals recommend parents play with their children. It can be overwhelming. In a previous post, I shared five tips to use when playing to help develop language through play (go here.) In this post, I’m sharing another five tips.

Remember that children have short attention spans.

Children with language delays can have even shorter attention spans. Don’t expect children to play with a single toy for longer than half an hour. Some can, but many can’t. If your child is flitting from toy to toy, look at your toy choices. Are these toys a good fit? Are there too many toys out? Too many toys can overwhelm kids. Keep toy choices to a minimum when you are playing.

Pause.

Give your child time to understand what you are saying and then give a response. It feels very awkward and is hard to do. I still find it challenging, and I have to remind myself to wait. To help encourage your child to respond, lean forward and look expectantly to help cue your child that you are waiting for a response.

Change up the types of words you use.

It’s hard to make a sentence when you only know the names of things. Children with language delays tend to have less action words, describing words, and location words. SLPs tend to work on a child’s understanding and use of verbs, a lot. The same with location and describing words. Use a variety of action, location, describing words when talking.

Sabotage can create a compelling reason to communicate.

Use clear containers that your child has difficulty opening. Put favourite toys out of reach but still insight. This will allow them to ask for help. WARNING! While this is a great tool, using it too often will frustrate children and make it so that they don’t want to play with you. In this case, less is more.

Have fun!!

Make it fun for you. The more you are having fun, the more your child will have fun, and the more effective your play session will be. Be silly. Don’t worry, your child is not judging you. If you are playing trains for the thousandth time, this can be challenging. Try mixing up how you are playing trains. For example, don’t use tracks but have the trains run through paint and paint tracks on a large piece of paper. Another suggestion would be to try and mix up playing with trains with playing with other toys or doing different games.

Playing is a powerful tool to help develop so many skills in your child. Click here for a handout of these top ten tips. If you would like more ideas on how to work on specific goals through play, check out Come Play! which has over 150 play ideas to help develop language.

What are your favourite ways to encourage play with children?

5 Tips For Using Play to Encourage Development

Collette — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 03:13:02 +0000

Play can be a powerful tool to encourage language development. An SLP, OT, or other professional has recommended that you play with your child. Now what? This can seem very overwhelming. How? When? Where? Here are five tips to use play to encourage development.

Pick toys or activities that your child likes.

They will stay engaged longer, will be more willing to play with others, and children will be more engaged in language learning. Sometimes a toy is so engaging that it is hard for children to let others join in his or her play. This would not be a great toy to choose. For more information on picking toys to use in play, see this previous blog post, Choosing Toys to Help Develop Language Skills.

Be animated when playing.

Exaggerating your facial expressions and the tone of your voice will help keep your child’s attention longer. It also encourages children to copy you. A child’s ability to copy your actions, words, expressions, and gestures are crucial to help language development.

Use short concise grammatically correct sentences.

A general rule of thumb is to use one or two more words than the child can use. For example, if your child is using single words to communicate, then use no more than three words in a sentence. This will help with their comprehension, and it will show them how to make longer sentences.

When using short sentences, use the correct grammar.

Those little words (is/are, a/the, to) are important. If you don’t use them, your child will have to learn them later. It will help to be more specific when talking with you.

Limit the number of questions you ask.

What you say?! But I can get my child to talk when I ask questions. Asking too many questions can feel like they are being tested or worse yet like they are being interrogated. It can also limit the back and forth rhythm of a conversation. So use lots of comments (e.g., A big truck!) with a spattering of questions.

I hope these tips will help you feel more confident when playing. Click here for five more tips to use play to encourage development.

Barriers to Play Parents May Feel When Told to Play with their Child

Collette — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 18:38:00 +0000

First off, this is not a post to blame parents or therapists or educators. These are my thoughts and opinions on why some parents are reluctant to use play as a form of “homework” or as a form of therapy. They are based on conversations I have had with parents, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), occupational therapists (OTs), physiotherapists (physical therapists, PTs), and teachers. Here are what I think of as barriers to play for some parents.
1. Play is not seen as necessary.Many parents see play as something that children do to keep themselves occupied. It is not seen as an essential aspect of child development. Many parents see doing flashcards, worksheets, iPads, etc. as doing meaningful work. Here is an earlier post on why SLPs play.
We, as therapists and educators, have not done an outstanding job talking about the benefits of play for children with delays or disorders and for children who are developing “normal.” I’m guilty of this. I believe that there needs to have a more targeted campaign that talks about the importance of play for a child’s overall development. By the way, I think that this would be a great research topic.
2. Cultural DifferencesAs SLPs, we need to keep in mind that we serve families from many different backgrounds and many different cultures. We need to keep in mind that these cultures may have different opinions on play than mainstream white culture in the US and Canada. We need to educate ourselves and respectfully work within or along with those cultures to provide therapy in what those cultures view as play. 
3. Many Parents Don’t Know How to PlayThis may seem like a weird statement after all parents are at one point were children and odds are they have played. Why wouldn’t they know how to play?!? Well, it’s not that simple. Again we need to keep in mind cultural differences, but even among the majority, culture parents struggle to play.  
Play is a big concept, and it can be very intimidating. Where do they start? What toys should they use? How do they add language therapy into something that they may not feel comfortable doing? There are some excellent parent programs out there that use play in treatment, but even these programs can be overwhelming for parents. For a handout on play tips for parents, click here. And for blog posts on developing language through play, click here.
4. Children with language delays can be challenging to engage in playAlso, if parents feel comfortable playing may find it intimidating and challenging to play with children who have language delays or have a disorder. Let’s face it; it can be hard. I have worked with many children who were hard to engage with and to play. Again, if parents are not involved in a parent training program, therapists and educators need to think of ways to provide some more extensive training on play. We also need to cut some of our struggling parents a break and realize that they are doing the best they can.
Play is an important developmental skill that children need to learn. We need to look at the barriers that face some families face towards encouraging play and perhaps incorporating it into therapy.
What are your thoughts on the barriers parents face when being told to play?

Children Need to be Taught More Beyond “More”

Collette — Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:48:00 +0000

Often in preschool or in early intervention, you will have a little one on your caseload who is not talking or communicating in any meaningful way. What do you do? The first inclination of many Speech-Language Pathologists and educators is to teach the sign or picture for the word “more.” Why? Well, it starts to teach the child to request. It is an easy sign for children to do. Most educators and SLPs know the sign. There are many opportunities throughout the day to practice it in a more natural environment. So, what’s the problem? Here are three reasons people need to work on other words beyond “more.”

1. It only teaches the child to request. While requesting is important, we need to be focusing on the other pragmatic functions as well. You can’t get far in life if you are only asking for things. What if they can’t have more of what they want? How do they express their frustration, disappointment or anger? How do most children protest? They cry, scream and maybe resort to trying to harm themselves or others. This is no fun for anyone.

2. Children overgeneralize “more” to mean any request. The children we teach “more” to typically learn that when you put your hands together, you get something not that you more of what you have already had. As a result, you will see children move towards an object and sign “more” to say “I want something.” For example, I had a little guy that had been taught more at home and to a certain extent at school. He would walk up to the classroom door and sign “more.” Now he did not want more doors. What he wanted was the door to open so that he could go and play in the gym. At that point, “more” was not any more functional than him taking my hand and pulling me to the door.

3. We are not teaching children vocabulary. When we teach “more” we are only teaching one word. As stated above, this is not always functional. What if they walked up to a toy box of toys and wants one specific toy and signs “more?” Odds are you would know that child well enough to guess what toy he wants but what if he changes his mind and wants a different toy that day? How is he going to tell us what toy he wants other than loudly protesting and getting upset? You may be teaching other words in addition to “more” but why not make those words a priority?

So what should we do instead of starting with “more”? Teach the words of objects/activities that they would be requesting.

Find out what activities/toys/objects that the child loves to do and start working on requesting using their names. For example, the little guy who signed “more” to the door we taught him the words “out” and “gym” so that when he needed a break, he was able to tell us what he wanted when he wanted it. When he wanted to a spin on the dizzy disk, we taught him the word “spin” instead of standing at the toybox signing “more.”

Not only are you teaching words of objects/activities that he likes, which is highly motivating, they typically learn them fairly quickly. As well, you are showing him the building blocks for putting sentences together. This also allows you to start to work on building their use in other pragmatic functions.

How would you teach children to use these words? I typically use a core board base system. I will use some sign, but, as you can see here, I’m very selective of who I teach to sign. I’m also not a massive fan of PECS, so I tend to also be very particular who I use PECS with. The adults in the classroom, usually have the AAC system with them and I had them scattered throughout the school so that they were readily available.

So do I ever teach children “more?” Yes but not until much later. The children are usually already combining words into phrases before I actively work on it. By this time, they are most likely using it as it is a high-frequency word in English.

Taking Speech Therapy Outdoors

Collette — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 16:38:00 +0000

Do you take speech therapy outdoors? Speech and language therapy can happen just about anywhere, and in some cases unfortunately does. We have all either heard or experienced having to do therapy in closets, in the hall or some other challenging part of a school. Yes, I’m looking at you server room. Given all that, I’m a big fan of switching up therapy and taking it out of the therapy room or the classroom.

Some people may be reading this and thinking, I can’t do that. You absolutely can. It sometimes take more planning. You may think, “How can you target specific goals out of the class/therapy room?” or” How do you take data?” or “Are you allowed to leave the building?” or “What about confidentiality?” I will admit that these can be challenges but with some problem solving, it can be a fantastic experience for you and your students. Here are why you should think about taking speech therapy outside.

1. Generalization

You probably have had a student that can perform a skill when they are with you, and in the therapy room, but the minute you change something up, it’s like they have never done it before. It’s like taking a test, if you take an exam in the room that you learned the material, you are statistically likely to do better than if you took the test in another place. Changing up therapy and bringing speech therapy outside will allow children to work on skills in other environments with supports and hopefully lessen the effects of the therapy room. Plus children will engage in a vast array of speech and language skills outside so why not improve their skills and bring speech therapy outdoors?

2. Can Make the Activity Harder or Easier (huh?)

Aside from generalization, being in a different environment more difficult. There may be different sights, sounds, and smells that might make it harder to pay attention. The area may not be easily defined and children may want to wander away. At the same time, the different sights, sounds, smells, and sitting arrangements might help students become more regulated and increases their ability to pay attention. Children need to move and what better way to move than doing speech therapy outdoors?

3. Boredom

I will admit that I sometimes get bored working in the same room all the time and to be honest my students do too. It is fun to change things up a little. Most children see working outside as a treat (even in the middle of winter) and tend to be more on their best behaviour. We may use the same materials but how the children interact with those materials may look different. Particularly during play, children will often add different elements to their play scripts and structures.

4. Therapy can look different when you are outside the therapy room

You may be moving around or don’t have as easy access to your therapy materials. When I mix it up, I’m working on functional skills in more real-world situations. I will use the playground to work on prepositions, play skills, expanding vocabulary and sentence length, as well as working on verbs and verb tenses. To get ideas on how to assess play skills in the playground, check out this blog post, click here. I also seem to be more intentional in what materials I use. I may take one activity and use in a wider variety of ways. If I can, I try to keep all the speech materials inside.

5. It can provide some form of exercise

Depending on what you are doing, it can provide some form of exercise. Exercise primes the brain for learning and remembering that information. It improves focus and attention. It can also improve motivation. Exercise helps create new nerve cells. All are reasons to bring speech therapy outdoors and get children moving.

I am a big fan of being outside when you can. Taking nature walks or walks around the neighbourhood, also allow children to get some exercise and move around which helps some children concentrate not only during your session but when they go back to class. Also the playground can provide some wonderful opportunity to work on language goals. For more ideas about how to be more active during speech therapy, check out this blog post (click here).

If you are looking for ideas on how to do push-in outdoor therapy, click here. Being outside and doing speech therapy can be a beneficial and wonderful experience. Do you take speech therapy outside? Thinking about it? Let me know.

Using The Apple Pie Tree in Speech Therapy

Collette — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 03:03:00 +0000

Zoe Hall’s book, The Apple Pie Tree is a story that talks about what happens to and around an apple tree throughout the year and ends with the children baking an apple pie. It is a great book to work on a speech and language goals. Here are some ideas to use The Apple Pie Tree in Speech Therapy.

Articulation

The Apple Pie Tree is loaded with /p,/ /b,/ and blends making it a great book to work on those sounds. Many also occur multiple times allowing children say their sounds many times. Here is a list:

/p/ sound: pie, petals, papa, peel, picked, pan, pile, apple(s), open, top/
b/ sound: bare, bee, but, building, buds, baby, birds, big, bend, basket, Robin(s),
Blends: grow, brown, spring, branch, tree, flower, break, blossoms, breeze, blow, ground, fly, strong, small, brim, sprinkle, smells, taste,

One idea is to have your child/student listen for a specific word, and each time they hear it, they tap the table. Then they say the word. Similarly have the child listen for their sound and tap when they hear it.

Language

1. Plurals: There are many opportunities to work on plurals. E.g., Robin/Robins Look at the illustrations and talk about the pictures to work on plurals.

2. Verbs and verb tenses: The Apple Tree contains so many verbs. It is a great book to work on both regular and irregular past tense. Here are some of the verbs in the story: grow, watch, build, chirp, guard, open, break, cover, blow, fall, teach, fly, rain, visit, bend, cover, pick, help, cut, pile, sprinkle, cook, eat, smell, and taste. A therapy ideas is to ask what is happening in the story or have the children act it out in play to build understanding and use of verbs.

3. Describing the illustrations: Many of the pictures include items/ideas that are not talked about explicitly in the text. For example, they talk about summer and show children playing in a sprinkler. Have your student tell you what’s in the picture. How much detail do they give. Do they tell you the main ideas of the picture or focus on the minute details? This would also be great to start to work on inferencing.

4. Sequencing: There are many great opportunities to describe sequences. The book talks about the change in seasons. It talks about the life cycle of Robins. It talks about the life cycle of an apple, and it also shares a recipe for how to make apple pie. Additionally, the back of the book has a section where they talk about how bees pollinate flowers.

Supplemental Activities

1. Sensory Bins: Make a sensory bin out of oats, flour, apple pie spice, cinnamon sticks, and real/fake/counting apples. Add in measuring cups, measuring spoons, muffins tins, and spoons. Have children pretend to make apple pie. Use some of the vocabulary from the book. Note: if you have students that are gluten-free or are allergic to any ingredients from the sensory bin, please do not add them.

2. Make Apple Pie: There is an apple pie recipe at the back of the book that you can make with the students. You can also use tart shells so that everyone’s dietary restrictions can be accommodated. Talk about the steps you need to do to make the pie. Focus on verbs, use many that are in the story. When the pies are done, talk about the pie’s smell and the pie’s taste.

3. Make a large apple tree out of paper: Hang it up on a wall and add apples for the children to pick. Add different colour and size apples for children to work on following directions. Alternatively, go through the year with the tree starting with snow, then flowers, then leaves, then apples, then leaves falling.

4. Have children sort objects by seasons. Sort a variety of objects by when you see them/use them during the different seasons. For a season sorting file folder and class activity visit here.

5. Watch videos with time-lapsed video of a life cycle of an apple tree. Talk about what the children see. Have the children answer questions about the video.

6. Have children plant apple seeds in a clear cup. Look at the seeds and comment/describe what is changing.

These are some of my ideas. Form more ideas on using literacy in your sessions, go here For ideas on how to use apples in push-in therapy, click here. How would you use The Apple Pie Tree in speech therapy?

Five Circle Activities for SLPs

Collette — Sun, 02 Sep 2018 18:11:00 +0000

Planning for circle activities for SLPs can be challenging. You want to have activities that are engaging, short, and target goals you are targeting. Here are five preschool circle activities for SLPs that children love, and you will be able to target various language skills.

Where Are My Shoes?

Targets: Prepositions, Ask and Answer Where Questions

Materials Needed: Shoes, chair, “Where did my Shoes go” from Talk it Rock it (optional), Visuals

How to Play:

Take off your shoes. Place them under, beside, on, in front, or behind the chair, depending on your preposition. Sit down.
If you are using the song “Where Did My Shoes Go?” play it first. You can find the link to the song here. It is pretty long, so I usually play a part of it. When the song is done, look down and pretend to be surprised/sad/confused and point out that your shoes are missing.
Ask the children for help. The children will often point and say, “there.” Point the visuals as you look around for your shoes.
When you find your shoes, reinforce where you found them. Have the children close their eyes and hide your shoes again. You can go through this a couple of rounds.

Feed the Puppets

Targets: pronouns, categorization

Materials needed: two puppets, two categories of food.

How to play:

Put a puppet on each hand.
Have the food in a large basket or spread out over the floor.
Talk about how the puppets are hungry and need help to eat.
Tell the children what food to pick up and which puppet to feed. E.g., “She wants a fruit.” The child would then pick up an apple and feed the appropriate puppet.

Have the puppets pretend to eat the food if the child gives you the right food. Pretend that the puppet loves it and thank the child. If the child picks food from the wrong category, have the puppet overreact that they don’t want to eat that food. E.g., “No, No, No! I don’t like …” I will also have the puppet close its mouth and turn away from the child. Encourage the child to pick food from the correct category.

Matman

Targets: identifying emotions, body part vocabulary

Materials needed: whiteboard, dry erase markers, eraser, “Matman” song (optional)

How to play:

Draw Matman. If you are playing the song, draw Matman as you listen to the music.
Ask a child, “How does Matman feel?” Draw the feeling.
Have the children close their eyes. Draw a new emotion. Have the children open their eyes.
Ask the children, “How does Matman feel now?” Have the children identify the emotion.
Talk about why Matman feels that emotion.

Do this a few times. Tip! Show the emotion on your face and body as well. For more ideas on how to use Matman, go here.Pres

Action Spinner

Targets: Identifying and naming actions

Materials needed: Cards with different actions on it, “All Turn it Spinner” and a switch (optional), materials to help do the actions (e.g., if you have an open card, have a box with a lid).

How to play:

If you use a spinner and a switch, place the cards around the spinner.
Have the children come up one at a time and push the switch.
The child then names and/or acts out the action on the picture of the card. Depending on the actions chosen, I will have the children also act out the actions.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a spinner, then have them pull some cards from your hand and then complete the activity as above.

What’s Missing?

Targets: vocabulary

Materials needed: a blanket, five objects that are related to a theme or book. You can also use artic words.

How to Play:

Place the five objects in a horizontal line.
Go over the names of the objects and place a blanket over the objects.
Have the children close their eyes. Take one object away, then have the kids open their eyes.
With a flourish, remove the blanket.
Pick a child or have the children name what object is missing.

Here are five of my favorite preschool circle activities for SLPs . Click here for lesson plans. If you would like some tips to thrive during whole-group activities, go here. What are your favourite whole group activities?