Use them in crafts.

Use them in crafts. Have students glue them to different pictures or crafts, such as these woven books. Have students say their words as they glue the cards to the craft.

If you need a quick activity, put out various craft materials and cut out mini artic cards. Have the students create their own crafts. Still have the children say the words if they are attaching the cards. Tip! Try to use materials that contain the students’ target sounds. For how to use child-directed crafts in therapy, go here.

Send them as homework.

A block or page of mini artic cards is a quick low prep option to send home as homework. It will save you time and trees as you are not printing off pages and pages of artic cards.

You can also send “homework cards,” as seen here. This allows a parent to add new words for the student to practice at home slowly. If your privacy laws permit, send a card back with the student during school. Have the student show their card to specific staff members and say their words. At one of my schools, the principal would spend part of her day visiting with children and doing a quick check-in on their word. Tip! Send home words that the student is most successful at pronouncing.

Use in five-minute artic drills.

Instead of carrying around cards to do 5-minute drills, print off the mini artic cards into a book. Then flip to the page you need for your student and start practicing. You can also use the artic book to probe students’ articulation skills.

Use as stickers.

If you have students who insist on having a sticker at the end of the session, print off the mini artic cards and use them like stickers. That way, the students’ “reward” is practical.

If you would like a copy of the homework cards, go here. If you would like my version of mini artic cards, get them here.

Let me know if you use mini artic cards and how you use them.

Sorting by Syllables

Have a syllable sorting mat out, and after the child has said their sound put it on the corresponding part of the mat. Be careful with this one. If you have a child who already breaks up a word and has trouble blending them back together (for example, they pronounce “spot” as “s-pot”), I will not do this activity. It would only reinforce pronouncing the sounds separated from the rest of the word. I would also avoid onset rime activities.

Sort by where the target sound occurs in the word.

Once a student can pronounce their sound at the initial word level, I like to work on it in the middle and final position. Then I go up the hierarchy. Once they have said their word, then they place it on the sorting mat.

Alternatively, you can layout their artic cards. Name a location (e.g., beginning, middle, end), and then the student finds a word with their sound in that location.

Sort by the number of sounds in a word.

After the student has said their sound, have the student sound out the word, slowly separating the sounds of the word. When done, put the card on the sorting mat and then blend all the sounds back together again.

Make up silly words by replacing words with their sounds.

Making up words is usually good for a laugh but go through the words you make so that you don’t accidentally make up an inappropriate word. Show your student(s) different artic cards. Have them pick a card. Delete the beginning sound or ending sound of a word with their sound to make a new word. Sometimes for fun, I’ll have the students make up a definition for the new word.

The examples here were from my Lunch with CH product from my TpT store, but most of these sorting mats can be easily and quickly made or you can download a freebie.  For other speech therapy ideas go here.

What are your favourite ways to bring literacy activities into speech therapy?

Speech Language Pathologists sometimes find themselves doing therapy or assessments in all sorts of different places. One of my favourite places outside of class or a therapy room is in the gym.  It is a great place to bring moving in speech therapy.  If not in the gym, I still build in movement as much as possible.  Why?