Speech 2U

Once you reach them, you can teach them.

Super Simple Articulation Hacks for the Busy SLP

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Is anyone else working this summer?  Being in a clinic and schools means that I work year round. Usually I’m super energized by the sun and thoughts of summer activities but this year we had a late Spring (our strawberry fields haven’t even come in yet).  I’m coming off a rainy weekend, which makes me feel even more tired.  My to do list is getting longer as I ignore it in favor of my “to couch” list.  

I originally entitled this post as a lazy speech therapy post-but received valuable feedback from some readers.  One of them drew my attention to recent article published online.   Have you read the Wall Street Journal online article which calls our field notoriously sleepy and low tech?  It’s frustrating.  While my “lazy speech therapy posts” were written tongue in cheek, I also don’t want to contribute to any public misconceptions that we are sleepy or lazy (with the exception of how sleepy we are after completing 200 IEPs our apparently as sleepy as I am this summer).  So I’m retitling this post to read, “Super Simple Articulation Card Hacks for the Busy SLP.”  I keep seeing this “hack” thing come up in Social Media posts.  From what I can tell it just means tips.  But I’m probably missing something really important in the shades of meaning of this new term.  Feel free to laugh quietly to yourself about this old Speech language pathologist’s attempts to use those words the young kids are saying.  

Here are 2 games that I played this week which allow you to get a large number of repetitions in a short period of time using a very minimal amount of your valuable prep time.  
My Cards/Your Cards:  

This is a great activity to practice phrase level productions.  

1. Grab a deck of articulation cards.
2. Explain rules: “You can tell me who gets which card by saying ‘My ______ ‘ or ‘Your _______.’Whoever has the most cards at the end of the deck wins. 
3. Act increasingly outraged as the child continues to say “My ________.”

Switcheroo:
The perfect game if your articulation cards are messy and out of order.  

1. Grab a deck of articulation cards.
2. Explain rules: “I’m going to turn over a card and you have to say it.  If the card is facing the wrong way, say ‘________ is turned around.  Time to switcheroo.’ ”  
3. Switch chairs with the client.  This game is more fun if you have a different chair then the child.   I like to complain about how small their chair is and how it is giving me back pain. Sometimes I beg them to give me my comfortable chair back.  

What “lazy” games do you use in therapy?  I’d love to hear your suggestions below.  You can also contact me on Twitter @speech2you, #lazyspeechtherapy

As always, if you liked this post, I’d love it if you would share it with your friends through Facebook or Pinterest by clicking on the links below.  

Comments

  1. Using cards to play Go Fish – use doubles of each card and you can get phrase level “Do you have a _____?”

    Bean bag toss onto the artic cards.

    Matching game with cards (doubles, face down)

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