https://youtu.be/XbUgV1GqJ1oAlternative Learning Speech and Language Activities
http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/01/24/what-works-strategies-that-help-toddlers-learn-to-talk/
http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/01/27/what-doesnt-work-unproductive-strategies-for-helping-toddlers-learn-to-talk/
For prek age: go to tandemspeechtherapy.com and go to their blog. There are some great activities on how to incorporate language with play using everyday toys like playdough, easter eggs, etc.
Below is an awesome link resource for free activities/ideas.
Articulation Activities:
Visit the website “Mommy Speech Therapy” at www.mommyspeechtherapy.com and click on “Free Downloads.” Scroll down the page to find the sound you are working on in speech. Practice your sound in the words five times each and one time each in a sentence.
Open a book and find 10 words in the book with your speech sound. The sound can be at the beginning, middle, or end of the word (for example the “r” sound, “red, pirate, door”). Practice saying the words 10 times each using your best speech.
Make a list of words you can think of that start with your speech sound (around 10-20 words if possible). Practice saying each word in a sentence using your best speech.
Language Activities:
If you have any of these games, play them with your student. Hedbanz, Spot It, Scattegories, Apples to Apples, Guess Who, Memory, Simon, Uno These games are great at targeting language and memory goals.
Play a game of “Simon Says” to target following directions. You can incorporate basic concepts and multiple steps into your directions to make it more challenging. (For example, “Simon says pat your head ONLY IF YOU HAVE RED HAIR,” “Simon says do 2 jumping jacks and 1 pushup,” “Simon says sit down if your name starts with M or jump if your name starts with L., etc.”) For younger students keep it to 1-2 simple steps, but with older students you can make this a challenging game that makes them think about each direction.
After your child reads a book or watches a movie, ask them WH questions. “Who was the story about? What are 3 things that happened? Where did it take place? When did the story take place? Who solved the problem? Why was the solution a good (or bad) idea?”
Pick two toys and state one way that the toys are alike and one way that the toys are different. (You can also compare and contrast two books, foods, appliances, clothing items, animals etc.)
Ask your student to name items in categories. “Name 3 farm animals. Name 3 things that are red. Name 3 desserts. Name 3 things your wear. Name 3 games. Name 3 sports. Name 3 colors. Name 3 types of birds. Name 3 ocean animals. Name 3 holidays, etc.
***If your child does not remember what speech sounds or language areas they are working on or if you have any specific questions I can be reached at chlebusj@meridianhawks.net
For those of you with younger, prek/k age students who struggle with communicating effectively, here are a few strategies that may help and won’t add much into your daily routine. Some of these strategies may also work for older students to work on language skills. Children learn best by listening and be sure to use your best speech; do not talk down to your children or engage in baby talk; be a good speech model:
during play have your child imitate while playing with trains, cars and other transportation: “vroom”, “choo choo”, “beep beep”, “honk honk”, etc.
playing with farm animals: make the sounds the animals make. Have them go “in”, “on”, and “under” things in the house and talk about what they are doing.
expand on what they say. If they say “moo”, say, “yes, the cow says moo”. If they say “go”, say, “yes, the car can go”. etc. Expose them to adjectives, verbs, etc by expanding on what they say, just adding one or two little words or phrases to their utterance.
during bath time you can teach about body parts as you are washing them. You can teach about opposites/concepts like wet and dry and hot and cold and clean and dirty and in and out. You can teach them action words like pour, wash, scrub, dry. You can teach them object words like tub, water, soap, towel, bubbles, various toy names.
while you are getting them dressed you can teach about body parts and clothing that goes with different body parts. Be silly: put a sock on his/her nose and ask if that’s where it belongs and see if they can tell you where it does belong. You can teach opposites like on/off, up/down, clean/dirty, mine/yours, in/out. You can teach actions like stand, sit, button, zip, brush, put on, tie, take off. You can teach object words like shirt, pants, shoes, etc.
during meal times you can teach them opposites/concepts like hot/cold, empty/full, more/less, all gone, all done, big/little. You can teach them actions like pour, sit, stand, clean up, stir, eat, drink, bite, cut, wash. You can teach them objects like fork, spoon, cup, plate, milk, various drink and food names, etc.
as you are driving, point out colors and sizes. “see the big tree?” “look at the little bush”, “see the red car”.
basically, anything that you are doing, talk to them about what you are doing and use descriptive words.
Finally, READ to your child. Look at picture books together. Talk about the pictures that you see. Ask them to tell you what they see. Expand on what they say. Even when your child is able to read themselves, having a family reading time where you all sit around and read a book aloud together is beneficial and fun.