Summer Speech Therapy

Speech is the area we work on most with Chelsea. I want her to be able to communicate more than anything, and we try for 15-30 minutes of dedicated practice every day. We also incorporate as many opportunities for verbal success as we can. Here are some of both:

• Any time we go somewhere (the farm, zoo, museum, on a hike), we practice saying, "I see _____" or "I hear ______"

• Target word BINGO. This one is Chelsea's favorite. We have little BINGO cards with pictures of her target words on them (puppy, mop, pen, etc). I use mini marshmallows as tokens, and when I call out the word, she has to repeat it 3 times, and gets to place a marshmallow on that square. Once she gets a BINGO, she can eat all the marshmallows.

This isn't one of Chelsea's, just one I found online that I liked
and hope to use one day when she is learning opposites

• Play Candy Land with target words/ sounds on each card. I like playing this one, but Chelsea is hit or miss.

• Sequence simple stories! This is a receptive language activity. For Chelsea, I tell the story, then mix up the cards and have her put them in the correct order. If you type in "3 Picture sequencing worksheets" into google, there are a ton!

 

• Do our ABC sound book. We go through the alphabet and sing "Apple, apple, ah, ah, ah", practicing the sound of each letter.

 

• Oral motor practice! Honestly, I don't like this one at all, so we don't do it as much as we should. This means practicing sticking out your tongue, opening your mouth, breathing in and out on command, etc. This was a big part of Chelsea's therapy when she was about 2, and I am burned out.

 

• Practice signing correctly! This is good for snack time or when Chelsea wants to play something. I will form her hands into the correct shape for what she is trying to say, model it, and have her practice.

ASL Alphabet

 

• Have a contest to see who can hold a vowel the longest! This is super good for breath control, and fun for Chelsea to "beat me" at something. So we will do "eee" or "aaah" for several seconds.

 

• Animal sounds! This is fun for when we are playing with her plastic animal toys. Usually when Chelsea plays, she is totally silent. I try to get her to say "moo" for the cow, "woof" for the dog, etc. Still a work in progress!

 

• Prepositions!!! We have been working on these for so, so long, but it is still a hard concept for little miss, so we keep at it. I usually get two objects, and say "Put the block on the table" or "Put the book under the chair" OR have Chelsea model the prepositions "Hide behind the chair" or "get on the couch"