What worked with my preschool and elementary school aged kids? (Part 3)
by
Purvi Gandhi
This week, I’m going to continue talking on how I was able to use some of the toys at my home to facilitate speech and language goals in children.
Use of Sensory/Tactile items:
I have used play doh, slime, putty, kinetic sand, moon sand, etc. to create different scenarios, make characters and different items from a variety of categories. With older age group kids, I have made slime with glitter and play doh during the therapy session.
Goals:
Providing sensory/tactile feedback.
Improving play skills, imagination and creativity in kids.
Following 1-step, 2-step, multi-step directions.
Asking and answering -Wh (what, where, who, why) questions.
Vocabulary building and labeling nouns.
Labeling action verbs, pronouns, prepositions, and adjectives.
Labeling color, shape and size of the items while using play-doh.
Problem-solving strategies.
Sequencing and retelling steps to make slime.
Describing items with reference to its attributes/functions.
Formulating grammatically correct sequential sentence structures using appropriate parts of speech, grammatical markers, and punctuation markers.
Writing sequential steps using descriptive language for older age groups.
Pragmatic language goals like attending, requesting items, taking turns, asking questions to clarify, and listening to the speaker.
Working on articulation goals while creating items with the sound you are working on during the session.
Use of Farm, Zoo, Ocean animals or any theme based toys:
I have utilized a farmhouse with animals, zoo animals, ocean animals- go fishing, cookie makers, pizza makers, ice-cream makers, car garage, train tracks, monster trucks to facilitate pretend play skills with the clients while working on a variety of speech and language goals.
Goals:
Improving play skills, imagination and creativity in kids.
Following 1-step, 2-step, multi-step directions.
Asking and answering -Wh (what, where, who, why) questions.
Vocabulary building and labeling nouns.
Labeling action verbs, prepositions, pronouns, and adjectives.
Labeling color, shape and size of the items while using pretend play toys.
Problem-solving strategies.
Sequencing and retelling steps while pretend playing.
Describing items with reference to its attributes/functions.
Pragmatic language goals like attending, requesting items, taking turns, asking questions to clarify, and listening to the speaker.
Working on articulation goals while playing with the pretend toys.
