How to Keep Your Students Working Hard for 30 Minutes

      As a speech therapist I work with multiple different disabilities and different levels of abilities. Sometimes I feel like I spend the whole therapy session just trying to control behaviors and to keep everyone working hard and on task for 30 minutes. Have you ever had that session where you look back and ask yourself if anyone learned anything? Okay I know it's not actually that bad, but sometimes that's honestly how I feel. 

Keeping Students Engaged in the Lesson

    Sometimes I forget what it was like to be a kid and how easily some things could entertain me. Last year I had a student who really struggled to stay with me when it was someone else's turn in the group to provide the answer to the question. I handed him a mini-white board and told him a number after each time it was his turn. He then spent the next student's turn trying to add or subtract two numbers on his white board. 

Articulation Game

      I spend so much of my day doing articulation therapy that I am always trying to come up with new and different games so that I don't have to play "Go Fish" over and over again! I know it sounds awesome that I get to spend my day playing "Go Fish", but it gets old very quickly when you do it multiple times a day. :D 

How to Organize your Speech Therapy Closet

     I hope your therapy closet doesn't look as crazy as mine! Okay it's not that bad. It's just when you have 5 minutes between groups and you're throwing one therapy item back into the closet and then grabbing another one out it can get crazy fast. I created labels so I can have designated areas for everything and hopefully keep everything in its place. 

Desk Reminders for Speech Therapy

      As a speech path at the elementary level I am constantly on the go as I have a new group about every 30 minutes. I know it's great for my health, but sometimes I feel like so much time of therapy is wasted walking down the hall so I have created speech therapy desk reminders to help my student remember when it is their speech time. I'm hoping to use this with my older kiddos and maybe some of my responsible younger kiddos. :)

How to Keep a Student's Attention

        Most of my therapy sessions are about 30 minutes and for some of my kiddos that 30 minutes can feel much much longer! Last year I implemented using sticker charts. At the beginning of the year I have my students pick out a sticker chart. We discuss what it takes to get to pick out a sticker and add it to their sticker chart at the end of the session. You can individualize the rules per group, based on school 

Language Bundle for Back to School

      I always start the school year with great intentions. Then comes paperwork, meetings, oh and did I mention paperwork and meetings?! This year I decided to get everything ready to go before school gets started so I don't have to worry about finding time to do my lesson planning at the beginning of the year. I created a language bundle for all of my language students.