I really like to use crafts during my speech therapy sessions. Like REALLY SUPER PUFFY HEART craft activities!
Crafts are great in speech therapy sessions for several reasons:
- Kids are more motivated to create something to take home to mom!
- The language skills can be addressed naturally as we work.
- I can get larger amounts of spontaneous conversation for articulation practice.
- It creates a structured setting my kids who stutter to be comfortable and less likely to stutter.
- You can address so many goals if you are in a group setting.
- You can STILL address so many goals with individual clients!
Today’s post is focusing on stuttering. I have a few kiddos in speech therapy right now that are good in single words and phrases. So we need structured settings to address their smooth speech. I love to use crafts for this! To set the theme of the session, we usually read a book. I make sure to read slower than I would usually to emphasize smooth speech. At the end of each page, I ask question (smoothly) about the story. I try to make sure the answer isn’t a long sentence. Depending on the child, the answer could be no more than 5 words. If the child happens to struggle, we talk about our smooth speech and how important it is that we use it. We will even practice the answer together smoothly.
After the book is finished, then it’s time for crafting! We talk about the materials we need and what we are making. I try to have the craft already made so the child can see a finished product. (Notice I said “try.” It doesn’t always work!) As the child requests different materials, we are still using a smooth speech. The child has to ask a grammatically correct question with smooth speech to get the pieces he needs. In the case of the pizza craft, the child had to ask for glue 3x, cheese 6x, the brown crayon 1x, and each time he needed a pepperoni. We talked about what we did first, second and last. To an outsider, it looks like language therapy. But the entire time, we speaking with easy, smooth tones. If at anytime, the child is bumpy, we review our “Super Speech Reminders” to keep it smooth. When I hear the child speak smoothly, I compliment him on a super smooth sentence! (Usually I get a look of “WOW! I didn’t even know I was smooth!!”)
How do you like to treat stuttering?
If you want to read about our pizza craft, click here.
