SLP Mommy of Apraxia

Tag: speech therapy for apraxia

  • Costume Character Prosody Game

    Costume Character Prosody Game

    While working with one of my kiddos with CAS this past week, I improvised a fun way to incorporate prosody into our lesson.  Since it’s around Halloween, we said his target words in different voices like our ghost voice, monster voice, or vampire voice!  
    I decided to make a game that would work really anytime of year to work on prosody.  Say it like a Costume Character has 2 sets of 16 different costume characters.  Another 8 cards include fun game directions like: “Costume Caper!  Take a character from another player.”
    Each player has a game board with 8 spots.  Whoever fills up their game board first with a different character occupying each space wins!
    Of course, you could always just have your students draw a card and say their targets using their character imitation, or you can play Memory or Go Fish since two sets of cards are included.
    Find it in my TpT store: Say it Like a Costume Character
  • Language with a loom

    Language with a loom

    OT and PTs can have fun and creative activities for children. They provide good tactile and/or sensory activities that can also be great for practicing speech and language at the same time. 

    This loom idea from the Inspired Treehouse is a perfect example! For instructions on this easy to make loom check it out here! http://theinspiredtreehouse.com/fine-motor-activities-simple-outdoor-weaving-loom/
    We started first by cutting strips of material…a good fine motor activity. When my kids are cutting I have them say something for each cut. You can just make the /k/ sound, say “cut” if you’re working on initial /k/, final /t/, or on your CVC syllable shapes for apraxia therapy. For Ashlynn, we said “snip” since we are working in CCVC syllable shapes, including /s/ blends. 
    You could also practice sentences that you could set to song like “Are you sleeping” but sing “Are you cutting, are you cutting, yes I am!” 
    Melodic intonation therapy like this is easy and fun for parents to do at home!

    Next, we set our sites on weaving. This activity is great for locational words such as: top, middle, bottom, under, over, up. Kids with language processing deficits frequently have difficultly with comprehension and following directions that include these concepts. 

    Ashlynn kept wanting to start in the middle of the loom and I had to keep reminding her and showing her to start at the bottom. Then while we were weaving we chanted “in then out, in then out” to get practice with these concepts; however you could also practice saying just “in” or “out” or “up” if you’re working on VC syllable shapes.
    When you’re done you can give silly directions like, “throw the ball OVER the loom” or “roll the ball “UNDER” the loom. 
    We made this over a course of two days and now the kids have a little hideaway in the backyard!