The Speech Tribe

The Speech Tribe updated their website address.

And that’s how my Monday went 🙃 here’s to a better tomorrow! 😂

You guys gave me feedback about themed therapy and how ultimately, you just don’t have time for all the prep it involves. So I created a resource just for you guys to equip you for LOW PREP themed therapy with just one page, one book, and one toy!

Click "Learn More" on my page to purchase!

Just a friendly reminder that you are a boss SLP and you are going to kill it this week! 🙌🏻⁠
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Happy Sunday! ☀️

To Theme or Not to Theme - That is the Hot Topic⁠
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With the upcoming fall season, some of us are starting to break out our seasonally themed therapy materials. If you've been here since last year then you know I LOVE themes! (Seriously - I filmed a speech room tour in a Santa suit) But, there are some therapists that feel intimidated by all the seasonal and holiday based themed materials shown daily on instagram and TpT! I've even heard therapists say they feel like a "bad therapist" because they don't use themes!⁠
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There is research that has found children demonstrated greater vocabulary acquisition with shared book reading followed by structured play with a theme and targeted vocabulary. There is also research that shows targeting vocabulary within a taxonomy and a theme promotes vocabulary depth - meaning they will create semantic connections! However, no where in these articles does it say that themes have to be holiday or seasonally based!⁠
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So what does this mean for you? It means "theme" does not equal "over the top holiday materials". Just find a book that covers a topic or category and some toys that represent target words found within the text (it could be food, vehicles, clothes, etc). You're still providing evidenced-based therapy without breaking the bank on TpT materials and feeling SLP guilt! Because you are NOT a bad therapist!⁠
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Hadley, E.B., & Dickinson, D.K. (2019). Cues for word-learning during shared book-reading and guided play in preschool. Journal of Child Language. doi: 10.1017/S0305000919000552.⁠
Hadley, E. B., Dickinson, D. K., Hirsch-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2018). Building semantic networks: The impact of a vocabulary intervention on preschoolers’ depth of word knowledge. Reading Research Quarterly. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1002/rrq.225⁠

I know what you’re thinking - why would I use a toy that scares my patients? Because they love it! Just like the first time you road a rollercoaster as a kid, you were scared at first and immediately after the initial shock you want to do it again! My kiddos love these jump-scare toys and even though it causes an initial flinch when it activates, they immediately say “LET’S PLAY AGAIN!”

makes most of my favorite games that scare! They have so many different toys so you could choose your favorite and use it as a staple item or get toys for themes throughout the year! These toys provide

Here are some ways to use this type of toy in your speech room:
-Take a turn with the toy after each word during drill practice
-Requesting a turn or the item needed for the toy (i.e. if you’re playing Pop the Pirate - “I want a sword”)
-Describing feelings while playing - excited, nervous, scared, silly
-Target words: “push”, “not yet”, “that/this one”, “your/my turn”

Now that I’ve shared about all four types of toy, leave a comment telling me what your favorite type of toy is! My answer is in the comments!

One of the things I love most about working with children is witnessing their creativity! Toys you can build not only foster this skill in children, but can also be used in so many ways in speech therapy!

Blocks and the Potato Head family are the most common building toys you can use in speech therapy. But there are so many more options! Playdoh, Magnetix, and Legos are great options that you can purchase in stores or find easily at Goodwill or at yard sales! You could also do something simple like putting beads on a pipe cleaner or stacking pencil-cap erasers!

Here are some ways to use this type of toy in your speech room:
-Requesting pieces to build - “I want a block” or “I want the eyes”
-Providing pieces as motivators for drill practice
-Target words: “up”, “crash”, “put”, “on”, “off”
-Use blocks or playdoh to create something given a description to target language goals - “Make something that has four legs” or “Make something you can use to cook”

Leave a comment telling me what’s your favorite toy you can build! Check back in tomorrow for toys that SCARE!

I don’t know what kids love more: eating or surprises! Their love for surprises is why toys you can open are so engaging in speech therapy!

Toys you can open don’t just have to be the rocks or presents pictured above from . Dragon snacks can be opened and is big enough to hide items or pictures in! An inexpensive option would be to use a cute bag or stocking to hide items in and reach in for a surprise!

You may have noticed that Dragon Snacks was featured yesterday as a toy that you can feed. I love a toy that can serve more than one function! That’s something I always think about when purchasing toys!

Here are some ways to use this type of toy in your speech room:
-Hide mini objects inside the toys to address speech and language goals and address each item as the child discovers it
-Hide articulation cards or pieces of a TpT resource in the toy
-Target words: “open”, “hide”, “in”, “out”, “surprise”
-Language expansion with carrier phrases “I found a/the…” or “Where is the…”
-Target WH questions, categorizing, or describing the items they find

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite toy that opens is! Tomorrow I’ll be sharing toys you can build!

“What toys do I need as a peds SLP?” Short answer: no where near as many as I have. Long answer: you really only need abut 5 toys that can meet at least one of the following categories: a toy you can feed, a toy you can open, a toy you can build, and a toy that scares.

Let’s talk about toys you can feed:
This type of toy is pretty self explanatory. Kids love feeding things - probably because eating is one of the tasks kids do the most! There are lots of toys you can feed like the toys I’ve pictured above. But you don’t have to buy a toy! You could create something with a monster face and a tissue box!

Here are some ways to use this type of toy in your speech room:
-Pieces can be fed as a motivator for drill practice
-Use mini objects to target language or speech goals and feed the toy after you address each object
-Target words: “eat”, “open”, “close”, “mouth”, “bite”, “hungry”, “more”, “all done”
-Requesting items to feed the toy
-Feed pieces from a TpT program such as shapes from Speech Bin or the characters from Hide and Find games

Leave a comment and tell me what’s your favorite toy to use in speech therapy! Then stay tuned for my post tomorrow about toys you can open!

You know those kids who want to do ANYTHING but practice /r/ for another second?? Well I have a few, and they’re proof that visual supports benefit everyone! I have found that breaking up the time into smaller pieces really works for my more restless kiddos because marking off the time segments is rewarding! So that’s six mini rewards leading up to the big prize of gym time (AKA hiding from Miss Tiffany in the ballpit for five minutes) 😂

The must-have material I’m obsessing over this Monday is the Forever Growing Speech Trinket Bundle from !
This resource is such a great companion for mini-objects to address language goals in addition to speech goals. Typically mini objects are organized by speech sounds, so having companions to address language goals is a good way to cover all your goals with one toy! All while supporting my CF philosophy of saving prep time in order to maximize our clinical skills!
Head to my blog with the link in my bio to learn more about what’s included in this bundle and my favorite ways to use it in therapy!

My intention for Wednesday Websites is to help you build a bookmark list in your internet browser of sites that provide helpful information as an SLP, and should be at the top of that list! This site provides you with monthly reviews of current research with the take away messages in layman’s terms. Basically, they read the research and pull out the therapy changing information so that we don’t have to! This is such an amazing resource for CF’s as we begin to provide a evidence based services on our own with little time to review the current research. Head to the Website highlight for more info!

The toy I’m obsessed with this Tuesday is Mini Objects! These are such a great collection to have in your toolkit to work with kids of various ages on various tasks! Articulation, pronouns, WH questions, and more! Head to my stories or the Staple Toys highlight to hear more about why I love mini objects for therapy!

Today’s Monday Material is the Ultimate Speech Bin Unit from on TpT. This resource is gold if you are working with kids on various articulation and language goals. Multiple themes included and ideas for implementation allow for continuous engagement with one material! Head on over to my stories or Materials highlight for more about how I plan to use it and storage.

The Speech Tribe updated their business hours.