PSA: Successful speech therapy sessions don’t need to include sitting at a table for 45-minutes!
Anyone familiar with my therapy style knows I love incorporating movement and using as few toys as possible. One of my first goals for many clients is demonstrating shared enjoyment in activities. The best way to build rapport and gain trust is to simply play, move around, and follow each client's lead.
This past week, we had fun with a multi-step obstacle course filled with sensory activities. Each colored circle on the floor represents a different movement (yellow means wiggle, red means jump, blue means spin, and pink means to stop and stand.) When we got to the end of our colorful line, we used the barn with animals, where we practiced some prepositions. Afterward, my client used the scooter to move across the floor to the big window, where he loved playing “I spy” while watching the cars pass.
We then moved into our large therapy room, where we practiced our ‘big, slow, scary bear steps” to walk across our piano and make a song. He then spun in the green bucket seat, crawled through the tunnel, and jumped onto our crash mat. While on the crash mat, we read a bo
ok of his choice and worked on identifying action words. At the end of our obstacle course, he sat and bounced on the unicorn while answering wh-questions.
Guess what? We ran the obstacle course twice during the session and never once sat at the table.
I describe all this to say that “productive” speech therapy sessions don’t need to include sitting at a table doing worksheets. Don’t be afraid of allowing children to move around and receive sensory input. We target several social and language goals, all while rarely sitting still and never using a table.
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