Holidays provide meaningful opportunities to engage students in therapy while making learning enjoyable. Valentine’s Day, in particular, offers many creative ways to target language, articulation, and social communication skills within a functional and motivating context. Language: Fostering Meaningful Communication Resources such as Canva, PowerPoint, and Pink Cat Games can be used to create slides depicting Valentine’s Day scenes. Having students describe aspects of the illustrations, such as flowers, chocolates, cards, and candy, is an effective way to encourage the functional use of adjectives and descriptive language. Valentine’s-themed items can also be used for compare-and-contrast activities (e.g., different kinds of candy or types of flowers) to build vocabulary, categorization skills, and expressive language. Articulation: Word Lists and Beyond One fun and adaptable way to incorporate Valentine’s Day into a therapy session is by playing a themed game of Would You Rather. Creating holiday-related questions opens opportunities for naturalistic discussion while allowing the clinician to listen closely for target sounds and carryover. Craft activities are another engaging way to take articulation drills to the next level. Creative pairings of speech sounds with Valentine’s crafts, such as making a Mad Libs page, creating a “love bug,” or completing a themed articulation dot-art page, help maintain motivation while supporting speech practice. Social Language: The Possibilities Are Endless Holidays are also ideal for addressing higher-level language and social skills. Realistic scenarios can be applied to students’ own experiences, such as discussing manners when receiving gifts or identifying kind and appropriate ways to show care for others. Practicing giving and receiving compliments through structured games allows students to share joy and kindness in ways that are meaningful and well-received by peers. These ideas demonstrate how imagination and clinical expertise can come together to make speech therapy enjoyable, functional, and full of care for our clients. Hannah Collie, M.S., CCC-SLP
As an SLP and a mom, when school is out, that does not mean it is a day off. It just means it is a day in. I have a kindergartner who is learning to read, and as we all know, repetition is the mother of skill. That does not mean we are doing drills all day every day. Instead, I focus on what truly matters: carryover. Carryover is helping children use skills they have learned in therapy and the classroom in real-life situations. Carryover can come from anywhere. It may show up in math class, reading instruction, or speech therapy. It allows children to take what they have learned and apply it across settings, people, and routines. As Patricia Marshalla explains in Carryover Techniques in Articulation and Phonology Therapy (2010): “Carryover is the ability for an individual to take a skill learned in therapy and apply it to different situations and contexts. Home practice and carryover help children maintain and build on the skills they need to thrive.” This philosophy guides how I approach learning at home, especially on days when school is closed. So, what did I do on the first snow day of the school year? I went straight to one of my favorite resources, Teachers Pay Teachers. Not a paid partnership, just the Golden Ticket straight into the chocolate factory of top‑tier materials. I searched for kindergarten-level short stories, and we completed a few together. The experience felt manageable, productive, and enjoyable. We spent about 45 minutes to an hour, and both walked away feeling accomplished. As a speech-language pathologist working in schools every day, I know how important it is for therapy goals to carry over into the home. That is why I have hand-selected free, parent-friendly resources that target a wide range of speech and language goals. This list is just a starting point and a simple way to begin building an at-home resource library that supports learning during snow days, holidays, and school breaks. Because when school is out, learning does not stop. It just looks a little more like real life. Speech Therapy Home Handouts Free Speech Sound Hand Cues PDF Early Language Ideas for Home Language Development Game for Toddlers: Fill the Farm Free Speech Therapy Scavenger Hunt for Vocabulary Homework and Distance Learning Free Social Cues Short Stories W/ Questions Worksheets Autism Therapy Speech SEL Caregiver Strategies Handout for Preschool-age Stuttering Sign Language Top 10 Signs Superhero: Behavior Management Tools Speech Therapy for Toddlers Cheat Sheet Social Scenarios and Problem Solving Yes and No Questions practice for Autism WH- Questions: home practice, parent handout Family Game Night for Language Development Parent Handout: Speech Practice On The Go Courtney Stafford, M.S., CF-SLP
What is ADHD? ADHD is a medical condition where the brain develops differently in ways that affect a child's executive function skills. These are thinking skills (e.g. working memory, planning, inhibiting impulses) that allow us to take actions moving toward a goal, like completing a specific task. Children with ADHD typically have struggles with attention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, or a combination of the two. ADHD & Communication Executive function is a foundation that supports many areas children use to communicate and interact with others: motor skills to produce speech sounds, language skills to understand what people say and make their own responses, understanding the rules for how to use language for social functions, and social-emotional skills to build relationships with peers. Differences in executive function for children who have ADHD are therefore likely to influence their communication skills as well. Evaluating students for speech & language with ADHD Since ADHD has influences on communication, when evaluating students with ADHD for speech & language it's often helpful to adapt your administration to account for differences in executive function skills. Give breaks as needed & allow extra time to complete the assessment Adjust your testing environment (e.g. remove potential distractions) Structure the assessment (e.g. give client sense of what to expect) Adapt the assessment plan as needed Speech Assessments Look at speech sounds at levels with increased complexity above just single words (e.g. sentences, reading, structured conversation, unstructured conversation) Check for rate of speech, volume, or intelligibility changes in unstructured contexts Informally observe language/organizational skills in longer speech utterances (e.g. topic maintenance/shifts, narrative skills, organization of details) Language Assessments Consider working memory & attentional demands in instructions & tasks when selecting the assessment to use Look at narrative skills & organization of ideas in language samples Consider using dynamic assessment to look at whether language skills improve with teaching If assessing for pragmatics, look at social interactions one-on-one vs. in a group setting (e.g. the classroom) Therapy strategies for students When working with students who have ADHD, executive function differences are likely to affect how your sessions go. These are some strategies that can help you structure sessions & navigate interactions with students. Guide students back to tasks with redirection & give choices Use visual supports (e.g. visual schedule, first/then, visual timer) for activities to structure session Adjust level of scaffolding (prompts, cues) as needed to support the student. You can use more than one modality (e.g. visuals) if verbal supports aren't enough on their own Give a minimal number of directions or steps at a time Break tasks into smaller chunks Adjust level of movement, sensory inputs/demands (lights, noise, texture, deep pressure) Look at the level of variety or structure in your sessions. E.g. have a consistent routine to transition into sessions, incorporate student interests into activities, or go with the flow and follow your student's lead. Navigating obstacles/challenges For students who have ADHD (and students in general!), variability & motivation often affect progress in therapy. SLPs don't medically manage ADHD, or choose whether/how it happens. We don't choose what students do. We do treat areas that are affected by ADHD and its management, and we can choose how we work with students. When navigating sessions and behavior management, here are some recommendations. Look for patterns & contributing factors when sessions go off the rails (e.g. is it happening because they're missing a favorite period or preferred activity? If they take medication, how long has it been since they received it? Are there sensory factors/home life factors at play?) Consider what can you choose vs. not choose in your sessions Adjust expectations for what success is in your sessions Look at the intent vs. impact of behavior that students do Remember that our clients are more than what they do. Our students often pick up on spoken & unspoken perceptions of them, and many times they are looking for people who support them. Takeaways ADHD affects foundational skills supporting communication. We can choose how we approach & support students in therapy, and there may not always be simple solutions. Look at your perspective & expectations for what a successful session is for these students. -Ian Quillen, M.S., CCC-SLP
