skip to Main Content

How to: Make Speech Practice Fun!

As a speech-language pathologist, I strive to make my therapy sessions engaging and fun for the kiddos I work with. How do I do this? Play!

Play-based therapy is a technique that may not only have your child looking forward to speech, but it may also allow them to receive benefits beyond their core target goals.

There are several benefits to play-based therapy; this type of therapy can truly capture a child’s attention and when they are more engaged and motivated, they are likely to learn and retain more information. Playing games and participating in activities often requires children to take turns, a skill that is important for them to develop in order to interact with peers.  It also provides children opportunities to practice initiating interactions, engage in conversations and ask questions if they need help. Beyond that, play encourages language skills such as following directions and sequencing tasks. Finally, participating in games exposes children to winning and losing and provides opportunities to discuss how one should have good sportsmanship and respect for others.

This may all sound great, but are you still wondering how all of this can be done along with a child’s core target goals, whether those are articulation, language, pragmatics, comprehension, etc.

Well, see if any of the games or activities below would interest your child: (Activities are listed with possible core target skills)

  • Blowing bubbles – Asking questions, speech sound production, gestures (more, open)
  • Guess Who – Asking questions, speech sound production /s/, /z/
  • Play Dough – Receptive and expressive language, speech sound production
  • Pretend food – Categories, describing, speech sound production
  • Toy cars – Speech sound production, antonyms, describing
  • Blocks – Prepositions, following directions, speech sound production
  • Battle Ship – Receptive and expressive language, speech sound production
  • Music – Expressive language, speech sound production, describing, fluency

You can do it too, when at home with your child working on their target skills, ask yourself “what can we do to make this fun and exciting?”
Written by speech-language pathologist, Katie George

Back To Top

Patient Reviews

LLA Therapy

Patient Reviews

Crystal Scheibe

Facebook
Great place, glad we found them. Been going to Medina over 2 months now and he loves Lauryn and Kyler. Wish they had more ABA therapy places available... live in Wooster and long drive everyday.

Karrie Swan LaRock

Facebook
My 11 year old son has dyslexia and has made noticeable gains in working At LLA THERAPY. Katie is strong in her approach toward him and also keeps him comfortable enough to perform well. We will continue visiting both the Fairlawn and Hudson offices and recommend them highly.

Ron Monroe

Facebook
My 9 year old just completed about 9 months of weekly speech sessions (due to his stuttering) with Matt Hagge at LLA and we are thrilled with the experience and results. What I thought might be a negative (what kid really wants to go to speech class?) was made very positive by Matt, and my son never hesitated or complained when we talked about class. He really enjoyed it and really took what Matt taught him to heart. His speech has been greatly improved and we definitely recommend LLA. Thank you so much!

Heather Dougherty-Pantoja

Facebook
My son’s Occupational Therapist, Jess, is an amazing OT! She gives practical tips on working with my son at home and school!

Terri Apgar

Facebook
I cannot say enough good things about LLA Therapy. My daughter was a client of Teal Simmons’ for approximately 2 years and was just released from speech therapy! She was diagnosed with Apraxia in 2015 and worked with Teal twice a week. Through Teal’s application of PROMPT therapy, my daughter had age-appropriate speech after one year. All of the staff we interacted with at LLA were absolutely wonderful. They really care about what they do and making sure your child achieves their goals.

Kelli Geisler Davisson

Facebook
LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for my son as well as my family! My son always asks, "When can I go see Ms. Jeannine again, is it Monday??" He has also made huge gains in only 5 months! I would highly recommend LLA and have already shared my experience with friends looking for services!

Victoria Hansford-Price

Facebook
We are so grateful for our Speech Therapist Ms.Teal. We have seen a great improvement with our sons confidence and communication abilities since we have started "Prompt" therapy. What we love the most about LLA and Ms. Teal is that Kohl feels comfortable and relaxed which has played a critical role in his progress. Thank you Ms. Teal for all you have done.

Laura Lee Hogsett

Facebook
They have helped in numerous ways. Speech, OT and behavioral. I've had numerous compliments on my son's progress thanks in very large part to LLA. I would recommend LLA before I recommend our local children's hospitals, though they are good, they don't have the staff that LLA does.

Amy Furukawa

Facebook
We had a great experience with Matt Hagge at LLA! Our Middle School age son was becoming very conscious of his voice, which is nasal due to a cleft palate. Matt helped him to better form his sounds and project his voice in a way that makes the unavoidable nasality less noticeable.Our son is more confident and outgoing & even took on a speaking role in the church play. Matt has the perfect personality to relate with our son, and we would recommend him to anyone needing speech therapy services!

Jessica Havalotti

Facebook
LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for our daughter. I would highly recommend LLA. Miss Grace was so amazing and I can't believe how quickly our daughter showed improvement. Thank you!
Read More