Articulation Therapy Quick Plans

Hello strangers! As it turns out, I haven't blogged in a month and a half! I've been so busy trying to get the most out of the summer sunshine that it's been hard to sit down at the computer for more than 15 minutes at a time. That could also be a contributing factor to why I have FOUR new activities that are only partially completed at the moment! But last night, insomnia set in again and I had so many ideas to share I thought today should be the day I sit down and at least share one of them! So here it is-an idea to create very QUICK articulation lesson plans! But first, here is a funny sign I bought at Kirklands yesterday and thought I should share with you. :)

I see many of you do "full-blown" theme therapy which is totally amazing! I do get my theme therapy on frequently, but if 100% were my IEP goal for theme therapy we would be holding a review/revise meeting because I am not going to be reaching that goal in the next calendar year-it just isn't always my thing! My tips for and taking the time/stress out of planning for artic groups are based loosely on theme therapy, but in place of a "theme" choose an activity for each day of the week OR week of the month depending on how your students/clients are scheduled. A wonderful speechie in my district shared some ideas for how she chooses an activity for each day of the week for her articulation therapy. This works awesome for her because she has the majority of her artic kids scheduled in the "5 minute kids" model. As I am thinking about next school year, I haven't decided which model I am going to implement, but I am leaning towards the weekly one. Here are some ideas if you are going to try the daily model-work with me here on the alliterations.
1. Monday:"Marker Monday" (students use dry erase markers on laminated sheets/sheets in page protectors to practice their sounds), "Masterpiece Monday" (students make some sort of a craft/coloring/art project using their sounds), "Mash up Monday" (I recently bought these adorable smashmats from Simply Speech- Simply Speech's Articulation Smashmat Bundle) 2. Tuesday: "Techonology Tuesday" (students practice their sounds using technology-huge data collection win for the busy SLP), "Tapping Tuesday" (students practice their sounds while tapping out syllables/phonemes-think of fun things for kids to tap with including pointers, drum sticks, sticks, cut up pool noodles, pretzel rods, etc) 3. Wednesday: "Wiggly Wednesday" (students practice their words while doing different types of exercises- jumping jacks, toe touches, wall push ups, burpees, hopping, etc), "One Hundred Wednesday" (students have a goal to practice their sound 100 times-I love these sheets from Lauren LaCour) 4. Thursday: "Throw it Thursday" (students get to throw something with each other or you as they practice their sounds-basketball, bouncy ball, koosh ball, ping pong balls, etc.) "Thinking Thursday" (students practice their sounds while completing a thinking type activity-I like using the "describe it" game from my Articulation Carryover Activities to get kids thinking but you could use anything) 5. Friday: "Friday Fun-day" (students practice their sounds while doing something FUN-games, going outside, etc.)
If you are planning on opting for "weekly themes", just apply these to a whole week instead of just one day! Since I am planning on doing a weekly theme (yes I did just decide this in the process of writing this post)-I am going to poll my kids at the end of the month and see what week they liked best. I am planning on creating a graph where the kids can write their name on a sticky note and stick it in the column that depicts/says the activity they liked best. Then moving forward, I know what activities to come back to quicker and what activities to allow some time in between!
Please comment below with any ideas you have to add to my little list! Thanks for stopping by!