Back to School Speech Therapy Tips: Building Rapport and Engaging Crafts for the First Week

Hi friends!

 

It's that time of the year when the kids are cracking open those new notebooks and headed to school feeling refreshed from a nice, long summer break. And you're in your office juggling 75 teacher schedules wondering how you will fit every kid in for speech therapy while also not having 7 kids in one mixed group.

 

 

I sympathize with you on this fellow speechies!

 

• It's ok if this week of therapy doesn't go as planned!
• It's ok to focus on building rapport this week instead of directly addressing goals-kids need to trust us and know us before they would smash those goals anyway!
• You're a fantastic therapist even if your schedule doesn't work the first time around.

During the first week of therapy is a great time to do some crafts and this is what I would plan in my ideal session. Crafts take the pressure off of direct questioning and allow for lots of insight into a child's planning and execution of multi-step directions towards a completed project.

 

I like using my Back To School Stuffer Craft for those early weeks of speech because they're so easy to pair with a book or video and I can adapt them to fit my needs. The current bundle has printouts for:

•  Articulation targets: CH, SH, TH, F, V, S, Z, R, Vocalic R, J, L, K, and G
• Language targets: WH Questions, Synonyms, Antonyms, Homophones, Yes/No Questions, Describing, Pronouns (his/her/their), and Categories

 And here's how I like to put a little twist on it! 🔁

 

Once the kids have finished coloring the colors, I like to ask them personality based questions based off of the colors they used!

 

For example, I might say, “If you colored a color BLUE, tell me if you have any pets/what your family is like/what your favorite subject is/who your hero is.”

 

I make sure to play along, so the kids know a bit about me as well. This really helps them establish rapport with me and encourages sharing if they're more shy or reserved.

If you try it, tag me on Instagram (@speech.tea), I always LOVE seeing what you're up to in your speech room!

Happy speeching!