SLP OUTSIDE THE BOX

Who doesn’t love a great meal? Planning a dinner for two, four, or six is a great functional activity that targets a combination of skills. It’s also a fun and delicious task to practice if you have access to a kitchen with your client. Start with something simple and increase the complexity over time. If your client loves to cook they will really enjoy this idea.

Using scripts can be a fantastic way to help your client rediscover their independence and improve their confidence in communicating with others . Many individuals with communication disorders find themselves letting family do the speaking for them especially when out in public. Why not create familiar scenarios and have the client practice with you privately and later practice in public.

Hey Siri. Hey Alexa. There’s definitely a place for AI in speech therapy. We can use this technology to target functional speech and voice goals. Voice activated commands can be used to check the weather, add appointments to calendars, play music, or place phone calls.  

This idea can be tailored to almost anyone. Everyone has a favorite store, hobby, or personal interest of some sort right? This activity can be used at a hardware store, thrift store, bakery, toy store, pet store, and even online.  The activity can be used to target a variety of skills (executive function, attention, language, and memory). Set a budget and let FUNctional therapy begin.

This idea is a great way to target receptive language, attention, and more. I love to find You-Tube videos that are of interest to my clients. Videos are great because you can pause and rewind as needed. This will help reinforce strategies with your client such as asking for repetition or asking people to slow down when needed. This task also targets many additional cognitive processes as well. 

Who doesn’t love sharing what they know? Allow your client to become the teacher. Let them share with you how to complete a favorite recipe or design a garden. This idea targets speech, language, executive function, and more.