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they had in the time period since the last therapy
session. Drawing is great but it’s also exciting for the
children to glue in movie ticket stubs, birthday cards,
or sports day ribbons, etc. It is particularly good for
targeting past tense language. It ensures a parent–child
language activity is completed at home as I ask to see
what they’ve been up to at the beginning of every
session. Sometimes we draw what we’ve done for the
therapy session so the child can go home and tell the
other parent about it. I also have my own experiences
book that I draw and glue pictures in to steer the child
towards a certain therapy goal. For example, a picture
of a visit to the beach can target beach vocabulary,
irregular past tense verbs (swam, ran, rode, etc.), or
even word initial /b/ or word final “ch”. I have even
had parents own an experiences book to help model
past tense discourse. The children take great pride in
their book (providing increased motivation) which they
can share with extended family and friends.
5
Digital camera
A picture is worth a thousand words (and language
structures) and children love to look at pictures of
themselves. In fact, they seem to enjoy looking at
photos of just about anything familiar from their plate
and spoon, to their bedroom or even their favourite
shoes. With digital camera technology children can now
see the snapshot immediately after it has been taken,
making the task of the photography itself a language
activity in addition to the activities designed once the
shots are in printed form. With parental permission, the
pictures of a role-play activity of one child can make up
the picture sequencing cards for another child.
6
Box of everyday objects (shoe, sock, cup,
toothbrush, spoon, ball, hat etc.)
Working with little ones, a box of common objects is
surprisingly useful for bringing everyday life into the
therapy room. The items enable targeting of phrases
related to everyday routines at the therapy table. Our
therapy requires parental participation during the
session and follow-up at home so theoretically all items
inside must found in any typical household.
7
Colourful, empty bags and boxes
From my auditory-verbal training, I found it is of
utmost importance that auditory input always precedes
the visual. Therefore on top of generating intrigue, cute
and interesting boxes and bags make the presentation
of a therapy item fun.
8
My singing voice
There is no such thing as too much singing for any
child and this is especially true for children with a
sensory impairment. The fact that my singing voice is
not high quality is actually an asset too. If my voice was
world class my therapy partners, the parents, would
never feel confident about using theirs. Even children
with hearing impairments are drawn to the supra
segmentals of singing very early on in the development
of audition and listening, so any singing, with or
without actions or props should be exploited.
9
Wind-up toys
The array of wind-up toys available is enormous, from
swimming Nemo fish and flipping monkeys, to a coin-
stealing dog hiding inside his doghouse. Again highly
motivating, these toys are handy for targeting tenses.
Children can be required to predict what each toy
might do, comment on what it is doing while in action,
and then review exactly what each toy did. They are
also great therapy savers to divert a child’s attention if
they become unsettled.
10
Orchard Games
While we only have a small collection of Orchard
games, there is an enormous variety available, and the
ones we do have get used very frequently. These
colourful, interactive games are quite durable and very
adaptable. Some examples are:
■
Washing Machine: great for clothing vocabulary as
well as wet/dry, clean/dirty, and in/out concepts.
The cards can be used in conjunction with the
machine or as snap or memory cards.
■
Greedy Gorilla: This game is good for teaching
manners as every time the gorilla burps (when you
feed him a junk food card), everyone must say
“Pardon” or “Excuse me.” It is also great for food and
drink vocabulary, categories (vegetables, dessert,
drinks, fruit), and healthy versus unhealthy foods.
■
Shopping List: This is a particular favourite. It can
target food and shopping vocabulary but I have also
used the Boardmaker software program to create
shopping lists of items targeting a particular speech
sound. Instead of shopping for toothpaste and apples
we might go shopping for a sheep, a shell, a shoe and
a shower (Orchard Toys –
www.orchardtoys.com).