Playing With Words 365

Educating, inspiring, and empowering parents & professionals in supporting young children's overall development

Building Speech & Language Skills Under the Table

by Filed Under: Guest Post, Language Enrichment Activities for Parents, Therapy Ideas and Activities Leave a Comment

As many of you know, my family and I are expecting baby number three in just a few short weeks. As I take some time off from work and blogging to spend time with my family both before and after my new son’s birth, I am thrilled to share with you some amazing posts written by some very talented bloggers. So please sit back, relax and enjoy this guest post and leave a comment letting us know what you think! Today fellow SLP from Teach Speech 365 shares some ideas on building speech and language skills in a place you may not have thought of before…
“Quick, get under the table!” 
 
What?!?! 
 
Usually this phrase involves some kind of weather drill. Not this time though!! This activity works well with children ages 2-4 year olds. 
 
Without a doubt, I have had some of my best therapy sessions underneath the table. This can also be a fun activity for parents to do at home though too! So grab a blanket and read on to see how you can target articulation and/or language skills (even social skills) from underneath a table…
 
First things first. This is what you will need to make this activity a success:
 
Teach Speech 365
 
Tell your child/student that you are going on an adventure, but you will need to bring some things with you. Decide together what toys you’d like to bring on this adventure. Put all your items in a box. Talk about the things you are placing in the box. Work on plurals, positional concepts, following directions, naming items, etc. “I want to bring some CARS. Let’t put them IN the box. Find something RED to bring with us. Go get the plates OFF the couch.” 
 
Throw the blanket over the table. Another perfect excuse to talk about positional concepts such as OVER and UNDER. “We will put this blanket OVER the table, then we can sit UNDER the table and have some fun.” Grab your box of goodies and head on under!
 
Once you have embarked on your adventure, talk about the flashlight. “The flashlight is OFF. Help me turn it ON.” 
 
Some ideas that I have found work well:
 
1. Use play food and have a picnic: There are a ton of opportunities to work on naming and sorting food, positional concepts (on/off the plate), plurals (“I’d like some chips”), pronouns, verbs (“I am eating an apple. You are eating a banana”), possessives (“This is my fork. That is your spoon”), and much more!
 
2. Use cars or trucks and design a road: This would work well as an articulation practice activity. Place flashcards (or index cards with words written on them) all around. Drive your cars over the cards and practice using good articulation. This would be great for positional concepts (“I’m driving my car OUT and back IN”), verbs, pronouns, etc. 
 
3. Puppet show: If you have a flashlight, grab a few puppets (or socks)! You can hold the flashlight and have endless conversations as the characters of your choice. 
 
4. Practice inviting others: Take turns exiting your cave and “knocking” so you can be let in. You and your child/student can practice polite ways to greet others, asking to join an activity, manners, and appropriately leaving an activity. 
 
5. Tell a story: Since everything is more fun when you’re under a table, even something as simple as reading or telling a story together can be more exciting! 

Bonus Tip: Some tables that I have seen have a magnetic pole. I have had a healthy dose of fun sticking magnets to the pole! Vocabulary, following directions, verbs (put on, take off), WH questions….
 
As with any activity, make it fun and don’t be afraid to be a little silly. Who would’ve thought you could have so much fun under a table?! 
 
Thank you to Katie for allowing me to be a guest blogger!
Today’s contributor is the anonymous author of Teach Speech 365. She is an ASHA certified SLP who enjoys creating materials to share with fellow SLPs, parents, teachers, and other professionals. She also loves to share information regarding all things related to speech language pathology! Check out her blog, FaceBook, TpT store, or Pinterest  page for more fun tips and tricks! 
 

About Katie

Katie is a licensed, credentialed and certified pediatric speech-language pathologist and mom to four (8, 6, 3 and 6 months). Her passion for educating, inspiring and empowering parents of children with all abilities led her to start her blog playing with words 365 where she shares information about speech & language development & intervention strategies, parenting, photography and a little about her family life too. Katie has been working in the field of speech pathology for 12 years and is certified in The Hanen Centre’s It Takes Two to Talk ® and Target Word ® programs and holds a certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). In addition to blogging and being a mommy, Katie works part time in her small private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

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