Having a stash of fun and effective games for therapy you can turn to at a moments notice is standard practice for pediatric SLPs. 

But sometimes we end up buying a game that’s not so great—it’s not fun, takes too long to set up, doesn’t have enough practice opportunities, is finicky to play . . . the list goes on. Those games get shoved to the back of the closet pretty quickly. 

To save you time and money investing in not-so-great games, I’ve rounded up nine of my favorite games. In this episode I describe these games plus how to incorporate target words in a way that promotes carryover from day one. 

— Useful Links —
Tumbling Tower 
Jenga 
Kerplunk 
Connect 4 
Suspend 
Dominoes 
Pick up Sticks 
Spot It 
R Memory Cards 
Impossible R Made Possible 
Music: Simple Gifts performed by Ted Yoder, used with permission

Transcript

Welcome to the Speech Umbrella, the show that explores simple but powerful therapy techniques for optimal outcomes. I’m Denise Stratton, a pediatric speech language pathologist of 30 plus years. I’m closer to the end of my career than the beginning, and along the way, I’ve worked long and hard to become a better therapist. Join me as we explore the many topics that fall under our umbrellas as SLPs. I want to make your journey smoother. I found the best therapy comes from employing simple techniques with a generous helping of mindfulness.

Hello and welcome. This is the Speech Umbrella podcast number 87. Here in Utah, we are in the first glorious days of summer, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m kind of an obsessive gardener, and the last thing I want to be doing in the summer is spend more time planning therapy than I need to. I want to be outside smelling my roses. Who doesn’t want a daily dose of fun? And that’s what today’s podcast is all about, the fun games that we can play in articulation therapy.

The title of today’s episode is Nine Fun and Effective Games for Articulation Therapy. I recently started working with an eight year old, and while she was compliant, she wasn’t really interested in what we were doing, and she even looked a little bit weepy. That is until I brought out a game. Then she was all sunshine and smiles and she exclaimed, now I want to come back. What fires together, wires together. Fun games fire the neurons, and they make up a regular part of my therapy routine. But, it needs to be said, you can’t just pull a game out of the closet, play it, and expect clients to progress. You need two things to succeed, a system, particularly one that will teach them to self-monitor, and a game that is quick to set up and play with lots of opportunities for practice. Now I have many podcasts and videos on self-monitoring, which I’ll link in the show notes. The focus of today’s episode is on games that meet the three criteria of fun, quick, and with lots of practice opportunities.

I thought it’d be helpful to describe my favorite games for therapy, plus describe how I use target words. For the podcast, I’m demonstrating two of the most common errors we see are M-S-Z sounds, but of course it works for any sound. All of these games are under $20 and with a few of them to rotate, your clients will experience lots of variety and they won’t get bored.

Here’s what we’re covering today. We’re gonna take a quick review of the three stages of motor learning, how I target automaticity, A S A P in therapy, say that five times fast. I’m gonna review nine games with the pros and cons, how I use target words and some side benefits. So let’s dive in and talk about the three stages of motor learning.

In my last podcast 86, I did talk about the three stages of motor learning and how they relate to AAC users. But these stages of motor learning apply to anyone who was learning a motor skill and articulation is a motor skill. When I developed my Impossible R Made Possible technique, which has three foundational pieces, I didn’t realize I was developing them along the same lines as the three stages of motor learning. Now I know why Impossible R works so well. Seriously, if you struggle with R, especially those clients who seem impossible to help, check out my Impossible R Made Possible program at thespeechumbrella.com.

Okay. Enough of my self-promotion. The three stages of motor learning are cognitive, that’s where the learner understands what to do, and I equate this with building the capability to produce the sound. The next stage is associative, and that’s learning how to perform the skill. I equate this with learning how to be accurate in more context, more frequently, and then we have the autonomous stage where learners can attend to and process other information. Our goal in articulation therapy is to move clients to automaticity, but that is easier said than done.

I find a lot of clients get stuck in the associative stage, and that’s why I begin to work on the automatic part A S A P. You can begin this, even if they have just one word, if you will focus on how they say the word. Here’s how I do it with games, and by the way, I call the automatic stage of motor learning relaxed production, and that’s how I’m going to refer to it, because when a client can say something without having to think about how to say it, without having to overemphasize how they say the sound, or use extra tension, they’re saying in a relaxed way and it’s very efficient. So I’m just used to calling it relaxed production. If I have to say automaticity one more time, I’m gonna sprain my tongue too.

Say a client is working on R and they have one word they can say reliably, and that word is red. Now they may not be 100%, but they can be 100% with some queuing. They’re beyond that real hit and miss stage, and they can say it in a relaxed manner, even if you need to cue them to be relaxed. And let me demonstrate what I mean by this relaxed production.

This is a relaxed production. Red. What if they go rrrred? That’s not relaxed. So you wanna get them and teach them and coach them to say it in a relaxed way. And they also may just be able to start combining it with one other word and stay relaxed. So for example, you could say, one red, my red, a red, red piece.

You get the drift, you take the word red and you combine it with another word. All of a sudden you’ve got a phrase. How many games can you play with just the word red? Six on my list for sure. And all nine, if you can morph red into ready. So are you ready to dive into the games? I am. The nine games are Tumbling Tower, also known as Don’t Let the Bugs Fall, Jenga, Suspend, Pick Up Sticks, Kerplunk, Connect Four, Spot It, Dominoes, and Memory. Now here are some words I can use that work for all games. Under R, you’ve got turn, here or there, start, you’re, careful, really, ready. Under S, you could have start, see, this, and many plurals. I’m sure there’s many more than I suggested, but you get the drift.

There’s some words that are so general, you can just work them into almost any game. Post-it notes are my go-to here. Get out the game, I grab a Post-it note and I say, ah, what words could we use with this game that have R in them? Or what words could we use with this game that have s and z? And we write the target words down on the Post-it note, and then we start playing. And if we think of some more as we’re playing the game, we add them to the Post-it note. These words are the ones they can say reliably and therefore I refer to them as the words they are responsible for.

Sometimes they might come up with a word that, oh, that has R in it. And it’s something they really can’t say yet. Like maybe they can’t say turn yet. And I had to say, oh, that’s fantastic. I’m so glad you noticed that’s got an R in it. We haven’t really worked on that sound yet. You’re not responsible for it, but I’m so glad you noticed it. And that’s how I handle that when they wanna throw all R words in. Now I’m gonna get into describing the games.

I’m gonna start with Tumbling Tower, also called Don’t Let the Bugs Fall. It’s a little bit like a younger version of Jenga and what you have are three colors of plastic bugs that you stack, just like you stack Jenga and you pull ’em out and lay ’em on top. It’s just a little bit different from Jenga. There aren’t as many, they’re easier to pull out, and you roll a dice to see what color bug you pull out. So the pros for this is a fast setup. It only requires moderate fine motor control, so better than Jenga for the younger crowd. The only downside to this is it appeals to the younger crowd and teens would definitely prefer something like Jenga.

The R words that I use with this game? Red, green, grab, try, remove, roll. If they’re ready for that, that’s a hard one, roll. For the sz stack, choose stick, see, balance, set, dice, piece or pieces. That’s some of the ways I use tumbling tower. Now, Jenga, I hardly need to describe Jenga. Stack the wooden blocks, crosswise, pull ’em out, put ’em on top, and watch when the tower falls down.

Some of the pros are, there’s really no age limit. This can go up to teens, even older teens, and it’s got a really fast setup. Some of the downsides are you do need fine motor control. R words I use here, row, remove, grab, try, control. S words stack, choose, stick, see, balance, set, piece or pieces, blocks. And if you get the color Jenga set, then you’ll even have more words that you can use.

The next game is Suspend. It’s new to me, it’s a Christmas present. I got myself these wires that are different lengths, that have different colors on them, and you stack them up and balance them almost like you’re building a crazy looking antenna. The kids love it. The reasons I like Suspend is there is a lot of variation. You’re always building it a different way. You don’t have to use all of the pieces if you run out of time, and kids are rarely bored because of all the combinations you can have. And there is a planning element that supports executive function in this game. The downside is you do need fine motor control, and that might be hard for some, and there is a learning curve to this game.

Some of the words I use with R are bar, red, green try, rickety, far, careful. S and Z words place, suspend, balance, set, choose, same, symmetrical. You get an R and an S there for the older kids. We love that because if you can place the piece symmetrically, it works out better.

And now on to Spot It. If you haven’t heard of Spot It, well, let me see if I can describe it to you. There are these round cards with pictures on them, and between every two cards there is always a picture that is in common. And so what you’ve got to do is you’re trying to spot the picture that is in common, and it’s really tricky. You’re looking at these pictures and you think, I should be able to see it. I should be able to see the picture that’s in common, but sometimes you just can’t. And so the kids really love it. They love it when they beat the SLP. And I love to use Spot It if someone just has the word ready or for an S, they just have the word set, and I say, okay, it’s your turn. When you say ready, set, go, we’ll turn the card over and see if we can find the picture in common.

So that’s a great way to just use those three words. Ready, set, go. And then when you find the picture, the person who finds the picture has to describe the picture using their target sound. So now they’re thinking of words that they could use. Some of the pros of this are, it’s familiar to most. A lot of people know the game Spot It, it’s fast to play. There is no setup. It appeals to wide age range and there’s even different sets available. So I have a Hogwarts set cuz I have some kids who are crazy about Hogwarts and it takes up so little room in my closet. Some of the downsides are, you don’t have as much controlled vocabulary you can use except for at the beginning. So once they’re often describing the picture on their own, they kind of have to think up that in their own head and be ready for that. So the vocabulary there is just ready, set, go, and then the variations from there.

Okay, Pick Up Sticks. I played pick up sticks at my grandma’s. This is a really old game. A bunch of sticks, they have different colors on ’em and they’re worth different values. There is one stick that is striped black and white, and that is the one worth the most points, the most desirable stick. You hold it a few inches above the table, you let it go. They all fall on a pile, and you try and remove a stick without having the others jiggle or roll, and you lose your turn if a stick moves.

The pro’s for this is it’s a quick setup, there is a planning element to it, kids are highly, highly motivated to get that 20 point stick and they’ll just keep working for it. Also, a little bit of math involved as they add up their points at the end. The downside is it can take a long time to play. Again, there is a fine motor control issue, and what I do is I turn a blind eye to tiny, tiny little stick movements because let’s just be realistic here. This might not work for a kid who is OCD and saw every, every little shimmer of the stick, which I just turned a blind eye to and it’s like, oh, great, you got it. I do see that there are giant pickup stick games available. I might have to look into that. That would work better if you wanted someone younger to play it. Some of the words you can use for R are red, green, grab, remove, first, try, stripe, uncover. For s and z, sticks, same, points, mess, slide, saw, outside, zebra, for that zebra stick. That’s what we call it, we call it the zebra stick. Oh, that’s an R too.

Okay, now Kerplunk. I love Kerplunk, in fact, that I am on my second set of Kerplunk. So what Kerplunk is, is you have a tower and it’s got some holes in it, and you take these color sticks and you poke ’em through the holes so they go through the tower and they’re poking all sorts of directions, it’s kinda like you’re making a cobweb in it, and you drop marbles on top of those sticks, and then you remove the sticks and you try to drop the fewest marbles. So the pros are, this is just so much fun. I haven’t had a kid who doesn’t like Kerplunk.

You don’t need super fine motor control, so that’s great. This game is always a winner. Some of the downsides are, it does take time to set up. It’s hard to push those last sticks through and across to the other side. If you have time to set up beforehand, you can save session time, you already have it set up. But if I don’t have time to do that, we make it a conversational opportunity with target words and we talk about how we’re getting to go across and through and all that. Another downside is some clients who are impatient may try and pull the stick out that drops all the marbles, and then your game is over. Just like that. Some of the words I use for R, red, green, orange, marble, remove, careful, grab, drop, turn, tower, Kerplunk, right and wrong, as in right move, wrong move. For S, you’ve got slide, stick, choose. I’m sure there’s a slew more, but those are the three I could think of off the top of my head.

Now on to Connect Four. Connect Four is a grid where you drop red or yellow, like checker pieces and you just try and get four in a row, diagonal up, down, whichever way, and you try and block your opponent so they don’t get four in a row. Some of the pros about Connect Four is it’s easy to prolong the game because you as the SLP can put off winning or not win at all, and therefore you can make the game last longer. And depending on the age and skill of the player, you can kind of work that how you need to, prolonged game means more practice time. There’s no fine motor component and it does promote executive function, as you’ve got some planning there. A downside is it’s frustrating for some clients who lack that strategy and there are fewer target words with this game. For example, for R, you’ve got red, row, drop, strategy. There you’ve got S & R together. For S, you’ve got place, peace, stack. So not very many words, but it’s really, really great for someone who is just making that first entry into maybe using R and they’ve only got the word red or the word row or something like that.

On to dominoes. Not just any dominoes, but a game called Chicken Foot. After I married my husband, I found out that in order to belong to the family, I had to learn how to play Chicken Foot. Now Chicken Foot, it would take a long time to describe all the ins and outs of Chicken Foot, so I’m going to link to video that describes how to play it. But the main thing is, is that you are drawing tiles and you’re matching the spots. And if someone gets a double, it means you have a chicken foot and you’ve got to put three Dominos down that have that same number. You can play several rounds and you can add up points, but I never do that in therapy. We don’t add up the points, we only ever have time to play a couple rounds. Some of the pros for Chicken Foot are, you can use a specific set of target words. You get loads of single word practice if you want. So what I do is I say, whatever tile they drew, they can say that word that we’re practicing however many dots there are on their tile.

And you can choose just one side of the tile or you can choose both, but I mean if they got a double nine, they’d be saying it 18 times. That might be overkill. So we usually just choose one side, and when they get a zero, they’re like, yeah, I’ve got a zero. I don’t have to say any word at all. And they think that is great. A downside is you need a large table because it really spreads out. So just be thinking about that. You don’t always get to finish the game, but you can finish a round.

Finally, Memory. Everyone loves the memory game. Sometimes called Concentration, you have matching cards and you lay ’em out, face down, turn the cards over, try and find the match, try and remember the cards that you have turned over so you can get the match. And the way we play it, if you get a match, you get to go again. So what I really love is when a client starts getting matches and they’re remembering they get another match. They get another match, they’re finishing the whole game almost by themselves and don’t realize they’re getting so much practice.

Some of the pros for Memory are you can control the targets with whatever cards you choose. It’s a really fast setup and you can go from word to sentence practice really easily, and this is how I do it. I’ll tell them, if you draw two cards that don’t match, you say each word three times or five times, or whatever you want them to do. When you draw a match, you get to make a sentence. Here’s the cool thing. I have R Memory card sets in my store. I have 10 sets, and the reason I created in that way is a client may just be able to say words that are row, for example. So I’ve got a whole set of just row words or they might be able to say just words with raw.

They’ve just got that R plus that vowel, and so you can have a whole set with raw or you can mix ’em up Cause I’ve got 10 different contexts. A downside to Memory is interest in this game might start to peter out around fifth grade. But the younger crowd love it, they love it, love it, love it, and are always happy to play it.

Words you can use besides the words that are on the cards are, remember, recall, forgot where. For S, you can have sentence or select. Now let’s talk about some of the side benefits that happen when you play these games. They start to notice other words with their target sound. As I mentioned at the beginning, they might not be able to say those words yet that they notice, but I tell them how awesome it is that they’re noticing them even when they aren’t words they’re responsible for yet.

I really love to use these games to move clients from single words to phrases. I have this theory that I call the magic of three, and that is when a client can say a word in a three word phrase and put that word in various places in the phrase, they are really, really making lots of progress. So let me just demonstrate. Say you have the word right, and they could say, right one. So then they put the R word first, followed by another word. Or they could say the right. Now they’re moving from a word before to R, the right or then they can do the right one and it can become a longer sentence. I have the right one. So what I have noticed is that when a client can put the R word, if you’re working on R, in multiple places in the phrase, and they don’t have trouble transitioning to and from the R, then metorically, they’ve really got it. They’ve really figured it out and they just need to remember how to keep that skill, that relaxed production in longer and longer sentences. So if they’re still struggling with generalization and they don’t have the metoric problem, and that’s a real big clue to you to look at phonological awareness and self-monitoring skills.

Well, that’s it for today. If you need to inject both fun and ownership into a therapy session, give these games a try. Let me know how it turns out for you and check out my R memory cards. I have 10 decks for you at my store that’s at the speech umbrella.com, and let me know what games you like. I’m always up for buying more games.

Thank you for joining me under the Speech Umbrella today. I hope you learned something to help you in your therapy. If you did, please share this podcast with a fellow speech therapist and leave a five star review on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your subscriptions. While you’re online, come on over to thespeechumbrella.com where you will find transcripts, links, and my free resource library.

I also have some other valuable courses and therapy aids in my store. That’s all at thespeechumbrella.com. Let’s connect on social media. I’m dstrattonslp on Instagram and the Speech Umbrella on Facebook and YouTube. You can also find me on TPT. I hope to talk to you soon, bye.

Thanks for listening to the Speech Umbrella. We invite you to sign up for the free resource library at thespeechumbrella.com. You’ll get access to some of Denise’s best tracking tools, mindfulness activities, and other great resources to take your therapy to the next level. All this is for free at thespeechumbrella.com. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, subscribe and please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and other podcast directories.