Organizing Speech Articulation Practice

This is hardly rocket science in the speech therapy world, but it was time for something new around here so we're switching to speech binders instead of using the articulation cards in deck style.

Name is on the front. I just printed out the pages of cards leaving off the backs and punched holes in them. Michael is working on /f/ and /s/ so his binder has those two sections. As soon as the children have adjusted to the new format I'll add a section for the s-blends to Michael's folder.

I plan to pretty much drill the children. I'll cross off any of the cards I don't want them using. Michael can do all of the cards, but for Ava I'll cross off any word that includes non-targeted phonemes that aren't in her inventory yet (so, any word with /k/, /g/, /ch/, etc.). Every time they say the word the requested number of times (3 times in a row) or in the requested way (in a phrase/short sentence), they get to mark the card. Marking options include a stamp, sticker, check mark or dot with a crayon or paint marker, dot paint, etc. If you switch the marking options each time interest should be higher and they'll collect a wide variety of "marks" on each card. They have a visual representation of all the work they've put in over time.

The other advantage to the binder format is documentation and notes. I can jot down the date on the blank opposite page and take notes about % accuracy, the level I'm working on that day (imitation, single words, x3, phrases, etc.), and any words that were particularly difficult. Over time, I can analyze those difficult words for patterns. I might notice that Michael has an easy time with /s/ on all the front vowels, but struggles with /s/ paired with back vowels and adjust therapy accordingly. This is an advantage over randomly shuffling a card deck. When we practice that way it is more difficult to document properly.

In a school setting using this format for therapy would make it easier to work with children on different phonemes during a single session. Do one row with child A from their folder and then switch and do one row with child B from their folder...

If you're working in a setting where you can send the binder home to a parent, you can make a homework section of words that are ready for parent led practice. Having a parent work in this way will let you see visually exactly how much practice happened at home because you can look for the marks on the cards. Parents could also easily jot down questions or comments for you to read and respond to on the blank backs of the pages in their section. You could check for parent comments in just a couple of minutes at the beginning or end of each session. You could possibly also use this format if you had a teacher, teacher aide, volunteer, or even super responsible classmate who could do speech work with your student in the classroom for 5 min/day.