Homemade Doctor Kit Accessories - Play Prescription Pad and Broken Bone X-Rays

Michael and Ava had their annual pediatrician checkups recently and subsequently started playing doctor. Michael was making bandages out of tape and paper, which was adorable, but I did decide to buy the doctor's kit I found at Walmart to give them some props to add more dimension to their play. Then I had some ideas for some things I could make at home to add to their kit: a play prescription pad and some pretend broken bone x-rays.

Making a Play Doctor Prescription Pad

Michael likes to pretend to write prescriptions. On a whim I decided to try to make a prescription pad. I made a template and printed 20 copies (I printed mine in b/w because I've run out of color ink.). Save to your computer by clicking to open the full size image then right clicking and choosing "save as". Print and then trim off the footer and cut the pages in half.

Grab some glue (I used Mod Podge - I can't guarantee something else will work), a paintbrush and some binder clips. Cut a piece of thin cardboard (like from a cereal box) to the same size as your stack of play prescription paper to use as the back of the pad. Use the binder clips to hold the top together tightly. I only had five binder clips, but if you have more, use as many as possible so you can hold the pages together tightly along the entire top. Remove one clip at a time, painting the edges of the paper together with the glue then replace the clip to hold them as they dry. Do this to the paper under each binder clip until the entire edge is coated. Let dry for 15 minutes and then repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Once you have a fairly thick coating that is thoroughly dry you're done. Show your kids how to use their new prescription pad and toss it in their doctor bag along with a pencil/marker/crayon.

Making Play Broken Bone X-Rays

I did a google image search for broken bone x-rays and chose ones with really obvious breaks in four different bones (collarbone, leg, arm, finger). I printed them on a single piece of paper. I wanted our x-rays to be fairly small so they would store inside their play doctor's bag. I printed them and then traced along the outline of the main bone and edges of the break with a pencil to be sure they would show up. I cut out each x-ray and cut a second piece of paper to place on top. In this way, I made it so that the x-ray would need to be held up to a light to be examined. Then I made a frame from black construction paper and a little label for each x-ray. I took the final product and covered it in contact paper for durability. They can examine the x-rays by holding them up against a bright window or by placing them on one of our homemade light boxes.

Speech Card Set Activity: Speech Fours (Card Game)

The children have really been enjoying the variety of activities I've been introducing during speech time. Their favorite so far has been speech switcheroo so I went looking for another card game I could adapt. I found directions for a card game called Sevens that looked like fun. It works on some elementary math number and sequencing skills as a bonus too.

The original game of Sevens is played by dealing an entire deck of cards out to all the players face down. The players then look at their cards and sort them by suit and place them in order by sequence. The player with the 7 of diamonds places their card down in the center and play proceeds clockwise. Each player adds a diamond to the left or right of the currently placed cards in sequence forming a row (the second player would need to play a 6 or 8 of diamonds). If they cannot play a diamond, but happen to have a seven of another suit they can start a new row. If they cannot play they forfeit their turn. Play continues until one player wins by playing the last card in their hand.

Adaptation: Speech Fours

Preparation of Speech Fours Card Deck

Print a free card deck (or combination of decks) and choose 28 cards to be your game deck. Lay them out in four rows of seven cards each. Use dot stickers (or add colored dots with markers) to make each row a different color. Then write the numbers one through seven on the colored dots in each row. (Use light colors so that your numbers will show.)

Direction for Playing Speech Fours Adaptation

Deal all 28 cards out face down to the players. With my children I then had them turn their cards over (rather than hold them so that the other players can't see). I helped them sort their cards by color and sequence. Then I told them that the card with the red four in the corner (choose whatever color you like) was the starting card. The player with that card puts it down in the middle (saying the word on the card as they play it). Play continues clockwise with each player adding to the sequence if possible saying the word on each card as played. (So player 2 would need the red 3 or 5.) If they cannot add to the sequence of the current color row, they can play a four of a new color. If they cannot do either they have to pass. The player to use all their cards first wins. Alternately, you can continue play until all four color sequences are complete.

The game addresses speech articulation, color identification and matching, identifying the numbers 1-7, number sequencing, and basic turn taking and good sportsmanship.


If you liked this card set activity you might also like:

• 10 Card Set Game and Activity Ideas
• Simple Speech Card Puzzles
• Speech Card Stories
• Speech Card Caterpillar
• Speech Card Game: What's Hiding?
• Speech Card Game: Speech Switcheroo (An Uno-Style Game)

Clear as Mud (Trip to the Allergist)

Yesterday afternoon was Michael's allergist appointment. We were there to discover if allergies are playing a part in his nasal congestion and habitual mouth breathing. When we made our appointment we were told to make sure he wasn't on any antihistamines for 5 days prior to the appointment so that skin testing would be valid if the doctor decided to test.

Monday night, and again the morning of the appointment I told Michael that we were going to a special doctor to help figure out why he has trouble breathing through his nose. I told him the doctor might decide to do a special detective test to figure out if his body is allergic to certain things. I explained that some people have bodies that get confused and think regular things like tree pollen and cat or dog hair are germs. Then those people might get stuffy noses when they are around those things.

I told him that the nurse would write on his back and use a special device to poke his back several times. I showed him some of the less scary google image search results of pictures of skin testing on children's backs. I think I struck a good balance, because he was intrigued at the idea of the "detective test", but not scared.

After collecting a little bit of family medical history and listening to my concerns, the doctor decided to do a skin test. I held a shirtless Michael in my lap with his chest to my chest. His arms were around my neck. The nurse drew some lines and numbers on his back first and then cleaned his back with alcohol soaked cotton. This made him giggle. She had all seven pricking devices ready to go. She was two down before he realized that he didn't much like what was going on. She got two more done before he managed to voice his first complaint. She was done by the time I finished telling Michael he could choose a small bag of candy when we were done.

When he realized she was finished he decided it wasn't worth getting upset and asked for his candy instead. After that he hopped back up on the exam table and watched Wall-E on the iPad for the 15-20 minutes it takes to complete the test. I only had to remind him he couldn't touch his back once or twice. The kid loves Wall-E.

The doctor came back in to read the test results. As far as I could tell that was based upon the size of the wheal (mosquito bite like bump) in each spot. Her rating could be from 0 (no reaction) to 4++ (large reaction). They tested 54 things. Michael had no reaction to 32 of those. He had a 1+ reaction to 13 substances. He had a 2+ reaction to 2 more. He had a 3+ reaction to horse, cat hair, pigweed, and kochia. He had a 4+ reaction to dog. He had a 4++ reaction to oak. Well, that seemed like a lot of reactions to me.

Then she explained that the magnitude of the reaction does not correlate to the magnitude of actual allergy symptoms experienced by the patient. ?!?! So, some people might have a huge allergic reaction to something their allergy skin test showed as 1+ and no reaction at all to something their skin test showed as 4+. The only thing she could say for sure was that the substances he didn't react to at all would be unlikely to cause allergy symptoms. So, of the things he does react to (21 things!) any of them could be causing the most trouble? Or all of them? Or none of them? Well, how on earth is that useful at all?

I left with the instructions to continue Flonase at night and try switching from Claritin (which didn't seem to help) to Zyrtec in the morning. Call her in 8 weeks if that doesn't seem to be helping. In addition to the medical treatment we should try to reduce allergens in our home starting with keeping the cats out of his bedroom and washing all his bedding in hot water once a week.

Somehow I expected more. I thought we would get a definitive answer about whether or not allergies are contributing to the mouth breathing problem. I thought that if allergies are a contributing factor we'd know which ones, specifically, are the problem and could react accordingly. Instead, she isn't actually convinced allergies are the issue. Any allergic symptoms could be caused by one of 21 things. And taking medicine and cleaning the house may or may not help.

Great. Clear as mud.

I'm hoping the ENT visit on Friday will be much more helpful. Aren't I the optimist?


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One year ago I wrote a post on how to use gestural prompts during therapy with children with apraxia (or any other severe speech delay). One year later we still use gestural prompts in every single therapy session. They are a powerful therapy tool. The video I linked to in that post is very helpful if you've never actually seen someone using gestural prompts before.