Icebreakers! Speech and Language Style

The school year is upon us, and that brings in some novel faces. It's always good to get to know these newcomers and get reacquainted with the ones you already know. Of course, it's not always easy, and the typical "say your name, age and favorite X" tends to bring on the simultaneous 'ugh'. So, what are we supposed to do? We want to get everyone excited to begin the year and to trust you, but you don't want it to get monotonous. That's where some hands-on, interactive icebreakers come in! Here are some that can help raise the energy level and induce some laughter while promoting speech and language:

-Never Have I Ever- A classic game that can help make inferences and work on receptive and expressive langauge. One person begins saying "Never have I ever...X" (ex. 'Never have I ever gone to the pool'), and whoever in the circle has done this will have to put one finger up. You keep going around the circle until someone has 5 fingers up (one hand). It's a fun way to get to know each other by learning some silly or interesting facts about them. Make the facts as fun as you want (like never kissing a pig or wearing a tutu)! Great for all ages.

-Two Truths and a Lie- Another circle game where you say two truths and one lie about yourself. Everyone else then guesses which statement is a lie. Once all the participants have said their guess, the speaker reveals the lie. Sometimes they can be tricky or silly, so it keeps everyone entertained. Sometimes it's surprising what is the lie vs truth! This game is great for expressive learning, creativity and making guesses.

-Name Game- This is a slight twist on a classic game. Each participant chooses his/her favorite character or well-known person. Then, each person is partnered up (or can be small groups) and they take turns asking each other questions about their fellow partner(s) person. Once the identity is found out they ask each other why it was that they chose this person. What makes that person their favorite? You can then have them all come together and present their partner (or themselves) and why the character/famous person was chosen. If you want, you can even have them draw a picture of the person chosen to show to others when playing the game. These questions, introduction and possible picture are great ways to build questions, receptive/expressive language, memory and descriptive skills.

-My Animal- This game lets the creativity spill out and allows the participant to use expressive language. Each person gets a sheet of paper and draws an animal that describes him/her. It can be a made up creature or a hybrid of real ones and can be as colorful as they please. Whatever the person comes up with can be drawn. Want a cotton candy tail? Sure! A panda-otter hybrid? Yeah! Anything goes, as long as it describes the person. Once complete, each person must describe their animal and why it describes them. "It has a cotton candy tail, because I love cotton candy" or "Blue is my favorite color so I gave it blue hair" are examples. It's a fun way to get to know each other and work on expression!

What games or icebreakers do you use in your therapy for introductions? Please share! :)

SLP Skills Saturday #4: Innovative/Creative

Guess what day it is?! It's Saturday, and this Saturday is special because today I'll be posting another blurb in the series "SLP Skills Saturday"! So get ready...

One of the biggest draws to this career, for me at least, is the ability to be creative in therapy sessions. Now, some might think... how can you be innovative when you are teaching others how to swallow or speak? Well, each client is different and has their own special needs. This means that not every client with Autism Spectrum Disorders or stuttering or pronunciation difficulties will exhibit their disability in the same fashion. Just as all students learn differently, all clients have their own personal obstacles that have their own rehabilitation techniques to conquer said difficulties. So, although you may be working with a group of students with Autism or a stroke victims group for those with Aphasia, not each person will learn the therapy techniques in the same way or time frame. So you need to be creative in your approaches in order to customize them per client for optimal success.



As I just slightly mentioned, there's also the need for creativity in the therapy plan itself. You need to think of different ways in which to help the client overcome his/her communication or swallowing difficulty. Sometimes several techniques need to be utilized before you find the perfect fit for that person. This is when creativity is vital. Sometimes it's the last idea that proves to be the best.  Not to mention, it's fun to let your mind come up with new ideas and materials for sessions. I know that when I babysit, I enjoy thinking of out-of-the-box ideas for crafts and games with the children, and that may just help with my future career!



This is just a small glimpse into how creativity is a fun and integral part of this occupation. I'm sure there's plenty more ways in which innovation is a good skill to have in this occupation.

Literacy and Therapy

At first I was a bit apprehensive about taking a class about literacy for my "W' (Intensive Writing) credits. As with most people, I have my own concept of what literacy is and I just thought we'd be learning about applying literacy to our lives and writing a lot; after all, the class is called "Uses of Literacy." Maybe we'd just learn how it pertains to reading and writing, I thought... but it's turned out to be much more than that, which I think is valuable for those who want to be Speech-Language Pathologist or just want to work with children or community projects.

 

It is known that there's some amount of literacy building in a SLP's therapy. Some clients has Dyslexia, some are little children still learning how to put the pieces together, some have trouble recognizing the symbols and connecting them with sounds and words. The list can go on. But have you actually thought about the concept of literacy in a broader, more socio-developmental sense? How does the area where one lives affect their literacy and language capabilities? What about identity and literacy. Your literacy can affect who you identify as, and visa versa. There's also different domains of literacy, including technology, which has created a whole literacy type of it's own.

 

If we can formulate an idea about how our client's culture and identity affect language skills, then that could help us understand what approach to take for therapy. Maybe the client is more literate in one domain, like computers, but not as competent  in social "literacy." Or, perhaps the community and culture surrounding this person and that have cultivated this person into his/her being have given way to a literacy that is different than what you are used to but is the "norm" where that person was brought up. This can be dialect, idioms, how they use language/ use it to express their thoughts, social behavior, etc. You have to be sensitive to all of these things in order to find the perfect piece to complete the therapy jigsaw puzzle. If you don't account for these types of literacies and try to treat each client with similar problems in the same way, it might not always click. You need to customize it to their level and type of literacy.

 

Maybe you can ask you client some questions, like:

*What are your favorite memories of reading and writing?

*How did you learn to read and write? Did anyone help?

*What are some of your favorite traditions?

*What re some things you like to do in your town/community?

*How do you normally talk to someone (write, talk, sing, ...etc)?

*What confuses you about language, reading, writing and speaking?

*When is it difficult for you to understand others, or for them to understand you?

 

Basically, just ask them anything to do with literacy. This can expand from just reading and writing; in fact, it includes much more than that. Try to think of  definition of literacy... does yours reference to sign langauges/body language or how culture, society and events maybe shape one's literacy? There's also literacy "events" (like, remembering when you first learned to read a book, or reading/decoding a street sign, eavsdropping and understanding someone's conversation... basically anything can be a literacy event). Another thing is literacy sponsors... who or what has helped lay the foundation of your language and literacy skills? It can be people, places (school, library, home, travel), or things (books, websites, magazines, technology) or even abstract stuff like dreams,languages and age (your literacy changes as you age) .

 

Hope this helps you customize your therapy plans or understand a new way to tackle some speech and languages issues!

Funny Video!

Soooo... the other day we were learning about typical speech and Autism Spectrum Disorder, especially about gaining friendship and positive association with your clients (particularly the younger crowd) to be placed in their "trusted" circle to promote willingness to participate in therapy. It also helps to get their peers involved too. The guest speaker then showed us this video, which I find pretty hilarious. This demonstrates the outside-in approach to therapy, except in a more abstract way, not necessarily therapy related. But the concept is "shown" when you get further in the video. It may possibly be a stretch, but either way, here's the video. Hope it brightens your day!