Creative Speech Therapy Ideas: Using Stickers for Articulation, Apraxia and Language Goals
Discover creative speech and language therapy ideas using stickers! This blog post explores how to use stickers to target apraxia, enhance articulation trials, and create engaging sticker scenes. Perfect for achieving various goals in speech sessions, this low-prep, high-impact tool is a favorite among kids and therapists alike.
I want to shine a spotlight on an often underrated but inexpensive versatile resource for targeting goals in our speech therapy sessions. They are lightweight, require minimal prep, and the kids absolutely LOVE them! Yes, I’m talking about……
What is it about sticky pieces of paper that is so intriguing?
Recently, I’ve been using a Paw Patrol Puffy Sticker Book that I found at Marshalls (they also had a construction vehicle one!). It’s become a favorite among my kids, and I just had to share all the ways we can use stickers to target both speech and language goals.
Use stickers for……
Speech Sound Practice
Working with kids with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. When adding stickers to a page or background scenes model “power phrases” like “put on”, “take off” and “my turn” and use self advocacy phrases like “help me” and “it’s stuck”.
Sticker Charts: Create a chart with different articulation targets. Each time a child successfully practices a target sound, they get to place a sticker on the chart. This visual reinforcement can be very motivating (ok, so this one is overused and underwhelming, but I had to add it!)
Sticker Stories: Have the children create a story using stickers. Each sticker represents a word or sound they are working on. They can narrate their story, practicing their target sounds as they go.
Language Development
Sticker Sequences: Use stickers to create sequences or patterns. Have the child describe the sequence, focusing on using words like "first," "next," and "last."
Sticker Descriptions: Give each child a set of stickers and have them describe what they see. This can help with vocabulary building and descriptive language.
Sticker Scenes: Provide background scenes and let children create their own stories using stickers. Have them narrate their story, focusing on sentence structure and vocabulary.
STICKER SCENES
Add sticky magnets from a magnet tape roll to stickers to create magnetic stickers!
Social Skills
Sticker Conversations: Use stickers to prompt conversations. For example, place a sticker of a happy face and ask, "What makes you happy?" or use a sticker of a group of friends and discuss friendship and social scenarios.
Emotion Stickers: Use stickers depicting different emotions and discuss each one. This can help children identify and express their feelings.
Following Directions
Sticker Maps: Create a simple map or scene on paper and use stickers to give directions. For example, "Place the dog sticker next to the tree" or "Put the car sticker on the road."
Examples with Paw Patrol Puffy Sticker Book
To give you some concrete examples, here’s how I’ve been using the Paw Patrol Puffy Sticker Book in my sessions:
Prepositions: Receptive and expressive use. "Put Chase under the tree," "Where is Chickaletta?"
Expanding Utterance Length: Targeting 2+ word phrases. "Go Ryder," "Marshall wants a ride," "Bye ___." I model and repeat these phrases throughout the session.
Working with children with Apraxia: Power phrases like “put on”, “take off” and “my turn”. Self-advocacy phrases like “help me” and “it’s stuck”.
Gestalt Language Processors: Mixing and matching phrases. For example, if a child uses "Rubble on the double" and "I'm fired up," I model a combination like "Rubble is fired up."
Production of 2+ Syllable Words: We worked on "Mayor Humdinger" - a motivating 3-syllable word!
Verb Tense: Using background scenes with minis, we practiced past tense: "The car jumped over the sign," "He drove away."
Negatives: Using stickers on background scenes. "I don’t want it there," "Not in," "Not on my nose!"
PAINT STICKS WITH PACKING TAPE
Use paint sticks or tongue depressors and cover them with packing tape for repeated articulation trials.
Low Prep, Low Expense Ideas
Here are some additional low-prep, low-expense ideas to get plenty of repetitions with stickers:
Paint Sticks or Wooden Tongue Depressors: Add stickers for each target the child gets correct. I add packing tape to my paint sticks so kids can put on and take off stickers over and over for multiple trials!
Body Parts: Stick stickers on different body parts on you and the kids following each production, then have the kids take them off again while practicing their target sounds, words, or sentences.
Matching Games: Add matching stickers onto milk or juice lids, or cardboard circles or squares and play a matching game with them.
Stickers are a fantastic tool for making speech therapy sessions fun and engaging. I hope you find these ideas as helpful and enjoyable as I do. Happy sticking!
SLP Essentials for Back to School
Essential items for Speech language pathologists to have in their therapy room for back to school.
To make sure we kick speech off with a bang, I've put together a list of essential items that will make our lives a breeze during those first few weeks back in school. Check 'em out:
(Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click the Amazon links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons.)
Binder Rings with Speech Sound Cue Cards
1. Binder Rings: I use these ALL the time! I have my speech sound cue cards on them for on the go access to the visuals. My students love to flip through them to find “their sounds”. I also use them to hang visuals around the classrooms on plastic hooks.
2. Velcro Dots: Using velcro for visual schedules, adapting books and them for behavior charts is key! I no longer have to cut my velcro with these time saving dots!
3. Copy Paper: Let's face it, we can never have enough of this stuff. Gonna be printing out activities, resources and screening record forms like crazy!
4. Laminating Sheets: I laminate SO MUCH! I can keep activities year after year and kids can’t rip the pages! I use 5 mm sheets for even more durability for my visual sentence strips and books (check out my printable Back to School book for preschoolers!)
5. Plastic Sleeves: Slip those printable resources into these sleeves for use with dry erase markers when don’t have the time to laminate!. Plus, they're super easy to wipe clean. Score!
6. Mesh Storage Bags (the big ones): I used these to store my games paired with books in one place! I have a fun S’mores speech activity that includes articulation marshmallows that can all be stored in one bag.
7. New Play-Doh: Opening play-doh for an activity and finding it gray and hard is no fun!! Who doesn’t love the smell of new play doh any way? It's time to restock our Play-Doh stash. Love using play-doh for smash mats!
8. Nice Pens: Treat yourself to some smooth writing action with good quality pens. They make note-taking way less boring!
9. Dry Erase Markers: I always have a stash of these for making on the spot speech sound visuals and they are perfect for writing on whiteboards or laminated materials.
Plastic Container with attached Lid with Sensory Materials
10. Plastic Bins with Attached Lids: Seems like I always need one to make a sensory bin for a new theme, and the bins with the attached lids work the best for me in my therapy bag since they don’t open unless I want them to.
11. Water Bottle: My goal for this year is to drink more water and even though I have SO MANY water bottles, I want to motivate myself, so I’m buying a new one!
12. Dot Painters: These bad boys can be used for all kinds of cool therapy activities, dot articulation comes to mind and can be used with little prep and kids love to use them!.
13. Glue Sticks: Never can find my glue sticks, so this year I am putting one in every pocket of my therapy bag. I like the clear ones to use with the small pieces that I laminate. I stick inside the laminating sheet to hold the pieces in place while they run through the laminator.
14. Clipboard with Storage: This was a game changer for me last year! I keep each child’s daily sign in sheets inside the storage portion and the child’s sheet that I am working with on top plus my monthly time sheet.
Now that we're armed with these essential speechie necessities, we're all set for an amazing start to the school year.
Here's to a fantastic school year ahead!