Guest Post #4. A post on using the theme of Christmas in speech therapy from Carissa at Home Sweet Speech Room!!

Hello! We have entered day number four of our blogiversary celebration. It has been a ton of fun so far and we hope that you have enjoyed the guests posts as much as we have! Have you entered the giveaways yet? Please remember that you can enter all three giveaways all week long to increase your chances to win awesome themed therapy documents from talented speech therapists and an app from Smarty Ears. The giveaways are at the bottom of this wonderful post by Carissa from Home Sweet Speech Room. Thank you so much for all of the links and information Carissa.  Christmas is such a joyous holiday theme to add to the therapy room and many of the students that we see celebrate it.  And truthfully, it will be here before we know it!  We just counted and it looks like we have 82 days until Christmas.  Hmm, maybe we better start thinking about all of that shopping and decorating that needs to get done by then?!  :) 

Visit Carissa at Home Sweet Speech Room. We know you'll enjoy all of her present and past posts! And don't forget to stop by her TpT store to check out all of her excellent therapy items for sale!  

Now, get ready to read Carissa's awesome guest post that will 

for sure start getting you in a holiday mood! Enjoy!! 

Sincerely,

Manda & Shanda, SLP's

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Thanks so much to Shanda and Manda for inviting me to guest post today!
 I love using themes in therapy, and I am SO excited to talk about
CHRISTMAS today!  Yes, it is October.  Think of it as planning
ahead!


Note: Apologies to those of you who do not celebrate Christmas.
Take these ideas and apply to any holiday that you do celebrate!

Why talk about Christmas/ Do Christmas activities? 

Christmas is one of those themes that you can do SO much with!  You
can talk about traditions, colors, songs, vocabulary, games,
decorations.  You name it, you can probably talk about it!
 You can read books and poems! You can decorate your speech room
(if allowed) or decorate something like a tree!  The list goes on
and on.

You can target SO many different goals. Language is a big
one.  Just have the students talk about their favorite traditions,
their favorite song, their favorite decorations.  Perhaps there is
something they don't like- they could even talk about that!  Have
them practice using the correct vocabulary and grammar while talking or
writing.  Practice answering WH-questions or using correct
pronouns.

You can target articulation. Simply choose a list of words
that have the sound in it and drill. Make flash cards with these sounds.
 Make a game yourself or buy one on Teachers
Pay Teachers.

You can work on categories.  Have them name foods
eaten, songs sung, colors used, or decor items.

You can work on social skills/ pragmatics. Discuss how you
should respond to certain requests made by people (i.e. for you to help
set the table, to sit next to you).  Discuss how to respond
appropriately if you really like a present or if you don't like a
present!

You can target basic concepts. Get a little tree and talk
about where the presents go, where the ornaments are, etc.  What
are the colors on the tree?  Of the ornament?

You can target listening and/or reading comprehension.
Have your students read or listen to a paragraph about Christmas and
then answer questions about what they have just read or heard.

Oh the list goes on and on and on and on and on!

You can do these things with any age group.  You can
do activities from Pre-K through adults.  Pre-K kids will work on
basic concepts; adults may work on complex language skills.  Adults
especially like to recall what they've done in the past.

Here are some of my favorite activities from Teachers 
Pay Teachers:

-Polar 
Express Expressive Language

-Polar
Express Social Language/Pragmatics

-Polar
Express Phonological Awareness

-Christmas
Toy Catalog Companion

-Multisyllabic
Christmas Words

-Christmas
Language Activities: Common Core Aligned 

-Christmas
Pronouns

-Christmas
Bingo: Artic and Fluency

-Christmas
Clues

-Christmas
Listening Comprehension

-Articulation
Tongue Twisters

-Speech
Therapy: Pronoun, Verbs, and Prepositions for Christmas

-Christmas
Caroler WH-Questions

If you need more ideas, browse here!!
Of course, don't forget to check out Pinterest boards.
There are tons of ideas there!

Do you love celebrating Christmas in your speech room?? What is your 
favorite activity? 

Carissa blogs over at Home Sweet Speech 
Room.  You can also find her on Facebook, Teachers
Pay Teachers, Pinterest,
and Twitter.
 She is a second year graduate student, is training for a half
marathon, loves cooking, and is addicted to Pinterest. 

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Time to enter our giveaways.  You can enter all three giveaways every day this week.  The winners will be chosen on Friday the 4th (Oct 4, 2012 was the day of our very first post at Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy).  Thanks for reading the guest post today and for entering the giveaways.  Best of luck!

Manda & Shanda, SLP's

Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy

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