Fall Speech Therapy Ideas for Parents
Fall is a great time to get outside and enjoy the changing of seasons. There are many ways to target your child’s speech and language goals at home, while incorporating the season of fall. Here are 4 fun fall ideas for goal carryover at home:
1. Go on a leaf hunt.
Ideas: Read the book “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt” by Steve Metzger. If you do not have access to this book, it can be found read aloud on YouTube. After reading/listening to the book, you can then go outside or to your local park and collect a variety of leaves. Be on the hunt for leaves that are similar to the ones in the book!
Target goals:
- Identifying and naming colors
- Answering ‘WH’ questions (What, Where, When, Why)
- Story comprehension (“What happened at the end of the story?”)
- Spatial concepts (in, on, under, beside, below etc.)
- Following directions (“Pick up the orange leaf, and put it on the bench”)
- Describing objects (color, size, shape)
2. Fall Verb Charades
Ideas: Make a list of fall verbs (rake leaves, eat an apple, throw a football), take turns acting them out and guessing what the other is doing.
Target goals:
- Naming and identifying verbs
- Following directions
- Turn taking
- Pretend Play
3. Go to a pumpkin patch or apple picking.
Ideas: Go to a local apple orchard to pick apples, give your child clues to find the apple you are describing (the small green apple under the big branch). The same can be done at a pumpkin patch (the big orange pumpkin next to the small white one). This activity can also be done at home. Place apples or pumpkins around your home, then give clues to help find them using prepositions or spatial concepts (in the basket, beside the books). Allow your child to find the apples and pumpkins or hide them and describe where they are to you.
Target goals:
- Spatial concepts (in, on, under, beside, below etc.)
- Naming or identifying described objects (give clues to describe an item, allow your child to name or find the correct one)
- Naming and identifying Colors
- Following directions
4. Go to a Fall festival or Petting Zoo
Ideas: Attending a fall festival or petting zoo can be a great activity to target a variety of goals. This can also be a great opportunity to interact with same aged peers through games & play.
Target goals:
- Imitating animal or environmental sounds
- Imitating actions (clapping, jumping, waving etc.)
- Naming or identifying a variety of objects
- Requesting for desired objects or items
- Turn taking with peers or adults
- Initiating interactions/asking to join in play
Articulation goals can easily be targeted throughout all of the mentioned activities. Here is a list of fall words for speech sounds your child may be targeting in therapy. Sounds may be listed in the initial, medial, or final positions of words.
Bilabials /p, b, m/
- /p/- pumpkin, pick, pie, patch, pile, apple, pecan, pilgrim, soup
- /b/- bonfire, bake, bat, boo, cobbler, gobble, cranberry,
- /m/- mummy, marshmallow, maze, farmer, mushroom,
Velars /k, g/
- /k/- candy, caramel, campfire, corn, cool, pumpkin, acorn, crow, scarecrow, turkey
- /g/- gourd, ghost, ghoul, give, grateful, gather, pilgrim, gravy
Liquids /l, r/
- /l/ – leaf, leaves, Halloween, leftovers, leaping, falling, holiday, chilly, Halloween, fall, football colorful, thankful, festival
- /r/– recipe, relatives, red, rabbit, ripe, harvest, dessert, casserole, acorns, September, October, November, cider
Fricatives /f, v, th, s, z, sh/
- /f/- fall, family, friends, football, festival, farmer, flannel, falling,
- /v/– vampire, vine, visit, harvest, gravy, leaves, thanksgiving, give
- /th/- thankful, thanksgiving, thanks, think, thoughtful, father, mother
- /s/- cider, soup, season, serve, September, seed, Thanksgiving, dressing, outside, recipe casserole, thanks, crops, pumpkins
- /z/– maze, zucchini, zip, zipper, zoom
- /sh/- shadow, share, shade, sugar, marshmallow, celebration, smash, licorice, dish
Affricates /ch,j/
- /ch/– chilly, change, chipmunk, chestnut, cherry pie, touchdown, temperature, nature, agriculture, butterscotch, branch, patch
- /j/- jack-o-lantern, jump, jam, jelly, jacket, hedgehog,
Blends /l, r,s/
- /l/ blends- blanket, blew, cloudy, gloves, glad, flash, flowers, plant, plow,
- /r/ blends– crop, trust, fresh, grill, grub, gravy, crow, tree, brown
- /s/ blends- scoop, scarecrow, slice, smell, smash, snuggle, snooze, sports, stem, stone, sweep, sweets