My Top Strategies and Activities for Targeting Articulation with Older Students
1. Get Picky About R with R Minimal Pairs
When my student has their vocalic R down pretty well, but sometimes their “shirts” still sound a little like “shorts,” then I love to pull out this R Minimal Pairs activity to help them clean up the small differences between the vocalic R sounds. It comes in both print and digital options.
2. Get Artistic with Open-Ended Scenes
One of the best ways to see carryover is through distraction! Giving students something else to focus on in addition to speech sounds gives me a better picture of how they might be using their sounds outside the speech room. This creative activity by Adventures in Speech Pathology is a hit with a wide range of ages.
3. Get Reading with Entertaining (and age-appropriate) Passages
Most (though not all) of my older students working on articulation have mastered word and sentence levels in structured settings. It’s moving beyond these contexts that’s hard. Reading is one way I love to work on carryover, plus collecting data on reading is a great way to measure progress at this level. Additionally, I’ve found that reading out loud in class is often a self-identified reason they would like to improve their speech. These passages are all about obscure (and sometimes funny) holidays throughout the year and are loaded with later-developing sounds.
4. Get Playing with Sound-Loaded Word Games
Since we know that the classic “speech games” are all getting a little old by fifth grade, I love to incorporate higher-level games that may even be similar to things they play at home. This Speech-A-Gories game by Stacy Crouse is perfect for using sounds in a fun way and comes in both print and digital versions.
5. Get Thinking with Articulation-Focused Brain Teasers
Brain teasers serve two purposes when working with older students on articulation. First, they’re challenging and fun, which keeps them more engaged than almost any other activity I’ve tried. Second, the mental work they use to solve the problems means the use of their sound isn’t their only focus – which means I’m getting at actual real-life use of their sounds, not just “word level in a structured task.” This bundle of brain-teasers includes many different options for getting your students thinking, and of course, they’re all sound-loaded.
While I’ve linked a few specific products here, you don’t need these to implement these ideas! Just keep these tips in mind:
- Get Picky: don’t forget to iron out lingering distortions
- Get Artistic: use creative tasks to distract from structure practice and improve carryover
- Get Reading: in addition to being great for carryover and data-collection, many of my students identify reading out loud as an area in which they’d like to improve
- Get Playing: games are fun, engaging, and an excellent way to mimic “non-speech-room” conditions
- Get Thinking: brain-teasers are a great way to challenge students (helloooo engagement!) and have them practice sounds in more difficult contexts
