This week, I blogged in response to a question I got from a fellow SLP asking for ideas to keep preschoolers engaged in a speech and language lesson. As I was working with a 2 1/2 year-old today, I was reminded that sometimes the child just drives the session!
I was playing with a little boy who loves Play-Doh so much that I could just keep varying how I use it for the whole lesson. Well, today he asked for the “shatata” (spatula) and the “K-K” (cookie form). We started to make our Play-Doh cookies and brought out our pretend oven. My little friend started to say, “thip” (flip) and stuck his spatula under the cookie and flipped it in the air! He laughed and laughed. That activity took up the rest of the session as I modeled 2-word phrases for him to repeat describing where the cookie sailed off to–“in jar, on table, under table, on phone, go down, get cookie, more flip” etc. Luckily Mom had left the kitchen to care for her other child because we were flipping everywhere.
It just goes to show you that anything can turn into a language learning activity.