Putting Therapy into Practice

Fall is officially here and the leaves are starting to change color and fall to the ground!  Grab a rake, trash bag, and head outside! Work together to rake and bag up the leaves.  You can take a break from raking and sort the leaves.  Sorting is a great skill for kids to learn and leaves can be sorted into many different categories: big/small, brown/yellow/red/green, round/pointy.  Talk to your child about the different seasons (“summer is over and now its fall. Next we’ll have winter!”) and changes that come with each season.   Once the raking is finished, have your child help stuff the leaves into the bag.  They can get a BIG armful or a SMALL handful. You can then go inside and have a nice warm cup of tea, apple cider or hot cocoa….

Tea party time!

Tea set 1– amazon link

Tea set 2– amazon link

Pinkies up! Tea sets are a fun way to build in our theme of meal time in the form of pretend play. Set up a few stuffed animals, grab your fanciest hat, and enjoy a “cup of tea.”

First, decide if you want to have a real drink or a pretend one (water with food coloring works magic!). Since it’s fall, it might be fun to use apple cider or hot cocoa! You can also add in a little snack- crackers, a small cookie, or fruit. (WHAT can we eat? WHAT can we drink?)

Pick a stuffed animal or two to join. (Ask: WHO will come to our tea party?).

Time to set up! You can name each piece of the set (cup, saucer, plate, spoon, etc) as you set up. Make sure each person has a cup! (Ask: WHO needs a cup? I do. She does. He does. They do.)

Teas on! The most important thing is to have fun! Get into character, be silly, and model how to pretend. (Would you like some tea? I would like some tea.)

Verbs you can target are: pour, stir, drink, eat, sip.

Activity of the Month – Making Ice Cream!

Summer is over, but we can always go for some ice cream. Try making this fun, hands-on, and yummy “Ice Cream in a Bag” to cool off and enjoy a homemade treat.

You will need:

• 1 sandwich ziplock bag
• 1 gallon size ziplock bag
• Light cream or half-and-half
• Chocolate Syrup
• Vanilla
• Salt

Directions

1. Pour 1/2 cup milk into the sandwich size bag. Add chocolate syrup or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Seal it up and put it into another sandwich bag- double bagging!

2. Fill the gallon sized bag with lots of ice and 1/4 c salt.

3. Put the smaller bag of milk into the large bag of ice and salt. Seal it.

4. SHAKE like crazy. Dance, shake, move around until the milk turns into ice cream.

5. Take the smaller bag out of the larger bag.

6. Dump into a bowl or eat from the bowl- enjoy!

You can incorporate the following concepts into the activity:

• Receptive Language: “Add 5 ice cubes,” “put the small bag in the big bag”
• Descriptors/Attributes: cold, white, brown, frozen, melted, smooth
• Verbs: open, close, shake, scoop, pour
• Requesting/Expanding Utterances: I need the milk, I need the bag, Can I have a bag? My turn/your turn
• Social: Requesting materials, taking turns shaking the bag (it will get cold)

Motor Speech: Speak with your PROMPT© trained therapist to determine which words to use in the activity. Some lexicon ideas include: you do, you do it, I do, I do it, let me do it, put it in, eat it, move!, Who will go now?  ME!