Therapy Themes: October (Pumpkins, Fall, Halloween)

October Speech Therapy

“What’s in your box, Mrs. Elizabeth?”

So, I’m here today to share some organization tips and tricks, some free printables, and some links to great resources for October speech therapy!

First off, I use tote boxes by season. I use these very cute Monthly Labels and have 4 boxes: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. I change them out in the back of my car every 3 months and always have my evaluation box with me.

You can grab a free lesson plan for Pumpkins, Leaves, and Halloween below!

Visual Schedule: I include both digital and printable versions in my set. *Research tells us that most children are visual learners. Temple Grandin describes how she “thinks in pictures”, indicating that autistic students also benefit from having clear visuals. Having the expectations of what to do in pictures along with what is coming next reduces anxiety, increases attention, and increases independence. *www.teacch.com, Grandin, T. (2006) Thinking in Pictures, Knopf Doubleday.

In October, my box usually has the following: Books, Task Boxes, Binder Activities, and Digital Materials for everything!

Pictured below are some of my favorite activities from Speech is Sweet and Autism Adventures.

Two of my favorite fall adaptive books are “Where’s Max” by Panda Speech and “Fall Monster Takes a Walk” (a Freebie!) by Miss Kim Designs. Also pictured is a fall matching task box from this comprehensive set by Especially Education.

Here
is a vocabulary freebie for fall. There are versions in color and
black and white. You could use the black and white for coloring,
homework, or using dot markers. The color version could be put in a
wipeable envelope or laminated for use as a smash mat, bingo marker,
etc. The black and white version could be used for coloring or dot
art…and to send home for carryover practice!

Both of these pages correspond with this set of Boom Cards targeting fall vocabulary.

Digital materials: well most of us have been thrown head-first into the digital world in 2020, whether we were ready or not! This is a set of boom cards for targeting early phonemes in articulation (great for consonant deletion and apraxia). This one is one of my games. You can find it here.

This is a Freebie! Trick or Speech for initial /G/. Download below.

If your students celebrate Halloween, this articulation set covers it ALL and is so much fun and engaging. They get to feed different Halloween characters all sorts of Halloween goodies.

This is the digital version that goes along with the free printable pages above.

Favorite Fall Games

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel targets colors, counting, etc.

Leaf Puzzle

Alphabet Acorns by Learning resources is great for our little ones whose “Favorite Things” include letters. You can practice core words like open, colors, and sorting.