Therapy Theme: June, Summer, ESY

“What’s in your box, Mrs. Elizabeth?”

Some wild times and a whole lotta kids! Don’t worry….there aren’t any kids IN the box…but there are a LOT of children here. That means, it must be summer!

Themes for June: If you’re doing therapy out of your car or anywhere in the South in the summer….themes are about staying cool and hydrated (with a little summer fun mixed in).

You can carry over summer themes into your home with your kiddos too!

In June, we are doing:

Unicorns

Camping

Bugs

Beach/Ocean/Mermaids

Organization and Personal Gear

Good golly…as a private practice SLP, summers in the south can be the WORST. Many of the homes and facilities I’ve served didn’t have air conditioning or there were just too many moments in the hot car in between!

Tips to save your sanity (and your health!)

Wear comfortable clothes! This may not be the time for long scrubs or pants. If you’re worried about modesty, you can find knee-length shorts. I’ve had great luck with knee length, sports-style skirts that have bike shorts underneath (check the sporting goods section at stores like Target). I’m telling you, you will be much more comfortable and less drained by the end of the day if you’re dressed appropriately. Wear t-shirts! You can find great shirts from Emily B Speech, The Giggly SLP, Speaking of Samantics, & Speech Coffee Tees just to name a few.
Gah, masks in the heat. I’m all about safety, but sometimes I do wonder if my face might actually melt off. I’m still voting for the “Wet Clear” as my favorite speech therapy mask. It’s held up, the antifogger spray (or a little dish soap lightly rubbed on/off) keep you from feeling like you’re in a terrarium, and the kiddos can see your face! Yay! I’m not affiliated with this company, I’ve just had good success with these.
Hydrate!!! Get a BIG water bottle and fill it with ice and water. Drink it. In fact, bring two. The metal types stay insulated the best for me. I like this hydroflask from amazon. Plus, you can decorate it with stickers to give you a little joy throughout the day. Who says adults can’t play with stickers!? This sticker came from The Giggly SLP.
Incorporate Water Play. If the home or center you’re working in allows it, why not!? There are so many opportunities for language when playing with water! Just make sure you have a change of clothes in your car (we should probably do this anyway…..”what did I just sit in?” Ew.)

What to use this summe?

1) Find Summer Freebies in the Freebie Library!

Last Year’s Biggest Hit: Unicorn Week!

Hop Over to Instagram to find video tutorials on helpful topics:

Gestalt Language Processing
Hand UNDER hand instead!
How to structure your materials to reduce scattering, throwing, mouthing!

Other Favorite Books for Summer

Free Printables for Mermaids and Sharks! (In the Freebie Library)

Favorite Digital Games for Summer:

You can now find digital book companions for ALL of the Old Lady books on Boom Learning!

I scream, you scream, let’s stop screaming and eat ice cream….or something like that.

Favorite Printables for Summer:

The Old Lady Series!!!

I’m so excited about this growing resource. It includes activities (dot art, smash mats, coloring pages), diverse sentence strips (yay!!!) for expanding utterances, feed me game, task box, ring size, and notebook size printables for the ENTIRE year! It’s at a steal of a price and as a growing bundle, you can download any update for free!

This summer, I’ll be using these books by Lucille Colandro:

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell

There Was an Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark

There Was an Old Pirate Who Swallowed a Map

The Big Box of Dot Art!

Oh my goodness, this one is HUGE. This is another growing resource that will finish with more than 768 no prep printable pages for articulation! So far, you can download 100s of pages, including 100 attempt reinforcement pages for articulation and Cycles approach, Spring Speech, and Summer Speech (including a beach ball, Back to School bus, and a Sun).

Freebies for Summer:

Ausome Speech: Free Feed the Shark Shapes Boom Cards
G emma June: Free Sample Multisyllabic Words: Feed the Ocean Friends
Speaking Louder than Words: Sea Turtle Rescue
Ms Emily Speech: Free Interactive Core Word Milkshake
TouchofTechSLP: Picnic Social Skills
Ausome Speech : Dress up the Old Lady, Free printable Book Visuals, Free Boom Cards
Sparkly Speechie: Mermaid Craft Idea
Stacey Crouse: Blog Post filled with No-Print Freebies for Summer