Talk Like a Pirate Day Speech Therapy Theme

Speech Therapy Theme: Pirates

In 2020, I used a pirate theme unit in speech therapy for the first time. I had seen other SLP’s doing this, but I didn’t feel like I could use a lot of the materials because they contained weapons or violence. So, I made some of my own! I also found a newer game that seemed a little more G rated than the “old favorite” that has children sticking swords into a barrel until the pirate pops out (kids love it, but when I thought about the context of the game, I didn’t love it).

Talk Like a Pirate Day is a fun little “holiday” that takes place each year. It seems to fall on September 19th each year.

Child Led Plan

For child led play, you can use your imagination! Follow your students’ lead as you explore toys, games, books, or whatever you have available. You can pretend to be on a ship, go on a treasure hunt, or swab the deck. No costumes are required…but they can be a lot of fun!

Ideas for Gestalt Language Developers during child led play: model different phrases that your student could mitigate in everyday speech. Since a pirate theme is not likely to occur day to day, you might focus on more naturally occurring phrases like these in the photo.