The Functional Toolbox posts explore how we could use functional, real-life items in speech therapy, to exercise language or cognitive skills, or practice strategies that improve function. Some patients have a negative reaction to worksheets, so using functional, tangible items is another vehicle we can use to target patient-centered goals or strategies.
Today I am sharing speech therapy ideas using photos from the Person you are treating!
Toolbox Item: Photos from the Person you are treating!
Photos are a fast and easy way to make therapy relevant and meaningful! Everyone has photos (album, hard copy, or digital!), and they tend to bring instant excitement or value to the therapy session.
Person-Centered Care:
Why use photos?
*By using photos from the Person you treat, you are increasing the chances of using language/topics that will have a lasting impact beyond the therapy room!
How do I do this?
*You may know from the initial interview/evaluation that personal photos would be a helpful tool, depending on interests and challenge areas. It can be as simple as using pictures of the grandkids to assist in telling a story, or bringing in an album dedicated to before/after photos of a home makeover! The Person you are working with determines how this will look, based on their interests. The most unique album someone brought for me was a collection of wood working projects they had done: We had so much fun discussing these and using them as a springboard for language and organization goals!
*Getting access to photos may vary by setting. The Person may be able to be in charge of this by either getting a photo album or choosing photos to share on a phone. Otherwise, family may be asked to bring in some photos.
*Home Programs: I love giving functional tasks as a home program to target a certain skill/strategy. Depending on the situation, you could assign the Person to call to request photos, to remember to bring in an album, to come prepared to talk about a favorite project with photos, etc.
Sample Therapy Ideas:
I hope these ideas are useful or help you easily target a person-centered goal using a relevant topic! If you would like other ideas like this, please check out my Home Sweet Home Series.
| To Target Strategies or Skills in This Area: | The Patient Could Do This: |
| Verbal Expression | *Name people / places / items from personal photos
*Describe vacation / event / tradition that photo shows using complete sentences *Explain factors to consider for photo organization or making an album *Use strategy to give 3+ pieces of information about a personal photo |
| Written Expression | *Use photos to write name of person / object / place (Consider CART protocol!)
*Write sentences to answer “WH” questions about the photo *Write a comparison paragraph using 2 photos (2 vacations, present/past, etc) |
| Auditory Comprehension | *Picture identification in a field of 5 relevant photos
*Answer sentence-length open-ended questions about the photos |
| Reading Comprehension | *Use a written aid to assist with *** (verbal expression, writing formulation, motor speech, etc) with photo as therapy vehicle |
| Motor Speech | *Challenge ability to carry-over motor speech strategy or skill while explaining picture, people, feelings, directions, etc that apply to a photo |
| Attention | *Sustain attention: Complete simple description of 10 photos with no cues for redirection
*Alternate attention: Describe/sort 10 photos with no cues for returning to task, while alternately being asked questions that do not relate to photos *Divide attention: Sort photos by theme or year, while also listening to TED Talks, participating in conversation, or other language task |
| Memory | *Short-term recall for picture facts/info on relevant topic, can add multiple units of info to increase complexity.
*Prospective memory: Prepare a 5-minute story using a photo from home for the next speech therapy session |
| Thought Organization | *Organize photos by topic or timeline
*Create written guidelines for how to organize photo albums *Describe step-by-step procedure for saving photos or retrieving them off phone |
| Problem-Solving / Reasoning | *Explain how to choose which photos to keep in an album
*Divergent problem-solving: Name ways someone could organize photos. *Calculate cost for creating a photo album online. Get multiple quotes. *Explain how to avoid problems such as: losing photos, not having enough storage, etc. |
| Executive Function | *Evaluate strategy success during task, or plan how to adapt strategies for new situation.
*Plan home program task that could be a similar challenge (Organize photo book?) |
| Pragmatics | *Use appropriate social language for a verbal task (Give an appropriate amount of information, turn-taking, etc)
*Use appropriate eye contact, facial expression, gestures for presentation. |
What else do you like to use in your “Functional Toolbox?”
If you want more ideas like this, check out the Home Sweet Home Series and previous Functional Toolbox posts (Garden Seed Packets, Cookbook, Tool Kit).
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