No-Prep Group Speech/Language Therapy Ideas

When you’re a speech-language pathologist with a caseload of 70 or more kids, group therapy is a necessary evil.

Sometimes it feels like group speech/language therapy only happens because we don’t have enough time to see each child individually.

But there are actually a lot of really great benefits to group therapy!

Kids are much more likely to work on these hard skills when they see other kids working on them, too.

And hearing it in others’ speech can improve their awareness of their own speech.

Plus, we get a ton of practice on navigating interpersonal skills.

But running a speech/language group can also be daunting.

I’m speech-language pathologist Carrie Clark and in today’s episode of the Speech and Language Kids Podcast, I’m going to show you some quick and easy ways to run your speech/language therapy groups with NO prep time at all!

Listen to the Podcast Here

You can listen to the full podcast episode below:

How to Get Set Up for No-Prep Groups

• Plan which 1-3 skills you will target for each student for the month (see our Monthly Planning Page inside The Hub)
• Grab no-prep kits for those skills and drop them in the students’ folders (see our resources on Setting Up Speech Folders)
• Have a selection of general activities that are appropriate for your population (games, crafts, toys, outside gear, etc.)

How to Run your Groups

1. Students come in and grab their folders
2. They practice their skill quietly to themselves while everyone is coming in
3. You walk around and provide feedback and support
4. When everyone is getting squirrely, have the group decide on a game or activity to do
5. Continue to practice their skills during the activity

OR…Try the Stations Approach

1. Students come in and grab their folders
2. They go to a station (aka a quick activity that’s sitting somewhere in the room)
3. They practice their skill independently at that station. One station is yours! You help one student directly while the rest do independent practice.
4. After a set amount of time, they rotate to the next station

Station Ideas

• Speech/Language Professional Station
• Fine Motor Station (stacking blocks, assembling small manipulatives
• Gross Motor Station (stand on one foot, jump up and down, touch toes, etc.)
• Yoga Station (hold yoga poses)
• Writing/Tracing Station (dry erase boards or pages)
• Sensory Station (tactile material)

OR…Try the 5-Minute Approach

If groups are still getting you down, consider 5-minute sessions instead!

For this approach, you see each child from the group for 5 minutes independently instead of for 30 minutes in a group (or whatever your original schedule was).

You can still see the same number of students during that time block but each student will get in more repetitions in less time.

The short nature of the session means you don’t have to provide games or activities.

You simply drill for 5 minutes and then send them on their way.

The research shows PHENOMENAL gains when using this approach!

You’ll need to rework their IEPs to reflect the lower minutes but then you’ll see faster progress in less time.

Click Here to Learn More about 5-Minute Sessions inside The Hub

Need some help?

We have all of the tools and resources you need to make this happen!

Just join us inside The Hub and take “The Way”.

In this series of videos, I’ll show you exactly how to get set up for this Way of doing speech therapy.

I’ll even give you the data pages!

Come let me help you!

Click Here to Join The Hub and Start The Way