I’ve created 2 barrier games for my students that will help me work on articulation and language. My co-worker SLP, Robyn, uses them for fluency practice.
They require kids to listen & follow directions, organize their thoughts to give clear, concise directions, show their understanding of all sorts of concepts and practice their articulation and fluency strategies in spontaneous speech.
It gives ME a true picture of their real communication, and it’s fun, too!
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Speaking and Listening are a big part of the Common Core Standards and I think that most educators think those are the “easy” skills. I think if you really dig deep, many people would be shocked to find out how difficult these skills are for many kids!
These barrier games put them to the test in those areas. There are a couple of ways to “play” depending on whether you want to focus more on speaking or more on listening. For either, each student should be given the colorful background scene and a barrier should be set up between them so they can’t see each others’ boards.
They also each need a set of the themed items shown on the page below (they must be cut out). These are the items they will place on the scene where they are instructed (either by other students or by the therapist). They will have to find the exact item described to them and place it exactly where they’re instructed to in the scene. This can be very eye-opening!!
Since I know what it’s like to have a million things on your mind or to have a little “brainfog” some days (hope I’m not the only one?), I did the thinking ahead of time. There are 2 sets of directions included for you that use up all of the themed items, require kids to really think, and target a variety of concepts. I love making them strain their brain!!
Just like the St. Patty’s version, this set also includes 1) instructions for play 2) an Easter scene 3) a page of items to place in the scene with instructions 4) 2 sets of prewritten directions that did the thinking for you and use all items in the scene. You can grab this Easter barrier game HERE
Cute! I love barrier games!
-Brea
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