Easy Summer Articulation Practice Ideas for Older Students
Summer break can be a time when students’ articulation skills start to slip. There’s nothing more frustrating than returning in the fall and discovering that a student has regressed to practicing a sound in isolation again after making so much progress during the school year.
Students need simple, manageable ways to keep practicing over the summer, but many parents rely on speech-language pathologists to provide ideas and guidance. At the same time, the end of the school year is one of the busiest times for SLPs. Between finishing paperwork, completing evaluations, and wrapping up services, it can be challenging to come up with fun and engaging summer articulation activities.
That’s why having ready-to-share ideas can be so helpful. Below are some easy resources and activities you can pass along to families to help students maintain their articulation skills all summer long.
Practice Calendars
Most students and their families don’t want to spend an hour each day working on speech practice during the summer. That’s why I created these practical articulation calendars. Each day includes a target word, sentence, and a conversation prompt, making it easy for kids to practice their speech in just a few minutes a day.
Conversation Starters
Another great way for students to practice over the summer is with conversation starters. You can find many online for free, or check out mine below. Let families know that even completing just one per day can make a big difference in maintaining articulation skills over the summer. Remind students that the goal isn’t to be perfect, but to focus on trying to say their sounds correctly as often as they can.
Board Games
Older students still love playing board games, but only when the games feel age-appropriate. That’s why I created a variety of board games designed to target different speech sounds without any little kid clipart, as well as target harder words. Just print the games and send them home, so students can use them for fun, low-stress articulation practice all summer long.
Playing Cards
You can find many types of articulation cards online, but most of them feature clip art that looks geared toward early elementary students. Unfortunately, many of our older students feel discouraged practicing with these. That’s why I created cards with pictures and sentences designed with older students in mind. Students can play any card game they enjoy, like War and Garbage, and still get a high number of repetitions of their targeted sound over the summer.
