Free Speech Therapy
Coupons

Do you get a lot of junk mail daily and are tired of always throwing it out? Well, with our free speech therapy coupons ideas, you can get good use out of useless mail! Enjoy!

Language Activities

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Vocabulary: Toddler to Early Elementary

Young children learn vocabulary best through playing. It is the most natural and functional. They learn by playing. So, while playing with the junk mail, use the following vocabulary words in sentences. Your child is listening! If they can, have them repeat a few sentences. 

1. Deliver: Take turns "delivering" the mail while playing
2. Send: Pretend to write letters and send mail.
3. Buy: Use the junk mail to play store and have fun "buying" things. 
4. Throw: Well....this is my toddlers favorite...crumple up the mail into a ball and throw it. Play catch, make rain, etc.... Practice the verb "throw" while you play. 
5. Looking: Try to find something specific in the pile of mail such as food while using the vocabulary word "looking."

For more info on vocabulary learning, check out the toddler and preschool/elementary vocabulary learning pages. 

If your child is not talking yet, don't worry. We can jump start his/her first words if you have an android device. Don't have Android....check out how to encourage first words with a kindle!

Is your child already talking but not talking a lot? Want more specific ideas on how to expand vocabulary? Check out our BRAND NEW eBook, Toddler Talking. We are EXCITED about it! 

Following Directions: Preschool to Early Elementary

The ability to follow directions is a crucial language skill needed for academic and social success. It requires a person to know vocabulary, have working memory skills, and be able pay attention. Below are ideas to practice following directions while playing with coupons.

Sequential: This direction is multi-step and something has to be done first, second, etc..

• I want to buy coupon A and then coupon B
• First, make a pile and then throw the coupons in the air!
• Crumple up a coupon and toss it in the garbage

Before/After:  This is a temporal direction. Your child has to do something before or after they do something else. This is TRICKY!

• Before you fill you buy the "xyz" coupon, buy the "mno" coupon
• After you dump out the coupons, mix them up 
• Pick up the green coupon before you pick up the yellow one

Spatial: Give a direction with a spatial aspect (under, over, above). 

• Stack the "xyz" coupon on top of the "123" coupon
• Put the mail under the blanket
• Place the money on top of the mail

Quantitative: Quantitative means quantity. Teach your child concepts such as few, one, many, a lot, etc...  

• Give me a few coupons
• Put a lot of mail in the basket
• Let's find only one coupon to buy!

Basic: Basic means one step, simple directions. If your child is having trouble. Start here!

• Find a green flyer
• Give me the smallest one you can find
• Crumple up paper

Complex Language Tasks: Toddler to Early Elementary Students

Below are some games that target both expressive (speaking) and receptive (listening) skills. Read below for some ideas! 

Comparative: You will practice "comparing and contrasting" language skills. These are important!

• Verbs: Buy VS Sell - Have fun playing playing store with the coupons (this is my sons favorite game). One person can be the cashier and one person can shop or buy the "mail." Talk about how buying and selling is similiar and different (i.e. both have to do with money, happen in a store, someone gives money and someone gets money).
• Nouns: Coupons VS Flyers - This might be for older kids, but talk about how coupons and flyers are similiar and different. For example, they are both made of paper, you get them in the mail, they tell you about sales. Coupons are needed to get a discount where flyers just tell you about something special going on. 

Sequencing Narrative: Retell all the steps needed for different activities in the sand such as:

• Buying something from a store
• How to clean up a mess
• How to send or receive mail

Naming: Name all the different vocabulary words that fit into the following categories:

• Things sent through the mail
• Uses for paper
• Things you spending money on

Sorting: Organize the mail by attributes. Below are some ideas!

• Things that you can eat
• Organize by color
• Things that you can buy for the house

A solid foundation in speech and language skills in necessary for success in reading, math, social relationships, and language arts!  For more specific speech therapy activities, read more about our practice ideas based on age and skill level. 

Executive Functioning: Toddler to Early Elementary Students

Executive functioning is our own personal CEO. Executive functioning skills are our abilities to plan, control impulses and emotions, multi-task, pay and shift attention, and organize. These are quite important as you can imagine; however, with all the craziness in schools and increase in technology use in kids, these skills aren't being fostered and that is A PROBLEM! Let's change that :)

Our executive functioning skills will continue to develop as our frontal lobe continues to grow; however, we can start things off on the right foot!

1. Plan a shopping trip. Discuss where you want to go shopping and why! Make sure you "think out loud" as it is  a great strategy to teach your child how to organize thoughts and start to understand that we have thoughts, we can control them, and they help us! 
2. Sequence steps needed to buy something at a store. For younger kids, you can do this as act out the sequencing while playing store. For example, first you need to pick out your things, next you walk to the cash register, then you wait in line, etc... 
3. Talk about safety in the parking lot. Discuss how to look for cars, cross the street, etc...

Social Skills

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Like I've said before, there is so much technology and SOOO much academic pressure put on little ones, social skill development is lacking these days. There is no time to learn these skills, poor babies. 

Social skills are essential in order to be successful in school, work, and really all aspects of life. Social skills develop from birth and grow throughout our life through experiences, observation, and direct teaching. You can demonstrate good social skills from the start through modeling. 

1. Practice asking for a turn with a certain coupon
2. Practice inviting a friend or family member to join in the play
3. Talk about who you want to invite over to play and how to do it. Talk about things you can do to make friends more comfortable (i.e., sharing toys, having a snack, etc...)
4. If a child doesn't want to share, trade toys, or wait for a turn, talk about why it is so important. This will pay off in the long run!

Speech Activities

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Is your child working on saying sounds better or otherwise known as "articulation therapy?"  If so, you can practice articulation skills while you play in the sand.

Below are some words to practice while playing. We created sample target words for all sounds in all word positions (beginning, middle, and end). If your child is working on any of these sounds, pick a word and practice it while you play in the sand. Very functional and easy! 

Some ideas on how to practice include:

• Say a target word and have your child repeat it before taking a turn (word level)
• Say a sentence with the target word and encourage your child to do the same before a turn (sentence level)
• You can brainstorm a game based on the words below. Have fun!

Read articulation therapy for how to do speech therapy at home and access free word lists!

For more information on specific sounds, read about our apps for speech therapy!

Speech Therapy Coupons Video

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I TRIED my hardest to get an adorable video of my boys because they seriously love playing with these coupons. My youngest even said some of his first words (more and paper) while playing. This time, he did say "yummy" while "feeding" me chicken. It is quite cute. They are so excited that they are just running all over but this is a glimpse at how you could use coupons with different ages (1 and 4 years old). 

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