Speech Sounds

Centers for Articulation Group Activity

  1. Julie Lindstrom says:

    I love these… can’t wait to incorporate them. Thank you!!

  2. Kate B. says:

    Love this idea! My groups are big enough to make this work for me! Thanks.

    • Shannon says:

      Agreed! I find once a group gets to a certain size that this way of instruction is so much more effective! Thanks for commenting!

  3. Jenny says:

    I thought it was so funny when I saw this post. I recently switched to doing centers during my artic. group times usually with 3 to 5 preschoolers and I’ve been telling everyone how much I love it. I actually get MORE drill in when they come to me then when I stay at the table with the whole group. Amazing right?
    Because I have preschoolers, I have to be careful what I put out for the centers. I use puzzles, shape matching, connect colors, shape sorters, etc. because they REALLY need critical thinking tasks and they are of course non readers. I love it.

    • Shannon says:

      Such a great idea! I plan to continue expanding my centers to a variety of groups. I wanted to start small (articulation groups) but it’s been such a success I can’t wait to expand out to language groups, preschool groups, fluency groups, etc… I totally agree that I get more drill in this way!

  4. Christin says:

    I love using 5 Minute Kids to get a whole lot of reps in, but this sounds perfect for those bigger groups that I have to see! Thanks!

  5. Mary says:

    How do you do this in a small room? So many times I am stuck in a broom closet or small storage room, or a room that I have to share with another professional.

    • Shannon says:

      My room is decently sized. It definitely only fits one small table, but several of the stations are on the floor or in the hallway (movement breaks). Tricky thought if you’re in a closet sized room for sure! 🙁

  6. Annie Doyle says:

    Centers are wonderful for articulation therapy. I have been using ArticLab from SuperDuper for several years now. Very effective! I like your materials in order to shake things up a bit!

  7. Keri says:

    Thank you so much. I love this idea and can’t wait to try it. Seems like it would make services for those ever-growing numbers/groups so much more effective. I look forward to hearing your ideas for language group centers!

  8. Ciara says:

    I’m planning to start using this when we return from winter break! I have arctic groups ranging from 2-5 kids so this will be perfect when I need to do progress monitoring or check on some things for IEP meetings. Have you started this for language groups yet? I do not have many language kids so they are usually mixed in with my arctic kids but I would love for them to benefit from centers as well.

  9. Haven Broady says:

    I love this idea! I’m currently thinking through how this would work in my smallish, shared room! Have you implemented any centers for language kiddos yet?

    • Shannon says:

      I haven’t! I ended up switching jobs and now work full time in a middle school. I think it would be possible depending on the student group though. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!

  10. Jackieroell@gmail.com says:

    I have started doing centers for my 1st and 2nd grade artic students. I like it so far but I’ve run into the problem that a lot of my students can’t always read their artic word or determine what the picture is, so when they are working at their stations they are either practicing the wrong word or constantly asking for my help, which then interrupts my one on one time with another student. Have you run into this problem at all?

    • Shannon says:

      Glad you’re liking centers so far! For some students, I have to put forth more effort in finding activities they can be taught to do independently. I might need to pull them out for quick teaching sessions to get them in a routine and to explicitly teach them what is expected at each station. Sometimes I have students highlight their sounds on flashcards or find words in a book and draw them. For students who can’t label the pictures, I’d reduce the number of cards and maybe drill them beforehand so they are more familiar with them. Use the same activities when they work with you 1:1 for their centers! For one student, we practiced black and white cards with me, and then they colored and practiced the same cards on their own! Hope that helps!

  11. Simone Pendergraft says:

    How long do you usually have students stay at each center? Wondering if this is possible to do with 20 minute sessions?

    • Shannon says:

      When I did it, I had mostly 20 minutes sessions so it’s definitely possible. I’d recommend playing around with it! I changed the time for most groups depending on their behavior and attention. Anywhere from 2 minutes to 4 minutes was my usual though! Hope that helps!

  12. Emilie says:

    What apps do you use/recommend?

  13. Oh my goodness! I never get excited about articulation therapy. I am now excited about artic therapy. Thank you! I have a teletherapist colleague that I share a room with and I think this will work really well for her as well. She has the added benefit of a monitor (teacher’s aide) to help keep the kiddos moving along. Love this!

  14. Danielle says:

    Wonder if you have any thoughts on doing artic stations/center in this covid environment?

    • Shannon says:

      I think it could work well but I haven’t done it myself. My guess is that it could be helpful by keeping everyone in separated, distanced sections of the room (if you have that much space).

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