Welcome
Thank you for using Speech Buddies speech therapy lesson plans! You will find them extremely helpful for all types of students: in the clinic, school, or at home. These lesson plans are designed to reflect a traditional “hierarchy” of practice that is rooted in decades of research and is the professional standard for lesson plans in speech therapy. Each Book contains 32 exercises which should be practiced 4 times per week for 8 weeks.
And when your students have mastered their sound, “certify” them as Speech Buddies Masters with these fun certificates.
How are the Lessons Arranged?
The lessons start simple and gradually, and as the student you’re working with gets more accurate in producing the challenge sound(s), become more complex and demanding. Each lesson targets one of the following: isolation and syllables, words, words in sentences, and conversation. At the beginning of your practice, your student will attempt to say the sound in isolation (e.g. “ssss”) or in syllables, and will rely very heavily on the Speech Buddies Tools to produce the sound correctly. As he gets more accurate, exercises become more challenging by focusing on whole words. Once the student is judged to be roughly 80% accurate in conversation, that sound would be considered “treated.”
How do I follow each Lesson?
For each item within a given lesson:
- Follow the instructions about whether to use the Speech Buddies Tool for that item. As your student progresses through the lessons and gets more accurate in his productions, the Speech Buddies Tool can be used less and less, but this is reflected in how the lessons are structured.
- Have your student repeat the sound or word after you.
- Once your student has attempted to say the sound, simply record whether that item was, in your judgment, correct or incorrect.
- Continue through each lesson until all 40 items have been completed, using the extra space at the bottom of the lesson page for notes.
No skipping ahead!
It is important that you do not skip any lessons. Even if your student seems to be breezing through lessons, this extra practice will undoubtedly help him with the final phase of therapy: mastering the sound(s) in conversation. On the other hand, if you feel your student needs extra time at a specific level, you may repeat a lesson or two at a given level (e.g. isolation and syllables, words) before progressing. However, it is recommended that you stick to the lesson sequence as much as possible.
Good luck and thank you for your interest in Speech Buddies!
Sincerely,
Gordy Rogers, M.S. CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Chief Scientific Officer
Articulate Technologies, Inc.