Fall Topics for Speech Therapy with Older Students

Fall speech therapy often means using the same seasonal themes—cue the pumpkins and turkeys. But adding a few quirky, lesser-known holidays is an easy way to capture the attention of your older students.

From National Talk Like a Pirate Day to Mad Hatter Day, outside the box days give you fresh speech-language ideas for small groups or whole class push-in.

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Below are 10 outside the box, engaging ideas for Fall speech-language therapy with older students.

10 Unexpected Fall "Holidays" for Middle & High School Speech Therapy

1. September 8: National Actors Day

Celebrating theater and thespians is a great way to encourage creativity in your neurodiverse students. Pop popcorn and watch video clips while working on inferences. Or check out my movie theater themed Stuttering Game Shows for middle school available in PowerPoint or Google Slides.

2. September 19: National Talk Like a Pirate Day

Celebrate silly while you target pirate vocabulary, articulation /arrrrr/, or read about pirates. While Pop the Pirate may appeal to younger kids, there are still reasons to gamify therapy for older students. Read more here to learn why research supports gamifying speech-language therapy for middle and high school students.

3. September 22: National Elephant Appreciation Day

Elephants are incredible animals and with distinct family patterns and learning skills. Review elephant themed trivia or take a virtual field trip to see live elephants at the Houston Zoo. For older students target articulation and discuss the pros and cons of zoos using my non-fiction /z/ story. Or target critical thinking on a more complex level by learning about how deforestation has threatened elephant habitats.

4. September 24: National Punctuation Day

So this may not be on your students’ radar, but many speech-language students have syntax, grammar, and writing goals. Make it more engaging by adding a holiday feel by celebrating National Punctuation Day and target syntax or punctuation in a game format.

5. October 6: National Mad Hatter Day

Get as creative as you want as students draw or make wild hats. Gamify vocabulary words like “haberdasher" and "millinery. ” Review history of fashionable hat styles, like women used to wear dead birds on their hats!

Or target literacy with excerpts from Alice in Wonderland, then write an alternative ending as a group. For less complex conversation, debate current hat fashion with either/or options and poll the group (e.g., whether baseball caps should be flat brim or curved).

6. October 13: National M&M Day

Use chocolate M&Ms as tokens on articulation bingo, or do a blind taste test and product review of M&Ms. Do different colors taste differently? Use M&M colors or go all out and dress up in an M&M costume to really get your student’s attention!

7. October 16: National Dictionary Day

This one aligns with common core standards. Create a video game dictionary and target vocabulary, comprehension, and media literacy. If your students don’t agree on a common video game like Roblox or Fortnite, you can change the focus to anime, music, or sports vocabulary.

8. November 3: National Jellyfish Day

Use this day as a way to target tier 2 science vocabulary about ecosystems, or tell jellyfish jokes for articulation practice. Read a story about marine biologists or oceans. For more critical thinking, review the challenges of ocean pollution and research non-profit groups that are working to clean up ocean ecosystems.

9. November 3: National Sandwich Day

Either use sandwiches metaphorically (e.g., using layers to write a complete paragraph), or literally with cooking. One of my classes recently made fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, how fun is that? Use a sunflower seed butter if needed for allergies. Making sandwiches gives you a chance to target sequencing, collaborative discussion, and problem solving, which all align with common core standards.

10. November 9: National Absurdity Day

Depending on the cognitive level of your speech-language groups, this can go in lots of directions. Some students may enjoy riddles, jokes, or puns to target figurative language. For higher level language, you can target critical thinking and dive into the world of absurd laws that are still on the books and discuss why calling someone a “skunk” is illegal in Alabama.

Conclusion

Working with older students can take some outside the box thinking to find fresh topics that they haven't repeated each year. Tap into the many national "holidays" that celebrate weird, quirky, and bizarre topics.

Don't forget to grab your FREE Stuttering Escape Room to use with students. When you join my pack, I will email you a free PDF download every month that you can print and use across middle & high school groups!

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