Let’s chat about speech therapy planning! If you’re like me, you’ve got a LOT on your plate. Finding ways to stay organized while keeping your sessions fun, engaging, and effective for your students is key. Over the years, I’ve developed a system that helps me keep things on track, and I’m excited to share it with you today! So let’s dive into how I approach speech therapy lesson plans.
Step 1: How I Break Down My Caseload
Every year, I split my caseload into a few manageable groups. It helps me stay organized and plan targeted activities for each group. This year, my groups look like this:
- Core Words: These students are minimally verbal or non-speaking, and we focus on building communication using core vocabulary.
- Lower Language: These kiddos are working on foundational skills like basic concepts, following directions, and building vocabulary.
- Higher Language: This group focuses on more complex skills like sentence structure, storytelling, and inferencing.
- Articulation/Phonology: Students in this group work on speech sound production, including articulation or phonological processes.
By dividing my caseload, I can create targeted, effective speech therapy plans that meet the unique needs of each student.
Step 2: Pick a Theme for Speech Therapy Sessions
You know I’m all about themes! Themes help create structure for my sessions and make speech therapy activities more engaging. Whether it’s pirates, apples, or a fun book like Apple Trouble, having a theme makes it easy to plan activities that target different goals across all groups. Here’s how I use themes with my groups:
- Core Words: Simple books and toys are perfect for targeting high-frequency words like “go” or “want.”
- Lower Language: We dive into sensory bins or interactive books to build comprehension and vocabulary.
- Higher Language: Story retelling and sequencing activities take the spotlight here.
- Artic/Phono: I’ll incorporate sound-targeted games that tie into our theme.
And here’s a reminder: Repetition is your friend! Doing the same thing over and over is actually beneficial for your students. They thrive on predictability and repetition, which helps reinforce the skills we’re working on. So don’t stress about creating brand-new activities for every session—repeating activities is great for their progress.
Step 3: Organize Speech Therapy Materials with Book Bins
Behind my therapy table, I have trusty book bins that keep my themed materials organized. I pull everything I need for the theme and pop it into the bin I’ll use during sessions. This way, everything is within reach—no more scrambling to find materials in the middle of a session. I also make copies as needed and pull from those throughout the week. Keeping everything in one place helps me stay on top of my lesson plans.
Step 4: Focus on the Big Picture with Student Goals
I always keep my students’ IEP goals front and center. I use SLP Now to print data sheets that guide my activities for each session. These goals are the backbone of every therapy plan. Having student goals in front of me helps ensure that I’m targeting the right skills, making the most of our time together.
Step 5: Stick to a Consistent Therapy Session Structure
One of the keys to successful therapy sessions is consistency. Each of my groups follows a similar structure every time, which helps students feel comfortable and know what to expect. Here’s how I structure my sessions:
- Core Word Groups: We always start with a song, move into an interactive book, do an activity, and finish with toy play.
- Cycles Groups: These sessions follow the steps outlined in my cycles toolkits, focusing on specific phonological processes.
- Book-Focused Groups: I follow a 5-step narrative framework to teach story elements, helping students understand characters, setting, and problem-solving.
Keeping a consistent routine helps my students make progress while keeping things organized for me.
Step 6: Stay Flexible with Therapy Plans
Even the best-laid plans need flexibility. Sometimes, my students aren’t feeling the theme, or they get super into a toy that wasn’t planned for the day. That’s OK! I always have a backup activity or two ready, just in case. The most important thing is to go with the flow and adjust your plan as needed. Being flexible means I can meet my students where they are on any given day.
Step 7: Reflect and Adjust for Better Speech Therapy Sessions
After each session, I take a minute to reflect. Did everything go as planned? What worked well? What didn’t? This doesn’t have to be a long process—just a quick note in SLP Now helps me adjust for future sessions. Reflection helps me fine-tune my therapy plans and keep moving forward.
Bonus Tip: Use Tools to Simplify Speech Therapy Planning
If you’re not using a tool like SLP Now for organizing your therapy plans, I highly recommend it! It’s been a lifesaver for me, especially with a full caseload. Having data sheets, lesson plans, and customizable goals at your fingertips will save you tons of time.
I hope this peek into my speech therapy planning process gave you some ideas and inspiration. Remember, it’s OK to keep things simple, stick to what works, and repeat activities—it’s all good for your students!
If you’re looking for more resources, like themed story grammar kits or core word boards, check out my TPT store!
Until next time, happy planning!
Lots of Love, Megan
