Speech Therapy Group Activities for Teens

Speech therapy can be boring and monotonous, particularly for teenagers. To get the most out of your time developing a teenagers speech, make activities fun and interactive. Many teens in speech are forced to repeat the same phrases and letter sounds over and over, but applying lessons toward actual life activities can help teens invest their energy and take their mind off of how much work it takes to get their sounds correct.

Job Interview

• Practice speech and interviewing skills.

  Choose a "pretend job"- try something that will challenge the particular letter sounds a student needs to work on. For instance, for a lisping student, you might have them interview to be a Substitute Teacher. They will have to use such words as substitute, student and lesson. Encourage your student to remember to pronounce their trouble words correct, but to also stay in the moment, even when they make a mistake. It's important not to grimace or complain when a mistake is made- particularly when trying to make a first impression. Have one teen be the interviewee each time, while the other students in the group work as a team to interview them and ask questions.

Act it Out

• Get kids into character to take the pressure off.

  Theater promotes self esteem, and emphasizes speaking correctly. Give your group of students a fun play to perform. Choose an existing piece, or for a bonus, write your own, giving each student a role that makes them work on their problem areas. Keep most of the dialogue realistic, but throw in a tongue twister or two in order to keep students on their toes. Encourage students to commit to their role and to say words with purpose. Videotape the performance and encourage them to observe the moments where they lose commitment based on speech and any particular words that are problematic. Give students a few days to polish their work and then re-record the performance to show their progress.

Story Improv

• Focus on telling a story and the words will fall into place.

  Some speech students find ways to avoid saying their problem letters. Lispers, for instance, may avoid saying the plural of a word to save themselves from saying the "s". But when you're making up a story on the spot, it's hard to avoid specific words. Get students in the moment by having them improvise a story together. Give the students a silly title or topic and have one of them start. Point at the student who is to speak and let them tell a story for 20-30 seconds- when you move your finger to point at the next student, they must pick up where the story left off.