Games to Support Reasoning and Language Skills

Parents of elementary and middle school children always ask me what they can do at home to carry over skills they learned in treatment. Many of my students learn well through experiences—educational activities include sightseeing, concerts or plays, museum visits, or watching documentaries. Sometimes though, enjoying family-bonding time gets tricky with loud music and screaming fans all around you or while navigating crowds to see an exhibit. And cold winter days are fast approaching. A quiet game night can present an ideal option for a relaxing evening without sensory overload. I find the following language-building games excellent choices for those educational—albeit relaxing—evenings or frigid winter weekends. “Taboo” How to play: “Taboo” is a fun and family-friendly board game. When it’s their turn, players take a card and describe a word or phrase to their teammates without using any of the taboo hints listed on the card. The other players guess the word on the card to earn points for their team. Why it works: Carrying over language-based skills can be a challenge. For children with language-based learning difficulties, this game helps reinforce: Describing, which helps children express their ideas in a specific, clear and effective way Word-retrieval skills Listening skills Gathering and synthesizing information Extra language twist: Encourage players to ask “wh” questions to get more information about the object. And for added structure, remi...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Schools Source Type: blogs