How to Use Race Track Tape in Speech Therapy!

Don't you just love when you score a really, really good find for therapy? I live for the moments when my brain is racing with numerous ideas of ways to use a particular item that I find around the house or at the store (or when my child opens a birthday gift!) This exact thing happened the other day while at one of my homes away from home... Target's Dollar Spot!

Have you spotted this race track tape at your local Target yet? This tape is fantastic. And only $1! The possibilities are literally endless. But here are a few ideas and ways to use it in therapy with your students or at home with your kids to increase speech and language skills.

Race to Vocabulary Words

Have your students drive their cars down the track that leads to new vocabulary words. Or even better, line multiple words or objects up along the road and have the kids name them as her or she drives to them.

Sentence Expansion Expressway

Have roads of multiple length represent different sentence length. Write words under the tape (stick this tape right on a dry erase board!) and have your student(s) read the words as he/she drives over/past them. Add to the road as your student adds more words to their sentences. The visual of longer roads and longer sentences is a great thing!

Smooth vs Bumpy Fluency Roads

Have a smooth road and a bumpy road (crumple the tape up a bit) as a visual for fluent and dysfluent speech. You could also have your cars drive slow or fast to visually represent their rate of speech. 

Babbling Boulevard

For those little ones you are working with, get them to imitate early sounds and single words with their cars. They can tell the car to "go!" say "vroom!" as it races, and  "beep!" the horn at other cars. 

Articulation Race Track

Line up articulation cards around the race track and have your student practice the words before he or she can move on. The KaPow! cards work perfect for this! (With these cards you could target almost any goal!)

Preposition Parkway

This tape goes on (almost) any surface. So have your track go "under" chairs, "over" tables, and "around" the desk. The kids will have a blast driving on a not so typical race track and get to practice using positional words. This is also a great opportunity to work on following directions. 

Social Skills

There is never a bad time to practice good social skills. Have your students practice turn taking and using good manners as they take turns giving directions or sharing a vehicle to drive on the track. 

Expressive Language through Pretend Play

This is how I used the tape at home with my own children. I made a road in our playroom and used the kids’ toys to create a town with them. We had a farm, police station, grocery store, hospital, and school. They used dolls and superheroes as the townspeople. It kept them entertained for hours! 

This tape is so much fun! If you happen to find it at your local Target, stock up!! If you have other fun ways to use this tape, please share! Happy racing!!

What's In Your Early Intervention Therapy Bag?

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. 

I love working with my early intervention clients! I love watching these little ones learn and explore language right before my (and often time, mom's) eyes! The best part? Therapy involves lots and lots of toys! Recently I have noticed a lot of posts in Facebook groups where other SLPs are asking, "What's in your therapy bag?" or "What are your go-to items for therapy with early intervention kids?" I always end up following these posts because like other therapists, I want to know what you use. I am always looking for new, fun toys that will elicit more language! So, I decided to create a blog post about what I have in my bag. I am making this a linky party so you can link-up and check out what other SLPs have in their "Bag of Tricks," too!

To link up, write an original blog post that includes the linky graphic below. Make sure the graphic links back to this blog post so others can find it and link up, too. In your post, list your favorite early intervention materials. Make sure you link up at the bottom of this post and share!

 

First up, Shape Sorter

This colorful shape sorter can be used to work on so many concepts: colors, shapes, matching, same/different, stacking, in/out concepts, following directions… to name a few! I have also started co-treating with an occupational therapist on our team and learned how important toys like the can be to work on crossing mid-line and other motor goals. When this toy is a hit, I often pair it with this free Fisher-Price app: Laugh & Learn

Another must-have in my bag is, Baby Einstein books!

Books in general are good, however, there is something about these Baby Einstein books that just draw kids in. I received some of these books at my daughter's baby shower and by the time she was 3 months old, she was drawn to these books. I love using them for receptive and expressive vocabulary. 

I haven't met a kid yet that doesn't love a good ole See 'n Say!

These are great for teaching animals and the sounds they make, but also great for imitation and sound discrimination. 

Going along with the animal theme, I also love using a Farm House!

This doesn't necessarily fit inside my therapy bag well, but it's on my must-have list. These farm houses  bring out a lot of language while you role play taking care of the animals, learn animal names, practice requesting, work on prepositions (the horse is "on" the barn, the chicken is "in the nest"), and more. 

Another favorite of mine, although not always one of mom's, is Play-Doh!

My 2 year old daughter is in a giant Play-Doh phase right now, which is what inspired this to be a part of my bag. In addition to talking about the colors and how it feels, I love using the molds or baking tools to work on following directions. Play-Doh is another great tool to work on requesting with. 

A huge fan favorite for most of my students, is Toy Food

I love the Melissa & Doug products, but any kind of plastic/wooden, fake food is fine. Again, this is a great tool to use for requesting, following directions, sorting, role playing, etc. I like to pair the fake food with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head and have a picnic! I also love using this with my feeding therapy/food aversion clients. Letting them have fun with food, pretend cook, and feed other toys, helps take away the tension that meal time often brings for them. 

These are some of my favorite toys to use with my early intervention clients! I hope you will link up because I would love to see what you use in your therapy sessions!