Strawberry milkshake

Delicious strawberry smoothie

Today was one of those glorious days where, as a speech therapist we get to make it real. How do we do this? By dropping our agenda and going with the flow! A young man I have been working with for a while is a fan of shaving foam and often heads straight to my bag to check I have it. He has also recognised the similarity to a frothy milkshake when he dips a straw in the foam and brings it to his lips. Cue idea! A quick phone call to Dad who was currently out at the supermarket, with a request to buy milkshake syrup and skooshy cream. The result:

• Great attention and engagement; taking turns to smell the sweet strawberry syrup.

• Modeling lots of new language (pour, more, mix, pink, skooshy, yummy, lid on, strawberry, sweet, smell)

• Spontaneous language beyond the model and singing to reflect enjoyment.        

• Clear enjoyment for everyone involved n

• New drink, not previously drunk at home, which could built into his repertoire

• Ideas to expand this to other activities such as angel delight or other milkshake flavours.

• Finding motivating activities really helps to demonstrate a young person’s communicative potential, as was demonstrated by the amount of spontaneous speech heard today.

It’s true what they say, time flies when you’re making milkshake!!

Katy

Katy works as a Speech and Language Therapist at Grow Communication and loves finding ways to make therapy motivating and creative. Grow Communication is a non-profit company, providing Speech and Language Therapy in Central Scotland.