Grade: all
Subject: Special Ed

#2816. Speach/Language Scavenger Hunt

Special Ed, level: all
Posted Mon Feb 17 14:45:01 PST 2003 by Meagan Londy (meaganlondy@yahoo.com).
Special Education Teacher , Boulder, Colorado
Materials Required: school personel willing to assist, paper, markers, photocopy machine or magazines
Activity Time: 1:1 Time
Concepts Taught: Promotes Social Skills, Social Interaction, and Speech/Language Development

I had a 10 year old boy in my class last year who was both developmentally delayed and emotionally disturbed. He was prone to aggression, oppositional behavior, and verbal abuse, thus making him very difficult to work with at times. He did respond well to reward systems, but had a hard time trusting individuals.
The speech/language pathologist was struggling with this child because he would refuse to work with her. She became frustrated and asked if I would implement some speech/language curriculum into my classroom for him. Although, this is certainly not my duty, I agreed because I wanted to help the child, and I empathized with the speech pathologist's frustration.
I created the following scavenger hunt:
1. Create a list of words or pictures (depending on the student's interest and maturity level) that will promote correct pronunciation. For example, when working on the "p" sound I had a list with popcorn, puppy, pig, pink marker, pillow, etc.
2. Next to each picture or word is the name or picture of a person who works at the school. The student must go to each of these people, ask for the item, pronouncing it correctly, and they are presented with a reward by the person. You have to speak with the participants ahead of time. for example, this child had a picture of popcorn next to the cook's picture. He goes into the kitchen, asks appropriately, "Mrs. Smith, do you have any popcorn" She doesn't grant him the popcorn until he has asked appropriately and done his best with pronunciation. For something like "puppy" I would have a xeroxed picture of a puppy on the sheet and the color print as the reward, etc.
This exercise is great for students with special needs who need to work on social skills in addition to speech. He really enjoyed it and it helped him in meeting his speech/language IEP goal that year!!!