Truth be told, while the start of a new school year is exciting, for therapists it’s often filled with endless meetings, paperwork, referrals, and the dreaded task of trying to create a schedule leaving you with little to no time to actually plan for the fun part…therapy! That’s why I am all for easy-to-use, ready-to-go, no prep activities! Here are some of my favorite, go-to back-to-school activities that your students are sure to love. Don’t stress! These ready-made and FUN activities are perfect for the beginning of school!

1. All About Me

All about me books are always a huge hit with students. It’s a fun way to get to know new students and learn a little more about current students while working on language skills. I find my students love seeing pictures of my dogs and my kids.

I tend to stretch activities over 2-3 weeks. I like this all about me book for the first few weeks of therapy because it’s an easy way to get students back into the therapy groove without them even realizing it.

2. Positive Behavior Reinforcement Cards

These no prep, print-and-go positive behavior reinforcement cards are a must have a the beginning of the year. They are perfect to pair with your therapy expectations and rules.

They are simple to use and work like a charm. It’s super easy to vary the amount of reinforcement needed, and students love to pick what they are working for and color in the pictures. This resource provides a variety of pictures to chose from which makes it easy for students to personalize their cards.

3. Back-To-School 50 & 100 Articulation Trials

These FREE back-to-school themed 50 or 100 articulation trials are perfect for data collection. The open-ended worksheets are easily adaptable for any activity. Students can use crayons, dot markers, stamps, tokens, stickers, or erasers to mark each word/sound trial.

Grab these FREE articulation trials HERE! I hope you enjoy this freebie as much as I enjoyed creating it!

4. Quick Articulation Screener

Hit the ground running with this print-and-go, colorful articulation screener!

This time-saving, easy to administrator articulation screener and one page articulation observations form will quickly become one of your go to screening resources for RTI and data gathering.

Quickly probe every consonant phoneme and vocalic r in all word positions. The pictures are easy to say and common vocabulary words that were carefully chosen in order to reduce the articulatory complexity of each word. The screener is perfect for readers or non-readers and can typically be completed in 5 minutes or less!

Use the information collected to make recommendations regarding additional testing, classroom suggestions, or home practice. It’s perfect for teachers to use as part of the referral process!

5. The Ultimate Back to School Speech Therapy Survival Kit

This brand new Back to School Speech Therapy Survival resource has EVERYTHING you need to help you through your first several weeks of therapy with ease.

This ready-to-go resource includes positive behavior reinforcement cards, an all about me book, preference assessment, quick articulation screener, language activities, social problem solving activities, articulation activities and games, and so much more!

That’s 14 different resources of done-for-you, NO PREP print and digital activities and resources. Just download and go!

See the photos below for examples of just a few of the activities and resources included in this AMAZING resource.

6. Back to School What’s Wrong Picture Scenes

These fun and interactive picture scenes are always a favorite and will have your students begging for more! Get ready for a fun year of therapy with these engaging, silly picture scenes that will have your students giggling and you collecting a ton of data!

The articulation picture scenes are perfect for working on articulation carryover and great conversation starters! Print and go or display digitally. Scenes are available in both color and black/white and include the following sounds: vocalic /r/, prevocalic /r/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /ch/, /l/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/.

These picture scenes are a favorite of therapists AND students! You won’t be disappointed!

That’s it! 6 functional and engaging back to school activities that will eliminate the stress of trying to figure out what you’re going to do those first few weeks back and your students will love. Everything is ready-to-go and little to no prep. I work very hard to make resources that are functional, practical and as easy as possible for you to use! I use the same resources in my own therapy sessions. I know how hectic and overwhelming the first month of therapy is. Don’t worry! You’ve got this. It will be a great year and your students will make tons of progress!