As I mentioned previously in another blog post, MONEY is often cited as a barrier by Speech Language Pathologists who want to lead functional and person-centered therapy activities, but who don’t.
And although there are several FREE therapy materials in the community that can be used for FUNctional therapy activities, there are equally as many FREE online resources to use as well. Below, I have generated a list of some of my “go-to” FREE online resources when planning therapy activities. I tailor activities using these resources to fit my patient’s needs and often, my patients enjoy them. These are not specifically “speech therapy” websites. However, these websites allow opportunities to target skills patients want to target (attention, memory, note taking, reading comprehension, etc) .
Let’s check out these 8 websites, shall we?
1. Randall’s Listening Lab - https://www.esl-lab.com/ - Under the “Listening Activities” tab of this website, there are hundreds of audio clips of conversations (by actors). Audio clips are arranged by Easy, Intermediate, and Difficulty based on length of conversation, topic complexity, and number of speakers in conversation. Two cool features about each audio clip are that 1.) there are listening comprehension questions and 2.) there are written transcripts that correspond to each clip. Skills that can be targeted include attention, memory, and listening comprehension. In addition, listening in on these “conversations” is a great way for patients to realize what modifications, strategies, or tools are helpful. For example, was pausing the audio at certain increments helpful? How many times did they need to rewind? Did it help to preview the questions before listening to the audio? Did it help or hurt to read the transcript while simultaneously listening?
*Pairs well with FREE "Modification, Strategies, Tools" Chart
2. Template Lab- https://templatelab.com/ - This is a website that helps create various business, legal, and personal documents using templates. Since most of my patients are still in the workforce, I use this website to create sample emails or invoices for patients to read when we are targeting reading comprehension. I have also used Template Lab to create sample timesheets and expense logs for a variety of executive functioning tasks related to jobs. Skills that can be targeted include: visual attention or reading comprehension.
3. New York Times: “What’s Going on In This Picture?”- https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture - I use this NYT website as a source of over 100+ picture scenes. This website is great for eliciting descriptive discourse as the scenes are all real and related to world events. Skills targeted can be visual attention, inferencing/reasoning, word finding, writing, etc. The possibilities really are endless with this website!
*Pairs well with F.A.S.T Activity Guide: "What's Going On In This Picture?"
4. Job Accommodations Network- https://askjan.org/- I use this online resource to help patients explore what reasonable workplace accommodations might be most appropriate for them. Great for predicting/problem solving/reasoning, metacognition, and self-advocacy. The new “Situations & Solutions” finder on the website is amazing! PLEASE TRY IT OUT!
5. TedxTalk – www.ted.com – I use this website for its collection of short lectures on a variety of topics. Skills targeted can be attention, memory, listening comprehension, note-taking, and expressive language (if summarizing afterward). Watching TedTalks is similar to listening to classroom lecture or in a work meeting and since we as SLPs can’t be in a classroom or boardroom with the patient, this activity helps us simulate those activities as best as we can. An activity using TedTalks can be give us good information such as “Was the patient’s note-taking accurate/detailed enough?” or “At what points did the patient’s attention span begin to decrease?” or “Can they remember the gist of the talk spontaneously or were cues needed?”
6. Canva- www.canva.com – Canva is a graphic design website. I’ve created tutorials on how I use the free version of Canva to create vision boards with patients. Skills that can be targeted include word finding, planning, thought organization, and even visual attention. CLICK HERE to see an example.
NOTE: The old school equivalent of this activity would be using magazines, scissors, and glue to create a physical vision board. Co-treat with Occupational Therapy? YESSSS!
7. Goodreads- www.goodreads.com – This website is full of book summaries, book notes, recommendations, and book reviews. I have used Goodreads to help patients select their “next read” based on book synopses and book reviews of readers who have accounts on Goodreads. Skills that can be targeted outside of reading comprehension include: visual attention and decision making. If a patient decides they want to write their own book review on Goodreads, skills targeted can be word finding, thought organization, or reasoning
8. ChatGPT- www.chatgpt.com - I have said before that generating commands for smart devices is an important skill. I even have a F.A.S.T Activity Guide involving asking questions and giving commands to home smart devices. The ability to accurately type or speak a prompt/instructions into AI software is so important in this technological age AND something that can be practiced over and over again--- especially for homework creation.
That’s it! 8 internet resources that are completely FREE and FUNctional to use in your next speech therapy session! Hope this list of internet resources was helpful. Just remember to always tailor what you do on these websites to your patient’s needs or values. (Ex: Don’t use Goodreads if your patient hate books lol)
Speech Therapists, let me know in the comments which of these websites you have used OR you plan on using with a patient.
As always, have some amazing and FUNctional therapy sessions.
-Dana (The Neuro SLP)
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