Making Speech Fun!?!?

Looking for a fun way to encourage students to speak? Especially those shy kiddo’s that prefer to look away and not respond?  I’ve got a few tricks to share with you!

First things first- a microphone.  It’s amazing how a simple microphone can give your students super powers to talk! and to ENJOY talking!

2nd idea- THE most entertaining iphone/ipod/ipad app in the world! Okay- exaggeration.  But it is quite hilarious.  It’s an app that lets you change your voice- speed it up, slow it down and distort your face.  My students have a blast picking the green monster face, the square chin face or the fat face.  They get to record themselves and then rematch it in a HILARIOUS manner.  Now it does require some supervision from an aide to make sure they are using it for meaningful communication- but with little supervision you can see a LOT of talking.  I’ve also had some students read sentences or short stories with it.  THE ENTIRE CLASS giggles when we play it back.  

There is a free and paid version.  I have the free one and it’s all I need.  It’s called Crazy HeliumBooth FREE

The third trick I use with some of my kiddo’s is a mirror.  I know many speech and language pathologists use them during speech sessions because they work SO WELL.  However I am finding out that many teachers have not tried using them in their own classroom.  Just by a cheap one from the dollar store- you don’t need anything fancy!

(oooo the power of the mirror! lol)