“I wish I could play UNO all day”. Dear SLPs, How many of you have heard this uttered once or twice as someone passes by your workspace? Yep, me too.
When this happens, there is a small part of me that questions if incorporating engaging activities such as a card game into a therapy session is a legitimate use of time. But I remind myself there are logical and purposeful reasons behind "all the games”, some of which are reviewed in a previous post “Game On! 7 Reasons Why SLPs Love Playing Games”.
Whether it’s a quick round of UNO, a digital board game, building with blocks, or another fun activity, as long as your focus is placed on teaching the speech/language skill and offering activities for high repetition of practice, it's ok to play.
As long as you know the “why” behind the “what” and "how", your venue for providing the instruction and practice is wide open. You’ve proven you can do this if you’ve made it through graduate school. It’s been ingrained in everything you do: What is the objective? Why? How will you provide the instruction? Why?
That said, and because play is serious work, it is always important to take into consideration evidence-based practices (EBP)* when determining your therapy approach and forming your lesson plans. The three elements of EBP being: research evidence, clinical expertise, and student preferences/needs.
Acknowledging the difficulty of finding time in the day to eat lunch let alone review research for EBP, we can access the support of our professional learning communities and networks for professional development to assist us in the endeavor. Fortunately, it is not surprising to find many experts in the field of child development support the power of play and agree it is a valuable commodity for brain development. Our personal expertise in the field and knowledge of the individual students we work with make it easy to concur with its value.
So take a moment to celebrate play as the unsung hero of our therapy sessions. What looks like “just playing a game" is a successful speech therapy activity in action. An activity you have thoughtfully designed by creating an environment that fosters social interaction, provides a context for language growth and is grounded in evidence-based practice.
Feel free to be unapologetic advocates for play. Proudly display all of the colorfully enticing materials you’ve collected over the years, discover ways to bring play into your collaborations with teachers, and let the games begin!
After all, in the world of speech language pathology, it’s not just okay to play – it’s encouraged! On your mark, Get set, Play!
*For more on Evidence-Based Practice, check out this resource from ASHA, and be sure to bookmark the Evidence Maps page (a valuable, searchable online tool for SLPs).
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