Auditory Working Memory and The 3 T’s: Thankful, Turkey, Teletherapy

I’m THANKFUL for this low-prep yet rich listening and following directions activity for teletherapy. Here are step-by-step instructions to make the best hand turkeys that can be leveled up or down for kiddos of all ages in your caseload. 

Ask the parents to have available a sheet of white computer paper and crayons (i.e., brown, red, purple, orange, green). I begin by modeling tracing my hand on my whiteboard so the child can all see well over the computer screen. I talk about how I firmly place one hand, palm down and fingers spread apart, on the sheet of white computer paper. Starting on one side of my wrist, I trace with the black crayon around my hand until I reach the other side of my wrist.

Next, I give this simple direction: "Trace your hand like you saw me do with your black crayon." This is always the first step. I ask the child to show me their paper up once finished. A parent or caregiver can help ensure the child is on the right track and has a general outline or turkey shape.

At this point in the activity, the directions depend on the listening and language level of the child. They can be one-step, one-step with descriptors, two-step, and more complex directions and descriptions. One-step directions are easy to think of but here are ideas for more complex instructions.

1. Using the black pencil or crayon, draw a line from the start point to the endpoint to finish the body of the turkey.

2. Draw another line from the bottom of each finger to the next to create the feathers.

3. Color a small black circle near the end of the thumb to make the turkey’s eye.

4. Below the eye, on the outside of the thumb, draw two ovals that make the gobbler.

5. On the tip of the thumb, draw one triangle for the beak.

6. In the middle of the turkey, draw the wing.

7. Draw two straight lines at the bottom of the turkey to make legs.

8. At the end of each line, draw three more little lines for the toes.

9. Using the brown, red, purple, orange, green crayons, color each of the fingers a different color.

10. Color the rest of the body of the turkey brown.

11. Using the orange crayon, color the beak.

12. Color the gobble red.

You may want to have the listener add grass under the turkey, a tree behind the turkey, a sun in the sky, falling leaves, or a pilgrim hat on the turkey.

We then show each other our turkeys. I draw my turkey off-screen before the session. We compare and contrast our hand turkeys fostering thinking and conversational skills. To extend the activity, let the child take a turn being the teacher and give directions to a parent, sibling, or friend.

Ten Little Native Americans

Last week in therapy I began using Thanksgiving as a theme in some of my AVT sessions. My little listeners enjoy the song, Ten Little Indians while it may not be considered politically correct it is a wonderful repetitive song that I have used for countless years. We sing and shout, "Woo woo woo, Woo woo woo" which is great for early sound awareness and imitation.

Together, we take the Native Indian boys and girls in and out of the teepee which is a catalyst for many listening and spoken language activities and goals.

One little, two little, three little Indians

Four little, five little, six little Indians

Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians

Ten little Indian boys/girls.

Sing With Me Thanksgiving Listen | Sing | Play

Sing With Me - Thanksgiving includes 10 language-rich songs for children with and without hearing loss. Music and singing are fabulous tools for coaching parents and caregivers while helping lay the foundation for listening and spoken language.

Music and singing is a fabulous tool for coaching parents and caregivers while helping lay the foundation for listening and spoken language. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to sing, sing and sing some more even if they can't carry a tune. For some, this comes naturally. For others, including music and singing in daily routines and activities is challenging.

Make music part of each day. Children love hearing the sound of their loved ones voices and the time spent together. Be playful, silly, and have fun together! Sing traditional songs, nursery and action rhymes like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus”. Make up songs like "Good Morning To You" to a familiar tune like the (Happy Birthday). Sing popular songs, seasonal songs, Sunday school songs and songs from the family's heart language.

These Thanksgiving songs expose children to new words and concepts that build language and the foundation for learning to read. Songs and music provide opportunities for children to improve auditory skills, memory for words and builds vocabulary. Music helps children perceive speech sounds accurately and develop clear speech with natural melody and inflection.

What's Included?

10 Thanksgiving Songs For Children

• 8.5 x 5.5-inch songs sheets for printing

• Full-size versions of the song sheets for use in teletherapy or in-person sharing.

• Printable finger puppets and props

• Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) tips to encourage auditory learning.

Listen & Think Brain Play - Thanksgiving

Listen & Think Brain Play is a rich activity that targets listening, following directions, auditory processing, vocabulary and comprehension skills. The more a child knows about a topic, such as Thanksgiving the easier it is to comprehend and retain the information. Background knowledge of recurring holidays and seasons is fundamental for language, academic and communication success.  This activity

• Builds a cornucopia of Tier 2 vocabulary. Background knowledge of recurring holidays and seasons is fundamental for language, academic and communication success.

• Children that are deaf and hard of hearing as well as those students with limited language may struggle to increase vocabulary because of weak auditory memory, difficulty with auditory comprehension and lack of exposure.

• Fosters back-and-forth conversation - Serve and Return interactions increases in the parts of the brain responsible for listening and spoken language processing and production.

What's Included?

• 28 Thanksgiving-related conversation starters, questions and trivia topics.

• Answer sheet with space for data collection

• Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Tips

The Listen & Think conversation starters, questions and trivia topics can be played:

• alongside a reinforcing board game or online seasonal game. 

• using a buzzer or bell to ring in their answers.

• by beating the clock which targets auditory processing speed or the pace a child takes in information, makes sense of it, and then responds. Set a stopwatch or use an online timer or app. See how many prompts the child responds to in an allotted time.

• by choosing a card as a discussion or conversation starter.

• by splitting the players up into two teams that compete for points by answering questions.

No Prep

Thanksgiving Brain Play can be used in teletherapy

Cards can be printed and used in face-to-face sessions or lessons.

For Families

Great to use throughout the month of November or to build listening and language skills or as conversational starters at Thanksgiving dinner.