It’s Week 6 of YouTube Treasures for speech therapy!
If you are just tuning in, this is an 8-week series so you have a fresh treasure trove of YouTube videos, with person-centered treatment ideas for speech therapy. If you’re new to YouTube or want some new ideas for how to use these videos in therapy, read on!
Have you ever used a YouTube video during your speech therapy session, or as a home program assignment? Here are a few reasons why I like using YouTube videos as a therapy tool:
*They are interesting and relevant, which promotes therapy engagement. This also means the language practiced will be language needed for real life!
*They give information in real-life speed (they aren’t over-simplified). This means that skills or strategies practiced with a YouTube video could likely be used in real life as well.
*You can adjust the complexity by choosing different lengths of information.
* Best of all, there are a million (plus!) topic options, so it’s easy to use something personally-relevant for the unique communication needs of a patient.
YouTube Treasure: Lawn Mower Won’t Start.
Do you have a person-type that you consistently find difficult for therapy? For me, it’s the handyman-type! I’ve mentioned this before–see my Car Maintenance Checklist post! Games and worksheets just don’t seem to interest, engage, or translate to real-life needs for these types of people. This YouTube is a great example of how we can use relevant stimuli as a therapy vehicle for the many types of people needing speech therapy. Bring on the hunters, fishers, and workshop people!
Patient Scenario: A 75-year-old man had a right hemisphere CVA with mild challenges noted in memory, attention, and thought organization. He is retired with his main hobby of spending his days in his workshop at home, tinkering. He reports no problems with fixing small machines at home since his stroke.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMd4FDZaJ1w?ecver=1&w=560&h=315]
Video Length: 4:25
Therapy Option: For this unique situation, I would use the short clip above to challenge thought organization immediately, hoping patient could organize the following steps (either written or verbal). I would also check short-term recall at 10-20-minute delay.
Steps to Fix Lawnmower:
- Drain fuel first if not empty.
- Unscrew the bolt underneath the carburetor cup.
- Strip the paper on the twisty tie
- Clean the holes on the bolt
- Put back together
- Add fuel and start.
Therapy Ideas: If you like these ideas, be sure to check out the Home Sweet Home Series and my Shop. Here are some ways you may be able to incorporate a personally-relevant YouTube Video into speech therapy:
| To Target Strategies or Skills in This Area: | The Patient Could Do This: |
| Verbal Expression | *Use word-finding strategies to explain 6-step directions for fixing a lawnmower
*Next steps: Use Response Elaboration Training to explain how to complete workshop projects |
| Written Expression | *Write steps to fix lawnmower (or other project) in clear, organized steps
*Write an opinion paragraph either agreeing or disagreeing with content on YouTube video |
| Auditory Comprehension | *Demonstrate comprehension across 4-minute in-context listening tasks, with 90% acc for open-ended questions.
*Practice using strategies such as note-taking to enhance comprehension. |
| Reading Comprehension | (Nope). |
| Motor Speech | *Challenge ability to carry-over motor speech strategy or skill while giving directions to a known or unknown listener. |
| Attention | *Sustain attention for listening tasks of *** minutes.
*Alternate / divide attention for a motor task (such as sorting) while also listening to new information, with 90% acc on each task. |
| Memory | *Short-term recall for +5/5 pieces of info after a 10-minute delay.
*Short-term recall: Explain instructions for fixing a lawn mower after a 2-day delay. *Prospective memory: Look up directions for fixing something in your home, and report back to SLP at next session. |
| Thought Organization | *Organize information using bullet points and sentences |
| Problem-Solving / Reasoning | *List consequences of missing information
*List 2 action steps if instructions don’t work |
| Executive Function | *Evaluate strategy success during task or plan how to adapt strategies for new situation. |
| Pragmatics | *Recognize facial/body cues if someone doesn’t understand your directions
*Use appropriate eye contact, facial expression, gestures for presentation. |
Check out YouTube Treasures (knitting, medication management, sports news, recipes, airport directions) or other web-based resources for therapy here.
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