Last summer, I did a guest post over at Simply Speech on how I implement themes in my therapy planning for the entire year…well it's that time again! I worked on it yesterday and it is ready to go! I can't even begin to explain how much anxiety this takes out of planning for me. It really, really, really makes life so much easier!
I use this to plan all the activities I do for the year. The week before, I pull all my materials/books/Pinterest ideas together for that theme and know exactly what I will be using with my groups. When I have something to center therapy around, it makes those material choices so much easier. If you want to know more about how themes are beneficial, read this guest post by Twin Sister Speech & Language Therapy on my blog…it's awesome!
Some of it will look the same as last year and some will look a little different. I threw in a some new themes that I didn't do last year (Yay for dinosaur week!) and also left many themes running for two weeks. I did this because last year, there were tons of weeks that I wanted to keep going with certain themes. And I probably will find that it will happen with certain ones again this year. But this is my framework for this year and I am SO excited it is done 🙂
If you want to use my calendar, you can grab it HERE. I also have a blank one if you want to make your own, check it out HERE! I also created an August to June calendar for those of you who have requested it, get it HERE.
Do you use theme therapy? What are some of your favorites?
***UPDATE!!!***
I have made a blank EDITABLE version!!!
You can grab the September-May version HERE and the August-June version HERE 🙂
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Great idea! I’d love to try this, since it would make planning so much easier. I just need to figure out how it would work with inclusion/push-in therapy. 🙂
Thanks! It definitely does! I do not follow this calendar with my inclusion classes…I stick with what the teacher is doing 🙂
What a great idea! I love planning therapy using themes! Thank you for taking the time to provide your theme calendar along with a blank one! Happy summer!
Thank you! Isn’t it awesome?! I hope you find these helpful 🙂
Thanks for sharing your themes and the blank one, too! I am doing most of the same themes as yours but adding penguins, “magical” speech, fairy tales, and a carnival theme week. This is such a huge help- you always have such great ideas, and your sharing is very much appreciated! 🙂
You’re welcome! I include penguins in polar animals, cause I just love them! I did carnival last year during the fall and it was really fun!! I switched it out with circus this year though. I love the idea of doing magical speech and fairy tales…although I could probably spend an entire month on those! Lol Glad you find it helpful!!! Thank you so much!
I’ve been using themed therapy for about 10 years. A colleague and I even wrote out language therapy scripts for the most common language problems at school (comprehension, recalling details, sequencing information/stories, synonyms, antonyms, categorization, etc.). There is a lot of research to support the use of themes in therapy. Thanks for getting the word out. I see you run your themes for one week; I use my themes for 2. I also try to stick to themes that are helpful when it comes to curriculum (science and social studies themes) as well as life (seasonal). Examples are insects, Texas (our state), plants, space… Katie Stoneman, SLP
That’s awesome! I actually use several for two weeks as well.
Love this idea! Would also love to hear what books you have for the different themes!
Thanks! I am working on that too!!
I have wanted to start incorporating themes for a few months now, and always felt a little overwhelmed by coming up with enough themes to last the year!! Thanks for this – you’re helping all of us save a lot of time!!
You’re welcome! I hope it helps you get started 🙂
This will be my third year as an SLP in the schools, and I’ll be honest, sometimes I was just surviving, especially the first year… Not really able to plan months out in advance, so this is an awesome resource, thanks for sharing!
I think we all felt that way when we first started! It definitely took me a couple to really feel like I had a good grip on everything! I hope this helps!
This is exactly what I was looking for! I have been wanting to give themes a shot in the past, but I found that the themes based on books(i.e. Brown Bear, Three Little Pigs)were often too immature for some of my older kids. I like how your themes can be adjusted for the different age groups. Then, I assume you just choose age appropriate books to go along with the theme.
Yay! Yes, I find books that go with the themes that are age appropriate 🙂
Thank you…thank you!!! I was just going to the teacher store to purchase a planner and I came across your blog. You are a girl after my own heart…organized and fun! I love that your planner is specific for an SLP and adorable as well. I took it in to be spiral bound and I can’t wait to pick it up. This was my first time ordering from TPT and it was so easy! Thanks for sharing your creating with us.
I am excited to use this! I am moving back to Early Childhood this year and themes work so well – I used to use the classroom’s themes, but my new campus uses Unique so I won’t know the themes very far in advance…
We start this week and go through June though – and I can’t seem to download your June themes. It links to the blank calendar. Am I just misunderstanding or do you actually have June themes already written up?
Thanks!
I don’t have school in June, so I don’t plan for it 🙂
Hi Jenn,
I would so love to incorporate more themes into my therapy. I know this is an old post, but I am hoping you can help me. I noticed you have themes for a week or two…can you tell me if you have a group that you see twice a week, what activities and more specifically what goals you work on within that week? Im getting confused with how to incorporate all their goals in only two sessions of a theme. Do you just pick a goal and center it around that theme or address multiple goals each session within the theme but not get as many trials for each goal? Thanks. Just trying to figure out how to organize it all!
Thanks for helping!
Allison
Hi Allison! Honestly, it depends on the students. I try to hit all of their goals as much as possible, but usually focus on one or two a session. I don’t take data every session, if that helps at all.