Go Fish! Sorry! Your Turn! These short phrases, for many, bring back memories of sitting around a table with friends and family playing….together….face to face. In a world filled with technology, the ART of playing a board games is becoming more of a skill that needs to be taught vs. a natural occurrence in the life of a child.
Board games are filled with language opportunities: turn taking, waiting, giving positive reinforcement, sequencing, following directions, etc. It is not uncommon for a child to say “We played games.” when asked what they did in speech therapy. Games provide the opportunity to slow language down, practice specific phrase or sounds or vocabulary, and repeat a sequence or direction until over and over again. A child’s eye widen when the ‘game cupboard’ is opened and they are told to pick a game to play in therapy. Time and time again, a Speech Therapist hears, “This game is great! Can we play this again next week?”
While a Speech Therapist weaves specific therapy goals into every minute of the game, parents and caregivers have the same opportunity to practice the important skills of turn taking, cooperation, encouraging another person, being a graceful winner/loser or just feeling like a part of something while playing a board game. Children may argue board games are really BORED games, but deep down, and usually within a few minutes of playing, they quickly realize there is nothing BORING about a BOARD game!
Share your favorite childhood game with your child. Have your child share their new game with his/her Speech Therapist. Enjoy a few hours away from the blue hue of a screen, enjoy the sight of a smiling child discovering a new skill….playing a BOARD game and not for one minute being BORED!
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
