When I first started working as a Speech-Language Pathologist, my first job was in a nursing home. I really liked working with the geriatric population. It almost felt like working with my own grandparents. One of the things I loved to do with my older patients is word finding. I would give them a category and they would name as many items as they can. Or I would do the opposite and name the items and they would have to name the category. When I started working with children-it was surprising to me how many children needed to work on this skill. So this week I am giving you a couple of fun ways to incorporate word finding into games that you can play with your kids:

Alphabet Zoo: Write the letters of the alphabet on pieces of cardboard or paper, put them in a bag and have your child pick one. Have them list animals that start with that letter. Have them pick one and draw a picture or look in magazines for pictures of that animal. You don’t have to just have them name animals. This activity also works with food, toys, places etc.

Thinking Out of the Box: Point to an object in the room and have your child tell what it is used for, say a spoon is used for eating cereal. Then have them think of some other ways it could be used: ‘carrying a hot egg across the room, a nose warmer, a snowball thrower’, etc. It is very neat to hear what the kids come up with.

Round Robin: I often play this one in the car with the girls instead of having them play on the iPad or watch a movie in the car. In this game, someone picks a category and we each go around and name an item in the category-without duplicating what someone has already named. We do this until there is only one person left. Then that person picks the next category. Our favorite categories include: fruits, vegetables, colors, Disney princesses, villains and songs.

Try playing some of these games to help foster creativity and word finding skills.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]