Unique Ways to Use Puppets in Intervention

Puppets in speech therapy! Puppets are versatile and engaging and are a great tool for intervention. Here are 3 different ways I use them to teach and connect with children!

Puppets are incredibly versatile! If they are motivating for a child, I will use them to target almost any goal – prepositions, verbs, demonstrate following directions, and many more.

While puppets may seem like a tool for young children only, I am surprised at how well they have worked with school-aged children by helping build rapport or addressing difficult things you may not want to bring direct attention to. Keep in mind you can use not just puppets, but any stuffed or favorite toys. For example, angry birds, Mario/Luigi, Pokemon, Minecraft, princess dolls, or cars.

3 unique ways to use puppets in speech therapy

SELECTIVE MUSTISM OR SHY CHILDREN
Puppets have helped me connect with children who are reluctant to talk and play. Talking to a child via a puppet or giving them a puppet to communicate (pointing, nodding, talking) can be less intimidating. I have even had children bring their favorite stuffed toy to our session, and I talk to the toy instead of directly to the child (e.g., “Minnie Mouse, where is the lion?”)

STUTTERING
I use puppets to give examples of fluent versus disfluent speech, and then I have the child identify the type of speech themselves and teach the puppet strategies for fluent speech. Another strategy is allowing them to talk vicariously through a puppet, which may take the pressure off of them and help reduce disfluent speech.

SOCIAL SKILLS
Using puppets to act out social situations can be an excellent way to teach pragmatics without negatively singling out the child’s social skills. Demonstrate good and poor social behaviors and interactions, and have them use a puppet to role play and practice social routines!

I hope this provides some new ideas that you can incorporate!
How do you use puppets in speech therapy?

You may also be interested in:
Preschool Must-Haves for Speech Therapy
Free Speech Therapy Activities for Toddlers

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