Making the Most of Holiday Traditions with a Child with Special Needs

The holiday season is here, and few activities are as meaningful to children as holiday traditions. Embedding your child’s speech and language goals in enjoyable, real-life tasks is a wonderful way to make the work they are doing in therapy as meaningful as possible. And research has shown that, the more meaningful the activity, the more likely your child’s speech and language is to grow from the experience!

Here are some ideas for how to make the most of these meaningful holiday traditions:

  • Target sequencing and following directions by having kids help prepare holiday meals.
  • Target categorization by having children sort holiday gifts.
  • Target spatial concepts while decorating the house (e.g., put the gifts under the tree; put the candle on the menorah, etc.).
  • Embed articulation targets in fun holiday activities (e.g., target “L” sounds while “Lighting candeLs” on the menorah; target consonant clusters while “trimming the tree”).
  • Reinforce parts of speech (nouns/verbs/adjectives) throughout vacation (e.g., “Look at the pretty, white, cold snow”; “Eat the yummy Christmas cookies”).

From all of us at Rock Brook – Happy Holidays to you and your family. We hope you will come visit our blog in the New Year!