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Marybeth Ames, M.A., CCC-SLP

A variety of multimedia teaching tactics make therapy fun at the Fort Collins, Colorado, Scottish Rite Clinic.

Speech-Language therapists at the Fort Collins, Colorado, Scottish Rite Language Disorders Clinic, go “buggy” to communicate with and teach children in fresh, effective ways. Photo courtesy the Scottish Rite Language Disorders Clinic, Children’s Speech and Reading Center, Fort Collins, Colorado

In Fort Collins, Colorado, therapists, staff, and members of the Board of Directors at the Children’s Speech and Reading Center (CSRC), a non-profit clinic funded by the local Scottish Rite Foundation as part of the RiteCare Childhood Language Program, use storybook boxes, therapy backpacks, community story hours, and treasure chests for successful speech-language therapy.

Storybook boxes are used to teach while children manipulate the objects from the story. One popular storybook box is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Olivia, a five-year-old client, begins the story saying: “Wonz zubon a Sutay, a widdle tinny ek open, en out gumss a tinny keen tagabiwa.” Without the storybook box, parents, therapists, and peers have a hard time understanding that Olivia is actually saying: “Once upon a Sunday, a little tiny egg opens, and out comes a tiny green caterpillar.” By taking the objects, one by one in sequence with the story, out of the storybook box, Olivia learns to communicate more clearly. This particular box contains two stuffed animals, a caterpillar and a butterfly, and all the foods (some real and some are toys) the caterpillar eats during the story.

Debra Dunn, CSRC Director, Sandy Diel, staff member, and community volunteers accept the challenge of creating storybook boxes that match each therapist’s favorite children’s books. Some of the storybook boxes coordinate with the clinic’s interior decorating, general educational materials, computer programs, and clinic backpacks. The goal is to increase language development and literacy by providing children a multimedia experience.

The clinic uses clear, stackable, plastic storage boxes. Children can see bright colors and interesting toys, but cannot clearly tell what is inside. This adds a slight mystery and encourages them to choose with enthusiasm. Each box contains an inventory so staff and community volunteers can attend to the cleaning and replacing of consumables.

The clinic storybook boxes are such a success that therapists have expanded them for carryover and home enrichment programs. CSRC staff members have created theme backpacks that parallel the storybook boxes. In addition to books, the backpacks can contain matching characters and objects, related materials such as PlayDoh® and cookie cutters, foods, games, cards, recipes, magnet boards, puzzles, coloring books, audiotape stories, computer stories, and crafts. Therapists suggest home-practice tasks that incorporate these materials into a child’s individualized goals.

As in the storybook boxes, a favorite backpack theme is cookies. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff is a popular book included in the backpacks. To reinforce the message, therapists use a recurrent theme of cookies through room decorations, storybook boxes, backpacks, and, of course, the real thing, animal crackers. Each backpack contains suggestions for language development and a materials inventory so parents know what to practice and what needs to be packed up when it is time to return the backpack.

Therapists can add written suggestions specific to the child’s individual goals and a journal for tracking progress and adding comments from the child’s parents. Therapists may use similar clinic materials and send the backpack home for practice. Sometimes therapists use the backpack materials in the clinics, send it home for practice, then use some of the same materials in the next therapy session. This reinforces the carryover process in that what is practiced in therapy is also practiced at home, in the car, at play, and in school.

Carter, one of our clients, has multiple articulation substitutions, deletions, and distortions. During clinic sessions he is happy and compliant, but his progress and carryover are not satisfactory. He resists home practice. Yet Carter, a future entomologist, practices without complaint when he can play with the storybook box for The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle and the “Going Buggy” backpack.

The Children’s Speech and Reading Center now has over 35 theme backpacks for checkout. Debra Dunn, MS. CCC-SLP, says, “In the past year, the backpacks have been checked out over 300 times.”

The storybook boxes and backpack programs are so successful for children with speech-language therapy needs that the clinic is looking to expand the idea of language and literacy enrichment for the community. The Fort Collins clinic, for instance, teams with “Fort Fun,” a nearby miniature golf park, for community story hours. While children eat, play, and are entertained by volunteer storytellers, parents can get questions answered by a speech-language pathologist. Flyers to educate parents about normal articulation and language development are provided.

Like the storybook boxes and backpack programs, a similar treasure chest concept is developing as a language and literacy lending program for the community. The treasure chests contain enrichment activities and materials similar to the storybook boxes and backpacks. Preschoolers and their families will be able to check out the treasure chests for a month.
A mother of three young sons says, “Alex, my oldest, is a graduate of the Children’s Speech and Reading Center. Connyr, who no one could understand, is still working to correct his lisp, but everyone can now understand what he says, and he has a lot to say. Devin, the youngest, has great language ability and clear articulation. Even when the storybook boxes, backpacks, story hours, and treasure chests are part of therapy for one kid, all of my sons have benefited. Speech-language therapy is a family affair in our house.”

The multimedia methods and community projects used by the Scottish Rite Clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, are representative of the innovative methods used by many RiteCare Childhood Language Program clinics, centers, and programs across the Southern Jurisdiction. Congratulations to all!

Contacts: Scottish Rite Language Disorders Clinic, Community Rehab Connections, Children's Speech and Reading Center, 225 W. Oak Street, Fort Collins, CO 80521, Telephone: 970-419-0486; Fax: 970-221-5751; www.fortnet.org/cstc/