Brennan Bear Speech Therapy Activities

A young student in the act of articulating a tricky phrase.

Brennan Bear is a speech therapy program designed to use as a head start for young speakers and readers, as well as a curriculum for children with significant speech and cognitive needs. The program features a number of different activities and lessons that can be performed in school or at home, without advanced preparation or additional supplies.

Oral Mastery

Many Brennan Bear activities are geared toward enabling a student to speak clearly using proper diction. The programs have the student read aloud or repeat, from a teacher or parent, a series of phrases or words that can be difficult for many young speakers. Most activities focus on isolating the student's area of difficulty and practicing verbal fluency within that difficultly. A typical activity will show a picture of a person at a store, selling something. The teacher or parent will ask, "What is Sally doing? Sally is selling." The teacher or parent then prompts the student to repeat the last part of the phrase, "Sally is selling." The goal is to ensure the student correctly uses the proper articles. The activity is then typically elaborated further, with the instructor pointing to the picture and saying, "Sally is selling the shoes." The student then repeats the more complex phrase with the instructor listening and correcting for clarity and proper usage.

Auditory and Literal Comprehension

To test for auditory literal comprehension, Brennan Bear uses instructor-based pictorial activities. Differentiating between pictures of opposites, such as awake/aseep or open/closed, is a regular part of each activity level. Also included are slightly more advanced concepts, such as beginning, middle and end and close, far and in between. Each involves the student listening to the instructor's request to separate or identify a particular element of the picture being shown to him.

Reinforcement Worksheets

The reinforcement worksheets in the Brennan Bear program are designed for the student to perform independently or with minimal direction of the instructor. Worksheets typically invoke Brennan Bear and his rotating cast of characters to reinforce concepts already introduced through simple matching and circling of pictorial representations. Worksheets are meant to reinforce only, and should not serve as the entirety or majority of instruction.

References

• linguisystems.com: Listening For Language All Year Round
• linguisystems.com