March 31, 2026
Nature Based Therapy
Targeting the “R” sound
This week one of my school age friends and I took our therapy outside.
I brought a note card with us to write all the words we could find that included the “R” sound. We encountered over 50 words outside! As we walked the grounds of his school we marched down a gravel path and discovered rocks that were round as well as rocks that were sharp. We saw brown rocks, grey rocks, and large rocks.
With the gravel ground under our feet, we saw purple flowers and green grass below the towering trees above us. We walked by a red barn on a farm with a rooster, a horse, and birds. We walked into a soccer field with purple striped rods sitting at the corner of the sideline. We gripped them and decided to spar! My friend was very strong and reached his rod high and low.
We continued our journey and saw a large tire, a rusty nail, and a wired, silver fence. The weather was crisp and we wore our winter jackets. I wore a scarf and we both had warm boots. We parked ourselves on a rough bench to practice our vocalic AR words which included “sharp“, “farm“, “scarf“, “spar“, “parked“, and “barn“, before racing up the grassy hill back to his classroom. He took his note card with our 50 words and went inside.
Meeting our little friends in natural environments is a great way to practice and discover the world of language and speech. Going outside gives a child (and you!) a change of place and a change in pace, which equals a change in perspective!