How to Use Short Videos in Speech Therapy Sessions

Let’s be honest– you’ll never have to twist a student’s arm to watch a YouTube video. Kids and teens love them, so it’s usually one activity you don’t have to sell.

That’s one reason that short videos are such a great way to engage students in speech therapy sessions. With the right video clips, speech-language pathologists can sneak in tons of learning and practice for language, social, and even articulation goals.

WHY SHORT VIDEOS WORK IN SPEECH THERAPY

Students often respond well to multimedia, and short videos are perfect because they’re quick, engaging, and easy to tailor to speech and language goals. A video can break up a session, provide teaching and practice of important skills, improve student engagement, earn the buy-in of particular students (who might otherwise be reluctant), and so much more.

HOW TO PLAY VIDEOS IN SPEECH THERAPY

Let's talk logistics. The way you share YouTube videos in speech therapy sessions will depend on your setting and the equipment you have available. Here are a few easy options:

• iPad or other tablet (a smartphone works too in a pinch)

• Computer (perfect for teletherapy sessions)

• Interactive whiteboard (great for larger groups)

• Television

Whether it’s on the big screen or a tiny tablet, your students will excited for the change of pace in speech therapy... and ready to talk about it afterward!

TYPES OF VIDEOS TO USE IN SPEECH THERAPY

So... what kind of videos are we talking about? YouTube is a treasure trove of videos that can be used in speech therapy. Here are some types to consider when creating your speech therapy lesson plans.

Teaching Lessons

Before jumping into practice or drill, a video is a valuable tool for actually teaching (or reviewing) the concepts that you're targeting. This playlist of speech therapy lessons teaches skills like temporal concepts, multiple-meaning words, and coordinating conjunctions.

Social Scenarios

Short videos are also an excellent tool for teaching social skills. They help you highlight facial expressions, body language, and interactions between people to practice perspective-taking, problem-solving, and conversation skills. And don’t forget that even ‘bad’ examples of social interactions (Big Bang Theory clips, anyone?) can spark valuable discussions and learning opportunities.

Commercials

Advertisements are a fun way to identify humor, read emotions and other non-verbal language, determine word meaning given context, and make inferences and predictions. Super Bowl commercials are especially relevant to use since peers and family members may already be talking about them. Of course, it's important to preview the commercials before playing them for students, but many times they lead to lots of laughs!

Funny videos

Speaking of humor, there are other funny videos that you can incorporate into your sessions. Epic or Fail videos from The Ellen Show are a great way to work on making inferences and predictions. Funny animal videos are always a favorite for working on retell and formulating complex and compound sentences.

Wordless Shorts

Animated shorts are the perfect way to focus on nonverbal communication because, without dialogue, students must rely entirely on facial expressions and body language to understand what the character is thinking or feeling.

Students can also use wordless videos to sequence and retell a story’s beginning, middle, and end, strengthening both comprehension and expressive language skills.

Visual Cues

Peachie Speechie's articulation videos offer a great visual support for students learning to produce specific speech sounds. These are especially helpful in teletherapy because they clearly show the mouth producing the sound.

Informational Videos

Presenting information through a video is a great way to target comprehension, especially for students who groan at the mention of reading a passage. The videos in this playlist teach about high-interest topics (such as video games and soccer) that can be followed up with comprehension and inferential questions.

MAKING VIDEOS EFFECTIVE FOR SPEECH THERAPY

Use these tips to get the most out of video activities in your speech therapy sessions.

Pair videos with supports.

Visuals help students organize their thinking and learning. These simple tools ensure students aren’t just watching passively, but actively engaging with the content. Here are a few specific ideas:

• Use a graphic organizer to map out story elements, problems and solutions, or cause-and-effect elements of a wordless short.

• Use an emotion vocabulary chart to help students identify the feelings of people in a video scenario.

• Use a checklist to help students determine if someone in a video is being sarcastic.

• Use sentence frames or icons to guide responses to wh- questions about a video.

• Use a worksheet with comprehension or vocabulary questions that coordinate with an informational video lesson.

• Use a poll to collect student votes. In this example (free for email subscribers), each student in the group makes a prediction when watching a funny video together.

Keep videos short.

Keep videos under 5 minutes so discussions stay focused and you have plenty of time to apply the information and skills in other activities.

Modify as needed.

Take advantage of the ability to mute, slow down, or pause videos for teaching, practice, or discussion.

Minimize distractions.

SafeShare is a great website that can remove ads, pop-ups, comments, and suggested videos that could potentially be inappropriate for your students. There are both free and paid plans, so give it a try!

Organize the videos.

Create playlists to save your favorite videos for quick access (be sure they’re marked ‘Made for Kids’ if using YouTube). If you plan digitally, add direct links to the videos right into your lesson plans so everything is ready to go and you won’t waste time during the session.

Using YouTube videos in speech therapy sessions is a great way to make learning fun, interactive, and purposeful. The right video clips are flexible tools you can adapt for just about any goal, helping you add depth and variety to your speech therapy sessions while keeping students engaged and motivated.

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