Speech Room Tour

Hey there! Here's a peek into my therapy room at a private clinic. If you know me well, you know I love decorating and organizing! Every week I travel between different sites (schools, clinic, nursing home), so I need to have an organized space where I feel comfortable and happy.

​Here's the view from the door:​

The hardest part when decorating was trying to find a theme that would suit my varying clientele. I work with the pediatric through geriatric population, however most of my clients are kids and they're the ones that strongly benefit from visual aids and a colorful atmosphere. I went with a "Spring Time" theme and hoped for the best when my teenage boy clients came in the room that they wouldn't think this was a "lil kid room". So far, no complaints!

My therapy room is small, so all the space needs to be utilized efficiently. Here's a closer look at the desk area:

The thing that everyone always asks about first is my "Desk Toolbox". This is an 18 Drawer Parts Organizer that I got from Walmart and you can also get it off Amazon. I painted it yellow and used chalkboard labels and liquid chalk to label each drawer with the essential tools I use everyday. My pens, pencils, and colored pencils are in adorable school themed Mason Jars that I got from Etsy. My other art supplies, crayons, scissors, paint dot markers, and glue are in a great number organizer that can also be found at Etsy. The "If you want it, work for it!" sign covers up the motivational treats I offer to some kids so they can't see them through the clear glass (lollipop or sticker). On top of my desk you'll see two of the most essential items in any speech room, hand sanitizer and bubbles!

​Here's a look at the wall next to my desk:

I have a full calendar on the back of my door and a day of the week chart next to it. I laminated both and added Velcro to them to make changing the days and months easier. Everything is held up with command strip hooks, even my clothesline pictures!

​Here's a close up of my bookshelf:

Storage cubes are a must have in my clinic. When kids see toys on a shelf they instantly want to grab it. I used storage cubes to hide all the toys, games, and tools that I don't want kids to be distracted by. A lot of my co-workers also use curtains that they fasten to the top of the bookshelf with Velcro to cover all the materials on their shelves. Materials targeting the same goals are organized into each cube. For example, if I want to target language goals with an elementary kid I can find all my materials in the bottom left cube, if I have a middle-high school language kid, I go to the left yellow cube. Having my materials sorted this way makes it easier for me to grab and go between back to back clients.

​These are some visual aids next to the bookshelf:

My small table that we sit at faces this "Good Listeners" visual aid. Once you've read it to a kid multiple times, you can quickly cue an active kid by simply pointing to this sign and then redirecting the kid back to the activity.

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I like to have my more active kids sit in the chair to the left so they have a clear view at the "Good Listeners" visual aid and I'll close the blinds to decrease the distractions. On the opposite wall, there is a "Voice Volume" visual aid. It rates the different level of volume from 0 (a whisper) to 5 (a shout) and has some colorful pictures of different animals to associate with the sound levels. I have a lot of kids working using appropriate voice and knowing when to switch between their "outside voice" to their "inside voice". Every now and then during a session I'll have the kid look at the chart and tell me what kind of voice they were using and remind them that in the room their voice has to be between 1-3.

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My "Use Your Words" picture board is the most used thing in my room. I have a lot of nonverbal and expressive delayed kids that utilize this board to communicate with me. I interchange the "I want ___" part with picture symbols depending on the kid. On the long strips below are pictures of all the toys they can pick from. I can add and remove pictures based on what other goals we're targeting or how many choices I want to give the kid.

Here you can see the voice volume chart as well as my "Garden of Good Manners" visual. I have a lot of pragmatic kids, and each flower is labeled with a different pragmatic skill, i.e. "Take Turns," "Say please", or "Say I'm sorry." The kids love to look at the garden and I have incorporated into activities before by having the kid color their own "Good Manner" flower and label the petals with different emotions we talked about or different pragmatic strategies we've discussed.

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That's my speech room! I am constantly adding and changing things to it everyday as my clients change and grow, but I am extremely happy with how it turned out! Thanks for taking the tour, let me know what you think!