Carole Martin, M.A. CCC-A/SLP
Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders
1820 Capitol Avenue
Cheyenne, Wyoming, 82001

Summer in Wyoming is definitely a time for everyone, especially children, to be outside enjoying our beautiful landscape and weather. Each summer, however, about 50 youngsters forego at least a part of summer's traditional outdoor pastimes to attend speech therapy at the Cheyenne Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders. The children range in age from two to 15. Some have trouble saying certain sounds, or putting words together in sentences, or answering "wh" questions—who, what, where, when, why. Others have difficulty with written language, reading, and spelling. Regardless of age or problem, being in speech therapy during the summer in Wyoming is not usually thought of as fun.

The challenges, then, are to find ways to make speech therapy enjoyable and still have the kids learn. Actually, the Summer Speech Clinic in Cheyenne has become popular with our kids because it has been made into an enjoyable experience by a variety of different fun activities. Every other Friday we have from six to 12 children come for an hour. During that time we involve them in functional but fun language-based activities. One day, when we learn about following directions, each child gets to make ice cream in a zip-lock bag. Another day we talk about gardens and make a garden with egg cartons, construction paper, and colorful, hand-made bugs. Another Friday we make puppets and learn to sequence stories that we make up. Then at the end of each Friday session, it is time to go shopping.

Three summers ago, we began a toy store. Children earned "speech bucks" during their therapy sessions. On a group therapy Friday, the kids could spend their speech dollars by buying time on the computer to play games or to purchase one of many little toys in the "speech store." Toys included bubble rings, plastic rings, and other inexpensive items that kids enjoy, especially when they get to purchase them with their own earned play dollars.

One interesting and unexpected result of this activity was the ability to work on simple, functional math skills with even the youngest kids who learned by counting out dollars, figuring out what to buy, and deciding how much to spend. Some children even learned about layaways when they didn't have enough "speech bucks" to buy what they wanted.

Project groups are part of summer fun in the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Scottish Rite Clinic.

A second, unexpected result was that the incentive to work hard went up dramatically as kids realized their performance affected their ability to purchase items in the toy store. Kids loved watching the dollars accumulate in their plastic bag banks. Even the four-year-olds were asking, "Do I have enough money yet?" A third result was improved behavior. Misbehavior, failure to stay on task, and not participating in class could result in fines and loss of money. These kids became very protective of their money.

The biggest positive was the excitement seen on the children's faces all summer long, especially on Store Day. Choosing between a pencil and a ring was a major decision. Balloons or playdough? Hot wheels or legos? Children struggled with every decision and parted carefully with each dollar earned. This year, due to donations from Masons, we are adding stuffed animals to the store. Thanks to the Scottish Rite Masons of Cheyenne for encouraging and supporting this innovative, fun form of speech and language therapy!