SPARK cards can be used in therapy in many ways.

ARTICULATION: Circle objects in the picture scenes with target sounds. Practice the words or phrases. Have the child tell a story about the scenes.

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE:

• Increasing Vocabulary: Label basic vocabulary words and objects in pictures. Describe, categorize and expound on the concepts.
• Sentence structure: Have the child formulate a sentence for each picture card. Give the child a word to use to formulate sentences. Work on increasing MLU by increasing the length and complexity of the sentences.
• Telling Narratives: Teach a child how to tell a story. Focus on story elements such as character, setting, plot, climax, and conflict. Have the child formulate sentences, use conjunctions and transitional words to tell the story in sequential order.
• Main Idea: Have the child identify a title for a set of story cards and/or tell a main idea for each picture illustration.
• Use of Pronouns: Circle the characters in the picture cards. Have the child practice using pronouns correctly when formulating sentences about the characters.
• Verb Usage: Line up several cards and work on past, present, future tense verbs. Work on verbs, plurals, and irregular plurals while describing the picture cards and formulating sentences about them.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE:

• Sequence it: Have the child set the cards up in the correct order using inferencing skills to infer the correct order of the cards.
• Answering ‘wh’ questions: Using the prompt cards, ask ‘WH’ questions such as WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW.

SOCIAL SKILLS:

• Emotions: Use a marker to make thinking bubbles and/or speech bubbles to illustrate what the characters might be thinking, saying and feeling.
• Problem-Solving: Work on cause and effect and possible solutions to solve the problems depicted in the pictures.