Ideas for Targeting Subject, Object, and Possessive Pronouns in Speech Therapy

Are you looking for a practical and engaging way to target pronouns in your speech and language therapy sessions? Look no further!

My favorite strategy for teaching subject (e.g. he, she, they), object (e.g. him, her, them), and possessive pronouns (e.g. his, her(s), their(s)) is to use a contextualized approach.

Why Use a Contextualized Approach?

A contextualized approach integrates skills into meaningful, naturalistic activities that students can relate to.

Here's why it works so well:

🌟 Naturalistic Opportunities for Practice

Instead of isolated drills, students learn to use pronouns within conversations, stories, and meaningful contexts.

🌟 Promotes Carryover of Skills

When skills are taught in real-world contexts, students are more likely to generalize them into their everyday communication (Ukrainetz, 2006).

🌟 Evidence-Based

Research supports contextualized intervention as a method that supports language development (Ukrainetz, 2006).

🌟 High Number of Trials

Contextualized activities, such as shared storybook reading, naturally provide frequent opportunities for students to practice pronouns in engaging and interactive ways.

Using a contextualized approach for targeting pronouns naturally leads us to one of the most versatile and engaging tools available to SLPs: books!

Here are a variety of ideas for how you can target any type of pronoun using a book - and during any step in the literacy-based therapy approach!

Before reading the book

💡 Make predictions

Look at the book cover and/or flip through the pictures in the story and ask questions like...

For subject pronouns - What do you think she will do? Where do you think she will go? How do you think she will solve the problem?

For object pronouns - Do you think the red shoes belong to him or her? Do you think the dragon will eat them or her?

For possessive pronouns - Do you think the dog is his or theirs? Do you think the hat is his or hers?

While reading the book

💡 Describe the pictures

💡 Summarize the page you just read

💡 Answer wh questions

💡 Describing character's thoughts, ideas, wants, actions

You can easily aim for 5 opportunities each time the student speaks.

Here are some examples:

Old Lady Books: on the pages that shows all of the items that the old lady swallowed - She swallowed a cow. She swallowed a bird. She swallowed a spider. She swallowed a pitchfork. She swallowed a horse.

Describe the character: They are wearing red socks. They are wearing a blue shirt. They are wearing glasses. They are wearing a hat. They are wearing yellow shoes.

He is nice. He is helpful. He is hungry. He is looking for a dog. He is tired.

After reading the book

If you're working with mixed groups, the easiest way to target pronoun types is through activities that also allow you to target other goals.

Here are a variety of activities where you can easily embed multiple opportunities to practice pronouns with your students:

💡 Story retell 💡 Sequencing story events

💡 Describing character

💡 Verb tense

💡 Grammar or syntax

💡 Creating a parallel story

I hope these ideas have been helpful! 😊

Let me know in the comments: What’s your favorite way to target pronouns in therapy?