1. I always use a session schedule. I have found with this age group using a schedule helps curb behaviors and gives you structure to guide your lesson. I have a FREE schedule for you to use in this blog post -------> CLICK HERE. If needed, I use first/then or first/then/next schedules or "I am working for" boards if the students need even more reinforcement during the session. I go in to detail about each of these in the above linked blog post.

2. Data taking plan ready: What ever you use, have it ready to go. It is tough to take data with this age group because pre-k therapy is typically play based. One tip for this is to data sample for 10 minutes for each student (that means only taking data on one student at a time, instead of trying to do it for the whole group at once).

3. Plan Themes throughout the year. The best practice tip I have for this is to collaborate with the pre-k teachers. Plan your themes to go along with what they are doing in the classroom (repetition is key with this age group and they will be more engaged in the lesson if they can relate to it). Check out this blog post about specific themes I have done in therapy -----> CLICK HERE

4. Each session includes at least 3-4 of the following activities to keep the students engaged (can be a challenge for 3-4 year olds). This is what I put on my session schedule for the day.

• Song (Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and you know it, Hello Song, Goodbye Song, etc....)

• Book (I prefer interactive books ---> check out my Lift-a-Flap books)

• Play activity with toys

• Craft (check out my phonological processing crafts ----> Click Here)

• Gross motor activity (kick a ball, play catch, bowling, etc...)

I create toy companions to make targeting objectives with the toys easy! Read this blog post to learn more about this -----> CLICK HERE