Memory Song Game

    This will be my first blog that is talking about one of my intervention ideas and I am veryexcited.  I created this intervention to meet the needs of severaldifferent clients.  The great thing about this intervention, is that itcan be used for practically any goal area that needs to be met.  First ofall, I will explain what this intervention is. 
    The picture above showsthe visual that is needed for the intervention.  All that is needed forthis visual is white cardstock, a laminator and laminating sheets, clipart fromthe internet, and something to color the pictures with if you don't havecolored ink like I do.  First, go to Microsoft Word and create a box thatwould be a good size for holding a picture.  Then copy that box four timesonto the page.  Then, find four pictures from google images for the topicof your choosing.  I chose animals for this particular set.  I alsohave another set of fruit visuals.  Then place each picture inside thebox.  After you do this, go to a new page and do the same exact thing withfour different pictures.  After you have finished creating all of yourcards, print out two sheets of each page.  This ensures that you have twoof each animal, fruit, etc.  So in the end, you will have 16 cards whichis plenty.  I actually split my up into groups of eight to make iteasier.  When they master that set of animals, I use the other set ofanimals, and eventually add them together for the full 16.  So after youhave printed our your cards you are ready to laminate them.  Place aboutfour cards per laminating sheet.  And then you are finished making yourvisuals!  Now let's talk about what to do with them. 
    First,  show theclient the cards by holding two pairs of each animal.  Explain that theirare two of each.  Then, place all cards face down.  Have the clienthelp you shuffle them up.  This is usally a fun way for them tohelp.  Most really enjoy being able to help at something.  Then, placethe cards in rows of two with four cards each as shown above.  Next, youwould sing the "Memory Game Song" with the client.  I will posta video below to show you how this song goes.  For now, here are thewords: 
Let's play a memory game (3x's)
And say/spell all the words. 
The reason I have say or spell in the line is because I haveclients that need to work on speaking the words, and then I have clients thatneed to work on spelling the words.  Either way the game works forboth.  After you sing this part, you ask the client to pick their firstcard.  If their first card is a bird, you sing the song again likethis: 
This word is bird (3x's)
It is spelled B-I-R-D (Bird) 
So above is the same melody except at the end you spell eachletter while singing.  In parenthesis I have (Bird).  If you areworking on having the client speak the word, you say bird at the end instead ofadding extra words.  This gives the client a chance to speak the word 3-4times.  So while singing this part, you would pause each time you get tothe word bird in order to allow them to speak the word. 
So now you ask them to turn over a second card.  If this cardis the bird again, you would be finished with that stack and applaud them whileputting it to the side.  If it is not a bird again, you would go throughthe same process and sing the above verse with the correct animal.  Youcan go through the whole game like this until they have found all of thepairs. 
    I think this game isgreat because it targets so many different things.  It works on memory,fine motor skills, academic processes (spelling), and communication.  Youcan pretty much change up the intervention to fit your needs.  Have fun figuring out your own style!  Enjoy!