Abstract
Speech-language pathologists frequently use games in therapy. Often the games serve simply as reinforcement—as a mean to encourage students to engage in drill activities. Such a use of games is controversial because it disrupts the amount of practice the student receives or because they are unrelated to the communication task. Some commercial games, however, can provide useful language activities.
Whoonu
The game Whoonu can be useful to promote students’ thinking about the thoughts and interests of others; hence, it can be used to promote students’ development of theory of mind (ToM). The game has the potential to promote positive social interactions. It can be played by students who are in the upper elementary games or older. Whoonu can be played with three to five players.
Points are awarded by the use of tokens. There are different combinations for the number of tokens needed depending on how many people are playing. If there are three participants, use tokens 1 to 4 in stacks of three. If there are four players, use tokens 1 to 6 in stacks of four, tokens 1 to 4 in stacks of five if there are five, and tokens 1 to 5 in stacks of six if there are six.
An envelope is given to the player whose birthday is coming up next. This player is the first “Whoozit.” Everyone except the Whoozit receives four cards, and the remaining cards are put face down in a pile. Players can look at their cards but cannot show them to anyone else. The cards have the names of objects, foods, games, animals, activities (e.g., football game, string cheese, gardening, ice cream, cats). Each child selects two cards (if there are three or four players) or one card (if there are five or six players) marked with things he thinks the Whoozit prefers. All the players other than the Whoozit put their chosen cards in the envelope without revealing them. The Whoozit then takes the cards out of the envelope and secretly puts them behind the corresponding tokens 1 least favorite and 6 for most favorite. The Whoozit reveals his or her least favorite thing first, reading it aloud. The player who chose this card takes the 1 token and gets one point. The Whoozit continues turning over cards until all of them are revealed and one token from each stack is awarded. The student who guesses the Whoozit’s most favorite thing receives the most points. After this process is completed, it’s time for a new Whoozit. Everyone passes their cards to player on their left. The player with no cards takes the envelope and becomes the new Whoozit. All the revealed cards are put in a discard pile. Everyone except the Whoozit draws more cards for a total of four cards in each hand. The game continues until everyone has been the Whoozit, and all the tokens are awarded. The game can also be played by guessing what the Whoozit likes least.
As the children play Whoonu, they can be encouraged to talk about the types of things they like and dislike. As play continues, particularly when the game is played over a number of days or weeks, students develop the ability to predict what one another likes and dislikes. The clinician can cue children by helping them remember what a particular player had said about something earlier, for example, “What pets did Dave say he had?” If he has a ___, what do you think he thinks about dogs?” Clinicians could easily create a homemade version of the game by taking index cards and writing other nouns, names, and verbs on them and by using any other form of scoring tokens like coins or poker chips. They could select items that they know the students would relate to.
Don’t Say It
Don’t Say It can be used as a vocabulary building game for students from later elementary through high school. The game can be played at easy, medium, or difficult levels. The difficulty levels are determined by how many words you are NOT allowed to say as you try to get your team to guess the main word. Younger players may choose Easy (can’t say two words) while the older members may choose Medium (can’t say three words) or Difficult (can’t say four words). The cards are shuffled, and a card is placed in the plastic holder set to reveal the word that players are to guess, and the words that the person who is giving clues about the word cannot use in defining or describing the word. For example, if the word to guess is “balloon,” at the easy level, the student could not use the words “party” or “pop.” At the medium level, the student could not use the words “party,” “pop,” or “inflate,” and at the difficult level, the student could not use the word “party,” “pop,” “inflate,” or “blow.”
The game is played with two teams. A team member shows the main word and the forbidden words to the opposing team and presses a buzzer to start the turn. One player on the starting team moves the cover down to their difficulty level: 1, 2, or 3. If the player is able to get his or her team to guess the main word and there’s still time left, they pull out the guessed card and start playing using a new main word and forbidden words on a second card. Game play continues in this way until the buzzer sounds.
If the player mentions any of the forbidden words, a member of the opposing team presses the buzzer—BOING! The card is removed from the holder, and the points noted on the card will later be subtracted from the team’s score. Meanwhile, the timer and the game continue with the player using the next card just. The turn ends after 60 seconds when the buzzer sounds. Cards are worth different values. If the team successfully guesses the word, it receives the points on the card. If they do not guess the word, they lose the number of points on the card.
This game can require a high level of expressive language. Students must be able to go beyond the simplest definition of the word. For many children with language impairment, vocabulary, as measured by a Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test or the One-Word Receptive Test or One-Word Expressive Test (Gardner, 1990a, 1990b), may be a relative strength (compared with other components of language). This does not, however, mean that their vocabularies are similar to students without language impairment. In WoM 14.4, I reviewed an article by McGregor and colleagues (McGregor, Oleson, Bahnsen, & Duff, 2013). They noted that students with language impairment have deficits in both breadth (number of words they know) and depth (knowing the relationships of words to other words). Don’t Say It places demands on students’ vocabulary depth. They must retrieve less common words related to the selected word.
Apples to Apples Junior
Apples to Apples Junior (for students age 7 and up) is another good game for developing vocabulary depth and thinking skills. The game has two sets of cards: 216 red apple cards, each with the name of a person, place, thing, or event; and 72 green apple cards, each with a word that describes a person, place, thing, or event. For example, a red card will have a word such as apple and an interesting fact (e.g., Johnny Appleseed traveled across the United States planting seeds for apple trees). A green card might have the word “brave” and the synonyms “fearless” and “courageous.”
A player is selected to be the judge. The judge deals five red apple cards, face down, to each player (including him or herself). Players may look at their cards. The judge places the top green apple card, face up, on the table, and reads the word out loud. Each player (except the judge) picks the red apple card from his or her hand that he or she thinks is most like the green apple card and places it face down on the table. It’s OK to play a red apple card even if it isn’t a perfect fit. The judge mixes up the red apple cards, so no one knows who played which card.
The judge turns over each red apple card, reads it out loud, and then picks the card that he or she thinks is most like the word on the green apple card. Players can try to convince the judge to pick one of the red apple cards. This provides students with the opportunity to explain their choice—in what ways is their red card related to the green card? Once the judge has picked a red apple card, the decision is final. The judge gives the green apple card to the player whose red apple card was picked. To keep score, players who have won green apple cards keep them on the table in front of them until the end of the game. The judge picks up all the red apple cards played during that round and places them in the box and then passes the card tray to the left, and that person becomes the new judge. The first player to earn four green apple cards wins the game!