Play-Based Activities for Irregular Plural Nouns

One of my most common goals for patients is to master irregular plural nouns like fish (not fishes), shelves (not shelfs), sheep (not sheeps), and mice (not mouses).

I always start this target with flash cards and use a least-to-most cueing hierarchy (unless the child needs a consistent level of support in which case I’ll start there and then gradually give them less). So I’ll show them the card with a single child while saying, “1 child and…” then switch to the 2 children and say, “2…” If they need help I’ll ask, “Are they childs?” If they need more help then I’ll ask, “Are they 2 childs or children?” and switch the position of the target so that I either say it first or second.

I always start addressing this target with flash cards including these ones from Super Duper.

Once a patient masters the flashcards I switch to play-based activities because they’re more effective and motivating. Here are a couple of my favorite play-based activities for irregular plural nouns.

Here are some more ideas for using Toca Life World in speech and language treatment.

Here are some more ideas for using Li’l Woodzeez and Calico Critters for speech and language treatment.