Medication Management Worksheet: 14 Speech Therapy Activities Free PDF

Welcome to our 3-part series exploring treatment ideas using classic speech therapy materials!

Part 1 covered 15 Exercises Using a Monthly Calendar while Part 2 laid out 9 Treatment Ideas Using Reading Passages.

Since we love how functional medication management is, in part Part 3 you’ll find 14 speech therapy activities using a medication management worksheet!

Don’t have a patient-friendly worksheet? We got you!

Medication Management Worksheet

Use the “My Medications” Worksheet to list medication Names, Dosages, Purposes, and Times Taken. The worksheet is formatted for your patients’ unique cognitive, visual, and sensory-motor needs.

To get your My Medications Worksheet PDF—plus dozens more speech therapy activities!—download our free guide, Functional Cognitive Tasks for Adults.

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Memory: Medication Management Activities

Use the following speech therapy activities for patients with mild to moderate memory impairments.

1. Write It Down: Memory Activity

Encourage your patients to write down important information and keep it in a safe place!

Instructions:

1. Dictate each medication’s Name, Dosage, Purpose, and Time Taken for the patient to write down on their medication management worksheet
   
   
2. Encourage them to keep this copy of their medication worksheet somewhere safe to refer back to

2. Use Associations: Memory Activity

Instructions:

1. Have the patient write down the Name and Purpose of all of their medications
   
   
2. Dictate every Name and/or Purpose that they can’t remember. Have them write these down
   
   
3. Next, have them create an association between each medication Name or Purpose that they can’t remember
   
   
   • Teach the task: “Memorize the purpose of your medication by making a simple or funny phase”
     
     
   • Give a prompt: “What kind of connection can you make between the name of this medication and its purpose?”
     
     
   • Give an example: “AmLOdipine LOWers blood pressure”
     
     
4. Next, state the Purpose and ask them for the Name (without looking at the worksheet)
   
   
   • “What’s your blood pressure medication?”
     
     
   • Provide cues as needed
     
     
5. When the patient is 100% independent in remembering their medication Names and Purposes, add Times Taken. Once they’re independent with that, add Dosage.

3. Grouping: Memory Activity

Using Grouping to help patients become more safe and independent with medication management.

Instructions

• Teach your patient the Grouping memory strategy
  
  
  • Organize what you want to remember into smaller groups. For example:
    
    
    • Organize Times Taken into ‘morning meds’ or ‘evening meds’
      
      
    • Organize Purpose into ‘all blood pressure meds’
      
      
    • Or group ‘vitamins/supplements’ vs ‘prescription meds'”

4. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: Memory Activity

For patients motivated to further improve their independence and safety with medication management, teach them to repeat chunks of information over and over again (this is the repeat, repeat, repeat memory strategy).

Instructions:

• Teach your patient the “Repeat, Repeat, Repeat” Memory Strategy
  
  
• Have them use Repeat, Repeat, Repeat with all of the medication Associations and Groups they’re working towards remembering
  
  
  • For example: “Memorize your morning meds by repeating them over and over again.”

Problem Solving: Medication Management Activities

Use the following tasks for your patients with mild-moderate problem solving deficits. Have copies of the medication management worksheet handy.

5. Filling a Pill Box: Problem Solving Activity

This task addresses general problem solving or sequencing.

For those who don’t have access to all of their pills (inpatients), gather the following materials:

Inpatient Activity Materials:

1. Pill-sized beads of different colors (20+ beads of each color). Choose beads with texture as smooth beads can be hard to pick up
2. A few empty pill bottles
3. An easy-open pill box (for patients with arthritis)
4. Medication management worksheet

Patient Instructions:

1. Place all the prescription bottles on the left side of the table
   
   
2. Open up all the compartments of the pill box
   
   
3. Take one prescription bottle and fill in one week’s worth of pills
   
   
4. Double-check your work
   
   
5. Place the bottle to the right side of the table
   
   
6. Complete steps 5 through 7 for the rest of your prescriptions

6. Verifying Medications: Problem Solving Activity

This task addresses general problem solving deficits.

Instructions:

1. Gather all of the patient’s pill bottles
   
   
2. Choose one pill bottle
   
   
3. Have the patient read the dosage and expiration date out loud
   
   
4. Have them check how many pills are left in that bottle
   
   
5. Ask them to verify important facts. For example:
   
   
   • The dosage matches their medication list
     
     
   • The pills are not expired
     
     
   • They have enough pills for the week
     
     
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for the rest of the pill bottle

Move on to the next activity to address any issues that come up!

7. Medication Problem Solving Activity

If the dosage is off, the medications are expired, or they don’t have enough pills for the week, turn it into its own problem solving task!

For example, problem solve:

• Who can they call for help?
• How can they get a refill?

Use tasks analysis to further break down the task:

• Does someone refill their medications for them, like a child or caregiver?
• How will they remember to ask for a refill?
• Do they refill it themselves?
• What number do they call for a refill?
• How soon do they need to pick it up in order to not miss a dose?
• If they’re totally out of their medication, what should they do?
• How will they pay for it? (insurance, etc.)
• How will they pick it up or receive it?

Attention: Medication Management Activities

8. Using a Pill Box for Sustained Attention

Adapt the fill a pill box task for patients with moderate impairments in sustained attention.

Instructions:

1. During the fill a pill box task, read the medication names and times taken aloud to the patient
   
   
2. Count how many cues the patient needs to attend to the task

Is it Sustained Attention or Problem Solving?

How are sustained attention cues different than problem solving cues? Here’s an example of each!

Sustained Attention

Your patient is putting pink pills into the pill box. Midway through, they stop and, looking a bit lost, gaze out the window where they hear a noise or focus on some other unrelated stimulus.

To cue for sustained attention, you point to the last pill they placed into the pill box (visual cue) and say, “You just put in this pink pill. What’s next?”

Problem Solving

While filling the pill box, your patient skips a day or puts two pills in one day.

To cue for problem solving, prompt them to check their work.

9. Using a Pill Box for Alternating Attention

For patients with mild impairments in alternating attention, increase the challenge on the sustained attention pill box activity.

Alternating Attention Instructions:

• Have the patient read their medication worksheet themselves
  
  
• During the transition between filling the pill box and reading the worksheet, count how many cues the patient needs to attend to the task.

Is It Alternating Attention or Sequencing?

How can you tell if the issue is alternating attention vs sequencing?

A sequencing deficit is when the patient has a hard time problem solving what to do next (for example, they make a mistake and don’t know how to fix it).

10. Using a Pill Box for Divided Attention

For patients with mild alternating attention impairments, add on to the alternating attention pill box task.

Divided Attention Instructions:

• Add normal background noise as the patient fills a pill box task by also reading off of their medication management worksheet
  
  
• Normal background noise can be you rustling in your bag, you typing loudly, or holding a conversation with them
  
  
• Count how many cues they need to re-attend to the task

Visual Neglect: Medication Management Activities

11. Filling a Pill Box for Visual Neglect

Use the filling the pill box task to treat mild to moderate visual neglect.

Instructions:

• Set the pill box at the patient’s midline
  
  
• Set the bottles on the patient’s affected side (left side for left-neglect)
  
  
• One-by-one, read the medication Names and Times Taken aloud to the patient as they fill the pill box
  
  
• Provides cues as needed to scan their affected side
  
  
• Ensure that the patient places the bottles they are finished with on their unaffected side (right side for left-neglect)

Aphasia: Medication Management Activities

Use the My Medications Worksheet when treating patients with moderate aphasia.

12. Writing Legibility During Medication Management

Instructions:

• One-by-one, dicate or provide a written model (on a whiteboard) of each medication Name
  
  
• Ask the patient to write the word on the worksheet
  
  
• Move on to Purpose, Dosage, and Times Taken, as appropriate
  
  
• Record the patient’s legibility (if they’re at the single-word level, calculate by number of letters that are legible) and the number and types of cues needed

13. Reading Comprehension During Medication Management

Instructions:

1. Give the patient a completed My Medications Worksheet
   
   
2. Provide pre-written comprehension questions about the My Medications Worksheet
   
   
   • “Which one is your blood pressure medication?
     
     
   • “How many pills do you take in the PM?”
     
     
3. To treat milder impairments, have them read the pill bottles instead of the worksheet

14. Auditory Comprehension During Medication Management

Adapt the Reading Comprehension task above by asking the questions aloud instead of asking the patient reading them.

To treat milder impairments, read from the pill bottles instead of the worksheet.

More Functional Treatment Ideas

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