9 Helpful Treatment Ideas Using Speech Therapy Reading Passages for Adults

In this 3-part series, we explore treatment ideas using classic speech therapy materials.

Part 1 covers cognitive exercises using a monthly calendar worksheet.

Here in Part 2, you’ll find 9 treatment ideas using speech therapy reading passages for adults.

We include the reading passages, so bookmark this page and feel free to copy and print the passages for your patients.

For hundreds more speech therapy materials and treatment ideas, check out The Adult Speech Therapy Starter Pack!

More Articles:

• 15 Monthly Calendar Tasks
• Goal Bank for Adult Speech Therapy
• Aphasia Cards & Picture Descriptions

Speech Therapy Reading Passages for Adults

Use the following reading passages for the treatment ideas in this post.

Once your patient is ready for page-level reading, use books, magazines, websites or other functional materials.

Visit our shop for diagnosis-specific word lists, phrases, sentences, and more treatment activities.

READING PASSAGE 1

Kim loves rescuing stray cats and dogs. She once found an abandoned cat with no tail. Kim adopted the cat and named her Misty. Misty loves her new life with Kim. She plays with the neighborhood children, sleeps on the sunny porch, and has plenty of food and water. She even loves her cat brother, Marcus, even though Marcus doesn’t like her!

READING PASSAGE 2

Maisy Dobbs is a mystery series about a detective. After working as a World War I nurse, Maisy becomes a detective. She solves murders using psychology, detective work, and her mysterious intuition. In one case, a rich man hires Maisy to find the psychic who killed his wife. Most of the psychics are frauds, but the killer is not. Maisy must outsmart the suspect before she strikes again.

READING PASSAGE 3

Merida is a colonial city on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. It has colorful buildings, hot weather, and friendly people. Merida also has cenotes which are natural, freshwater pools. Both locals and visitors love to swim in their clear, cold waters. But where do cenotes come from? A giant asteroid hit the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago. Scientists believe that the impact created the cenotes. This same asteroid is also thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs!

READING PASSAGE 4

Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment. Mindfulness can help people with their chronic pain. In one study, people who take medication for chronic pain learned mindfulness. Scans of their brain showed that mindfulness made their pain centers less active. By practicing mindfulness every day, some of those people now use less pain medication! There are many free mindfulness exercises online.

1. Answer Questions for Aphasia Treatment

Prepare questions about the reading passage. The questions will depend on the type and severity of your patient’s aphasia as well as on their goals and individual needs.

Cue your patient to read the passage and then answer the questions.

Example Questions:

Kim loves rescuing stray cats and dogs. She once found an abandoned cat with no tail. Kim adopted the cat and named her Misty. Misty loves her new life with Kim. She plays with the neighborhood children, sleeps on the sunny porch, and has plenty of food and water. She even loves her cat brother, Marcus, even though Marcus does not like her!

What does Misty love?
What is Misty’s brother’s name?
What is different about Misty’s tail?

2. Summarize The Passage for Aphasia Treatment

Cue your patient to read a passage aloud and then summarize what they just read. For more aphasia treatment ideas, see 55 Aphasia Treatment Activities.

3. Use Clear Speech Strategies for Dysarthria Treatment

Teach patients working on intelligibility the following clear speech strategies. Have them use the strategies with the reading passages. If that’s too advanced, have patients practice the strategies on phrases and sentences.

Clear Speech Strategies

TALK BIG
Over-articulate

TALK LOUD
Increase your volume

TALK SHORT
Take breaths more often; insert pauses every few words

For more intelligibility exercises and materials, visit our shop

4. Underline & Answer Questions for Memory Treatment

Teach your patients working on memory the memory strategies below. Next, have them read the passage a few times, underlying keywords and phrases as they go. Finally, have them answer questions about the passage.

Memory Strategies

1. Pay Attention
   Listen, look, and focus
   
   
2. Use Mental Pictures
   Take a mental picture and store it in your brain. For example, visualize where you left your keys and take a mental picture
   
   
3. Repeat and Rehearse
   Repeat over and over what you have just learned, such as a new name or phone number
   
   
4. Chunk and organize information
   Sort information into categories. For example, organize your grocery list into groups, such as produce and canned foods
   
   
5. Create associations
   Make connections between what you want to remember and what you already know. For example, remember a new name by connecting it to someone with the same name

Example of Underline & Answer Questions:

Maisy Dobbs is a mystery series about a detective. After working as a World War I nurse, Maisy becomes a detective. She solves murders using psychology, detective work, and her mysterious intuition. In one case, a rich man hires Maisy to find the psychic who killed his wife. Most of the psychics are frauds, but the killer is not. Maisy must outsmart the suspect before she strikes again.

What is Maisy’s job?
Who killed the rich man’s wife?
How does Maisy solve murders?

5. Underline & Summarize for Memory Treatment

Coach your patients working on memory to underline keywords or concepts as they read a passage. Then, have the summarize what they just read.

Example of Underline & Summarize:

Maisy Dobbs is a mystery series about a detective. After working as a World War I nurse, Maisy becomes a detective. She solves murders using psychology, detective work, and her mysterious intuition. In one case, a rich man hires Maisy to find the psychic who killed his wife. Most of the psychics are frauds, but the killer is not. Maisy must outsmart the suspect before she strikes again.

“Maisy is a detective who must find the psychic who killed a rich man’s wife.”

6. Reading Passages for Vocal Tension

Teach your patients with tense or tight voices the following techniques. Use the reading passages to practice these techniques. If the passages are too advanced, start with word lists and drills.

• Chant Talk. Read or speak using a monotone, slightly high-pitched voice.
  
  
• Yawn/Sigh Technique. This is meant to lower back of tongue and raise the velum (the soft part of the roof of your mouth).
  1. Pretend that you’re going to yawn. Let out a relaxed sigh.
  2. While you’re sighing, say the following sounds:
     • a, e, i, o, u
     • Maa, paa, baa, faa, vaa, thaw, naw, taw, daw, saw, raw, law
  3. Use this technique while speaking throughout the day
     
     
• Confidential Voice. Use an easy, breathy, low-airflow voice so that your vocal folds don’t completely touch.
  
  
• Glottal Fry. Speak in a low-pitched, creaky, grumbling voice.

For more vocal tension techniques, see Voice Therapy Exercises.

7. Reading Passages for Vocal Weakness

For patients with soft or weak voices, have them practice their voice exercises and approaches with the reading passages.

Examples are LSVT LOUD®, SPEAK OUT®, and vocal function exercises.

See Voice Therapy Exercises for more vocal weakness techniques.

8. Reading Passages for Hypernasality

Teach your patients the hypernasality strategies below. Have them use the reading passages to practice their strategies.

Hypernasality Strategies

• Listen To & Label Your Voice. When you hear yourself being hypernasal, then label it. “I sounded hypernasal just now.”
  
  
• Nasal vs Oral Sounds. Say nasal sounds and oral (non-nasal) sounds, such as “ng” (nasal) and “ah” (oral). Notice how they sound different and feel different when you say them.
  
  
• Tactile Feedback. Feel the vibrations in the nose when saying nasal sounds, like “nuh” versus non-nasals, like “duh.”
  
  
• Wide Mouth Opening. Over exaggerate your mouth movements while speaking. This increases oral activity (versus nasal activity) and volume.
  
  
• Yawn/Sign Technique. This is meant to lower back of tongue and raise the velum (the soft part of the roof of your mouth) to increase oral activity.
  1. Pretend that you’re going to yawn. Let out a relaxed sigh.
  2. While you’re sighing, say the following sounds:
     • a, e, i, o, u
     • Maa, paa, baa, faa, vaa, thaw, naw, taw, daw, raw, saw, law
  3. Use this technique while speaking throughout the day

9. Reading Passages for Stuttering

Have your patients use the fluency strategies that work best for them. Use the reading passages to practice their strategies.

For more fluency treatment ideas, see Stuttering Therapy Activities for Adults.

Fluency Strategies

• Relax your body and take a full breath
• Begin speaking shortly after exhaling
• Use easy onsets. Your vocal folds should touch gently
• Use light contacts. Your mouth and tongue should touch gently
• Slow down and stretch out the sounds
• If you stutter, pause for a few seconds then say it again

More Adult Speech Therapy Reading Activities

For diagnosis-specific word lists, drills, reading passages, and much more, please visit our shop!