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Engaging Speech Therapy Themes for September

Get speech therapy themes for September to make lesson planning easier!

September marks the start of a new school year, bringing fresh opportunities to engage students with creative, themed activities. Whether you’re managing a busy schedule of IEP meetings, evaluations, or treatment sessions, these September speech therapy themes can simplify your planning and keep your students engaged. From national holidays to seasonal changes, there are plenty of ways to incorporate relevant and exciting themes into your sessions. Here’s a roundup of speech therapy themes for September to get you started!

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One Thing to Remember with Theme-Based Therapy

As SLPs with high caseloads, remember that you don’t have to switch themes every week. Using a theme for 2-4 weeks can save you time and energy, preventing burnout. This approach allows you to explore themes more deeply and gives students more time to practice skills within a familiar context. Check out my tips on making September themes speech therapy planning more efficient in Real Talk SLP podcast episode 45.

Themed Speech Therapy Lesson Plans Made Easier

If you love using themes but struggle with planning, consider joining the Themed Therapy SLP Membership. The membership provides three themed therapy units monthly, designed for PreK-5th grade students, and offers access to 36 different themes throughout the year, including themes for the September and fall months such as pirates, squirrels, apples, pumpkins, fall and more!

September Themes Based on National Holidays

September offers several fun national holidays that can inspire your speech therapy sessions:

  • National Wildlife Day: September 4th: Explore animals in different habitats with an emphasis on wildlife. Check out my post on squirrel speech therapy for themed activities, or try a play-based squirrel activity.
  • National Cheese Pizza Day: September 5th: Use this fun theme to talk about food, cooking, and following directions. Incorporate play food for interactive activities and discuss descriptive words related to taste and texture.
  • National Video Games Day: September 12th: Leverage students’ interest in video games to work on social skills, turn-taking, and following complex instructions. You can incorporate game-themed vocabulary and even design simple, speech-friendly game boards.
  • Grandparents Day: September 8th: You could read a book about grandparents and incorporate an all-about-me theme with this holiday. 

September Preschool & Elementary Themes With National Holidays

  • National Playdough Day: September 16th: Playdough is perfect for hands-on learning! Use it to target vocabulary, following directions, and fine motor skills. Shape playdough into different animals or objects that fit with other September themes.
  • National Pirate Day: September 19th: A pirate theme is always a hit! Use activities like treasure hunts, pirate crafts, and themed books to engage students. For older students there are a lot of great non-fiction articles on Wonderopolis. 
  • Pancake Day: September 26th: This is a fun theme that you can use to talk about pancakes or a breakfast food theme. Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola or If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff would be great books. Play-based speech therapy is easy with a pancake toy, and you can even make real pancakes for a whole-class lesson!
  • National Dog Week: Celebrate our furry friends with a dog theme! Use activities from my pet-themed speech therapy post or engage students with dog-themed games. Explore the Wonderopolis article on how dogs hear things we can’t for an educational spin.

Seasonal September Speech Therapy Themes

Embrace the fall season with these engaging September themes that are easy to adapt for younger and older students:

  • Apples: September is a great time to explore apples! Use apple-themed books, crafts, and sensory bins to teach concepts like counting, colors, and descriptions. Check out my apple-themed co-teaching post and apple toys and props ideas for more inspiration. Plus, you can use this for middle schoolers too!
  • Leaves: As leaves start to change colors, use them in sensory bins, crafts, and science discussions. There are so many books and hands-on activities that would allow for lots of speech and language practice while keeping students engaged.
  • Pirates: Pirates are a popular theme that can be adapted for any age group. Use maps, treasure hunts, and pirate-themed books to engage students which is easy to do with the Themed Therapy SLP membership (pirates are one of the September themed units.)
  • Five Senses: Introduce a theme on the five senses to explore sensory experiences. This mini-theme is part of the Themed Therapy SLP membership yearly option and provides an excellent way to engage students in exploring how they see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around them.

More September Speech Therapy Themes

  • Back-to-School: Reinforce routines, school supplies, and classroom rules with back-to-school themed activities. You can do this theme anytime of the year, but it’s always nice to do it at the start of the school year.
  • Community Helpers: Discuss different roles, such as firefighters, police officers, and teachers. Use role-play and books to make this theme interactive. For structured activities, check out the Community Helpers Push-In Unit.
  • Emotions and feelings: At the start of the school year, this is a great theme to do in September (or any time of the year.) You can pull out your social-emotional books, tools, and curriculum to help students identify emotions, how to talk about their feelings, and situations that bring out different emotions and how to handle them. 

What September Themes Do You Plan for Your Speech Therapy Caseload?

I’d love to hear about your September speech therapy ideas! Share your theme-based activities in the comments below or tag me @themedtherapyslp on social media, and I’ll feature your activities in my stories!

If you need more monthly theme ideas, check out December, January, April and March for speech therapy themes.

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