A good set of paper dolls is a great tool to have in your therapy toolkit. The possibilities for therapy — for boys and girls from preschool to teens — are endless. You can create the paper dolls with the child or have your own set pre-made.
Lamination and velcro — optional. If you’d like to make a more durable set of paper dolls, cut off the tabs and laminate the pieces instead and use velcro to dress up the doll
BEGINNING LISTENERS
Colors
Requesting behaviors — asking for crayons, scissors (as appropriate)
Self-advocacy — requesting assistance with coloring and cutting
Receptive and expressive clothing vocabulary
Prepositions “on” and “off”
THE NEXT STEPS
Following two step directions (“Make a red dress”)
Directions with 2 critical elements (give the girl with brown hair the red dress)
Pronouns: he, she, his, her
Particle verbs (dress up, put on)
Adverb-time again (let’s dress them up again), another (I colored another dress)
Subject + Verb + Object sentences (I color a dress)
MAKE IT EVEN HARDER
Advanced clothing vocabulary (collar, cuffs, plaid, ruffles… I even taught a seven-year-old “peplum” the other day!)
Make it a barrier game (give directions to the child while you/the parent color our own doll, and see how they match up) with multiple critical elements
Conditional (if you are a girl, color the dress blue) and temporal (before you color the pants, color the hat) directions
SVO + Prepositional Phrase sentences (I put the dress on the girl)
Definite vs. indefinite articles (get the dress vs. get a dress)
Elizabeth A. Rosenzweig 