270: Harnessing YouTube for Social Language Success: Strategies, Clips, and Questions for Your Therapy Toolbox
Show Notes:
Are you tired of students shrugging and asking, “Why am I here?” Let’s change that! In this episode of SLP Coffee Talk, we dive into the magic of YouTube and how it can transform social skills therapy. From Big Bang Theory clips to Pixar shorts, discover how to make sessions more engaging, relatable, and effective—without spending hours planning. Get ready for a curated list of must-watch videos, practical tips, and a joke to keep things light. ☕📺
Here's what we learned:
- Why YouTube is a goldmine for speech therapy
- Best types of videos to use: TV shows, movies, Pixar shorts, viral clips
- Tips for screening and organizing content efficiently
- Specific video examples with therapy goals (e.g., Big Bang Theory, Inside Out, Zootopia)
- Strategies for leveraging tools like EdPuzzle and SafeShare
- Sample discussion prompts to maximize learning
- How to connect YouTube videos to student interests
RESOURCES
The Big Bang Theory 02×22 The Classified Materials Turbulence Intro
Leslie Has The Flu | Parks and Recreation
Pixar Short Films #7 For the Birds 2000
The Science of Empathy by Abigail Marsh
How Miscommunication Happens (and How to Avoid It)
Learn more about Hallie Sherman and SLP Elevate:
🎧 Check out the Secondary Secret Podcast here!
JOKE OF THE WEEK:
Q: Why did the YouTube video get kicked out of school?
A: Because it kept pausing for ads
Where We Can Connect:
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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Hallie: Hey there SLP, working with grades four through 12. New school year, new you. Let's not go into this school year feeling overwhelmed and behind on paperwork. Let's not worry about students asking why they are coming to speech. Let's not have students shrug in their shoulders and looking at you saying, why am I here? I don't wanna be here. Let's instead have your students excited to come to speech, ready to take on the challenges you provide and make massive progress towards their goals.
00:00:30 Hallie: If you are ready to make this school year, the year that you leave work promptly at the end of the day, plan in an hour or less a week and go into every session confident that your students will grasp the session objectives, then SLP Elevate is just what you need to make this school year a successful one. Either go to slplevate.com or send me a DM on Instagram with the word club, C-U-L-B, and we can discuss if SLP Elevate is right for you and your students. Now is the time to get your time back. And now is the time to get your students excited to come to speech. SLP Elevate is perfect for you.
00:01:14 Hallie: Welcome to SLP Coffee Talk, the podcast designed exclusively for speech language pathologists who work with older students, grades 4 through 12. I am your host, Hallie Sherman, your SLP behind Speech Time Fun, the Speech Retreat Conference, and the SLP Elevate membership. And I'm thrilled to bring you conversations, strategies, and insights that will give you the jolt of inspiration that you need. Whether you're tuning in during your morning commute, on a break in between sessions, or even during a well deserved relaxation time. I am here for you each and every week. Let's do this SLPs.
00:01:54 Hallie: Hey, hey, and welcome to another episode of SLP Coffee Talk. Hey there, SLPs. This is your go-to source for practical tips, creative ideas, and a little humor to help you survive as a secondary SLP. Yes, those middle school and high school students. I am your SLP to help you navigate that. And today we're gonna be tackling a topic that is a game changer.
00:02:17 Hallie: And I know you're gonna love it, especially those working on social skills. How can we use YouTube to work on social language, communication breakdown, and all things social skills? YouTube can be a gold mine, but it could also feel like quicksand. You can go in looking for a clip about emotions and end up watching skateboarding dogs. I'm gonna guide you through finding and using and maximizing YouTube so that you can make therapy more engaging, effective, and of course, a lot of fun.
00:02:52 Hallie: I'm gonna share with you specific video examples, prompts, and strategies so you can easily just click a button, go team go, and work on those skills with your students, okay? So this is all about using YouTube for social skills. Let's go. All right, why is YouTube a goldmine? Well, YouTube brings so many benefits to your session. One, it's free. All you need is a tablet, a Chromebook, something, and…you can use it whether it's virtual or in person.
00:03:24 Hallie: Videos offer examples of relatable real world interactions that students can analyze and discuss. They can see body language, hear a tone of voice, and it can also help them connect their language to nonverbal cues. From viral moments to movie clips, YouTube can help you tap into what your students are already enjoying. So they're already watching this, they're already motivated by it, why not use it to target their goals as well.
00:03:51 Hallie: And this also allows us to be flexible. Videos can be used for such a wide variety of goals, not just social skills, you can use it for comprehension, articulation, retail, so many things that if you're mixed groups, it makes it so easy. But social skills alone, you can target perspective taking, problem solving, conversational skills, nonverbal language, motion, and so much more.
00:04:13 Hallie: All right, I wanna give some tips on how to use YouTube effectively while YouTube is a treasure trove. It does come with some challenges. So here is how to navigate them like a pro. Pre-screen every clip. Watch the clip in entirety, even the ones I share with you here today, before using it to ensure that it's appropriate and aligned with your student goals. Okay, I might mention a video, but you might have found a different version of it, and who knows, right? We all know that there are things on YouTube that might not be appropriate for our students, so preview things ahead of time.
00:04:49 Hallie: Tip number two, stick to short clips. Videos under three minutes are ideal for holding our students' attention and it leaves time for discussion. Be okay with watching things more than once. I mean, you can watch things over and over again in a 30 minute session to get a deeper understanding of it, to answer different questions, work on a different goal. It is okay, okay? The clip is not the entire activity, it is a portion of the activity.
00:05:17 Hallie: Create playlists. You can organize pre-screened clips into playlists in YouTube by theme or by goal. This will save you time and keep you feeling prepared so you can use it again. The next time you have a student on your case or using it with a different group, you're not searching for that link. You're not searching for that video and having to preview it again. Put it in a playlist. You have that there. Label it so you can easily find it. And there you go. Okay.
00:05:42 Hallie: Leverage tools like Safe Share or TeacherTube or whatever things that you have access to, which allows you to eliminate ads, prevent autoplay, which can distract from your session. And also TeacherTube is a great one if your school has YouTube blocked. And then you can even use Edpuzzle to embed the videos there and embed your questions ahead of time so you don't have to pause for a thing. Everything is done, set, and you don't have to think about it.
00:06:12 Hallie: And connecting to your students' interests. Incorporate their favorite shows, topics or trends to make therapy fun, relevant, and exciting. So if they're into soccer, utilize soccer clips. If they're into dogs, find dog clips, whatever it is. All right, why could it be hard sometimes to find the right videos? Let's be honest, YouTube isn't designed for speech therapy. They didn't create it for us. I'd like to say they should have, but they didn't create it just for us. So it can be easy to get lost in a sea of irrelevant or overly complex videos, ads, what have you.
00:06:49 Hallie: Some titles can be misleading, and sometimes it can take tons of time to sift through millions of options to find those gems. So don't worry, I got you covered with a curated list of ready-to-use examples and tips for maximizing their impact. Well, just for example, we know that like Big Bang Theory is a really good show to utilize for social skills, but which episode, which clip from the episode, that could take so much time. And that's why I'm giving you a curated list with exactly what to search for.
00:07:21 Hallie: All right, so here are some TV shows that are rich with social interactions and subtle cues. And here are specific episodes and moments to check out that you can utilize. Okay, Big Bang Theory, Season 2, Episode 22, The Classified Materials Turbulence, Sheldon's Awkward Attempts at Small Talk can be used to work on a variety of goals. Friends, Season 5, Episode 11, the one with all the resolutions. Rush struggles with inappropriate clothing choices and it sparks discussion on social norms.
00:07:58 Hallie: Parks and Recreation, Season 3, Episode 2, Flu Season. Leslie refuses to admit she is sick and you can highlight perspective taking and body language. Okay, so these are just three examples, specific episodes, specific clips, and what things you can address with those things.
00:08:19 Hallie: All right, other than TV shows, Pixar and animated shorts are great because they're non-verbal. They're not, they're no talking, they're short, motivating, all that fun stuff. For the Birds by Pixar has tons of non-verbal communication and also you can work on group dynamics. They're working together to beat the big bird and things like that. Partly Cloudy by Pixar, also, you can use to work on emotional regulation and interpreting others' feelings.
00:08:47 Hallie: The Present is by Jacob Frey, which is a really great one on empathy and perspective taking. Mouse for Sale is another great one for using also on empathy and perspective taking. And I like doing those too as a comparing and addressing activity as well.
00:09:03 Hallie: All right, what about some viral or funny videos? You can look, you can just Google these, you know, YouTube these ones. The awkward elevator moments, you can use these for analyzing body language and conversation breakdowns. Bad lip reading is great. Any video from that is great for identifying mismatched tone and words. They try not to laugh challenges are great for working on discussing why humor works and when things might just not be, things might be inappropriate.
00:09:36 Hallie: All right, what else do we got for you? As in education videos, Ted Ed has incredible short lessons perfect for speech therapy can work on any possible goal. But The Science of Empathy by Abigail Marsh explains empathy and its importance. How miscommunication happens (and how to avoid it) by Katherine Hampsten, H-A-M-P-S-T-E-N, it's perfect for discussing communication breakdowns. What Makes a Good Friend by Elizabeth Cox is great for exploring social relationships. These are all great videos that you can also work on a ton of other goals at the same exact time.
00:10:12 Hallie: All right, what else do I got for you? I hope you're enjoying this already. Don't worry, go check out the show notes and you can refer back to this, you know, plenty of time. Movie clips, okay, just like TV shows, clips from movies. Inside Out, you can use the dinner table argument scene to analyze emotions and communication breakdowns. Zootopia. The sloth scene at the DMV highlights patients and processing delays. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the sorting hat scene explores how first impressions and self perception can impact communication. So these are three different movies and specific clips that you can use to work on a variety of social skills.
00:10:58 Hallie: Okay, so here are some sample prompts and questions that you can use with videos. The real value of YouTube comes from the discussions that you can have with your students. It's not just watching it and being done. It's having those conversations and sparking critical thinking and skill building while watching it. So here are some questions that you can ask for any video. Perspective taking. What do you think this character is feeling? Why did they react that way? How might the other person in the scene feel? What would you do differently?
00:11:31 Hallie: For nonverbal communication. What do their facial expressions or body language tell you? Does their tone match what they are saying? Why or why not? How can you tell that they were upset without hearing them speak? You can work on social norms. Was their behavior appropriately a situation? Why or why not? What could they have done differently? How would you have handled the situation? You can work on problem solving and communication breakdowns. What went wrong in this interaction? How could the characters have resolved this issue better or differently? If you were in this situation, what would you do or say?
00:12:07 Hallie: Okay, so there's tons of skills you can target with YouTube videos. Again, here's a breakdown of some core language skills you can address. You can work on perspective-taking, you can understand other thoughts, feelings, and intentions. You can work on nonverbal communication. You can work on interpreting facial expressions, gestures, and tone. You can work on social problem solving, identifying and repairing communication breakdowns and super problems. Pragmatic language, you work on social conversations, turn-taking, staying on topic. Emotional regulation, recognizing emotions and managing reactions, okay?
00:12:42 Hallie: And if you're loving this and loving the idea of utilizing YouTube, maybe you've already tried it and wanna do more of it, did you know that inside of SLP Elevate, we have an entire database filled with pre-screened YouTube videos paired with ready to go question prompts for a puzzle. All you have to do is for all different goals. So all you have to do is open up our database, click the goal, click video, and it opens up directly into Edpuzzle so you can go Team Go. And we have a whole section for social skills, we also have life skills, problem solving, all that fun articulation, all that fun stuff.
00:13:17 Hallie: But I wanted to let you know that we have that inside of SLP Elevate in the bonus section, entire database so that, you know, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed and not wanting to reinvent any wheels, got you there for you.
00:13:29 Hallie: All right. Let's bring it all together. Let's recap. YouTube is an incredible tool for therapy in general. I love using YouTube for working on inferencing, story retell, comprehension goals in general. Also it can be used for social skills. But it takes a strategy to use it effectively. Use curated clips, connect videos to your students' interests and have those thoughtful discussions to spark those conversations and maximize their impact. And again, remember, if you need a head start, SLP Elevate has your database for you. And every single month we have YouTube cheat sheets, which also has social skills prompts there for you. So not to worry.
00:14:13 Hallie: Okay, so I hope you found this helpful. Again, listen to this video if you want to, well, you know, search and find all these YouTube videos when you're at work, if you're driving right now, don't get into an accident, just revisit this later. You can find all these videos, add them to a playlist. Check out my show notes at speechtimefun.com. You have all the show notes for this and everything.
00:14:34 Hallie: But if you found this helpful, share it with a friend, let other people know about it, because I'm here to help you with the jolt of inspiration that you need so that you can have more fun and have less time planning, because who's got time for that? I don't know, right? That's why I'm all about YouTube videos and things that don't take time to do.
00:14:53 Hallie: All right, before I sign off, I have your child-friendly joke of the week. Why did the YouTube video get kicked out of school? Because it kept pausing for ads. Come on, SLPs, keep rocking those sessions, embracing your creativity, and inspiring your students each and every day. You're helping them build the skills that they need to navigate the real world. And until next time, stay caffeinated, and as always, stay out of trouble.
00:15:29 Hallie: Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of SLP Coffee Talk. It means the world to me that you're tuning in each and every week and getting the jolt of inspiration you need. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at my website, speechtimefun.com. Don't forget to follow the show so you don't miss any future episodes. And while you're there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. See you next week with another episode full of fun and inspiration from one SLP to another. Have fun guys!
