Teaching Social Skills, Articulation and Language Speech Therapy with Video Shorts: Video Clips Are Powerful Tools in Speech Therapy (and How to Use Them)
- By Erin Kelly, M.A., CCC-SLP
- Feb 19
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 23
Social skills is one of my favorite areas to work on in speech therapy. This is how I use video shorts:
There is something incredibly rewarding about using video shorts in speech therapy to target social skills. They provide meaningful opportunities to help students understand perspectives, navigate social situations, and develop confidence in their interactions with others. Over the years, I’ve found that short video clips are one of the most effective tools not only for teaching social skills, but for supporting a wide range of communication goals.
Yes, video shorts are often associated with social skills, they can actually support a wide range of speech and language goals in therapy, including articulation, expressive language, and receptive language development.
What makes videos so powerful is that they provide something many students need: context.
Instead of practicing skills in isolation, students can watch communication happening in real situations. That shared experience makes it easier to understand language, discuss events, and practice skills in a meaningful way.
Why Videos Work So Well in Speech Therapy
Videos combine multiple sources of information at once:
Spoken language
Visual context
Facial expressions
Body language
Tone of voice
Emotional reactions
Cause-and-effect situations
For students with language delays, autism, ADHD, or social communication challenges, this combination supports understanding in ways that worksheets alone often cannot.
Videos also allow therapists to pause, rewind, and analyze moments that happen quickly in real life, which creates valuable teaching opportunities.
Student Engagement: A Major Benefit
Engagement is one of the most noticeable differences when using video clips in therapy sessions.
Many students who struggle with attention or participation are immediately interested when a video is introduced. Videos feel less like work and more like a shared experience, which reduces resistance and increases motivation.
I’ve found that students are more likely to:
Volunteer answers
Stay focused longer
Initiate comments and questions
Participate in discussion
Connect situations to their own lives
That increased engagement naturally leads to more opportunities for practicing speech and language skills.
Using Videos to Target Social Communication Skills
Because social skills are such a passion of mine, this is where I use videos most often.
Watching interactions unfold gives students a chance to observe and discuss situations that might otherwise be difficult to explain.
You can target skills such as:
Problem solving
Flexible vs. stuck thinking
Perspective taking
Identifying emotions
Understanding nonverbal communication
Social inference
Expected vs. unexpected behaviors
Conversation skills
Emotional regulation
Self-awareness
Students often understand these concepts more deeply when they can see them rather than just talk about them.
Using Videos for Expressive Language Goals
Videos also create a shared experience that naturally encourages students to talk. Because everyone watched the same event, students have something concrete to describe and discuss.
You can target expressive language skills including:
Verb usage (present, past, and future tense)
Sentence formulation
Expanding from simple to compound and complex sentences
Describing actions and events
Story retell and sequencing (first, next, last)
Explaining cause and effect
Discussing character actions and motivations
Conversational language
Narrative language
Vocabulary development
For example, after watching a clip, students might retell what happened using complete sentences or describe what a character is doing using targeted verb forms.
Using Videos for Receptive Language Skills
Videos are equally helpful for comprehension goals because they provide visual support alongside language.
You can target receptive language skills such as:
WH-questions (who, what, where, when, why, how)
Following directions
Understanding story elements
Identifying main idea and key details
Inferencing
Predicting outcomes
Understanding cause and effect
Listening comprehension
Identifying important information
Sequencing events
Students often demonstrate stronger comprehension when they can see the events rather than relying only on auditory information.
Using Videos in Articulation Therapy
Even though social communication is my favorite area, videos can also be incorporated into articulation sessions in meaningful ways.
You might use videos to:
Practice target sounds while describing scenes
Retell events using clear speech
Answer questions with target words
Generate sentences with articulation targets
Practice conversational speech after discussion
Monitor speech clarity during spontaneous language
Because students are engaged in meaningful communication, articulation practice often feels more natural and functional.
A Simple Framework for Using Videos in Therapy
Having a consistent routine helps students know what to expect and supports learning across sessions.
1. Watch the Clip
Keep videos short - under 5 minutes works best. (If a video is longer than 5 minutes then I will break it into multiple sessions- bonus! less plan and prep time!!)
You might introduce it by saying:
“Let’s watch and see what happens.”
2. Check Understanding
Start with comprehension:
What happened?
Who was in the video?
Where were they?
What was the problem?
This supports receptive language and narrative comprehension.
3. Target Your Specific Goals
You can then shift questions depending on student needs.
Social skills:
How did they feel?
What were they thinking?
What could they do differently?
Expressive language:
Tell me what happened first, next, and last
Describe the character
Use a complete sentence
Explain why something happened
sneakily add in those past tense verbs!!
Receptive language:
Why did that happen?
What might happen next?
What is the main idea?
Articulation:
Say that sentence with your sound
Describe what you see using your target words
4. Expand and Generalize
After discussion, you can deepen learning by:
Role-playing the situation
Practicing alternative solutions
Connecting it to real-life experiences
Practicing conversation
Writing or drawing about the event
This helps with generalization and carryover.
Why Videos Are Helpful for Mixed Groups
Many therapy groups include students with different goals. Videos make it easier to target multiple skills within one activity.
For example:
One student practices articulation
Another works on sentence structure
Another focuses on inferencing or perspective taking
All students remain engaged because they share the same experience.
Videos in Teletherapy
Video clips are also highly effective in virtual sessions because they:
Capture attention quickly
Reduce screen fatigue
Encourage discussion
Provide interactive opportunities
Support students who struggle with engagement online
Short video discussions can make teletherapy feel more dynamic and meaningful.
Final Thoughts
Because social communication is such a meaningful area to teach, I’m always looking for ways to make those concepts clearer and more relatable for students. Video clips have become one of the most powerful tools I use — not only for social skills, but across expressive language, receptive language, and articulation goals as well.
When students can see communication happening, they are often more engaged, more confident, and better able to apply what they learn.
Even a short video can lead to rich discussion and valuable practice opportunities across multiple skill areas.
If You’re Interested in Structured Video Activities
If you prefer having ready-to-use materials with guided prompts, I do use structured video-based lessons in my own therapy sessions for skills like problem solving and flexible thinking.
You can learn more here:
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