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SLP Therapy Material Layout Conventions — Research Spike

Provenance: Research spike run 2026-07-19 to inform the 7.0.0 Therapy Pack export design. Catalogues real, publicly accessible SLP worksheets and picture-card sets (pediatric + adult), extracts layout conventions, and recommends how PhonoLex's two export formats should be built to feel familiar to clinicians. Decision-input document.

Access notes

  • Directly inspected (rendered PDF): Mommy Speech Therapy's actual worksheet PDFs (/s/ words, sentences, story; /r/ words) — the load-bearing evidence.
  • Vendor spec/help copy only (JS/app shells, no rendered preview): LessonPix templates, TPT; minimal-pair set descriptions. Flagged inline.

Part 1 — Catalogued examples

Pediatric

1. Mommy Speech Therapy — articulation WORD cards (inspected): pediatric boxed picture-word grid, 4 cols × 5 rows = 20 cells (the /r/ sheet is 4×3=12, so count varies with keyword yield). Each cell = word label on top, cartoon color line-art below, thin box border = cut line. No name/date field, no tally. Footer only: sound+position label + creator credit ("…in Boardmaker © 2010"). Built in Boardmaker (proprietary symbols). Position organized by separate sheets, not columns. Source: https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/downloads/articulation/s-initial_words.pdf

2. Sentences sheet (inspected): carrier-phrase strips — one fixed frame ("Sammy sat on ___") repeated down the page with a swappable target slot. Source: https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/downloads/articulation/s-initial_sentences.pdf

3. Story / reading passage (inspected): short illustrated passage saturated with the target sound; text blocks interleaved with picture scenes; a single "/23" score box bottom-right (whole-page target-opportunity count). Source: https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/downloads/articulation/s-initial_story.pdf

4. LessonPix flashcard/picture-card templates (vendor spec): user-generated cards; grid ladder 1, 2, 4 (2×2), 6 (2×3), 12 (3×4), 20 (4×5), 35, 48 per page; flashcard template = 4/page with text above OR below toggle; 75K+ symbols, users may upload own photos. Sources: https://lessonpix.com/articles/4/159/Flashcards , https://lessonpix.com/articles/4/467/101++LessonPix+Templates

5. Minimal-pair sets (convention): a set = 12 pairs (6 initial + 6 final) = 24 cut-apart cards; paired by contrast, each member a picture; "print on heavy paper / laminate before cutting"; smash-mats "great to send home." Sources: https://speechtherapisttools.com/minimal-pairs , https://www.speechtherapystore.com/minimal-pairs-speech-therapy/

6. Data-collection sheets (convention): +/− per trial, correct/total → % ("18/20 = 90%"); cue levels independent/min/mod/max; fields = name, IEP goal, target, row of trial boxes, cue level, notes; "10 words per page makes % easy." Sources: https://www.communicationcommunity.com/data-collection-in-speech-therapy-why-its-important-and-tips-for-success/ , https://thepedispeechie.com/2026/03/the-best-speech-therapy-data-collection-ideas-for-school-slps.html

Adult / medical

7. Adult apraxia WORD LISTS: word-only text lists, no pictures — the defining split. Organized phoneme × complexity (mono → bi → multisyllabic) → sentences. Plain text columns under phoneme headers, ~10–15/level. Source: https://theadultspeechtherapyworkbook.com/apraxia-word-lists-for-adults/

8. Adult apraxia drill sheets: text-based; CVCV nonword ladders, minimal pairs, stress/script practice; progression gated at 80% accuracy; functional/conversational. Source: https://theadultspeechtherapyworkbook.com/apraxia-worksheets-for-adults/

9. Aphasia PICTURE CARDS: full-color photographs, image-only, no label (confrontation naming / description) — the opposite of the pediatric label-on-card convention. Source: https://theadultspeechtherapyworkbook.com/aphasia-picture-cards-picture-description/

10. Aphasia functional phrases / home practice: functional phrase lists (post at home), homework packets, real-world documents (menus, bills). Adult "imagery" is often real documents, not clip art. Sources: https://www.aphasiareaders.com/free-downloadables-functional-phrases/ , https://tactustherapy.com/downloads/ , https://medicalslps.com/speech-therapy-materials/aphasia/

Part 2 — Pediatric vs. adult split (the key contrast)

Dimension Pediatric Adult
Imagery Cartoon color line-art, one per word Real photos or none (text lists, real documents)
Label on image Yes (word above picture) Often none (naming task) or text-only
Unit Cut-apart flashcards, smash-mats Drill word lists, scripts, functional phrases
Sentence level Carrier phrase + swap Functional/complex sentences, stress scripts
Progression axis Sound position (initial/medial/final) Syllable complexity (mono→multi) + functional context
Tone Playful, home-fun, color/cut Clinical, functional, adult-respectful
Data Trial tally / target-count score Accuracy %, cue level, 80% advance criterion

Recommendation: ship two age-band export presets, not one look. The gap is categorical and clinicians self-identify hard as "peds" or "medical/adult." A single style reads as wrong to half the caseload. - "Kids picture cards" — labeled cartoon/color cards, grid, color-cut affordances. - "Adult word list / reading" — text-forward columns by syllable complexity, optional unlabeled real-photo cards, functional-sentence/passage blocks, no cartoon chrome.

PhonoLex already ships Mulberry (kid line-art) + OpenMoji and has has_image, syllable_count, CV-shape data to drive both the pediatric grid and the adult mono→multi ladder.

Part 3 — Actionable tweaks to the two formats

Picture-card format

  1. Grid ladder as presets, not freeform: 2×2 (4), 2×3 (6), 3×4 (12), 4×5 (20); default pediatric articulation to 12 or 20.
  2. Label above the image, with above/below toggle (LessonPix parity).
  3. Bordered cells = cut lines; add "print on cardstock / laminate before cutting" note.
  4. Contrast mode: adjacent-cell pairs; support 6 initial + 6 final = 24-card set.
  5. Adult card variant: unlabeled real-photo, larger cells (4–6/page) for naming/description.
  6. Footer: target label + neutral attribution line.

Worksheet / list format

  1. Header fields: Name · Date · Goal/Target · Clinician · Cue level — the difference between "printable" and "chartable."
  2. 10 items/page when it doubles as a data sheet (n/10 = %); per-item trial boxes + / = __% + cue-level column (I/min/mod/max).
  3. Three stacked sections: words (columns) → carrier-phrase sentences (fixed frame + bold target) → optional saturated passage with a whole-page "/N" score box.
  4. Bold/underline the target in every sentence.
  5. Contrast-pair block: two-column word ↔ word list.
  6. Caregiver/home-practice footer: 1–2 lines plain-language "how to practice at home" + "send home" framing.

Adult worksheet variant specifically

  1. Text-forward, no cartoons; word lists by syllable complexity (mono→bi→multi) then word→phrase→sentence, under phoneme headers.
  2. Functional sentences + optional script/stress lines.
  3. Accuracy-gated framing (advance at 80%) + cue-level columns, not sticker/tally rewards.
  4. Optional CVCV / nonword drill row for motor speech (PhonoLex phonology can generate).

CSV

  1. Machine-readable superset backing both PDFs: word, IPA/phonemes, position, syllable_count, CV-shape, contrast-partner, carrier sentence, has_image.
  • Layout conventions are not copyrightable; specific artwork and worksheet text are. Emulating "12–20 cards in a bordered grid, label above image, /N score box" is safe; copying Mommy's sheets/wording is not.
  • Mommy's cards are Boardmaker (Tobii Dynavox) proprietary symbols — free to print, NOT free to rebuild/redistribute. PhonoLex must not emulate Boardmaker symbols.
  • PhonoLex's imagery is clean: Mulberry + OpenMoji ship CC BY-SA — keep the per-image attribution key flowing into the exported PDF footer (ship policy in packages/data/src/phonolex_data/runtime/images.py).
  • Adult real-photo decks are copyrighted collections — any adult photo variant must source license-clean (own captures or CC0/CC BY), not scraped therapy PDFs.

Sources

Mommy Speech Therapy (words/sentences/story/r), LessonPix (flashcards/templates), Speech Therapist Tools + Speech Therapy Store (minimal pairs), Communication Community + The Pedi Speechie (data), The Adult Speech Therapy Workbook (apraxia lists/worksheets, aphasia cards), Aphasia Readers, Medical SLPs, Tactus Therapy — full URLs inline above.