Have you been bending over backwards trying to teach your students idioms? Are they left high and dry when idioms are used in their classrooms? Well I’m going to take the bull by the horns and knock your socks off with some fabulous activities for working on figurative language in speech therapy!

Figurative language, also called abstract language or non-literal language, is anything we say where what we mean is not exactly the same as the literal meaning of those words.  For example, when I say I will knock your socks off, I don’t mean that your socks will literally come off of your feet.  I mean that I will impress you.  Figurative language is specific to each language and even to specific groups of people who use that language.  Each culture has its own sayings and expressions that have different meanings to them.

The following are all types of figurative language/abstract language:

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An idiom is a type of figurative language that is a phrase that people say that is commonly accepted as having a different meaning that the individual words may lead you to believe.  For example, stating that “it’s raining cats and dogs” does not mean that there are literally cats and dogs falling from the sky.  Instead, it means that it is raining heavily.  Many of the idioms in English have roots back to older ways of saying things.

Idioms are a form of figurative language and are often not well-understood by children with language disorders.  While there is no magical age by which children should understand idioms, it is reasonable to generalize that a 5-year-old knows very few idioms and an adult knows (and uses) a ton.  Children should gradually get better at using idioms and should be able to use quite a few idioms in the middle school years and even more in the high school years.

For children who are struggling to learn or understand idioms, speech therapy can help.  Idioms speech therapy will focus on helping children understand the meaning of these common (and sometimes uncommon) figures of speech that have non-literal meanings.  Here are the steps to doing speech therapy to help a child learn idioms:

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things that uses the word “like” or “as”.  For example, you could say your Grandma is as friendly as a grizzly bear (meaning that she’s not very friendly) or that your socks are as warm as a fireplace (meaning that they are very warm).

Step One: On a piece of paper, write an adjective in the middle.  On the left side of the paper, write objects that can be described by that adjective.  On the right side of the paper, write objects that are not described by that adjective.  You should have a list like this:

Step Two: Have the child choose two items from either side of the paper and create a simile for them.  For example, you could use “this blanket is as rough as a kitten”.  You can also do this with a verb in the middle and the word “like” in the simile, such as “you jump like a kangaroo”.

Step Three: Practice using some of the similes that the child created in written or spoken language.  Come up with scenarios or situations where it would be appropriate to use those similes and either role play scenarios or write out paragraphs that include them.

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things but instead of using “like” or “as”, you just replace one word with another word.  For example, you might say that your child is a doll, or that your chocolate bar is heaven.

Literature is full of metaphors.  Go through a pleasure-reading book with the child and pick out any metaphors that come up.  Talk with the child about what the literal meaning of the metaphor would mean and ask if he thinks the author meant that.  Then, decide on the figurative meaning that the author was going for.  For example, if the author wrote, “Jason was a pig at dinner”, ask your child if the author meant that he actually turned into a pig.  No, probably not.  Then help the child determine that the author really meant he ate sloppily like a pig would.

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Learn How to Teach Figurative Language

Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

Fun Fact: Peanut M&Ms are my favorite guilty pleasure food.  I could eat them all day.  Mmmmmm….

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