Temporal concepts can be challenging for some children to understand, and they may need direct instruction and repeated practice to accurately use words like before, after, first, last, beginning, and end in meaningful ways. So, how do you teach temporal concepts in speech therapy? Let’s dive in! If you’re supporting students who struggle with understanding and using these concepts, here’s a full step-by-step guide to teaching temporal concepts.
What Are Temporal Concepts?
Temporal concepts are words that describe the order, timing, or sequence of events. They help children understand when something happens. These are also referred to as time concepts or sequencing concepts.
Common temporal concepts include the following:
- before and after
- first, next, then, last
- first, second, third
- beginning, middle, end
Why Are Temporal Concepts Important?
Temporal concepts are foundational for many other language skills such as:
- Following directions (e.g., “put your coat on before you go outside”)
- Answering WH questions, especially “when” questions
- Telling stories
- Understanding book narratives
- Understanding classroom and academic language
When Are Temporal Concepts Typically Learned?
Children begin understanding and using temporal concepts early in childhood, though not all children master them at the same time. Here are some general developmental milestones for common temporal concepts. Please note that these age ranges are meant as a general guide.
- 3-5 years: before/after
- 4-5 years: first/next/then/last, first/second/third, beginning/middle/end
How To Teach Temporal Concepts in Speech Therapy
Overview
To teach temporal concepts effectively, we move through these three steps:
- Teach the concept
- Practice comprehension of the concept (receptive language)
- Practice using the concept (expressive language)
Step 1: Teach the Temporal Concept
Choose the concept
Start by choosing a concept the child has not yet mastered. You can refer to the age ranges above for general developmental guidance, while prioritizing the child’s individual needs.
Focus on one pair or set of related temporal concepts at a time, such as “before/after” or “first/second/third”.
Choose the activity
Use simple stories and activities to model time concepts so the child can develop a stronger understanding. As always, it’s better to teach through play! Some of my favorite materials for teaching temporal concepts include books, sequencing materials, and simple play routines. I’ll share more about my go-to activities later on.
Teach the concept
Make sure you have the child’s attention first and model the concept in a variety of activities and stories. Repeat the target concept frequently as you introduce it so the child hears it multiple times.
For example, to teach “before”, you might use simple stories (like short paragraphs or books) and talk about the events in the story. You could say:
- “The dog ate before he jumped.”
You can also use simple play routines and toys like play food. For example, you could model concepts during play:
- “We’ll cut the tomato before we add it to the pan.”
- “I’ll add ketchup before I eat my hot dog.”
You can model the target concepts in a lot of ways with stories and play routines to strengthen understanding.
Use Visuals
Visual supports can be very helpful for the child to see the temporal concepts in relation to one another and to reinforce meaning during teaching and practice.
Step 2: Practice Comprehension of Temporal Concepts (Receptive Language)
Once the student has been introduced to the concepts, it’s time to check their understanding by incorporating comprehension tasks into play-based activities.
Choose the activity
Use a variety of activities to help strengthen comprehension and ensure the student truly understands what the concept means.
You can use:
- Toys
- Books
- Crafts
- Worksheets
- Sequencing activities
- Board games
- Movement activities
Check understanding of the concept
During your chosen activity, ask questions that allow the child to demonstrate understanding by pointing, showing, or responding verbally. For example, if you’re using toy cars, you might set up a race to talk about time concepts. You might say:
- “Which car came in first place?”
- “Which car was last?”
The child can show their understanding of “first” or “last” by pointing to the correct car, or by responding verbally, e.g., “the blue one”.
Once the child consistently shows understanding across several activities and sessions, move on to expressive practice (using the concept).
Step 3: Practice Using Temporal Concepts (Expressive Language)
Once the child has demonstrated that they understand a temporal concept, it’s time for them to practice using it accurately.
Choose the activity
You can use the same types of activities as in receptive practice but reverse the task. Instead of giving directions with the temporal concept, ask questions that require the child to use the concept in their response.
Check accurate use of the concept
During your chosen activity, ask questions that require the child to use the target temporal concept. Using the car race example from earlier, you might ask:
- “Which place did the blue car get?” or
- “Did the blue car come in first or last place?”
A correct response would be:
- “first place” or “first”
As with the earlier steps, you want to make sure the child is able to use the concepts accurately across a variety of activities and for a few consecutive sessions.
Activities to Teach and Practice Temporal Concepts
Here are some of my favorite activities to teach and practice a variety of temporal concepts in speech therapy sessions.
Books
Books are a great way to teach and practice temporal concepts. You can model concepts and ask questions while reading the story. For example, for “beginning” and “end”:
- Teaching: “The dog found the cat at the beginning of the story.”
- Receptive practice: “What happened at the end of the story?”
- Expressive practice: “When did the dog find the cat?”
Play food
Play food is also great for teaching and practicing time and sequencing concepts. For example, you might use play food to make a recipe and follow the steps in order to practice “first/second/third”:
- Teaching: “First, we add the carrots to the pot. Second, we add the potatoes.”
- Receptive practice: “What did we add first?”
- Expressive practice: “When did we add the carrots?”
Teaching Resources and Activity Packs
It can be helpful to have a set of no-prep activities that you can pull out and use during sessions, especially on busy days. That’s why I created the Temporal Concepts Activity Packet to support teaching and practicing various concepts like “first/last” and “beginning/end” with colorful visuals, clear receptive language activities, and fun expressive language games.
This activity set is engaging, comprehensive, and easy to use, saving you time so you can focus more on working with your students and less on planning activities.
Sequencing Activities
You can use simple sequencing activities to practice temporal concepts. You or the child reads a short paragraph, then the child places pictures in the correct sequence and they can also retell the story using the pictures!
- Teaching: “This is what happened last.”
- Receptive practice: “What happened last?”
- Expressive practice: “When did the boy eat his lunch?”
Adapting Activities for Older Kids and Virtual Sessions
If you’re working with older students or providing teletherapy (or both!), you may need to make a few adjustments to your activity selection.
Older students
When working with older students who have not yet acquired some temporal concepts, you might want to use board games, books, stories, and worksheets rather than toys to match the activity to the child’s age and interests.
You might also want to use any homework or classroom activities they have as a material source to help the student practice applying their knowledge of temporal language in a functional way!
Board games are also great to use with older kids to practice temporal concepts, because they occur naturally during games, e.g., “it’s my turn because you went first“, “before you take your turn, can you give me this pencil?”, “who’s in last place right now?”.
Teletherapy
Temporal concepts can be taught and practiced quite well virtually with games, online books, and digital worksheets. For example, see the image below for an activity to target “before” and “after” which is included in my Temporal Concepts Activity Packet!
Temporal Concepts Carryover and Home Practice
Practicing across different activities is great, and practicing across different settings with different people is even better for carryover! Encourage families and teachers to practice during daily routines whenever possible:
- During meals: “We wash our hands before we eat”
- During cleanup: “First, put the blocks away, then put the cars in the bin.”
- While reading: “What happened at the beginning of the story? What happened at the end?”
You can use information handouts and simple worksheets to encourage consistent practice at home and in the classroom to support generalization. The goal is for the student to apply temporal concepts across different contexts outside the therapy room.
Practice Tips for Teaching Temporal Concepts Effectively
- Repeat often: Repetition is important to ensure strong understanding of temporal concepts.
- Make it fun: Students are more engaged and motivated when they’re having fun!
- Use visuals: Visuals can be helpful to support understanding of temporal concepts.
What’s Next After Temporal Concepts?
Temporal concepts are building blocks for other language skills. Once your student has mastered various temporal concepts, you can build on these skills by targeting (if appropriate):
- Following directions (e.g., “put your coat on before you go outside”)
- Answering WH questions, especially “when” questions
- Story retell
- Book narratives
A Step-by-Step Resource for Teaching Temporal Concepts
We’ve discussed how to teach temporal concepts in speech therapy step by step. Whether you’re a speech therapist, parent, or educator, teaching temporal concepts can be simple and easy! To make this even easier, I’ve created a Temporal Concepts Activity Packet loaded with worksheets, activities, games, handouts, and visuals to teach and practice before/after, first/last, first/second/third, and beginning/end, in a fun and engaging way! Check out the activity packet below to save planning time and use it in your next session or at home with your child.
Temporal concepts can take time for students to master, but providing lots of practice opportunities can make a big difference. With consistent modeling and receptive and expressive practice, students can build confidence and use these skills more independently.
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