Blurt Game of the Week January 27, 2008

Blurt is my absolute favorite game to use in therapy. I have actually worn out 2 game boards over the years. We play it a lot at home too.The

Original Rules:Blurt is advertised as a “Game of Word Racing”. The general idea is to be the first to Blurt out the correct answer after a general description. Players take turns reading the descriptions or one person becomes reader. To start someone rolls the dice. The number on the die determines which description to read and how many spaces the first person to Blurt out the answer will move. The player who moves their piece around the board first is the winner.

Skills Targeted: Word Retrieval, Pragmatic skills, Auditory Comprehension
Modified Way to Play:

• I take control of the dice just to save time
• When working with a group I am usually the only one read the description unless I have the older kids working in teams.
• Since my students often have difficulty coming up with the correct answers quickly I play several rounds of individual Blurt to get them moving around the board.
• Then I throw in a few “True Blurt” rounds just to add a little variety and excitement to the game. This means we play Blurt using the original rules to the game. Obviously, I am very careful to make sure that none of the students will feel bad or get upset if they are not successful. If I note this happening I switch quickly back to individual Blurt.
• I only choose descriptions that I feel the student has a reasonable chance of getting correct and may go through several cards in the process.
• Depending on the abilities of the student, I may rephrase or repeat the description, emphasize specific words or give an additional clue.
• If I only have one student with me, we will take turns reading the descriptions to each other. This is still fun and targets individual needs.
• If the student has difficulty reading the descriptions, I instruct them to cover the answer with their thumb and show it to me.
• Sometimes I will use the cards without the game board as a quick word retrieval activity.

I try to make sure the kids are laughing and having fun. Everyone gets lots of turns when we play Blurt and lots of chances to work on their specific needs. You can pace Blurt to move quickly or slow it down for students who need it. Blurt comes with two sets of question cards, a junior version targeting the 7-9 age group and an version recommended for 10-adult. This makes it extremely versatile with middle school aged language groups where the abilities of the students often vary.

Sample Descriptions:

Junior VersionA large, round fruit with a thick, orange rind, used for making pies and jack-o-lanterns.A place with runways where aircraft can land and take off.Someone who cuts and sell meat.Older VersionA long plank balanced on a support in the middle.Someone who makes things out of iron, such as horseshoes.To learn by heart.