
Speech therapy services focus on helping to assess and treat communication issues due to speech or swallowing difficulties, which can be a normal aging process or the result of certain medical conditions like stroke.
Most older adults will experience some form of communication disorder, which speech therapists treat through exercises.
Speech therapy exercises for adults are necessary to help them improve their communication abilities, which might have been affected by age, medical conditions, or accidents.
Knowing the examples of speech therapy exercises for adults will help you and your older loved ones practice beyond the therapy sessions with your SLP (speech-language therapist).
What are speech therapy exercises?
Speech therapy exercises or activities are used by speech therapists or speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to improve communication and swallowing skills.
These exercises are often tailored toward individual needs and abilities. Speech therapy exercises for adults target several areas focused on improving communication and swallowing.
Think of it this way: Speech therapy isn’t only about fixing how we say words; it’s about safely expressing our thoughts and eating our food.
It covers:
- how we say certain sounds, also known as articulation.
- how we use language includes understanding what others say, finding the right words to express ourselves, and putting sentences together correctly.
- how we think and communicate, also known as cognition, covers memory, attention, and problem-solving.
- how we swallow; this is about ensuring food goes down safely and comfortably.
- how our voice sounds; this is also known as resonance.
- how we breathe.
Benefits of speech therapy exercises for adults
There are several benefits of speech therapy exercises for adults, including:
1. Improves speech
Whether you struggle with pronunciation (such as saying “th” or “r” sounds), have slurred speech after a stroke, or have a hoarse voice, these speech therapy exercises can help improve your speaking ability.
They are targeted exercises that help to strengthen the vocal cords, improve cognitive function, and improve swallowing.
2. Enhances communication
Another key benefit of speech therapy exercises for adults is that they enhance communication.
This includes finding the right words (especially helpful after a stroke or brain injury), understanding what others are saying, putting sentences together correctly, and improving social communication skills to pick up on social cues and other nonverbal means of communication.
3. Can be done anytime
Most speech therapy exercises for adults can be done anytime, anywhere.
Once you’ve learned the exercises from a speech-language pathologist (SLP), you can practice them at home, in the car, or during your lunch break.
This flexibility makes it easier to fit the exercises into your busy schedule and consistently work toward your goals.
4. Can be personalized
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to speech therapy, so most exercises for adults are highly personalized.
A speech-language pathologist (SLP) will assess your needs and create a customized exercise plan.
This means you’ll work on the exact skills that need improvement, making the exercises more effective and efficient.
5. Improves quality of life
When you communicate effectively, you connect better with family and friends, participate more fully in social activities, feel more confident in work and other settings, and reduce frustration caused by communication difficulties.
It also helps to increase your confidence and ability to advocate for your health.
The overall improvement in quality of life is the ultimate benefit of speech therapy exercises for adults.
Examples of speech therapy exercises for adults
Here are some speech therapy exercises for adults:
1. Tongue movement exercises
Tongue movement exercises focus on moving the tongue in different ways. They help strengthen and improve the coordination of the tongue muscles.
They are a common part of speech therapy, especially for people with trouble with articulation (saying sounds clearly), swallowing, or making sounds.
a. Tongue in & outs
You stick your tongue straight out as far as you comfortably can and then pull it back in. Repeat this several times.
To make it easier, imagine you’re trying to lick an ice cream cone that’s a bit far away!
b. Tongue side to side
For this exercise, you stick your tongue out and move it to the left corner of your mouth, then to the right corner. You repeat this back and forth.
This helps improve the tongue’s sideways movement, which is important for making certain sounds and moving food around in the mouth when eating.
c. Tongue up & down
In this exercise, you stick your tongue out and try to touch your nose with the tip of your tongue. Then, you try to touch your chin. You repeat this up-and-down motion.
Imagine you’re trying to lick something off your upper lip and then off your lower lip.
Tongue movement exercises are crucial in speech therapy because they involve not only the making of sounds for speech but also swallowing.
2. Tongue twisters
Tongue twisters are a fun way to practice your articulation (how clearly you say sounds).
They involve repeating phrases with similar sounds, which can be tricky!
Examples include:
- “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
- “She sells seashells by the seashore.”
- “Unique New York.”
The goal is to say them clearly and quickly. Start slowly and gradually increase your speed.
3. Smile
Smiling might seem simple and useless, but it’s a great exercise for strengthening the facial muscles used for speech.
It helps with:
- lip movement
- facial expression
For this exercise, you can practice smiling in front of a mirror for a few seconds, hold it, and repeat it several times daily.
It’s also a mood booster!
4. Consonant and vowel pairing repetition
The consonant and vowel pairing repetition exercise involves repeating combinations of consonants and vowels to practice smooth transitions between sounds.
This is also done to help adults with difficulty pronouncing a particular consonant.
For this, the consonant is mixed with all the vowels ‘a,’ ‘e,’ ‘i,’ ‘o,’ and ‘u.’
For example, if you have an issue pronouncing the consonant ‘t,’ your consonant and vowel pairing repetition exercise will be:
‘ta,’ ‘te,’ ‘ti,’ ‘to,’ and ‘tu.’

5. Breathing exercises
Good breathing is essential for clear and steady speech. It helps you learn to manage your breath while speaking so you don’t run out of air mid-sentence.
This exercise focuses on diaphragmatic breathing (breathing deeply from your belly) as it enhances breath support, which allows you to control your airflow and produce controlled speech.
6. Lip trills
Lip trills are a speech therapy exercise for adults sometimes used to help with stuttering.
It is also an excellent exercise for warming up your lips and improving airflow control, which is vital for clear speech.
How to do it:
- Gently close your lips, but don’t press them together too tightly.
- Exhale air through your lips, making them vibrate or flutter.
It should sound like you’re making a ‘brrr’ or ‘prrr’ sound.
To do this effectively, you can start with short bursts and gradually increase the duration of the trill.
If you’re having trouble getting the vibration, try wiggling your lips gently with your finger while exhaling.
7. Lip puckering
This exercise strengthens the muscles around your mouth, which are essential for making certain sounds (like “oo,” “oh,” and “w”).
To do this, pucker your lips like you’re about to whistle. Hold the pucker for a few seconds, then relax.
Repeat this several times.
You can alternate between puckering and a wide smile for this speech therapy exercise to be effective.
This helps you work different sets of muscles.
8. Memory recall exercises
Memory recall exercises are designed to improve working memory, which is crucial for language processing and communication.
They’re beneficial for people who have had strokes or brain injuries affecting their ability to communicate.
There are different memory recall exercises your therapist can subject you to, including:
- Remembering lists:
Your therapist might read a list of words, numbers, or objects and ask you to recall them in the same or different order.
- Following multi-step instructions:
The therapist might give you instructions (e.g., “Pick up the blue pen, put it on the table, and then open the book”).
This helps improve your ability to recall information.
- Story recall:
Your therapist might read you a short story and ask you to retell it in your own words. This exercise helps improve your recall, reasoning, and deductive ability.
- Visual memory:
This is a memory exercise for your visual senses. Your therapist might show you a picture and ask you to recall details about it after it’s been removed from view.
9. Phonetics processing
Phonetics processing focuses on how you perceive and process the sounds of language. It can include exercises like rhyming activities where the therapist might ask you to identify words that rhyme or to generate rhyming words.
This exercise is important for understanding and producing speech.
10. Word games
Word games can be a fun and engaging way to improve vocabulary, word retrieval, and other language skills.
Your therapist might assign you a category (such as “animals”) and ask you to name as many items as you can within that category.
OR
Your therapist might give you a word and ask you to provide a synonym (a word with a similar meaning) or an antonym (a word with an opposite meaning).
Some therapists can also include fun word games like crossword puzzles or word searches.
11. Sentence production
Sentence production exercises focus on improving your ability to construct grammatically correct and meaningful sentences.
For this exercise, your therapist might give you a sentence with a missing word or phrase and ask you to complete it.
The therapist can also give you sentence-combining exercises. In these exercises, you’ll be given two or more simple sentences and asked to combine them into a more complex sentence.
You can engage with storytelling, picture descriptions, or answering “wh” questions (who, what, where, when, why). This helps you improve your ability to understand and respond to different questions.

Conclusion
Speech therapy exercises for adults can significantly improve communication skills and swallowing disorders.
However, it is important to work with a professional speech therapist who can create a tailored exercise plan for your needs.
Contact us @info@serenitypas.com for more information.
READ MORE: 5 BEST SPEECH THERAPY APPS FOR ADULTS IN 2025 – Serenity Pas Therapy