Touchdown Drive Listening Activity
Speech Therapy • Listening Comprehension
The Forty-Two Second Miracle
10-Minute Activity
Grade 3 • Clinician Read-Aloud
Therapy Target & Prompting Cue
Auditory detail recall, story sequencing, and verbal reasoning. Clinician reads story aloud once; student listens without visual text and responds verbally to open-ended questions.
10-Min Pacing
1m: Goal & Hook
3m: Read Aloud
6m: Oral Questions
Story Script (Read with animated voice and natural pauses) ~230 words
The chilly autumn wind blew dry leaves across the field at Oak Creek Park. The scoreboard clock flashed red: only forty-two seconds left in the championship game. The Mudcats were trailing the Red Hawks 14 to 10.
In the huddle, Marcus breathed heavily into his cold hands. Coach Rivera leaned in close. "Listen up, team," Coach whispered firmly. "We have one timeout left. We are running the Lightning Sweep. Maya, you fake a run to the left sideline. Marcus, look at safety defender Number 55. If he chases Maya, roll right and throw deep to the orange pylon!"
Marcus nodded, his heart hammering against his chest pads. He clapped his hands: "Break!"
The teams lined up on the wet grass. Ben snapped the football cleanly into Marcus’s fingertips. Marcus stepped back. Mud sprayed up against his white socks. Just like Coach planned, Maya took off sprinting left in her bright neon green cleats.
Number 55 took the bait! The defender lunged left toward Maya, leaving the right corner wide open. Marcus planted his back foot, dodged a diving lineman, and launched a high spiral pass through the crisp air. Maya suddenly slammed on the brakes, pivoted back toward the goal line, and leaped high into the air.
Maya secured the ball tightly against her chest as her cleats touched the grass inside the end zone! Touchdown Mudcats!
Clinician Oral Questioning Key (Ask Aloud to Student)
Quick Scoring Reference
1. Clock Time: 42 seconds remaining
5. First Action: Ben snapped ball; Maya ran left
2. Cleat Color: Bright neon green
6. Next Action: Maya stopped, turned & jumped for ball
3. Play Name: The Lightning Sweep
7. Emotion: Nervous/excited (big game, losing by 4)
4. Defender: Number 55 (the safety)
8. Strategy: Trick/distract the defense to open the right side
Part 1: Clinician Story Presentation & Oral Key Page 1 of 2
Speech Therapy Listening Assessment
Gridiron Listening Questions
No Choices • Open Response 🏈
Student:
Date:
Clinician:
1 Part 1: Key Detail Recall (Who, What, Where & When)
4 Questions
1. How much time was left on the clock when the story started?
2. What eye-catching color were Maya's football cleats?
3. What was the name of the trick play Coach Rivera called?
4. Which defender did Marcus need to watch before throwing?
2 Part 2: Story Sequencing (What Happened In Order)
2 Questions
5. What did Maya do right after Ben snapped the ball to Marcus?
6. What did Maya do after defender Number 55 chased her to the left sideline?
3 Part 3: Detective Inference (Why Questions)
2 Questions
7. Why was Marcus's heart hammering against his chest pads before the play began?
8. Why did Coach Rivera tell Maya to fake running left before running toward the end zone?
SLP Session Data & Prompting Tracker
Target Criterion: 80% Verbal Accuracy
Detail Recall: ___ / 4 correct
Sequencing: ___ / 2 correct
Inferencing: ___ / 2 correct
Overall Level: Ind / Min / Mod
Part 2: Open-Response Questions & Clinician Log Page 2 of 2
