Speech therapy compare and contrast examples, worksheets, and teaching tips, plus my best speech therapy IEP goals for classroom success!
Grab this bundle of ESSENTIAL resources for speech and higher level language and be prepared for the entire school year! Includes tons of motivating, engaging resources to help you build your therapy toolbox and target all goal areas for students on your caseload. To preview each resource included in this bundle, you can visit that product's TpT page. Note: if you've recently purchased a product that's included in this bundle, you can get a refund after buying the bundle. Just send a message to TpT support!
Rory’s Story Cubes for speech therapy works well with older kids and those struggling with higher level language issues or with the transition from spoken language to literacy. Read on for my top ten ways to use Story Cubes for Speech Therapy and homework. Number of Players: 1+ Ages:6+ according to the box but I would
Speech therapy compare and contrast examples, worksheets, and teaching tips, plus my best speech therapy IEP goals for classroom success!
A blog for speech language pathologists, teachers and parents about language ideas and resources for the classroom, in the home and therapy.
Rory’s Story Cubes Actions for Speech Therapy works as a standalone game or can be added to the original Rory’s Story Cubes to double the fun! Number of Players: 1+ Ages: 6+ (According to the box but I would save this for older kids and would go with 9+ as a guide personally) Target: Just like the original cubes, these
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.What do Betty White, a mosquito, a self starting car, and speech and language therapy all have in common? The perfect… Read More »How to Use Super Bowl Commercials for an Awesome Inference Activity
****DIGITAL DOWNLOAD**** ****107 PAGES**** Continue your journey towards word retrieval and English language proficiency with "The Word Finding Workbook 2," the eagerly anticipated sequel to the acclaimed Word Finding Workbook 1. Building upon the foundation laid in its predecessor, this sequel offers a comprehensive and dynamic approach to advancing your word and language skills to an even higher level. Delve deeper into the intricacies of language with concepts, grammar structures, and enriching vocabulary. Whether you're aiming to refine your conversations with family members or peers, professional communication, pursue higher education opportunities, or simply elevate your language fluency, this sequel provides the tools and resources you need to succeed. Key Features: Grammar Insights: Explore complex grammar topics and sentence structures with clear explanations and targeted exercises. From conditional sentences to subjunctive mood, delve into advanced grammar concepts to enhance your linguistic precision. Vocabulary Expansion: Expand your vocabulary repertoire with a focus on advanced and specialized terminology. Engage in exercises that challenge your lexical prowess and deepen your understanding of nuanced word usage in various contexts. Critical Thinking and Analysis: Hone your critical thinking skills through thought-provoking discussions, debates, and analysis tasks. Explore complex themes and perspectives, fostering intellectual growth alongside language proficiency. Fluency Enhancement: Fine-tune your speaking skills through challenging language activities. Practice articulating your ideas with confidence and eloquence in diverse speaking contexts. Integrated Skills Development: Integrate all language skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—in comprehensive, integrated tasks that mirror real-world communication scenarios. Strengthen your ability to communicate effectively and cohesively. With "The Word Finding Workbook 2," you'll embark on a transformative learning experience that propels you toward fluency, accuracy, and cultural competence. This sequel equips you with the tools and knowledge to thrive in today's interconnected world. Take the next step in your word and language journey and unlock new horizons with "The Word Finding Workbook 2".
This worksheet targets asking grammatically correct, semantically appropriate questions! Click here to download!
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.What do Betty White, a mosquito, a self starting car, and speech and language therapy all have in common? The perfect… Read More »How to Use Super Bowl Commercials for an Awesome Inference Activity
Welcome (or welcome back) to another installment of my series on teaching vocabulary to gifted students. In previous posts, I wrote about steps to take before staring vocabulary instruction, including assessing what students already know using a quick and easy self-ratings scale. Next, I wrote about strategies for introducing new words and putting a gifted twist on vocabulary instruction. The whole reason I started researching best practices in vocabulary started when I realized a few things. One, I had gifted students to teach and it was obvious that the regular, run-of-the-mill vocabulary materials handed to me by the district would not be sufficient. Two, had the curriculum been challenging enough for my students, I found it dreadfully boring. If I found it boring, my students would have positively died. And I'm not into creating that kind of emergency in my classroom. And three, I knew the importance of vocabulary instruction and it's far-reaching effects, so it was something I felt I couldn't afford to get wrong. Thus began my own journey into deeper learning so that I could really make an impact in our classroom, while also injecting some FUN! This post goes into a little more depth on the components of quality vocabulary instruction, as well as some of the activities that I used with students to engage them in meaningful word learning and purposeful practice. Just as a quick reminder, a child's vocabulary is a huuuuuuge predictor of academic success in ALL areas. What the Research Says One of the best-known researchers in the field of vocabulary instruction is Robert Marzano. In his studies, he found six key steps were the key to better vocabulary instruction. The first three steps are done with the help of the teacher: Teachers should give students an example, description, and/or explanation of the new term. Students need to restate the explanation, description, or example using their own language. Students should construct a picture, pictograph, or symbolic representation of the term. (If you hop back to my previous blog post, you will find a free download of a graphic organizer on which students can engage in steps two and three). 4. Periodically, students should engage in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks. 5. Students should be asked to discuss the terms with one another sometimes. 6. Students are periodically involved in playing games that enable them to play with terms. In studies conducted with classrooms using these strategies, it became clear that when teachers engaged their students in alllll of these six practices, students usually showed significant gains in vocabulary learning. Other well-known vocabulary researchers, Dr. Kate Kinsella and Dr. Kevin Feldman, point out three things that don't work in their article, Narrowing the Language Gap: The Case for Explicit Vocabulary Instruction: "looking up words in the dictionary, using written context to determine word meaning, unplanned, extemporaneous vocabulary teaching." Instead, teachers should focus on four important ideas: wide reading, direct teaching of important individual words, teaching word learning strategies, and fostering word conscientiousness through various activities that encourage language play, and choice in writing (Graves, 2000) and (Nagy and Scott, 2000). My General Flow of Vocabulary Instruction and Assessment Now that I've shown you some research, and told you a little about how I preassess and introduce the words, as well as how I accommodate gifted learners, I'm thinking you might be curious about how it all fit together for me. A typical vocabulary cycle flows like this for me: Pre-test students on new words by having students complete a self-ratings-scale prior to starting a new list Introduction of new words. If they already know any of the words well enough to define and use in a sentence, they don’t have to study those words. You can find more about how I pre-assess for vocabulary in this blog post. Students add their words to our “Map It Out” cards. We discuss the definitions of the vocabulary words together. Students continue to work on these throughout the entire cycle, starting with the synonyms and antonyms (you can even do this part together) and reserving the sentence writing portion until near the end. The “Map It Out” cards are great for students to keep with them when they are working on the other learning activities throughout the cycle, too! They can always go back to the cards and add to or revise them as they learn more about their words. You can read more about introducing the words and find a free download of the Map It Out cards here. Students add their words to a catalog or make word wall cards for each root or affix. The “Map It Out” cards themselves are sized to fit on a 5 x 7 notecard or in a composition notebook. I like students to keep a record of all of their words for the year to use for reference and as evidence of all the learning they’ve accomplished! Students choose one to three (or more) learning activities (like the ones outlined below) to complete. *The number of activities chosen should be a reflection of how much time students have and the number of activities you think each student needs. Gifted students may require much less repetition than “typical” peers or students with other learning differences so the activities that go more in-depth may be a better fit for them!* Use a quick-check strategy every couple of days to measure progress on learning. I do not use this as a graded quiz. It is meant to be a low-stakes, low-risk tool that students can use to quiz themselves as they are progressing toward mastery. This is a research-based strategy that has been shown to increase retention. Assess student learning following the completion of the activities. This cycle is flexible, but I found it generally took about 7 school days to get everything accomplished. Yours might take more or less time, depending on how much class time you can dedicate to it, and of course, on your students' needs. How I Encouraged Word Play in My Classroom While I definitely engaged students in the super important pre-assessment and direct instruction activities, my FAVORITE part of the vocabulary learning process was definitely allowing students to engage in different activities that helped students achieve deep learning and understanding of their words. This was definitely the part my students enjoyed the most, too. I'll outline a few of my favorite activities here, and maybe even provide a *free* download for you at the end. "WordTube" This activity is a play on the popular YouTube website. Students write each assigned vocabulary word and draw a picture of it on a “WordTube” screen. Then they use the “Up Next” boxes to write the part of speech, identify the roots/affixes contained in the word or the origin if the word does not appear to have Greek or Latin roots or any affixes, and define the word. Students should paraphrase the definition, as this strategy requires more critical thinking and will ultimately help them remember the meaning of the words better. Word Analogies Students create their own analogies for vocabulary words. Creating and using analogies when learning new material is a research-based strategy that requires students to have a deeper understanding of vocabulary words, activates prior knowledge, and helps students bridge the gap between their schema and new learning. There are two ways students can use this strategy-- students can create their own analogies for vocabulary words and complete the entire analogy. Or, students can create partial analogies that they can trade with a partner to solve. For this option, they must also make up an answer key (I suggest they create the answer key first). You'll want to be sure to teach children the different kinds of relationships you can create with analogies--for example, analogies can show part to whole relationships, the can reflect synonyms, antonyms, time sequences, increasing or decreasing intensity, etc. Shades of Meaning For this activity, students generate semantic gradients for their vocabulary words. This requires them to think of or find words that are semantically similar to their vocabulary words and then to arrange the words in order. This activity helps students make meaningful connections between words they already know and their new term. There are, again, two variations of this activity that are fun and useful. For one variation, students would either think of, find (or be provided with) a list of synonyms that align with the original vocabulary word. They would then arrange the terms in order from the strongest expression of the term to words that express the term to a lesser degree. For the second variation of the activity, students think of or look up 5 synonyms and 5 antonyms for the vocabulary word. They place the vocabulary term in the center of the continuum and then arrange the synonyms and antonyms so that they get stronger as they move away from the center. When students are finished, they should discuss with someone why they chose to put their words in order. They could write their rationale instead if no-one is available to discuss. I like to allow students access to both options because some terms don’t really have opposites. Further, I always allow some flexibility with the number of synonyms and antonyms students have to find, as some words—particularly words from content area studies—don’t have many synonyms or antonyms. Also, since these are fairly subjective and there is lots of “grey” area in terms of how the words are arranged, grading these should either be avoided, aside from completion, or rely heavily on the child’s explanations. I highly suggest this activity be completed with pairs or small groups of children to encourage the rich conversations that can occur as they are determining the order in which to place the words. Making Connections Making connections between words really encourages students to think deeply about the meaning of words, and how they relate to other words. This activity is well-suited for small groups of students, as well as the entire class at once if you’re all studying the same words at the same time. Students are each assigned one or two unique words, and then they spend time interacting with others in an effort to find a word that they feel connects with their words. Eventually, students settle on a connection or match. Then, students explain either in writing, to the class, or just to the rest of their group members how their terms are connected. You will want to spend some time with your students discussing the difference between surface-level and deeper connections. For example, students need to look past words having the same number of letters, starting or ending with the same letters or sounds, being in the same chapter in their science book, etc. The activity (and related research) suggest that making deeper connections between words and concepts are really what will help cement the vocabulary into children’s learning, creating long-lasting, authentic learning experiences. Interview a Word This activity is great for helping deepen students’ understanding of words and their possible connotations. One student “becomes” one of the words, and the other student is the interviewer. It is fun to encourage the “words” to show their personality and act as though they were truly embodying their word. My students really enjoy acting things out like this! I suggest doing this activity in pairs or small groups, however, if a child is working independently, he or she can just write down the answers to the interview questions on paper instead of posing the questions for someone else to answer. For this activity, you may find it useful to allow students access to websites such as visualthesaurus.com and www.etymonline.com so they can research some possible answers to the interview questions. As a fun aside, having students make and wear nametags for this activity is a fun way to boost engagement! Create a Menu Students get full creative license over designing a menu for a new restaurant and using their vocabulary words in the descriptions. Students start by deciding on a theme and name for the restaurant. Then they decide the names of dishes to include on the menu, all fitting in with the designated theme. Next, students use all of their vocabulary words to create a restaurant menu. In my opinion, it is not necessary that each menu item use a vocabulary word, as long as they have managed to include all of their words on the menu somehow, using them properly in context. Creating a themed restaurant and sticking to only including dishes that fit the theme definitely requires higher level thinking skills. If you find this to be too challenging for some of your students, you could allow them to include dishes on the menu that do not fit into a particular theme, as long as they are still using their vocabulary words to write the descriptions. If you want to take this to the next level, you could do something like have students design and create an actual (miniature) restaurant storefront, or allow students time to visit each other’s restaurants and “order” something off of the menu. Sound like fun? There are SO many other great ideas for helping your students engage independently with their vocabulary word study. I put three of the above ideas together for you in a free exclusive download if you're ready to give them a try. This freebie is available ONLY to my subscribers and can be found among many other free resources in my free resource library. Click the image below to gain access to your free copy! *Just to be clear, by clicking to get these freebies (and instant access to the growing collection of free resources in my library of subscriber exclusives), you're also agreeing to be added to my email list, where I'll send occasional messages with fresh ideas, tips, and other resources straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.* If you're ready to save TONS of time, you can find these three activities and many more in my store by clicking on the images below. So far, I have FIVE separate volumes of nine activities created and ready to download and print. Each volume includes a table of contents and full-page student-friendly directions for each of the activities. They also include a choice menu for each volume, which allows students to make choices about which activities they work on to learn their vocabulary words each week. It is also a good tool to track completion of menu options depending on how long or how many options you allow students to complete. All three volumes also include a rubric, the "Map It Out" graphic organizer and nine vocabulary activities that can be used with any of your own vocabulary lists. Each volume of my Word Study Activities also has one or two FREE bonuses, from a formative assessment tool to a student activity proposal form to a pre-assessment and self-ratings scale. I also bundled these activities together for big savings. You'll get all five volumes (45 activities!) and the corresponding bonus resources for the price of four volumes! If students complete one different activity a week, there are enough activities in the pack to last the entire year (or longer)! You can access the bundle by clicking the picture below. Let me know if you have any questions! I love hearing from my readers!
Asking and answering questions is a critical skill in language development, and are two very different concepts to teach!
The topic of -ED and -ING adjectives can be a refreshing one as it gives you the chance to introduce a higher level of new vocabulary as well as open up a whole new world of expressing opini
Higher-level thinking belongs in all classrooms, not just gifted and talented ones. Check out these tips for encouraging it in yours!
Hi y'all. I don't normally do this, but I am asking for YOUR help coming up with ideas! I am working on an activity targeting inferences. The child has to infer where I'm going based on what's in my suitcase. What other ideas do you have? Help!!!
The list below contains the books I have used over the years for teaching figurative language. Some of them are designed to teach about figurative language and some of them are books with figurative language woven naturally into the poem or story. Just recently, we shared how we used one of these books to do a text ... Read More about Books with Figurative Language
The What Questions book is a spiral book printed on cardstock, standard paper size, 8.5x11 inches. The 17-page book contains 15 What questions AND comes with 20 laminated flashcards, printed on cardstock and approximately 3 x 4.5 inches. Each page contains 1 question with a correlating picture and 3 answer choices also with pictures. Help your child gain a higher level of comprehension by asking questions. This spiral and flash cards set is the perfect start for your child's language development. This Product is mailed to you and READY TO USE What you will receive: 1 Spiral notebook, 17 pages, containing 15 questions, printed on cardstock 1 set of 20 flashcards, printed on cardstock, laminated. *Please Note- Spiral is not laminated/nor velcro. This is not a busy book. It's purpose is to work one on one with your child, creating conversation, and gaining higher levels of comprehension by asking what questions. And is a great speech therapy tool! ALL products are for personal use ONLY and NOT for re-sale ALL products are for personal use ONLY and NOT for re-sale Permission of use: PCS® by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission. PCS® and Boardmaker by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Asking and answering questions is a critical skill in language development, and are two very different concepts to teach!
The common core requires that children are able to make inferences. Here are some ideas for teaching making inferences from what you read and see.
Higher order thinking questions should also be used in grammar instruction. Sample critical thinking questions included to promote high level discussion.
Speech Corner’s Donut Dilemma—What Happens Next? is a set of 50 language development cards to support growth in determining inferences and making logical predictions in everyday social settings. These cards help students deduce the meaning of body language, facial expressions, people’s feelings, and their intentions as they interpret key information from the picture.
Teaching Figurative Language can be fun and meaningful for your students. Teaching figurative language through poetry can make it even better! Here are my best tips for teaching similes, metaphors, idioms, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, imagery, alliteration, and personification.
Idioms are a type of figurative language that SLPs work on because they are essential to communicate effectively and for academic success.
This packet is great for those students working on inferencing skills and higher level language! It consists of 24 cards with clues for Ocean-related vocabulary words. Some cards are easier than others to fit an array of ability levels. An answer sheet is also included. Thank you so much for your support! Feedback is greatly appreciated. For additional ideas and resources, please visit: http://whitneyslp.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/Whitneyslp www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Whitneyslp As with all other items in my store, this item is copyrighted by Whitney Smith, M.Ed. CCC-SLP. Purchase of this item entitles you to use this product in your own classroom/therapy room with your students only. Copying for other professionals, sharing the file directly on the internet, or sharing or re-selling of this item is strictly prohibited. Please direct other interested parties back to the original source or purchase a multi-user license. Thank you for helping to maintain the integrity and well-being of TPT and its hardworking teacher-authors. Whitney :)
NewsELA is an excellent tool to use in speech and language therapy to target a variety of skills. Check out all the ways you can use it in this blog post!
Find out about an engaging story elements game that easily works with any fiction text that your students will beg you to play!
The Where Questions book is a spiral book printed on cardstock, standard paper size, 8.5x11 inches. The 17-page book contains 15 Where questions AND comes with 20 laminated flashcards, printed on cardstock and approximately 3 x 4.5 inches. Each page contains 1 question with a correlating picture and 3 answer choices also with pictures. Help your child gain a higher level of comprehension by asking questions. This spiral and flash cards set is the perfect start for your child's language development. This Product is mailed to you and READY TO USE What you will receive: 1 Spiral notebook, 17 pages, containing 15 questions, printed on cardstock 1 set of 20 flashcards, printed on cardstock, laminated. *Please Note- Spiral is not laminated/nor velcro. This is not a busy book. It's purpose is to work one on one with your child, creating conversation, and gaining higher levels of comprehension by asking where questions. And is a great speech therapy tool! ALL products are for personal use ONLY and NOT for re-sale ALL products are for personal use ONLY and NOT for re-sale Permission of use: PCS® by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission. PCS® and Boardmaker by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Here is a free sampling of Dr. Erica Warren's 58 page workbook. Mindful, multisensory activities help to teach students higher order language skills and mental flexibility. The activities use fun and engaging exercises that encourage critical thinking and visualization. ...
Inference and vocabulary with Big Foot! This activity has been in the works for a long time and I'm so happy to introduce it to you! Searching for Sasquatch can be played two different ways and is the perfect activity to engage your upper grade students! It's CC aligned for grades 4-7, but I've...
Blank comics are engaging for both younger and older students and allows for targeting many skills. Access a board of free blank comics!
Challenge your students with these deductive reasoning logic activities. Your students will have fun helping the babies find their favorite toy, determining the 4 day forecast, making a garden grid and more by sequencing and problem solving. Analytic logic activities help children develop criti...
This is a freebie designed to be an independent activity or a group activity. I found my students enjoyed this as a group activity. It took up one 20 minute session with 3-4 kids working on descriptions, synonyms and vocabulary. The goal of the game is for the students to match up the words under d...
