A lot of speech-language pathologists address the skill of categorization in language therapy. The problem is that many of them make a key mistake that limits their students’ ability to generalize. In this video I share how to fix that problem. Why target categories in language therapy? Many speech-language pathologists know that their students struggle…
Tag: vocabulary
Which should I target first? Vocabulary or grammar?
The other day in my Language Therapy Advance Foundations program, some of my students asked how they should prioritize when they have students who need help with both vocabulary and grammar. They were wondering which to target first. My answer was this: Why not BOTH at once? We often think of language skills, like semantic…
Language therapy: Are you treating the SYMPTOM or the CAUSE?
A lot of the SLPs I mentor share that they feel pretty lost when it comes to language therapy. Some of them feel like they’re guessing at what to do next or just haphazardly grabbing games off their shelves… Instead of doing what they WANT…which is walking in to sessions 100% confident that they’re setting…
Better results, less effort: Three language therapy principles
“I only have 30 minutes a week with my students. How am I supposed to get to all these language skills?” “I don’t even know where to start when it comes to treating language disorders.” “I’m supposed to be the ‘language expert’, and I feel like an impostor. I’m so overwhelmed!” I hear things like…
Why you should ditch “drill and kill” language therapy
The interesting thing about mentoring SLPs is that I get to see what clinicians are doing in a number of different situations and settings across the US (and often, the world). I’ve found that many of the SLPs I work with seem to have similar struggles when it comes to language therapy. The biggest complaint…
The simple view of reading: Why it’s not so simple and what that means for SLPs
I’ve been hearing some crazy stories from SLPs lately. The other day, an SLP shared that one of her private clients decided to stop coming because her mom couldn’t afford speech AND dance classes. So she decided to do JUST the dance classes and drop the speech therapy. Ouch. Then there was the SLP in…
Three Secrets to Expanding Sentences and Building Vocabulary (for SLPs)
One of the biggest challenges we face when working with kids with language disorders is getting them to say longer sentences that clearly communicate their ideas. Yet expanding sentences our students say is easier said than done, which is why I created this free e-book for SLPs, The Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure. In this…
Why kids can’t answer “why” questions
Do you have kids who have been working on “wh” questions FOREVER? If your students have a hard time understanding language, you’re probably familiar with that “deer-in-headlights” look you get when you ask the a “wh” question. Either that, or you’ve gotten used to getting responses that have NOTHING to do with what you asked….
Teaching Conjunctions: Are we doing it wrong?
“Don’t start a sentence with a conjunction!” I can remember hearing that rule repeated over and over again during my elementary school grammar lessons. As an adult, I remember hearing it again when my students rattled off that rule in my therapy room while we were working on complex sentences. But there’s only one problem:…
How to build better sentences in kids with language disorders
When you’re treating language disorders, getting quality sentences from your students can seem impossible. We know they have weak grammar; but when it comes to actually treating the issues…sometimes we’re left drawing a blank. I used to go back to the old, tired goals for working on pronouns and verb tense. I’d work on getting…