Speech and Language Kids Podcast

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Perspective Taking | Examples and Activities for Speech Therapy Jun 08, 2015

Show notes

Perspective Taking | Examples and Activities for Speech TherapyPerspective taking is our ability to think about a situation from someone else’s point of view. If we can take a guess at how someone else is thinking or feeling, it can help us navigate social interactions and better understand the world around us. On this page, we’ll talk about how we can help children and teens learn to use perspective taking to understand the world around them. We’ll do it in a neurodiversity-affirming way that honors individual differences and allows for each person to communicate in a way that feels authentic to them. Middle/High School Language BundleVocabulary, Syntax, and Literacy for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers (Includes Perspective Taking!) $45 ~ Buy Now!What is Perspective Taking?Imagine you’re dropped onto an alien world, surrounded by creatures who don’t talk or act like you at all. You have no idea what their gestures, words, and actions mean. Or why they are doing what they do. Think about how scary that would be! Now think about our children and teens who struggle to understand the actions of those around them. The world can seem a scary place when you don’t understand what’s happening. That’s where this area of therapy comes in. Our ability to understand a situation from another person’s point of view is called “perspective taking”. I want to be Neurodiversity-Affirming. Is it OK To Work on Perspective Taking?Perspective-taking and empathy training have gotten a bad wrap with our newer understanding of neurodiversity. But that’s simply because the way we used to teach these skills was….maybe not the best. Our old teaching ways were (inadvertently) telling children that they needed to act like everyone else. That there was something wrong with them because their brains worked differently. We now know that all brains work differently and there are many different “normal” ways of being! And this is amazingly empowering! But our neurodiverse populations still deserve to understand what’s going on around them. So now, we teach perspective-taking as a way to understand the world around us. Not because we want kids to change and conform. But because they will feel more safe, secure, and loved if they understand why others do the things they do. And they can navigate social situations their own way. How Can I Work on Perspective Taking in a Neurodiversity-Affirming Way?As you work on this skill, make sure you are empowering your clients to use these tools to understand the world around them. And remind them that it’s OK to act, think, and speak differently than those around them. The important thing is that they find a way to move through this world that feels natural and authentic to them. (And I should add that this type of education shouldn’t be kept JUST for kids with social impairments. I argue that literally every child in every school would benefit from this type of education so that we are ALL learning to understand and be respectful of individual differences.) A Pre-Made Curriculum for Perspective Taking, Empathy, and Understanding Others:Here at Speech and Language Kids, we’ve put together an amazing program that you can use TODAY to teach perspective taking in a neurodiversity-affirming way. Grab our Language Curriculum Bundle for middle schoolers and high schoolers! You’ll have everything you need to teach inferencing, perspective taking, and other language skills to support effective communication. Middle/High School Language BundleVocabulary, Syntax, and Literacy for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers (Includes Perspective Taking!) $45 ~ Buy Now!Perspective Taking Activities by Age: Preschoolers and Perspective Taking Perspective Taking Examples for Preschoolers: Have you ever seen 2 babies in a room and when one starts crying, the other starts crying too? That’s because babies don’t know that someone else’s discomfort is not their own. They don’t have the ability to take the perspective of someone else. We call this theory of mind (meaning that the child understands that other people have other perspectives than their own). Babies don’t have theory of mind yet. Around 2-3 years of age, children start to gain an understanding that each person is experiencing different things. During the preschool years, we should see a child start to show concern for others who are upset. They may show concern for someone who is crying or try to do something to help that person. However, at this stage, children still often confuse their own perspective with others. A preschooler may think that since she likes ice cream, everyone likes ice cream. This may lead to actions like giving someone who is crying a favorite toy because the child knows that would cheer him up if he had it himself. Perspective Taking Activities for Preschoolers: Here are some ideas of what you can do with preschoolers who are not yet showing signs of understanding that other people have different perspectives and feelings than we do: Point out the emotions of others. Show the child when another child is crying and talk about how he feels and why he feels that way. This can be especially important if the child you’re working with accidently caused the other child to be upset in the first place. Read books and talk about how the characters may be feeling in the book. Identify the emotions and then talk about why the character feels that way or how you know (he is smiling, he found his toy, etc.) Talk about your own emotions. Label your own emotions to the child throughout the day. Talk about why you feel that way. If you have negative emotions, talk about what would make you feel better. Help the child identify and regulate his/her own emotions. Help the child problem-solve situations to make someone feel better. If another child is upset, ask the child what he could do to help that friend. Give him some ideas like going to get an ice pack, helping the other child up off the group, or finding something fun for the child to do. Perspective Taking in Grades K-2 Perspective Taking Examples in K-2 During these years, the child’s perspective-taking skills should continue to grow. The child should develop the ability to guess what people are thinking or feeling based on their behaviors and understand their motivation for certain behaviors. Keep in mind that this is still happening at a very simplistic level. For example, if the child you’re working with watches another child hit his teacher, the K-2nd grader should be able to guess that the child hit his teacher because he was mad. He probably wouldn’t be able to tell you though that the other child was frustrated because the task that the teacher asked him to do was too difficult. Perspective Taking Activities in K-2 When the child you’re working with does something that causes strong emotions in another person (happy or sad), point out the other child’s reaction. Ask the child why he thinks he had that reaction. Talk about the other child’s emotions and why he is feeling that way. Then, talk about how that child’s actions reflected that emotion. Ask the child how he would feel if he were in the other person’s situation. For example, if he takes a toy away from another child, ask him “How would you feel if Johnny took your favorite toy away from you?”. Help the child identify the emotion he would feel and then explain that the other child feels the same way. While reading books, help the child make guesses for why the characters did certain actions. Talk about the motivation behind behaviors by linking the behavior or action to an emotion. Then, talk about why the character would have felt that emotion. Perspective Taking in Grades 3-5 Perspective Taking Examples in 3-5th Grade During these grades, children begin to develop the understanding that everyone sees situations from a different perspective and that people may therefore misinterpret what’s going on. For example, the child will understand if you explain to him that when he walked up to his friend and hit him on the back, he meant it as a greeting but his friend interpreted it as anger. Children in these grades also begin to understand that a person may be hiding his/her true feelings. For example, they would begin to understand that if a child said “I’m okay” but still had tears in her eyes, she may not really be ok but she just wants others to think she is. Perspective Taking Activities for 3-5th Grade When reading a story with multiple characters, help the child map out how each character interpreted an event or situation. Write down each character’s name and then write what each character was thinking or feeling during the situation. Help the child discover differences between the different characters’ perspectives by pointing out when one character had different information than the others (example: Johnny didn’t know everyone was throwing him a surprise party so he felt surprised when everyone jumped out but the people who jumped up were not surprised. They knew it was a party). If the child you are working with becomes surprised by someone’s reaction to something he did, help him describe how the other person may have felt during the situation and help the child put himself in that other person’s situation. Help the child understand what the other person’s reaction was based on. Help the child resolve conflicts by examining the perspective of each participant (in the conflict) and then coming up with a solution that will offer a compromise for all perspectives. This may involve sharing, taking turns, using words to explain the situation more thoroughly, etc. Talk to the child about reading body language and using perspective-taking to determine if someone is hiding their true feelings. Talk about sarcasm and figurative language as ways the people may say one thing but mean something else. Perspective Taking in Grades 6-8 Perspective Taking Examples in Middle School At this point, children continue to fine-tune their ability to take the perspective of others and understand someone else’s thoughts, feelings, and motives. They continue to develop the skills we’ve mentioned previously but in more complex ways. These children are also beginning to understand that people often have multiple motives for their behavior and sometimes those motives are conflicting. For example, the child may understand that a teenager may be tempted to smoke because it will make him look cooler (peer pressure) but that he may be reluctant to do so because it is unhealthy and gross. Perspective Taking Activities for Middle Schoolers When reading a story with the child, ask the child to think about the motives that a character has for certain actions. Explore all of the motives that the character has and talk about if any of the motives conflict with each other (Harry Potter is great for this. He often has conflicting motives and must decide what to do on his own. Plus, it’s written from his point of view so you often get to hear his inner dialogue and debate). Ask the child about his own motives for certain behaviors. Explore all motives, including conflicting motives. Talk with the child about how you make a decision when you have conflicting motives (such as using a pro/con list). If the child expresses confusion or concern over a decision that someone else has made, help him write down the different motives that the person had that led to him making that decision. Ask the child if he would have made the same decision in that situation or if he would have chosen something else. Explain to the child that we all have the right to make our choices based on our own opinions, feelings, and experiences and sometimes we disagree on the best plan of action but that’s ok. Perspective Taking in Grades 9-12 (High School) Perspective Taking Examples in High Schoolers At this point, these young adults begin to understand that a person’s culture and environment impact their personality, behavior, and perspectives. They begin to see how we are all a product of our environment and that past events and present circumstances all affect how we see the world. For example, young adults may begin to see that a person who has always been discriminated against is more likely to assume he’s being discriminated against than someone who has never known discrimination. These young adults are also beginning to understand that people may not always be fully aware of why they act the way they do. They may be acting a certain way because they were brought up that way or they are repressing some feelings that they don’t want to deal with. Perspective Taking Activities for High Schoolers Talk with the student about cultural impacts on behavior. Discuss how different cultures may impact a person’s behavior. Talk openly about differences among cultural groups but avoid making over-generalized statements that may be taken as racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory. Read stories about people from other countries. Talk about how their daily lives are different than the student’s and discuss how their environment has impacted the way they live day-to-day. Read stories about people who have very different life experiences than the student. Read about children with poor upbringings or who faced adversity early in life. Talk about how those experiences changed that person (for the better or worse) and how that person’s perspective is different as a result. Talk about how historical events may have changed a certain cultural group’s behaviors, thoughts, or motivations. For example, talk about how getting the right to vote changed women’s behaviors and attitudes or how slavery of African-Americans in America affected their behaviors and attitudes. A Structured Program for Teaching Perspective TakingMiddle/High School Language BundleVocabulary, Syntax, and Literacy for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers (Includes Perspective Taking!) $45 ~ Buy Now!Listen to the Podcast Version of this Info Here:Sources: http://www.education.com/reference/article/perspective-taking-theory-mind-different/ https://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/perspective-taking-skills/ About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLPHi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers. Fun Fact: I play the cello. I took lessons for cello and piano for most of my childhood, though I’m way better at cello than I ever got a piano. I also taught myself guitar as an adult. I have a super fun bright blue electric guitar that I get out every once in a while and play around on. And then I curse the fact that since I don’t play consistently, I don’t have my callouses built up. Connect with Me: The post Perspective Taking | Examples and Activities for Speech Therapy appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Full show notes at the publisher

AAC Curriculum for Speech/Language Therapy — **Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies** May 25, 2015
Show notes

Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies
Hello?

Can you hear me?

What do we do if a child is not responding or even paying attention to us when we try to work with them?

On this page, we’ll share some activities and strategies that you can use to help a child establish “joint attention” in speech therapy at home. These activities are designed to help a child tune into those around them.

AAC Curriculum and Mini-Course
Teach a child to start communicating using an AAC/Communication Device or System
$19 ~ Buy Now!
What is Joint Attention?
Johnny doesn’t pay attention to other people. He doesn’t notice the other children that play around him and when an adult tries to get his attention, he doesn’t seem to hear.

The doctor said his hearing is fine but he just doesn’t seem to notice or care when someone is talking to him or trying to show him something. He just seems to be tuned out.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t get him to pay attention to anything. You can’t get any “joint attention”. Joint attention is a person’s ability to pay attention to the same thing as someone else. It’s our ability to engage on a shared topic or interest.

Why do we Work on Joint Attention in Speech Therapy?
In order to teach a child new communication skills, we need to have the child’s attention.

If we can’t get them to pay attention to the same thing as us, it makes it more challenging to teach them the skills we want them to learn.

In those cases, we can work on teaching joint attention in speech therapy FIRST, then we can work on all the other awesome communication skills.

How to Teach Joint Attention in Speech Therapy or at Home:
Here are the steps/activities for encouraging a child to establish joint attention.

Listen to the podcast version below, or keep reading:

Joint Attention Step 1: Copy what the Child Does

The first thing you can do to try to get joint attention is to copy exactly what the child is doing. If the child is playing with toys, get down on the floor and play with those toys in the exact same manner. If the child is stacking blocks, you stack blocks. If the child is lining up cars, you line up cars. If the child is spinning in circles, you spin in circles (just don’t get sick!).

Start quietly at first, just to see if the child will notice. Just play along beside him or imitate his actions. If he looks at you or notices what you’re doing, just smile and act like you’re enjoying yourself.

Gradually, draw more and more attention to yourself and what you’re doing. See if you can get the child to start paying attention to you and reinforce him if he does (praise him and offer hugs or high fives if he’s into that sort of thing).

Then, start to comment on what he is doing. Point out the cars he’s lining up. Or talk about what actions he’s doing. Talk about what he may be thinking, feeling, or experiencing.

Joint Attention Step 2: Find Something Motivating to the Child

For the next part, you’ll need something that the child loves. Perhaps you already know what that is. Does he love grapes? Or toys that light up? If you know what he loves, fill a tub with those things.

If you don’t already know what the child loves, you’ll want to do a reinforcer probe. Find a bunch of toys/items that you think may be motivating to the child and present them to the child two at a time. For example, hold up a flashing toy and a shakey toy. Show him what each one does and then hold them both up in front of him. Let him reach toward one. Give him the one he reaches toward. Put the other one aside.

Let him play with the toy for a moment and then take it back. Introduce a new toy and then hold that toy up alongside the one he chose before. Let him pick again. Continue to do this until you have a pretty good idea of the types of items the child typically picks. These will be the items you will put in the reinforcement tub.

Joint Attention Step 3: Reinforce Proximity

Ok, now that you have a selection of things you know the child likes, put those things away (out of sight) for a few days. You want them to be new and exciting when you pull them out to work with the child.

Stand away from the child (not right next to him) and pull out *one* thing from the bin and hold it so the child can see that you have it. If it is a toy that does something (lights up or makes sound), activate it once so the child gets interested.

If the child moves close to you (and the object), say “you see my ___” and then give it to him. At this point, you want to reinforce the child for just coming close to you. This is the first step of joint attention.

Let him play with it for a few moments and then say “my turn” and take it away and walk a few feet away. Once the child comes close to you again, say “you see my ___” and give it to him again. Keep doing this until he will consistently come close to you to share in what you have. If he loses interest, switch to a different reinforcer. With some children, you’ll need to switch each time.

**ALTERNATIVE** If the reinforcement is an activity, like getting tickled, you can start by doing the activity and then walking a few feet away. For example, tickle the child until he is smiling, and then walk a few feet away and wait. If the child comes toward you, tickle him again.

Joint Attention Step 4: Gradually Increase the Level of Engagement You Expect

Once the child is consistently moving toward you to share in what you have, you’ll want to increase your expectations. Start requiring to the child to do something slightly more difficult before you give him the reinforcer.

Here is a suggested order of “next steps” when trying to gradually increase a child’s engagement or join

Look in your general direction/face you

Looking directly at you or the object (hold the object near your face to reinforce faces)

Reaching for the object

Pointing at the object

Pointing at the object and looking at you

You should tell the child what you want him to do and then provide assistance if you can. For example, you can say “look at me” or “look over here” to encourage the child to look in your direction.

Step 5: Gradually Increase the Amount of Time the Child is Engaged

Once the child is sharing joint attention with you, you’ll want to try to stretch out the amount of time it lasts. Up until now, you have given the child the object as soon as he establishes joint attention.

Now, you’ll want to try to get the child to keep looking at the object with you before you give it to him. The next time the child establishes the joint attention (by looking at the object with you), say “look at this” and point to something on the object. Then, give the child the object. By doing this, you’ve added a few seconds on to the amount of time that the child looks at it with you.

Once you can do that without the child having a meltdown or getting upset, try adding a few more seconds. Say “look at this! Wow, that’s cool” and then give it to him. Continue gradually adding seconds by pointing out more features, talking about it, or anything else that will keep the child’s attention momentarily. There’s no magic number here, just keep trying to stretch it out until you feel like the child is sharing attention with you on an object.

** ALTERNATIVE ** If the reinforcement is an activity, like getting tickled, you will want to try to stretch out the amount of time that the child is looking at you and happy about the activity. Try talking to the child while you’re doing the activity and provide more of the activity if the child keeps looking at you or maintaining the interaction in some way. Take little pauses and say something silly (like “here comes the tickle monster”) and then provide more tickles if the child continues to watch you or stay engaged while you said it.

Step 6: Gradually Increase the Variety of Activities that the Child will Share Attention During

Now that the child is able to share attention with you on a highly preferred activity (such as a preferred toy or snack), see if you can get him to share attention with you on something of your choosing.

My personal favorite for doing this is with book-reading activities. Reading books with children is one of the best ways to increase language so if you can only get the child do to one non-preferred activity with you, it should be book-reading. Start with books that contain real photographs of your child’s favorite things (for example, my son loves trucks).

Start by bringing out something from the child’s reinforcer tub (like a fun toy) but also have the other thing you want the child to attend to with you as well (the book in this example). When the child tries to get the reinforcer, say “look at this” and point to the other thing (the book). If the child looks at the other item that you have, reinforce by saying “good looking” and then give him the original reinforcer (the toy). If the child doesn’t look at the other item, hold it up in front of him so he has no choice but to look at it, and then say “good looking” and reinforce with the toy. Keep doing this until you no longer have to hold it up in his face.

Once the child gets better at this, try to elongate the amount of time the child is paying attention to the other item (the book) by saying “look at this. Cool!” or “Look at this! Oh, look at this one, too!”. Just keep stretching it out just like we did in the last step until the child will look at more and more of the book before getting his reinforcement.

Joint Attention Established! Let the Teaching Begin!

If you keep working on this, you should get to the point where the child will easily sit down with you and pay attention to something that you pick out. This will allow you to start teaching the child new skills and new concepts.

A Structured Curriculum for Teaching Joint Attention:
Here at Speech and Language Kids, we’ve put together a complete curriculum for teaching joint attention and other early interaction skills. This Curriculum includes everything you need to teach interaction skills in a progressive way that will increase success over time.

Early Interactions Curriculum
A Structured Program for Helping a Child Establish Joint Attention and Engage in Early Interactions
View the Early Interactions Curriculum
The post Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Early Interactions Curriculum for Functional Communication — **Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies** May 25, 2015
Show notes

Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies
Hello?

Can you hear me?

What do we do if a child is not responding or even paying attention to us when we try to work with them?

On this page, we’ll share some activities and strategies that you can use to help a child establish “joint attention” in speech therapy at home. These activities are designed to help a child tune into those around them.

AAC Curriculum and Mini-Course
Teach a child to start communicating using an AAC/Communication Device or System
$19 ~ Buy Now!
What is Joint Attention?
Johnny doesn’t pay attention to other people. He doesn’t notice the other children that play around him and when an adult tries to get his attention, he doesn’t seem to hear.

The doctor said his hearing is fine but he just doesn’t seem to notice or care when someone is talking to him or trying to show him something. He just seems to be tuned out.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t get him to pay attention to anything. You can’t get any “joint attention”. Joint attention is a person’s ability to pay attention to the same thing as someone else. It’s our ability to engage on a shared topic or interest.

Why do we Work on Joint Attention in Speech Therapy?
In order to teach a child new communication skills, we need to have the child’s attention.

If we can’t get them to pay attention to the same thing as us, it makes it more challenging to teach them the skills we want them to learn.

In those cases, we can work on teaching joint attention in speech therapy FIRST, then we can work on all the other awesome communication skills.

How to Teach Joint Attention in Speech Therapy or at Home:
Here are the steps/activities for encouraging a child to establish joint attention.

Listen to the podcast version below, or keep reading:

Joint Attention Step 1: Copy what the Child Does

The first thing you can do to try to get joint attention is to copy exactly what the child is doing. If the child is playing with toys, get down on the floor and play with those toys in the exact same manner. If the child is stacking blocks, you stack blocks. If the child is lining up cars, you line up cars. If the child is spinning in circles, you spin in circles (just don’t get sick!).

Start quietly at first, just to see if the child will notice. Just play along beside him or imitate his actions. If he looks at you or notices what you’re doing, just smile and act like you’re enjoying yourself.

Gradually, draw more and more attention to yourself and what you’re doing. See if you can get the child to start paying attention to you and reinforce him if he does (praise him and offer hugs or high fives if he’s into that sort of thing).

Then, start to comment on what he is doing. Point out the cars he’s lining up. Or talk about what actions he’s doing. Talk about what he may be thinking, feeling, or experiencing.

Joint Attention Step 2: Find Something Motivating to the Child

For the next part, you’ll need something that the child loves. Perhaps you already know what that is. Does he love grapes? Or toys that light up? If you know what he loves, fill a tub with those things.

If you don’t already know what the child loves, you’ll want to do a reinforcer probe. Find a bunch of toys/items that you think may be motivating to the child and present them to the child two at a time. For example, hold up a flashing toy and a shakey toy. Show him what each one does and then hold them both up in front of him. Let him reach toward one. Give him the one he reaches toward. Put the other one aside.

Let him play with the toy for a moment and then take it back. Introduce a new toy and then hold that toy up alongside the one he chose before. Let him pick again. Continue to do this until you have a pretty good idea of the types of items the child typically picks. These will be the items you will put in the reinforcement tub.

Joint Attention Step 3: Reinforce Proximity

Ok, now that you have a selection of things you know the child likes, put those things away (out of sight) for a few days. You want them to be new and exciting when you pull them out to work with the child.

Stand away from the child (not right next to him) and pull out *one* thing from the bin and hold it so the child can see that you have it. If it is a toy that does something (lights up or makes sound), activate it once so the child gets interested.

If the child moves close to you (and the object), say “you see my ___” and then give it to him. At this point, you want to reinforce the child for just coming close to you. This is the first step of joint attention.

Let him play with it for a few moments and then say “my turn” and take it away and walk a few feet away. Once the child comes close to you again, say “you see my ___” and give it to him again. Keep doing this until he will consistently come close to you to share in what you have. If he loses interest, switch to a different reinforcer. With some children, you’ll need to switch each time.

**ALTERNATIVE** If the reinforcement is an activity, like getting tickled, you can start by doing the activity and then walking a few feet away. For example, tickle the child until he is smiling, and then walk a few feet away and wait. If the child comes toward you, tickle him again.

Joint Attention Step 4: Gradually Increase the Level of Engagement You Expect

Once the child is consistently moving toward you to share in what you have, you’ll want to increase your expectations. Start requiring to the child to do something slightly more difficult before you give him the reinforcer.

Here is a suggested order of “next steps” when trying to gradually increase a child’s engagement or join

Look in your general direction/face you

Looking directly at you or the object (hold the object near your face to reinforce faces)

Reaching for the object

Pointing at the object

Pointing at the object and looking at you

You should tell the child what you want him to do and then provide assistance if you can. For example, you can say “look at me” or “look over here” to encourage the child to look in your direction.

Step 5: Gradually Increase the Amount of Time the Child is Engaged

Once the child is sharing joint attention with you, you’ll want to try to stretch out the amount of time it lasts. Up until now, you have given the child the object as soon as he establishes joint attention.

Now, you’ll want to try to get the child to keep looking at the object with you before you give it to him. The next time the child establishes the joint attention (by looking at the object with you), say “look at this” and point to something on the object. Then, give the child the object. By doing this, you’ve added a few seconds on to the amount of time that the child looks at it with you.

Once you can do that without the child having a meltdown or getting upset, try adding a few more seconds. Say “look at this! Wow, that’s cool” and then give it to him. Continue gradually adding seconds by pointing out more features, talking about it, or anything else that will keep the child’s attention momentarily. There’s no magic number here, just keep trying to stretch it out until you feel like the child is sharing attention with you on an object.

** ALTERNATIVE ** If the reinforcement is an activity, like getting tickled, you will want to try to stretch out the amount of time that the child is looking at you and happy about the activity. Try talking to the child while you’re doing the activity and provide more of the activity if the child keeps looking at you or maintaining the interaction in some way. Take little pauses and say something silly (like “here comes the tickle monster”) and then provide more tickles if the child continues to watch you or stay engaged while you said it.

Step 6: Gradually Increase the Variety of Activities that the Child will Share Attention During

Now that the child is able to share attention with you on a highly preferred activity (such as a preferred toy or snack), see if you can get him to share attention with you on something of your choosing.

My personal favorite for doing this is with book-reading activities. Reading books with children is one of the best ways to increase language so if you can only get the child do to one non-preferred activity with you, it should be book-reading. Start with books that contain real photographs of your child’s favorite things (for example, my son loves trucks).

Start by bringing out something from the child’s reinforcer tub (like a fun toy) but also have the other thing you want the child to attend to with you as well (the book in this example). When the child tries to get the reinforcer, say “look at this” and point to the other thing (the book). If the child looks at the other item that you have, reinforce by saying “good looking” and then give him the original reinforcer (the toy). If the child doesn’t look at the other item, hold it up in front of him so he has no choice but to look at it, and then say “good looking” and reinforce with the toy. Keep doing this until you no longer have to hold it up in his face.

Once the child gets better at this, try to elongate the amount of time the child is paying attention to the other item (the book) by saying “look at this. Cool!” or “Look at this! Oh, look at this one, too!”. Just keep stretching it out just like we did in the last step until the child will look at more and more of the book before getting his reinforcement.

Joint Attention Established! Let the Teaching Begin!

If you keep working on this, you should get to the point where the child will easily sit down with you and pay attention to something that you pick out. This will allow you to start teaching the child new skills and new concepts.

A Structured Curriculum for Teaching Joint Attention:
Here at Speech and Language Kids, we’ve put together a complete curriculum for teaching joint attention and other early interaction skills. This Curriculum includes everything you need to teach interaction skills in a progressive way that will increase success over time.

Early Interactions Curriculum
A Structured Program for Helping a Child Establish Joint Attention and Engage in Early Interactions
View the Early Interactions Curriculum
The post Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

**RTI Speech Therapy: How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2** May 12, 2015
Show notes

RTI Speech Therapy:
How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2
Response to Intervention (RTI) is an approach to supporting children who are struggling to learn something from the general education curriculum. It is when we provide additional supports to those children outside of the special education process. This is often implemented as part of a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS).

The focus of an RTI program is to provide each student with the level of support he needs. For some children, this will be special education services provided under an Individualized Education Plan (IEP-the traditional way of providing speech therapy).

However, a new model of providing services has been identified for children who are struggling in an area but may not be involved enough to require full special education services. For these children, services are provided in the regular education environment or with small amounts of “pull-out” sessions without requiring the child to go through the full IEP process.

These RTI services may look like changing up instruction techniques for a particular child, providing speech therapy on a short-term basis, or providing hearing assistive technology.

The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”
Therapy Program + Mini-Course:
Strategies and materials for teaching the /r/, /s/, and “sh” sounds
$19 ~ Buy Now!
Listen to the Podcast on 5-Minute Sessions for Speech Sound RTI
How is RTI Used for Speech Sound Errors?

Have you ever known a child who was missing a few speech sounds so the IEP team spent 90 days evaluating the child and writing a plan; only to find out that he fixed those errors in about 30 days of speech therapy?

The evaluation took longer than the actual therapy! These are the types of kids who benefit from an RTI approach to speech therapy.

If a child only has a few errors and is stimulable for those sounds (can say them when prompted), he will likely make very quick progress in speech therapy and will be dismissed quickly. For these children, the law has provided us with a way to provide them the short amount of therapy they need without the child having to wait months for the paperwork to get done.

I’m not going to get into how you qualify a child for an RTI program or how to do the paperwork because it will be different for every school district. But I can tell you how to structure an RTI session for maximum success.

While my suggested therapy plan (as follows) is based on evidence-based therapy techniques, it has not been specifically tested or researched so keep in mind that this is just a suggested template and is not the only way to do RTI.

How to Do 5-Minute RTI Speech Therapy:

Step One: Schedule 5-Minute Blocks

The first thing you must do is work out a schedule with the child’s teacher. You will want to pull the child out of his classroom for 5 minutes at a time. Check with the teacher to see which times of the day will be the least distracting for the child.

Try to schedule all of your RTI kids in blocks. For example, if you have 4 RTI kids to see, you can set aside 30 minutes to see all of them. You will pull each one out into the hallway right next to his classroom for exactly 5 minutes and then send him on his way. The only transition time you’ll have is getting yourself between classrooms and waiting for the child to walk into the hall with you. You should easily be able to get 4 5-minute sessions into a 30-minute block.

Keep in mind that you can also be doing this right before school while they’re waiting to get started or during the “pack-up” minutes at the end of the day.

I would recommend starting with 3-5 sessions per week and then determining from there if the child needs more or fewer sessions.

Step Two: Create an Organizational System

Each child that is an RTI child should have a folder with his or her data sheets (more details about data collection below). For each new RTI student, start him a folder and throw in a few data sheets. You can color code them by grade to make it easier to locate the correct child’s folder.

Place these folders in some sort of a box that can easily be transported between classes. You can use a rolling box like this for easy transport:

Step Three: Choose One Speech Sound Target

Next, you’ll need to decide which sound to target first. Since you don’t have very long with each child, you’ll need to choose just one sound at a time. You could also choose to target one phonological process at a time but I’m just going to focus on an articulation approach.

I recommend starting with sounds the child is stimulable for so you can make quick progress.

Step Four: Therapy Sessions

Here’s how each therapy session will break down:

**Minute 1:** Run through 20 trials of the target sound in the target context. Don’t provide any feedback, just see how the child does and take 20 data points.

At first, just start with the sound in isolation. If the child is able to get 80% of isolation, move up to syllables. Keep progressing through the stages until you get 80% in conversation. Once you get to the conversational levels, you’ll just sit down for the first minute and have the child tell you about a past event and record correct/incorrect productions of the sound.

If you’re working on single words and you don’t have enough flashcards of a certain position to get to 20 trials, repeat the deck.

Here’s a great video showing you how to use my RTI data collection sheets:

**Minutes 2-4:** Provide feedback and help the child either improve accuracy at the current level or work on the next level up. Focus on getting in as many repetitions as possible.

Do something simple like use a clicker and tell the child you’ll click once for every word he says correctly. Tell him he’s going for a high score and keep record of who is winning. Or, have the student push a gold coin through a slot in a Tupperware container for each word (or 5) that he says correctly.

The goal is to keep it fun so the child stays motivated without having the “fun” part take too much time away from the practicing.

**Minute 5:** Provide homework and send him on his way. Pull out a worksheet that is something that works on the child’s target skill but that he can do somewhat independently. You don’t want to assign something that will be too hard because then he may practice the sound incorrectly at home.

If you have organized your materials well, you should have a file full of worksheets that you can pull out at a moment’s notice.

Step Five: Rinse and Repeat

Once the student reaches 80% at each level, you’ll move up to the next level. Once the student is using the sound correctly in conversation with 80% accuracy, you’ll move on to a new sound and repeat all of the steps.

Sources:

http://www.asha.org/advocacy/federal/idea/04-law-early-services/

http://www.asha.org/slp/schools/prof-consult/RtoI/

Pre-Made Curriculums and Materials for RTI Speech Therapy:
The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”
Therapy Program + Mini-Course:
Strategies and materials for teaching the /r/, /s/, and “sh” sounds
$19 ~ Buy Now!
About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP
Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

**Connect with Me:**

The post RTI Speech Therapy: How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2 appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

5-18-15 Rolling Files Pic — **RTI Speech Therapy: How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2** May 12, 2015
Show notes

RTI Speech Therapy:
How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2
Response to Intervention (RTI) is an approach to supporting children who are struggling to learn something from the general education curriculum. It is when we provide additional supports to those children outside of the special education process. This is often implemented as part of a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS).

The focus of an RTI program is to provide each student with the level of support he needs. For some children, this will be special education services provided under an Individualized Education Plan (IEP-the traditional way of providing speech therapy).

However, a new model of providing services has been identified for children who are struggling in an area but may not be involved enough to require full special education services. For these children, services are provided in the regular education environment or with small amounts of “pull-out” sessions without requiring the child to go through the full IEP process.

These RTI services may look like changing up instruction techniques for a particular child, providing speech therapy on a short-term basis, or providing hearing assistive technology.

The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”
Therapy Program + Mini-Course:
Strategies and materials for teaching the /r/, /s/, and “sh” sounds
$19 ~ Buy Now!
Listen to the Podcast on 5-Minute Sessions for Speech Sound RTI
How is RTI Used for Speech Sound Errors?

Have you ever known a child who was missing a few speech sounds so the IEP team spent 90 days evaluating the child and writing a plan; only to find out that he fixed those errors in about 30 days of speech therapy?

The evaluation took longer than the actual therapy! These are the types of kids who benefit from an RTI approach to speech therapy.

If a child only has a few errors and is stimulable for those sounds (can say them when prompted), he will likely make very quick progress in speech therapy and will be dismissed quickly. For these children, the law has provided us with a way to provide them the short amount of therapy they need without the child having to wait months for the paperwork to get done.

I’m not going to get into how you qualify a child for an RTI program or how to do the paperwork because it will be different for every school district. But I can tell you how to structure an RTI session for maximum success.

While my suggested therapy plan (as follows) is based on evidence-based therapy techniques, it has not been specifically tested or researched so keep in mind that this is just a suggested template and is not the only way to do RTI.

How to Do 5-Minute RTI Speech Therapy:

Step One: Schedule 5-Minute Blocks

The first thing you must do is work out a schedule with the child’s teacher. You will want to pull the child out of his classroom for 5 minutes at a time. Check with the teacher to see which times of the day will be the least distracting for the child.

Try to schedule all of your RTI kids in blocks. For example, if you have 4 RTI kids to see, you can set aside 30 minutes to see all of them. You will pull each one out into the hallway right next to his classroom for exactly 5 minutes and then send him on his way. The only transition time you’ll have is getting yourself between classrooms and waiting for the child to walk into the hall with you. You should easily be able to get 4 5-minute sessions into a 30-minute block.

Keep in mind that you can also be doing this right before school while they’re waiting to get started or during the “pack-up” minutes at the end of the day.

I would recommend starting with 3-5 sessions per week and then determining from there if the child needs more or fewer sessions.

Step Two: Create an Organizational System

Each child that is an RTI child should have a folder with his or her data sheets (more details about data collection below). For each new RTI student, start him a folder and throw in a few data sheets. You can color code them by grade to make it easier to locate the correct child’s folder.

Place these folders in some sort of a box that can easily be transported between classes. You can use a rolling box like this for easy transport:

Step Three: Choose One Speech Sound Target

Next, you’ll need to decide which sound to target first. Since you don’t have very long with each child, you’ll need to choose just one sound at a time. You could also choose to target one phonological process at a time but I’m just going to focus on an articulation approach.

I recommend starting with sounds the child is stimulable for so you can make quick progress.

Step Four: Therapy Sessions

Here’s how each therapy session will break down:

**Minute 1:** Run through 20 trials of the target sound in the target context. Don’t provide any feedback, just see how the child does and take 20 data points.

At first, just start with the sound in isolation. If the child is able to get 80% of isolation, move up to syllables. Keep progressing through the stages until you get 80% in conversation. Once you get to the conversational levels, you’ll just sit down for the first minute and have the child tell you about a past event and record correct/incorrect productions of the sound.

If you’re working on single words and you don’t have enough flashcards of a certain position to get to 20 trials, repeat the deck.

Here’s a great video showing you how to use my RTI data collection sheets:

**Minutes 2-4:** Provide feedback and help the child either improve accuracy at the current level or work on the next level up. Focus on getting in as many repetitions as possible.

Do something simple like use a clicker and tell the child you’ll click once for every word he says correctly. Tell him he’s going for a high score and keep record of who is winning. Or, have the student push a gold coin through a slot in a Tupperware container for each word (or 5) that he says correctly.

The goal is to keep it fun so the child stays motivated without having the “fun” part take too much time away from the practicing.

**Minute 5:** Provide homework and send him on his way. Pull out a worksheet that is something that works on the child’s target skill but that he can do somewhat independently. You don’t want to assign something that will be too hard because then he may practice the sound incorrectly at home.

If you have organized your materials well, you should have a file full of worksheets that you can pull out at a moment’s notice.

Step Five: Rinse and Repeat

Once the student reaches 80% at each level, you’ll move up to the next level. Once the student is using the sound correctly in conversation with 80% accuracy, you’ll move on to a new sound and repeat all of the steps.

Sources:

http://www.asha.org/advocacy/federal/idea/04-law-early-services/

http://www.asha.org/slp/schools/prof-consult/RtoI/

Pre-Made Curriculums and Materials for RTI Speech Therapy:
The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”
Therapy Program + Mini-Course:
Strategies and materials for teaching the /r/, /s/, and “sh” sounds
$19 ~ Buy Now!
About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP
Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

**Connect with Me:**

The post RTI Speech Therapy: How to Use 5-Minute Sessions for MTSS Tier 2 appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Resources for Speech-Language Pathology Assistants (SLPAs) May 11, 2015

Show notes

What is an SLPA?

**This first part is about the roles of an SLPA. For resources, materials, and support: scroll down!

Here’s what the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) defines as a speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA):

“Speech-language pathology assistants are support personnel who, following academic coursework, fieldwork, and on-the-job training, perform tasks prescribed, directed, and supervised by ASHA-certified speech-language pathologists.”

In other words, they get some amount of training and do something that a speech therapist tells them to do.

Helpful, right?

ASHA actually has an entire document dedicated to outlining what an SLPA can and cannot do so I’ll try to pull out the good parts here.

What Training Does an SLPA Need?

Again, here’s what ASHA says you must have to be a licensed SLPA:

an associate’s degree in an SLPA program

a bachelor’s degree in a speech-language pathology or communication disorders program

and

successful completion of a minimum of one hundred (100) hours of supervised field work experience or its clinical experience equivalent

and

demonstration of competency in the skills required of an SLPA.

What Can an SLPA Do?

Assist the SLP with speech, language, and hearing screenings without clinical interpretation. (help with giving the screenings but not interpreting whether or not the child has a disorder)
Assist the SLP during assessment of students, patients, and clients exclusive of administration and/or interpretation. (you can’t give standardized or non-standardized tests or interpret them)
Follow documented treatment plans or protocols developed by the supervising SLP.
Program and provide instruction in the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices.
Provide services under SLP supervision in another language for individuals who do not speak English and English-language learners.
Assist with clerical duties, such as preparing materials and scheduling activities, as directed by the SLP.

Basically, the SLP should evaluate the child (though the SLPA can help with that assessment) and then write a treatment plan. This would include goals and therapy techniques/methods. The SLP should also provide any necessary training so the SLPA knows how to do those therapies.

Then, the SLPA would perform the actual therapy as prescribed by the therapy plan and report the results back to the supervising SLP.

Also, SLPAs can assist with paperwork and prepping materials for therapy.

Requirements for a Supervisor of an SLPA

The supervising SLP must have the following qualifications:

current ASHA certification and/or state licensure,
completion of at least 2 years of practice following ASHA certification,
completion of an academic course or at least 10 hours of continuing education credits in the area of supervision, completed prior to or concurrent with the first SLPA supervision experience.

In addition, the SLP must:

Conduct ongoing competency evaluations of the SLPAs.
Provide and encourage ongoing education and training opportunities for the SLPA consistent with competency and skills and needs of the students, patients, or clients served.
Develop, review, and modify treatment plans for students, patients, and clients that SLPAs implement under the supervision of the SLP.
Make all case management decisions.
Adhere to the supervisory responsibilities for SLPs.
Retain the legal and ethical responsibility for all students, patients, and clients served.
Adhere to the principles and rules of the ASHA Code of Ethics.
Adhere to applicable licensure laws and rules regulating the practice of speech-language pathology.

Also, one SLP is only allowed to supervise the equivalent of 2 full time SLPAs. None of this one SLP for 10 SLPAs in the district nonsense!

How Should an SLPA be Supervised?

This is best left in the exact wording from ASHA:

First 90 workdays: A total of at least 30% supervision, including at least 20% direct and 10% indirect supervision, is required weekly. Direct supervision of student, patient, and client care should be no less than 20% of the actual student, patient, and client contact time weekly for each SLPA. This ensures that the supervisor will have direct contact time with the SLPA as well as with the student, patient, or client. During each week, data on every student, patient, and client seen by the SLPA should be reviewed by the supervisor. In addition, the direct supervision should be scheduled so that all students, patients, and clients seen by the assistant are directly supervised in a timely manner. Supervision days and time of day (morning/afternoon) may be alternated to ensure that all students, patients, and clients receive some direct contact with the SLP at least once every 2 weeks.

After first 90 workdays: The amount of supervision can be adjusted if the supervising SLP determines the SLPA has met appropriate competencies and skill levels with a variety of communication and related disorders.

Minimum ongoing supervision must always include documentation of direct supervision provided by the SLP to each student, patient, or client at least every 60 calendar days.

A minimum of 1 hour of direct supervision weekly and as much indirect supervision as needed to facilitate the delivery of quality services must be maintained.

Documentation of all supervisory activities, both direct and indirect, must be accurately recorded.

Further, 100% direct supervision of SLPAs for medically fragile students, patients, or clients is required.

Support and Training For SLPAs

Based on the feedback I’m getting from my readers who are SLPAs, this level of support and training is not often occurring in the field. SLPs are overworked and busy and SLPAs are left feeling unsure of how to do the therapy. This isn’t always the case but it seems to me that our SLPAs could use a little more support in general.

Here are the three levels of support that I have for SLPAs on my website:

1) Basic Support: Free Articles and Materials from Speech and Language Kids

I have a plethora of free articles and materials for speech therapy sessions that are written with parents in mind so there is no technical jargon and I don’t assume that you already know some skills first. You’ll find that all of my materials are easy-to-follow and many are step-by-step guides on exactly how to treat specific delays or disorders.

Browse through my free resources and see if anything will be helpful to you!

Browse Free Resources by Topic

Browse Free Resources by Student Age

Browse Free Printable Therapy Games and Activities

Click To Get Free Resources Sent to you by Email

2) Advanced Support: eBooks and Materials

The next level of support that I have available is through my eBooks. I currently have 3 eBooks (at the time of writing this) that will show you exactly how to teach certain skills from start to finish. They also provide materials that you can print and use in therapy or send home as homework.

Here are the eBooks that will be helpful to SLPAs:

The Speech and Language Therapy Guide: Lesson Plans and Worksheets for 39 Different Speech and Language Skills

This eBook will walk you step-by-step through how to teach 39 different speech and language skills. I chose the 39 skills that come up most often for speech therapy with children. I also include worksheets and handouts that you can print out and send home as homework or use in therapy. This is my most popular eBook!

All-In-One Articulation Program and Materials Kit: Everything You Need to Do Articulation Therapy

Articulation errors are probably the most common problem that speech therapists (and speech therapy assistants) will deal with. This eBook will walk you through exactly how to teach a child a new sound using articulation therapy from start to finish. I will show you everything you need to do and give you all of the materials. The kit includes articulation cards, sound flash cards, syllable and sentence creators, conversational carry-over strategies, and worksheets that can be sent home. You can download the file immediately and print out what you need.

Jump Start Your Late Talker: The 8-Week Program to Encourage a Late Talker to Communicate

If you work with late talkers or minimally verbal preschoolers, this program is for you! This program was written for parents to use at home but is equally effective in therapy sessions. Plus, since it’s written for parents, you can send home the worksheets so that everyone is working on the same thing. This will show you which communication strategies will work best for late talkers and will also give you specific activities that you can do in therapy to build vocabulary.

3) Premium Support: Monthly Webinars and Daily How-To Videos

If you find yourself struggling in your position as an SLPA and need more direct help, this program is perfect for you! Each week day, I answer a question from a member with a how-to video.

That means you can ask me questions about your tough cases and I’ll make you a video showing you exactly how to treat that problem. Plus, you can watch the entire library of videos from other members’ questions.

Also, there is a monthly webinar which will take you deep into one specific topic. The webinar topics are chosen by the members and you’ll be able to watch recordings of past webinars as well.

AND, you’ll get access to an exclusive Facebook group where you can ask questions and get help immediately from all group members.

If you’re feeling less than confident in your role as an SLPA, you NEED this membership site.

Click Here to Join my Membership Site!

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Looking for more therapy ideas and resources to help you provide the BEST services to your clients? Join us in The SLP Solution, our membership program for speech-language professionals! Inside the membership, you’ll find:

Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills
Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics
Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems
Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community
Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks
Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings

To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below!

JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

The post Resources for Speech-Language Pathology Assistants (SLPAs) appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Ultimate Guide to Teaching Written Narratives by Grade Level May 04, 2015

Show notes

Ultimate Guide to Teaching Written Narratives by Grade LevelThis page will show you exactly what is expected when it comes to producing written narratives. We’ll show you what the expectations are for each grade level and give you suggestions for how to teach them either in speech/language therapy or in an educational setting. Free Activity: Main Idea and DetailsGet the 4-page workbook for teaching main idea and details Download for Free!Or, Get the Full Language for Literacy Curriculum Breaking Down the Common Core Standards for Working on Written Narratives The common core standards are the set of curriculum guidelines that the department of education has set forth as a method of making sure that all students are taught the skills needed to be successful in college or in the job force. Whether they love them or hate them, many speech therapists are bound to follow them as most states have adopted them. The common core standards have set standards on how well students should be able to write narratives at each grade level. However, many of our students with language delays and disorders are struggling to meet these guidelines because they struggle with the language that is the very foundation for these skills. As speech therapists, we can teach these children pre-requisite skills that will give them a better chance of achieving the same level of mastery of written narratives as their grade-level peers. This article will give you ideas of what you can work on with language delayed students to help them meet grade-level expectations for written narratives. Listen To Podcast Or Continue Reading: 1st Grade Common Core Standards: Write 2 or more appropriately sequenced events Include details of what happened Use temporal words to signal event order Provide some sense of closure What to Work on: Student will discuss details of what happened in past events by answering questions about an event that recently happened (e.g. “who was there?” “what did he do?” “where did he go?”) When given a set of 2 past events (presented verbally, in writing, or using picture representations), Student will identify which event happened first and which happened last. ~or~When given a set of 3 past events (presented verbally, in writing, or using picture representations), Student will sequence the events into the order in which they occurred. When verbally describing two or more past events, Student will use temporal words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “last” to signal the order of the events (use picture or written cues as necessary). After verbally describing two or more past events (see above), Student will write down the past events while including details of at least 2 past events in sequenced order and temporal words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “last” to signal the order of those events (using picture or written cues as necessary). After reading a short sequence of past events, Student will provide a closing statement, such as a statement of emotion (e.g. “I had fun”) or summary (e.g. “The pool is a good place to swim”). Student will write a simple narrative about at least 2 appropriately sequenced events that includes details of what happened, uses temporal words to signal event order, and provides some sense of closure. 2nd Grade Common Core Standards: Recount a well elaborated event or short sequence of events Include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings Use temporal words to signal event order Provide some sense of closure What to Work On: Student will answer questions about the actions, thoughts, and feelings associated with past events (e.g. “What did he do?” “What were you thinking?” and “How did it make you feel?”). When given 3 steps to an event, either past or recurring (presented verbally, in writing, or using picture representations), Student will sequence the steps to that event into the order in which they occurr(ed). For example, Student will sequence the steps to brushing your teeth or the steps that he took to get ready that morning. When verbally describing an elaborated event or short sequence of events, Student will use temporal words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “last” to signal the order of the events (use picture or written cues as necessary). After verbally describing an elaborated event or short sequence of events (see above), Student will write down the steps to the event in sequenced order and temporal words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “last” to signal the order of those events (using picture or written cues as necessary). When writing a short narrative about the steps to a past event, Student will elaborate on the steps by including details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings when prompted by an adult. After reading a short sequence of past events, Student will provide a closing statement, such as a statement of emotion (e.g. “I had fun”) or summary (e.g. “The pool is a good place to swim”). Student will write a simple narrative that recounts a well elaborated event or short sequence of events that includes details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, uses temporal words to signal event order, and provides some sense of closure. 3rd Grade Common Core Standards: Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. Provide a sense of closure What to Work On: Prior to writing a narrative about a past event or imagined experience, Student will fill out a pre-writing organizational worksheet with an adult that will include the topic/situation, the narrator/characters, the details or steps, and the logical order of those steps. Here’s an example of my pre-writing worksheets: After creating an outline of a written narrative (see above), Student will write the narrative down and use temporal words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “last” to signal the order of events. After creating an outline of a written narrative (see above), Student will write the narrative down and add one extra piece of information for each detail in the sequence, such as dialogue or descriptions of actions, thoughts, or feelings. 4th Grade Common Core Standards: Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. What to Work On: Prior to writing a narrative about a past event or imagined experience, Student will fill out a pre-writing organizational worksheet with an adult that will include the topic/situation, the narrator/characters, the details or steps, and the logical order of those steps. When told a scenario or situation (with characters), Student will make up dialogue that show the responses of the characters to that situation. After creating an outline of a written narrative (see above), Student will write the narrative down and add one extra piece of information for each detail in the sequence, such as dialogue or descriptions of actions, thoughts, or feelings. When prompted, Student will provide 3 examples of different temporal words or phrases that can be used in written text to manage the sequence of events (e.g. “first”, “next”, “last”). Student will answer questions about sensory details of events currently happening or past events using descriptive language (e.g. “How did it feel to go swimming”). After creating an outline of a written narrative (see above), Student will write the narrative down and add one extra piece of information for each detail in the sequence, such as using concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. After being told a narrated sequence of events or experience, Student will identify the main idea of the sequence and create a conclusion statement that logically follows the sequence (such as a summary, opinion, or evaluation). 5th Grade Common Core Standards: Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. What to Work On: Same steps as 4th grade (see above). Plus… Student will discuss how to use appropriate pacing in written narratives by not being too wordy but still providing enough details to make the story interesting. 6th Grade Common Core Standards: Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to convey experiences and events. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. What to Work On: Same steps as 5th grade (see above). Plus… Student will identify story elements that establish a context, such as the location, time, and situation (setting of the story) and will include this element in an opening statement of a written narrative. Student will use dialogue and description to develop a character from a narrative. For example, the adult will set up a character (a boy at the swimming pool) and the student will write three sentences that will provide more information about the character. Student will read a written narrative and mark where there are shifts from one time frame or setting to another. Student will then add transition words, phrases, and clauses to the work to signal those shifts. 7th Grade Common Core Standards: Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events. What to Work On: Same Steps from 6th Grade (see above). Plus… Student will identify the different types of point of view in written narratives and be able to identify which point of view is used in a narrative that the child reads. Student will write a narrative using a consistent point of view and will edit his work after completion to ensure a consistent point of view was used throughout. After reading a written narrative, Student will create a conclusion statement that reflects on the narrated experiences or events. 8th Grade Common Core Standards: Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events What to Work on: Same steps from 7th Grade (see above). Plus… When given a written statement or short narrative, Student will add one sentence to the statement that reflects on the event or character. When told two events or experiences, Student will use appropriate transition words, phrases, and clauses to show the relationship between those two things (such as saying that one caused the other). 9th-12th Grades Common Core Standards: Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. What to Work On: Prior to writing a narrative, Student will fill out a pre-writing organizational worksheet with an adult that will include the problem, situation, or observation, the narrator/characters, the point of view, the details or steps, and the logical order of those steps. Here’s an example of my pre-writing worksheets: When told a situation/scenario and characters, Student will write appropriate dialogue between the characters to develop the events or characters. Student will identify pacing that is too slow, too fast, or appropriate when reading written narratives and will identify strategies to change pacing (taking out extra wording to speed it up or adding more details to slow it down). When told a situation/scenario and what occurred, Student will write one sentence to reflect on the event/occurrence. Student will identify and map out multiple plot lines in a written narrative. Mapping out would include drawing a line for each plot line and writing events from the story on the appropriate line. When given a list of events from a written narrative or past event, Student will arrange them into the correct sequential order. When given a sequence of events, Student will use temporal language and other descriptive language to signal the order of those events and build on one another to connect them into a logical whole. When given a written narrative with non-specific words and simple vocabulary, Student will rewrite the passage using synonyms and figurative language (including sensory language) to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. When given a written narrative without an ending, Student will write a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. After filling out a pre-writing worksheet (see above), Student will write a narrative with a smooth progression of experiences and events while including all elements from the pre-writing worksheet. After writing a narrative, Student will edit his own work to include dialogue, appropriate pacing, reflections, multiple plot lines, sequencing techniques and language, and descriptive l…

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Free activity main idea and supporting details worksheets — **Dyslexia Speech Therapy: How SLPs Can Help with Dyslexia** Apr 27, 2015
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Dyslexia Speech Therapy: How SLPs Can Help with Dyslexia
Children with dyslexia struggle to read even though they are bright and have had reading instruction.

Speech therapy can help children with dyslexia by addressing underlying phonological and language challenges.

On this page, we’ll explain how speech-language pathologists can provide dyslexia speech therapy to help children and teens with dyslexia catch up in their literacy skills.

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What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. Many state education codes, including New Jersey, Ohio and Utah, have adopted this definition. Learn more about how consensus was reached on this definition: Definition Consensus Project

Listen to the Dyslexia Podcast Episode:
What Causes Dyslexia?

This word-reading difficulty is often caused by a deficit in the phonological component of language. That means, the student has difficulty understanding how sounds go together to create words. This makes it difficult for the student to decode a printed word (sound out the letters and put them together to form a word) as well as to spell words. Also, the student with dyslexia has average or above average intelligence so the disability is not due to lack of intelligence.

Since the child with dyslexia has difficulty reading printed words, he or she may also have difficulty understanding what was read, even if he does manage to eventually read the words. This is because fluent reading (or reading without unnecessary pauses and gaps) increases comprehension and understanding of what is read.

You may notice that a child with dyslexia understands text when it is read out loud to him but he has trouble understanding it if he reads it himself. For example, the child would be able to answer comprehension questions about a grade-level story read aloud but not if he only read the story to himself.

You may also notice that children with dyslexia do not develop phonological awareness skills as quickly as their peers. These would be skills like rhyming, segmenting, blending, etc. For more information on phonological awareness, click the link below:

Carrie’s Ultimate Guide to Phonological Awareness

(Lyon et. al. 2003)

How Does Speech Therapy Help Students with Dyslexia?

As speech-language pathologists, we have extensive training and knowledge about phonological skills. Many students with speech sound errors have phonological errors. This means they have trouble understanding which sounds should be put together to form words. They may use phonological processes where they replace one class of sounds with another (such as replacing all long sounds like “s” with short sounds like “t”). These same children with phonological speech errors may have phonological reading problems as well (a.k.a. dyslexia).

For more information about phonological processes (speech errors), click here!

That means that speech therapists should be an integral part of a student’s reading intervention team, even if the child is only having difficulty with reading and not speech. We can help these students improve their overall phonological systems and understand how sounds go together to make words.

Also, some children with dyslexia also have language learning problems which should be addressed by a speech therapist as well.

What Type of Speech Therapy Should be Provided for Children with Dyslexia

The speech therapist should first conduct a full assessment to determine which areas are in need of therapy. The following skill areas should be assessed by a speech-language pathologist:

Speech Sound Errors/Skills: Is the child using any phonological processes in his speech?

Phonological Awareness Skills: How does the child do with phonological awareness tasks like rhyming, segmenting, blending, etc.?

Overall Language Skills: How does the child score on expressive and receptive language tests?

Based on the results of this evaluation, therapy should be provided to address the areas with concerns. No one area should be targeted first but rather all areas should be addressed in therapy together to help the child make changes to his entire phonological system. However, if a student is unable to focus on multiple tasks at once, the most severe limitations should be addressed first with other skills be added as possible.

Below are explanations of what type of therapy should be provided based on which areas the child is having trouble:

**Speech Sound Errors**

A child who is having trouble with speech sounds due to phonological problems will have trouble with entire groups of sounds. You will see patterns in the child’s speech. For example, all long sounds (sounds that can be held out like “s”) may be replaced with shorter sounds (like “t”). Or, all sounds at the ends or beginnings of words will be deleted. A child may have just one phonological process (sound error pattern) or she may have many going on at one time. This can make a child’s speech very difficult to understand.

It is normal for children to use certain phonological processes when they are very young (ending between the ages of 3-5 years) but if a child continues to use these patterns beyond the ages at which they should stop, he may have a phonological disorder.

Phonological disorders should be treated by showing the child the difference between the correct productions and his incorrect productions. For more information about treating phonological disorders, click the link below:

For more information about phonological processes (speech errors), click here!

**Phonological Awareness Skills:**

Phonological awareness skills are the pre-reading skills that are so crucial to reading printed words and spelling them. These are skills that allow us to manipulate sounds and put them together to form words. Or, they allow us to take words apart and understand which sounds make up that word. Here are some examples of phonological awareness skills:

Rhyming (What rhymes with cat? Do cow and how rhyme?)

Ability to segment words into syllables (How many syllables in umbrella? Um…bre…lla)

Syllable Blending (I’m going to say some syllables, you put them together and tell me what word they make: um…bre…lla

Ability to identify words with the same beginning sound (Do cat and cow start with the same sound? What else starts with the same sound as book?)

Ability to identify words with the same final sound (Do book and take end with the same sound? What else ends with the same sound as boat?)

Ability to segment words into individual sounds: consonant-vowel (CV), vowel-consonant (VC), and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) (How many sounds are in cup? c…u..p. 3! What sounds are in off? O…ff)

Ability to segment words into individual sounds: CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC (What sounds do you hear in plate? p..l…a…te)

Sound Blending: (I’m going to say some sounds, you put them together and tell me what word they make: “d…o…g.” Dog!)

Ability to manipulate sounds in words (what word do you have if you take the “p” off of “pan”?)

Letter-sound correspondences: (What sound does the letter “b” make? What letter makes the “buh” sound?)

As you have read above, dyslexia is a problem that is typically caused by trouble with these underlying pre-reading skills. If a child has trouble with these skills, he will have trouble with decoding and spelling words.

Therapy for children with phonological awareness difficulties should target increasing their ability to participate in activities that include these skills. For activity ideas for increasing phonological awareness skills (and a free worksheets download), click the link below:

How to do Phonological Awareness Therapy and Improve Phonological Awareness Skills

**Language Skill Deficits:**

If a child with reading difficulties also scores low on expressive and receptive language tests, there may be other problems going on aside from dyslexia. Other language problems, such as problems with comprehension or problems putting together grammatically correct sentences, should be addressed alongside phonological awareness therapy in order to help the child make the greatest gains possible.

**References:**

Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2003). Defining dyslexia, comorbidity, teachers’ knowledge of language and reading. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 1‐14.

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About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP
Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

**Connect with Me:**

The post Dyslexia Speech Therapy: How SLPs Can Help with Dyslexia appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Echolalia: What is Echolalia and How Can We Help? Apr 20, 2015

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Echolalia: When Children Repeat what you Say (Speech Therapy Ideas)What if a child repeats questions instead of answering? What if they quote lines from a show or movie? What if they repeat things that they have heard others say? Well, this is called “echolalia” and it’s how some children learn language! This page explains what “echolalia” is (when children repeat others instead of using their own words) and how we can help these children through speech therapy and home practice ideas. Shaping Echolalia CurriculumA Structured Program for GLPs and Other Children who Repeat and EchoView the Echolalia CurriculumWhat is Echolalia?Echolalia Meaning: Echolalia is the term used to describe when a child repeats or imitates what someone else has said or what they have heard from a show, movie, or toy. Echolalia Examples: Immediate Echolalia: Sometimes a child repeats your question instead of answering it. If you say, “Do you want a cookie?”, the child says “cookie” instead of “yes”. Delayed Echolalia: This other type of echolalia occurs when the child repeats something he has heard before even though he did not recently hear it. For example, a child may repeat a line from a favorite movie even though that movie is not playing currently. Or, he may repeat a sentence he has heard before in specific situations, such as “do you want it?” Why Do Children Repeat Others or Use Echolalia?Children learn to navigate the world around them by repeating what they hear and see. It’s how we’re programmed. All children repeat language they’ve heard when first learning to communicate. Some children then move on to a phase where they speak single words to communicate with us (ex: “mama” or “up”). Other children, however, continue to communicate with us using this imitation, or echolalia, by imitating whole chunks of language that they have heard previously. What are the Two Ways that Children Learn Language?Did you know that there are two ways that children acquire language? Analytic Language Development: Child learns to speak one word at a time. When they have mastered single words, they eventually start combining 2+ words together and utterances grow progressively longer and more complex. Gestalt Language Development: Child begins by speaking in whole phrases, sentences, or scripts first (called gestalts). When they have a large repertoire of gestalts, they learn to gradually break those down into smaller chunks and mix and match. They eventually break them further into single words and recombine those words to make new utterances. Dual Language Processing: Some children do some of both! What is a Gestalt Language Processor (GLP)?Gestalt Language Processors (GLPs) are children who are learning language in gestalts or chunks. This is not a disorder, it’s simply a different way to learn language. Not all GLPs will need therapy, many learn to speak on their own, though they follow a different path to get there from analytic language processors. But some GLPs need a little support to move through the phases of natural language acquisition. When these children are given a “traditional” therapy approach, they may not make progress. That’s because their brain works differently. Here are how GLPs acquire language more naturally: A Structured Curriculum for Helping Gestalt Language Processors:If you are working with a gestalt language processor (GLP) who could use some extra help, check out our GLP Curriculum! This is a structured program that will walk therapists, caregivers, and educators through the strategies that work best to help GLPs learn to communicate. GLP CurriculumA structured program for working with GLPs to shape echolalia for functional communicationView the GLP CurriculumEcholalia Speech Therapy:Speech/language therapy can help a child who uses echolalia learn to create their own spontaneous utterances as well. However, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan for children with echolalia. There are different strategies that can be used depending on why and how the child is using their echolalia. For that reason, I highly recommend that echolalia be treated by a licensed speech-language pathologist who can tease out exactly why the echolalia is being used. That being said, here are some strategies that will help reduce a child’s use of echolalia either in therapy or in conjunction with therapy. Below are a few different speech therapy approaches and ideas for helping children with echolalia. How to do Speech Therapy for GLPs:These are the strategies to use in speech therapy for gestalt language processors (GLPs). Keep in mind, these are strategies that the adults in the GLP’s life should learn and acquire. These do not have to occur in this order and should eventually all be used together. Finding (and Responding to) Meaning: Adults will seek out the meaning behind spoken gestalts and respond to the child’s communications. Following the Child’s Lead and Imitating: Adults will follow the child’s lead in play or other activities and imitate the child’s speech and actions. Using Statements and Silence: Adults will model language naturally by making statements and using intentional silence. Playing with Pitch and Emotion: Adults will model language naturally by including more emotion and pitch variability in their spoken language. Modeling Mitigable Gestalts: Adults will model different types of gestalts that will be easy for a child to mix and match later. First Person Gestalts: I…, I’m… Joint Perspective Gestalts: We…, we’re…, let’s… Neutral Perspective Gestalts: It’s…, that’s…, where’s… Suggestion Gestalts: Look…, how about…, don’t…., let’s… Break em Down, Mix and Match: Adults will model how gestalts can be broken down into smaller chunks and mixed and matched to create new utterances. Need some therapy materials for this? Use our GLP Curriculum for Shaping Echolalia. We have a worksheet and visual aids for each of these strategies. Other Strategies to Help with Echolalia: When the Child Repeats your Question Instead of Answering Echolalia when responding to questions is extremely common. This usually stems from the child not knowing how to answer the question appropriately but it can be very difficult to teach the child to answer the question if all he does is repeat the last word. Here’s what I do for this in therapy (keep in mind these steps may take weeks to master, this won’t happen all during one session): Choose one question type (like “do you want it?” or “what’s this?”) to address at first. Ask the question and then immediately say the answer with a single word (without pausing). It sounds like this “Do you want it? Yes.” Ideally, the child will just imitate the “yes” part of it. If not, encourage the child to imitate “yes” (or whatever the answer is). Keep doing this until the child is consistently repeating just the one-word answer. Ask the question again but now just say the first sound of the answer, like this: “Do you want it? Yyyy-“. Encourage the child to say the word “yes” by getting her started with the first sound. If you have to say the whole word with her a few times, that’s ok, but hold out the first sound until she starts it. Keep doing this until she is consistently saying the answer after you give her the first sound. Ask the question again but now just mouth the first sound but don’t say it out loud. You should just look like you’re about to say it. Direct the child’s attention to your mouth by pointing so she sees you starting to say the sound. Encourage the child to say the word after you mouth the first sound. Keep doing this but gradually fade the amount that you’re mouthing the sound until she will just say the answer without you needing to mouth it at all. Once she’s mastered one question form, start over again with a different question. Keep doing this until you’ve taught a variety of questions and she starts answering them spontaneously without using echolalia. When the Child is Echoing Your Praise This is my favorite because it’s so darn cute. It sounds like this: Therapist: “Kevin, what does a puppy say?” Kevin: “Woof woof. Good job, Kevin!” That’s the moment when you realize, “Man, I must say “good job, Kevin” every time he gets it correct!” As cute as this is, it’s not very functional so it’s important to fade it out. The first thing you need to do, is stop saying whatever it is your child has associated with the next thing that comes after his response. Instead, just repeat the correct answer, pause, and then give your praise. So it would sound like this: Therapist “Kevin, what does a puppy say?” Kevin: “Woof woof. Good job, Kevin!” Therapist: “Woof woof. A dog does say ‘woof woof’, you’re right.” If that doesn’t fix the problem after several tries, then you can go back to the numbered steps above and use the same type of cuing system. For example, you would say “What does a puppy say? Woof woof.” Then, try to jump in and say “woof woof” again after he says it but before he can go on to say “good job”. It may take a while for him to get used to not saying the whole thing so just keep trying this and eventually it should fade out. When Children Repeat Words While Stimming Some children use echolalia because they find it comforting. We call this self-stimulatory because they are finding ways to provide themselves with stimulation that makes them feel good. Some children flap their hands or rock back and forth as a self-stimulatory behavior. We call this “stimming” for short. There are also children who use echolalia as a form of stimming. I often see this from children when they are stressed out because they find their movie scripts or tv show scripts to be comforting because they are predictable. If a child doesn’t understand the world around him or why something is happening, he may prefer to do something that he is familiar with and that is predictable, like reciting an entire movie for memory. It’s comforting to him because he knows that movie script will always sound the same no matter what. Other children may use this delayed echolalia as stimming because they are bored or are not tuned into the world around them so they retreat into their own world where Frozen is playing non-stop in their head and they can just tap into that and recite the character’s lines for entertainment. Should we Stop a Child from Using Echolalia as Stimming? Keep in mind that this is a pleasurable activity that the child enjoys and there’s nothing wrong with that. The child should be allowed to have some time during his day to use this echolalia as down time, just like you would allow a boy who loves playing ball some time to play with his basketball outside for some down time. However, there are certain times when it is not OK for a child to be using echolalia. This may be while the child is in class and the teacher is talking, or when the child is in a quiet location like the library or at church. It is not fair to exclude a child from these situations because he doesn’t know how to stop using echolalia so it can be important to help him understand when it’s OK and when it should wait. How to Help a Child with Disruptive Echolalia as Stimming The key to stopping echolalia that is self-stimulatory is to figure out why it’s happening. If the child is stimming with echolalia because he is stressed out, see if you can find alternative ways to de-stress the child. This may include reading him a social story about what’s going on around him or teaching him some calming strategies that will help him self-soothe in a quieter manner. If the child is using echolalia because he is bored or tuned out, it may be helpful to remind him to tune back in. For example, if he’s quoting movie scripts during class time, you could have an adult sitting next to him reminding him to focus on the teacher. Or, the teacher could frequently ask the child questions about what she is talking about to focus his attention back on her. You could also give the child a small fidget toy that will allow him to move his hands so he can focus on the teacher better. Helping a Child Remember Appropriate Times to Use Echolalia If the child doesn’t realize that he is using echolalia but is just doing it out of habit, you may need to teach the child rules about when it is ok to be talking and when it is not ok to talk. Then, have the teacher gently remind him of those rules when he is talking during a “no talk” time. Bringing his awareness to this and setting limits or rules may be enough to keep the child on track. Click here to learn more about managing stimming and other self-stimulatory behaviors. Shaping Echolalia Curriculum:Our structured “Shaping Echolalia” Curriculum is perfect for learning the strategies needed to support children who are using echolalia to communicate, including gestalt language processors. Shaping Echolalia CurriculumA Structured Program for GLPs and Other Children who Repeat and EchoView the Shaping Echolalia CurriculumListen to the Podcast about Echolalia: About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLPHi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers. Fun Fact: When I was in elementary school, there was a boy at my school with Down Syndrome. Everyone thought he was my brother because I had already decided that I loved helping others and was always helping him with anything and everything he needed. This love of helping blossomed into the amazing profession I have today! Connect with Me: The post Echolalia: What is Echolalia and How Can We Help? appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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Selective Mutism Curriculum for Social Skill Therapy — **Selective Mutism Treatment | Speech Therapy Plan and Activities** Apr 13, 2015
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Selective Mutism Treatment | Speech Therapy Plan and Activities
A child with selective mutism will speak in some situations (like home) but not in others (like at school).

What is the best selective mutism treatment?

How can we help them feel more comfortable communicating with others?

This page will outline the step-by-step selective mutism treatment plan and how it can be used to support children and teens with selective mutism.

Selective Mutism Curriculum
A Structured Program for Treating Selective Mutism in Children and Teens
View the Selective Mutism Treatment Curriculum
What is Selective Mutism and How is it Treated?
Selective mutism is a complex anxiety disorder that is characterized by a child’s consistent failure to speak in specific social situations in which there is an expectation for speaking (e.g., at school), despite speaking in other situations (e.g., at home).

As this is primarily an anxiety disorder, **treatment for selective mutism should be conducted by a full team that includes a mental health provider** along with the speech-language pathologist, the child’s caregivers, and the child’s teachers. This program should be completed with that full team.

Sample Goal for Selective Mutism Treatment:

By the end of the IEP cycle, Client will increase spoken communication in the classroom by achieving at least a 4 out of 5 on the following rubric scale as reported by her classroom teacher:

Rubric Scale: Over the past two weeks in the classroom, the student…
1 = Did not speak or communicate in other ways (pointing, gesturing, making sounds)
2 = Did not speak but did communicate in other ways (pointing, gesturing, making sounds)
3 = Spoke every once in a while and also communicated in other ways
4 = Sometimes spoke to participate in school/social activities, but not often
5 = Spoke frequently in the classroom, enough to participate in many school and social activities

Overview of Selective Mutism Treatment

**Environmental Modifications:** A variety of environmental modifications will be made to increase the client’s sense of control and self-sufficiency in order to reduce anxiety about speaking situations. These strategies include: increasing predictability of their routine, increasing their sense of control about what happens to them, and increasing their sense of self-sufficiency and independence.

**Identifying Motivation:** Client will work with trusted adults to identify three reasons for them to speak to others and three relaxation techniques that can be used to self-calm during anxious moments. *Note: Client will not be required to speak to participate in these activities. The client will be allowed to identify these strategies with pointing, gesturing, and nodding/shaking head (for yes/no questions) if needed.

**Gradual Changes:** Client will gradually increase their ability to communicate in more challenging situations through strategies such as exposure-based practice, desensitization, and shaping.

Step 1: Providing Environmental Modifications for Children with Selective Mutism
Since selective mutism is primarily an anxiety-based communication disorder, we can support children with selective mutism by modifying their environment to make them feel more comfortable.

Increasing Predictability: Children with anxiety and selective mutism often do better when they know what is going to happen. We can help by increasing the predictability of their day.

Increasing Sense of Control: Children with selective mutism may be choosing not to speak because they feel that they don’t have control over many other aspects of their life. Feeling like your anxiety and emotions are out of your control is a scary feeling! We can help by showing the child ways that they can feel more control in their day.

Increasing Independence: The more a child is able to do things independently, the more confident they will feel. We can help children with selective mutism feel more confident throughout their day by increasing their ability to do things independently. In turn, this will increase the likelihood that they will be willing to try hard things, like speaking to others.

Step 2: Identifying Motivation for Children with Selective Mutism
Talking is a great way to connect with the people around us. We can tell other people our ideas and they can tell us theirs. We can let others know what we need and participate in activities that we enjoy. But sometimes, talking to other people can be uncomfortable. We can work on gradually becoming more comfortable with talking to others.

In this phase of therapy, we will work with the child to identify their own reasons for why they may want to speak to others. We can also help them learn calming strategies that they can use if they start to feel overwhelmed.

Step 3: Gradually Expanding Speech for Children with Selective Mutism
Here’s the part of this plan where it’s going to change depending on each child’s needs. The goal here is to gradually increase their ability to speak in progressively more challenging situations. Since each child is different, you will start in different places and progress at different rates.

The key is to push the child a tiny bit out of their comfort zone at each new step, but not so far that you cause high levels of anxiety. Think of it like a bullseye. If we push too hard, we hit the outer ring where we may cause meltdowns or shut downs. We want to push them slightly out of their comfort zone but not too far.

How to Help Children with Selective Mutism take Baby Steps Toward Speaking:

Identify what the child can do right now – What type of communication is the child successful with right
now? Is there one adult that the child will talk to at school? Or is the child able to gesture or use some
other non-speech communication with others?

Take that and make it one tiny step farther – Take a look at the example progressions below. How can
you take the child’s successful interaction and move up one step? Only change one aspect of the
interaction at a time. For example, if the child can nod yes/no in the speech room, you could either have
them move up toward making sounds OR you could have them nod yes/no with another adult in the
room. But you wouldn’t try to change both at once. Keep in mind that you may have to try several
different things before you find one the child can do. Also, keep in mind that a child may not follow these
progressions in this order. They may find a different order easier. Go with what the child needs.

A Structured Curriculum for Selective Mutism Treatment:
Would you like a pre-made curriculum that covers all of these steps?

Our Selective Mutism Curriculum by Speech and Language Kids is a structured program that will walk you through these steps with a child with selective mutism.

Whether you’re a speech-language professional, parent, or other therapist, this Curriculum has everything you need to support gradual, confident communication for children with selective mutism.

Selective Mutism Curriculum
A Structured Program for Treating Selective Mutism in Children and Teens
View the Selective Mutism Treatment Curriculum
About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP
Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

**Connect with Me:**

The post Selective Mutism Treatment | Speech Therapy Plan and Activities appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

Early Childhood Podcast Episode Apr 06, 2015

Show notes

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills
Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics
Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems
Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community
Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks
Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings

To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below!

JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

The post Early Childhood Podcast Episode appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

How to Deal with Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom and Speech Therapy Room Mar 30, 2015

Show notes

Today we are joined by Karli Koning from http://www.behaviorpc.com/ to talk about challenging behavior problems in children. Karli explains how to figure out the function of a child’s behavior and use that information to help correct it.Listen to the interview here or keep scrolling to view the notes:

Show Notes:

ABC Model of Looking at Behaviors
- Removes the emotional component of dealing with behaviors
- A: Antecedent: What happens before the behavior occurs
- B: Behavior: Look at the actions of the child
- C: Consequence: Anything that happens after or as a result of the behavior
- Choose one type of behavior or situation to collect data on at any one time
Functions of Behaviors
- Try to analyze why the behavior happened
- Function is either to get something or avoid/escape something
Interventions
- Come up with a replacement behavior that you can teach them that will give them a more appropriate way to communicate that need
- Change the environment so the behavior is less likely to occur
- Make the old behavior less effective (don’t respond to that)
Reinforcement vs. Punishment
- Reinforcement will allow you to reinforce positive behaviors (the replacement behavior) whereas punishment applies a consequence for the old, inappropriate behavior
- There are some situations where punishment is necessary but you should always start by reinforcing the positive behavior and making the old behavior less effective
Match the replacement behavior to the skill level of the child

Get the Worksheets!

Don’t forget to download my awesome worksheets that will give you a place to collect data about the behaviors you are seeing and make your hypothesis about what the function of the behaviors is. Also, this handout includes replacement behaviors for each of the different functions so you can quickly and easily know what replacement behaviors to teach the child. Click the button below to download the handouts:

Click Here to Download the Behavioral Analysis Form and Replacement Behaviors Handouts

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills
Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics
Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems
Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community
Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks
Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings

To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below!

JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP TODAY!

The post How to Deal with Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom and Speech Therapy Room appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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Speech and Language Kids Podcast

Joint Attention Speech Therapy | Activities and Strategies

AAC Curriculum and Mini-Course

What is Joint Attention?

Why do we Work on Joint Attention in Speech Therapy?

How to Teach Joint Attention in Speech Therapy or at Home:

Joint Attention Step 1: Copy what the Child Does

Joint Attention Step 2: Find Something Motivating to the Child

Joint Attention Step 3: Reinforce Proximity

Joint Attention Step 4: Gradually Increase the Level of Engagement You Expect

Step 5: Gradually Increase the Amount of Time the Child is Engaged

Step 6: Gradually Increase the Variety of Activities that the Child will Share Attention During

Joint Attention Established! Let the Teaching Begin!

A Structured Curriculum for Teaching Joint Attention:

Early Interactions Curriculum

The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”

Listen to the Podcast on 5-Minute Sessions for Speech Sound RTI

How is RTI Used for Speech Sound Errors?

How to Do 5-Minute RTI Speech Therapy:

Step One: Schedule 5-Minute Blocks

Step Two: Create an Organizational System

Step Three: Choose One Speech Sound Target

Step Four: Therapy Sessions

Step Five: Rinse and Repeat

Pre-Made Curriculums and Materials for RTI Speech Therapy:

The Hardest Sounds: /r/, /s/, and “sh”

About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP

What is an SLPA?

What Training Does an SLPA Need?

What Can an SLPA Do?

Requirements for a Supervisor of an SLPA

How Should an SLPA be Supervised?

Support and Training For SLPAs

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Dyslexia Speech Therapy: How SLPs Can Help with Dyslexia

Free Activity: Main Idea and Details

What is Dyslexia?

Listen to the Dyslexia Podcast Episode:

What Causes Dyslexia?

How Does Speech Therapy Help Students with Dyslexia?

What Type of Speech Therapy Should be Provided for Children with Dyslexia

Speech Sound Errors

Phonological Awareness Skills:

Language Skill Deficits:

Free Activity: Main Idea and Details

About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP

Selective Mutism Treatment | Speech Therapy Plan and Activities

Selective Mutism Curriculum

What is Selective Mutism and How is it Treated?

Sample Goal for Selective Mutism Treatment:

Overview of Selective Mutism Treatment

Step 1: Providing Environmental Modifications for Children with Selective Mutism

Step 2: Identifying Motivation for Children with Selective Mutism

Step 3: Gradually Expanding Speech for Children with Selective Mutism

How to Help Children with Selective Mutism take Baby Steps Toward Speaking:

A Structured Curriculum for Selective Mutism Treatment:

Selective Mutism Curriculum

About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Show Notes:

Get the Worksheets!

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

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