Vocabulary using Active Involvement

We are excited to have added Rebecca Silverman and Anna Harnanft’s new book Developing Vocabulary and Oral Language in Young Children (2015) to our arsenal of vocabulary tools.  In it, Drs. Silverman and Harnanft share several activities for reinforcing vocabulary including “Example/Non-Example,” “Related Words,” and “Double Jeopardy.” All of these activities require…

The SLP and SOAP Notes

In private practice, treatment notes are an important part of what we do.  It allows us to chart the progress of our students, keep on track with treatment, plan for future sessions and re-evaluate our methods each time we work with a student.Traditionally these notes are done by hand, but the new wave is to keep track electronically.  In order to record notes, first and foremost, you must have…

Guide to Explore InferCabulary’s Extensive Book Collection 

At InferCabulary, we encourage teachers to use stories as a method to reinforce vocabulary development for young readers. And we know that when students already deeply know words contained in those stories, they are far better prepared to comprehend what they read. Teachers can organize our extensive catalog of Tier Two and academic words by specific books, filtering a book title that is…

A Dyslexic’s Mother’s Day Essay

Deena Seifert, MS, CCC-SLP Get the tissues ready.  Anyone who parents or tutors a child with dyslexia and/or language-learning differences knows what a struggle it can be and will appreciate this.I got a text message from my high school senior while I was at work this morning.  She had a school paper she left at home. I want you to grab the paper on my bedside table.  My first thought was -…

Activities to Support Vocabulary Development

Now that you have a great user-friendly vocabulary definition, how do you help your students “own” the meanings? How do you support their learning of these vocabulary terms? Beck, McKeown and Kucan’s Bringing Words to Life is one of several books we love that gives practical suggestions for supporting vocabulary learning. In it, the authors give activities that can be used to support the…

High School Seniors & Vocabulary Instruction

InferCabulary is being used in various learning settings to help educators improve their students' background knowledge, vocabulary, and critical thinking so they become better readers, listeners, and speakers. InferCabulary is being used by high school seniors:  InferCabulary is part of the daily routine for Anne Spencer’s senior English class. The students usually spend the first 10…

The Puzzle Method and Writing

Deena Seifert,M.S., CCC-SLP Beth shared The Puzzle Method with us, which helps writers develop main ideas and key details.  I've borrowed her puzzle idea and started using it with my elementary school writers who are writing sentences to describe pictured situations.  Sometimes students are overwhelmed with the many actions in a picture and don't know where to start. "Taking a page" from…

InferCabulary- Vocabulary Research References

InferCabulary is based on the latest vocabulary research. These researchers are literacy, cognitive psychology and speech language experts who have helped to support and inspire our research. References Alt, M., Plante, E., & Creusere, M. (2004). Semantic features in fast-mapping: Performance of preschoolers with specific language impairment versus preschoolers with normal…

It’s All in the Planning – Writing Strategies

The most difficult part of any task that you don't enjoy doing, is getting started. For struggling writers, working on a paragraph or paper is low on the list of "Fun Things To Do" or maybe not there at all.  So, the challenge is to make it fun or at least not frustrating. When you are baking a cake, you need a recipe. When you are putting together a swing set, you need the directions.…