“Twerking” Has Been Around for a While

Vocabulary instruction tends to be humdrum and predictable not only for students, but for teachers, as well. Recently, the Oxford Dictionary added 500 new words to it's pages. If I find this fact interesting maybe my students will, too. Think about inspiring your students to have some fun with vocabulary by learning new words recently added and researching why.  For instance, Miley Cyrus didn't…

SLP

A web-based vocabulary tool that works on your laptop, tablet and phone! Teach from our growing list of over 2000 words for grades K-12. Image and audio-based learning is perfect for students with decoding difficulties. See How it Works…

Written Language – Improving Sentence Structure

Deena Seifert, MS, CCC-SLP In our last post on written language, we talked about finding a great writing program to use as a guideline. No program is perfect for every situation and not all students learn the same way. So, it's important to draw from as many sources as you can and find what works not only for each student but for your teaching style.Many of the students we work with fall back…

Vocabulary in Literature

The goal of assigning books for your students is not just so they can read some really amazing works of literature, but to boost reading comprehension and vocabulary. Did you know that students in grades 3-12 are reading to learn?. That means most vocabulary is acquired by reading. Here are some eye-opening facts from vocabulary researchers - Good readers read approximately one million words…

SLP

A web-based vocabulary tool that works on your laptop, tablet and phone! Teach from our growing list of over 2000 words for grades K-12. Image and audio-based learning is perfect for students with decoding difficulties. See How it Works…

Blended Learning in the Age of Covid-19

While blended learning has been a leading trend in education the past few years, the transition to distance and/or hybrid learning due to school closures has made educators and school leaders reimagine blended learning for these learning environments. One publication that presented a number of insights on the topic is the popular Education Week blog Classroom Q&A, which asked teachers to…

The Word Gap

There is no such thing as starting too early on your child's vocabulary skills. Twenty years ago two researchers, Betty Hart and Todd Risley "The Early Catastrophe" study showed that some three year old children heard 30 million less words than others. 30 million - wow! This has been called the "thirty million words project" or "word gap." Parents can help their young children (infants and…

Using Technology to Help Students Edit Written Work

Speech-language pathologists spend much of their written language instruction time having students construct compound and complex sentences, develop pre-writing strategies, and write a variety of paragraphs.  One area that can sometimes fall by the wayside is editing written work. It's a time-consuming process that students don't enjoy - I mean, who does? One strategy I use with my students…