Language Therapy
Welcome to the language therapy page.
This site page provides links to a series of web pages that feature a range of language intervention techniques that you can use in your school or at home with school-age students.
The names and details of all students have been changed
for confidentiality reasons. The therapy details are compiled from notes from dozens of therapy sessions with many different children, that I've completed over the years. But the techniques and strategies on the linked pages
are authentic and realistic depictions of real life, school-based language intervention, which I undertake
on a daily basis.
Many of you reading this page may have already visited the
free language activities
page,
and may have already downloaded some of the adobe files - in the form of
graphic organizers - that can be found there.
Well, the language intervention pages demonstrate, in some detail, how I actually use the graphic organizers. The information
is presented in the form of a typical therapy session, with all the myriad twists and turns that can occur
when working with children.
The graphic organizers I created are used to support my work in text based intervention, and I find them
highly useful and important tools.
Text-Based Language Intervention
Just to recap, text-based language intervention uses fiction and non-fiction children's books as a basis
for therapy. The books provide an excellent context for students to learn new words and difficult language concepts.
If you haven't yet read the information about
shared reading
as a language teaching tool I recommend
you leave this page, access the information there, and then return here.
Much of the language intervention I do is based on CRS,(communicative reading strategies) developed in the early 1990's by Janet Norris.
CRS has been shown to significantly improve language disordered students'
oral and written language abilities. (Badon, 1993; DeKemel, 2003; Ezell, 1995;)
Janet Norris' early work has been adapted, used and expanded by several prominent school-based speech pathologist/researchers since then, such as
Geraldine Wallach,
Teresa Ukrainetz, Carol Westby and
Kathryn DeKemel,
among others.
Authentic, Real Life Conversations
Each page features me (the clinician) engaging with a student. The conversational exchanges are authentic in that they have been compiled from audio recordings and notes I've taken over the years.
In a real life language intervention session not everything goes to plan, and I have to sometimes think quickly to avoid going down a conversational dead end.
Often, students with language impairment give single word responses or just sit, say nothing, and appear confused. I often have to paraphrase and reword instructions to suit the individual child. The transcripts, I think, accurately reflect some of that real life difficulty.
Graphic Organizers
I have shaped and modified much of what I have learned
from reading the above authors' material, and fashioned graphic organizers to help students
better understand written language, and how it is constructed.
Please scroll down to access the links to the language therapy pages.
Language Therapy Pages
Ages 5-7
Phonological Awareness:
Identifying and producing rhyme.
Ages 8-10
Semantics Intervention:
Word and World Knowledge.
Syntax:
The sentence and its structural importance to reading comprehension.
Story Grammar
Narrative activities that provide meaning and structure to text.
Inference:
To fully grasp the deeper meaning of written text, readers must use inference.
Ages 11-14
Figurative Language:
Identifying simile and metaphor in text.
Non-Fiction Text: Identifying text structures in science and social studies.
References
Collins Essential Dictionary and Thesaurus (2007) Harper Collin Publishers
DeKemel, K.P. (2003) Intervention in Language Arts: A Practical Guide for Speech-Language Pathologists. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Kaderavek, J & Justice, L.M. (2002) Shared Storybook Reading as an Intervention Context: Practices and Potential Pitfalls. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Vol 11. 395-406.
Norris, J.A. (1991) From Frog to Prince: Using Written Language as a Context for Language Learning, Topics in Language Disorders. Vol 12, 66-81
Wallach, G.P. (2008) Language Intervention for School-Age Students: Setting Goals for Academic Success. Mosby Elsevier
Wagner, R.K. Muse, A.E. & Tannenbaum, K.R. (2007) Vocabulary Acquisition: Implications for Reading Comprehension. The Guilford Press
Content Last Modified 8/11
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