Are your speech students required to use evidence when answering comprehension questions in the classroom?
This tends to be a common theme around my school. Β Students are required to demonstrate how they developed their responses. Β Yes, we are SLPs not ELA or reading teachers but we still can help target this skill in the therapy room.
I call it…expressing evidence!
Let's take out the reading and writing and it can be fun and a great way to work on this skill (and teachers will be super grateful!)
What is the biggest challenge, teaching your students how to express it in a complete sentence. Β My students tend to know the vocabulary word “evidence” since they hear it often in their classrooms. Β They also HATE looking back into a text to find their answers. Β So, I find motivating texts that are below their reading levels to help them.
I got these reading file folder activities from Lakeshore Learning. Β These are great for reading activities to target a specific skill. Β They come with a graphic organizer that you can write on with a dry erase marker or photocopy. Β I don't give the graphic organizer until after we read the story together. Β Before we read, we preview the title and the images. Β Students get to predict what they think the story will be about. Β I write down their predictions on my dry erase board. Β This turns this “boring” activity into a bit of a competition. Β Then, we read the story together one paragraph at a time. Β After each paragraph, my students have to tell me in a word or phrase the main idea or what the author its trying to tell us. Β Then, they had to tell me how it was related to the title. Β Once the story was completed, I handed out the graphic organizer. Β At this point, the students already recognized a common theme since we kept referring to the title as we read each paragraph. Β They also got to easily see how the title can help them with the main idea.


