I Didn't Go! BLOG HOP! - Speech Time Fun: Speech and Language Activities

Are you like me and did not go to ASHA this year?! Whether it is not your thing, financial, can't take time away from family/work, it is OK! There are still MANY ways to join in the ASHA fun! This “I didn't go!” blog hop is one such way! Your favorite SLP bloggers/TpT sellers that have stayed back have joined together to keep the fun alive right from home!

Now…let's play let's pretend. Pretend you are at ASHA and I was presenting (I am SO not a public speaker so this would not happen, sorry!) What would I talk about? What would you want to hear? What do I feel comfortable enough to share with the ASHA participants?

Making Comprehension Activities More “Speechie”

I am always trying to distinguish between myself, a resource room teacher and a reading specialist. Yes, we do similar things and we have the ultimate goal the same, academic success, but we are different. We have a background in language development. We have skills and knowledge those specialists do not. We understand why our students cannot achieve certain comprehension tasks. Let's think about this one….

Why are our students struggling with comprehension tasks?

They may have an auditory processing weakness.
They may not comprehend the questions asked of them.
They may not understand directions.
They may be too distracted to complete a task.
Poor reading skills can interfere.
Inability to express responses.
Poor writing skills can impact ability to respond in written form.
Literal learners and have a difficult time thinking abstractly about a text or information presented.
Weak memory.
And so much more!

Wow there are a lot of ways our students can exhibit difficulties during comprehension tasks!! It is so important to be detectives and find out why they are struggling.

How are some ways I target these difficulties in a “speechie” way?!

I use graphic organizers to help students organize their thoughts and information heard/read.
I model how to “think about your thinking” by having an external dialogue while I answer questions.
Visual aids on steps on how to respond and what to look for with the different types of questions.
Practice tasks with background noise.
Provide sentence strips on how to respond to the different question types with expanded answers.

Stay tuned to future blog posts about some of these ways I make my comprehension activities more “speechie!”

Do you feel like you got the ASHA experience?! Now time to continue the blog hop! Only one more stop to go! Click HERE or the image below to get there!