If California congressman Kevin McCarthy becomes Speaker of the House, succeeding John Boehner, we may just have some free advertising for word finding therapy:
Is he experiencing word finding difficulties? Republicans and Democrats in Washington can’t agree on much, but I think we can agree on this! Stay tuned for some more examples of word finding challenges that we can use to teach awareness.
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized
Word finding therapy should focus on the types of errors your client exhibits. This is another in my series of 3 posts after listening to Dr. Diane German’s presentation at the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ISHA) Convention on Saturday, Feb 14, “Picture Naming is Not Enough to Identify Semantic and Phonological Word-Finding Errors.”
Yep…Valentine’s Day in an ISHA seminar- how romantic.
You can read my post about Type 1 errors here: https://www.wordfindingforkids.com/differential-diagnosis-in-word-finding/ Dr. German calls Type 1 errors “slip of the tongue.”
Type 2 Errors are “tip of the tongue” errors. These are the s-l-o-w retrievers. These word finders experience a lot of delays and time fillers “…uh, um, it’s a…..uh, you know….”. They may say things like “It starts with a t” or “Wait a minute, I know it”. They may not provide an answer at all. They may use gestures that tell you they know the word for which they are searching (e.g., pounding to indicate “hammer”) or secondary characteristics of frustration such as hitting their fist on their thigh, snapping their fingers, or looking up to the ceiling. These “tip of the tongue” errors are perhaps the most common word finding errors.
Children who experience Type 2 errors are more likely to err on less common words. The words may be longer in length than Type 1 errors and may come from less dense phonological neighborhoods. In other words, there aren’t a lot of words that sound similar to them. In oral reading, their errors reflect the same patterns: lower frequency words with less common phonological patterns. Errors on irregular past tense verbs can be a red flag for Type 2 errors. Another potential difficulty is labeling a category.
In conversational speech, these are the students who fail to provide pronoun referents. They come home from school and tell their parents, “She took us there today.” Who is “she”? And where is “there?”. They talk about “guys” and “thingies” and “stuff.” “Doohickies” and “whatchamacallits” are among their favorite terms.
Phonemic cues are highly effective for Type 2 word finders. They often retrieve the word when their listener provides the beginning consonant+vowel or first syllable of the word for which they are searching. Dr. German explains that this “jump starts” the search process in the brain.
So how can we help a child learn to cue himself when he experiences these Type 2 errors? Try to help him anticipate the vocabulary words he will need and provide phonemic cues for the more difficult words (described here: https://www.wordfindingforkids.com/an-endorsement-from-the-word-finding-guru/ ) . Errors of this type suggest that a child needs a stronger connection between the word’s meaning and its phonological representation. So repeat, repeat, repeat!
But what about words he has not anticipated? Some students help themselves by silently going through the alphabet and thinking of beginning sounds (NOT letters, but sounds). Help him learn to use specific words so his listener can understand his intent. If he makes a lot of gestures, help him realize that those gestures help provide a path to the word he needs. Practice automatic associations, categories, and common word associations. Encourage him to repeat the word aloud once he “finds” it.
Please remember that retrieval is affected by frequency of use and recency of use. Help a child plan ahead: what words will he need? Practice those words aloud!
Please go to Dr. German’s website http://wordfinding.com/ for more info.
Posted in Awareness, Identification, Strategies, Uncategorized
With the massive snows that are covering much of the country, this is a good time to republish the dialog I wrote to increase awareness of word finding difficulties:
There are more dialogs on my resources and materials page: https://www.wordfindingforkids.com/resources-and-materials/
Let’s hope we don’t need to use these words for much longer!
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized
I mentioned last week that phonological mnemonics are powerful aids for word finding. Pairing “easy words” with “hard words” has been shown to promote word retrieval [source: German, D. J., Schwanke, J. K., & Ravid, R. (2012). Word Finding: Differentiated vocabulary instruction in the speech and language room. Communications Disorders Quarterly, 33(3), 146-156]. You can refer to the drop down vocabulary menu from the blue bar at the top of this page for a list of cues I have used or others have suggested to me.
When you can anticipate the vocabulary a child needs, the mnemonics are my strategy of choice. But what about those times a child gets stuck on a word he hasn’t practiced?
A child needs a variety of strategies to help himself come up with target words. It’s important to match the strategy to his/her individual needs. I try to watch for those times a child encounters a word finding problem during a therapy session. As soon as possible, I ask him to tell me how he came up with the target word. “How did you get there?” Did he visualize the context of the word he needed? For example, if he was trying to come up with the word “touchdown” did he visualize a football game? If she was trying to come up with the word “pommel horse” did she visualize her gymnastics studio? Did he remember the initial sound in the word? Did she remember the category to which the word belonged?
In my next few posts, I’ll talk about the different strategies I have found successful. I have used 2 acronyms for these strategies: The first is FAVOR-C (“Do yourself a favor and see these word finding strategies in your mind”).
F Fill in the blank
A Associations
V Visualize
O Opposites and synonyms
R Reflective pause
C Categories
The second is “Silly Sally Always Draws Fuzzy Pandas.” Thanks to my colleagues Sarah Mendoza and Tara Brooks Baron for coming up with this cute acronym:
You will notice the strategies aren’t the same on both lists. You may want to make modifications of your own. Think about what strategies the child finds most helpful. Obviously older kids may be more comfortable with FAVOR-C; younger ones may like “Silly Sally.” I’ll give some examples of activities I have used with each of these strategies in future posts.
Posted in Awareness, Strategies, Uncategorized
Word retrieval in the media!! From ESPN today, October 29 – Grantland.com gave a perfect example of a word finding difficulty you can share with your young (or old) sports fans:
After butting heads for two seasons, Mike Leach and Connor Halliday have finally found common ground — and air. Now, the passing records are starting to fall.
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized
Hooray! The TWF-3 is now available! In my first post, I mentioned that I was postponing discussing “identification” of children with word finding difficulties until I had discussed “awareness.” The 3rd edition of the Test of Word Finding, by Dr. Diane German, is now available (published by Pro Ed; see below), and now is a good time to discuss how to identify children who need word finding intervention. I have to disclose that I have not yet administered the TWF-3; my experience up to this point has been with the TWF-2.
The TWF-3 is a valid and reliable test to identify children who experience word finding difficulties when naming individual words. The TWF-2 has definitely been my instrument of choice to administer when I suspect word retrieval difficulties. I can’t wait to use the TWF-3! Some SLPs also look at the discrepancy between receptive and expressive vocabulary scores. This can be tricky – you may not be actually comparing comprehension and retrieval of the same words.
In addition to the Word Finding Index derived from the Test of Word Finding, I think it is important to look at the informal information the test provides:
Phonemic Cueing: Is the child able to provide the correct response when you provide the beginning sound or syllable? If so, he almost certainly has the item in his lexicon. This is a big red flag telling you “I know that word, I just couldn’t get it out!” I frequently include a narrative in my evaluation reports describing the number of words that a child named correctly once he was provided with a cue.
Imitation: Is he able to repeat multi-syllable words once he hears you model them? This is an easy way to distinguish children with retrieval problems from children with motor-planning problems.
Delayed Response Procedure: How many words were correct, but delayed? Some kids name words quickly, but make errors and self-corrections. Others are frequently very slow.
Secondary Characteristics Tally: What facial expressions or body language did the the child display that suggested he was having difficulty coming up with a word? Did he look up to the ceiling? Did he make a fist and pound his thigh to get the word out? A perceptive SLP notices the differences between a child “stuck” retrieving a word vs. a disfluent child who is displaying secondary characteristics associated with stuttering.
All of these informal analyses can be applied to the child’s spontaneous speech. Listen to his or her expressive language. What do you hear and see when he is describing his visit to the library or his experience during his last soccer game? Does he seem frustrated trying to convey his experiences? Does he use a lot of vague words (guys, stuff, things)? It is extremely important to remember that there are some children who experience word retrieval difficulties in their connected speech even if they don’t experience difficulties naming individual items. Please don’t discount “word finding” as an area of difficulty based on a child’s TWF score alone.
We can look at a child’s word finding in a more “connected speech” context by using The Test of Word Finding in Discourse. This test, also published by Pro Ed, is quick to administer but very time-consuming to analyze. I tend to use the non-standardized procedures described in the manual, and look at the child’s delays, self-corrections, and substitutions compared to typical children. To be honest, a busy school-based SLP has a difficult time spending the time required to transcribe and analyze the connected speech samples the TWF in Discourse requires.
I have found I get a great deal of information in a shorter time by using 2 observation checklists I developed. My starting point was Dr. German’s “Word Finding Referral Checklist,” published in 1993 by Word Finding Materials, Inc.. I adapted some items from the checklist, and tried to quantify responses by asking teachers and parents to label behaviors as occurring “often,” “sometimes,” or “rarely or never.” I have kept data for several years, and am finding that the responses correlate fairly well with TWF-2 scores. They also identify some children who are experiencing word finding in their spontaneous speech (word finding in “discourse”) even if they are able to name individual words efficiently.
Maybe a more practical use of these checklists is AWARENESS. I have encountered parents who were totally unaware of their child’s word finding difficulties come to IEP meetings and say, “It never occurred to me that these things could be due to ‘word finding’”. I’ve also had teachers come back to me with the checklist and say, “these behaviors describe my student exactly.” I feel like they open up a discussion about what the child is experiencing when he has trouble expressing himself. It is especially interesting to see how a teacher’s observations correlates (or doesn’t correlate) with a parent’s.
I have posted the “Classroom Teacher’s Observations of Word Finding Behaviors” and the “Parent’s Observations of Word Finding Behaviors” in the materials/resources page of this blog. Please feel free to use them. I would very much like your data if you do choose to use them. Eventually, I would love to develop norms for the responses. Let me know if you find them to be helpful.
Sources:
German, D. J. (2015). Test of Word Finding, Third Edition (TWF-3). Austin, Texas: Pro-ed.
Observation checklists adapted from German, D.J. & German, A. E. (1993) Word Finding Referral Checklist (WFRC), Long Grove, IL: Word Finding Materials, Inc.
Posted in Awareness, Identification, Uncategorized
Tagged word finding, word retrieval
Need some ideas about finding word finding difficulties in the media? Look no further than Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential debate in 2011. There is a great video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvmKnFY4uk. It was a huge “oops.” Have you seen Southwest Airlines’ commercial about “winglets”? It ends with, “Thank you, little doohickies.” What about the Geico gecko? It was a marketing stroke of genius to associate the gecko with their company name.
Recent American Express commercials on the radio used similar-sounding words in their sales pitch: The harried mom who tells her kids they’re pulling up to the SPA instead of school, the man who is yearning for vacation and orders a sky dive instead of small fries and a beach bag instead of a Big Mac. My speech kids were astounded to realize that the commercials are basically using word finding substitutions. I wanted to use the example of the grandma who plans an “erotic vacation” instead of an “exotic” one, but R-rated examples weren’t on my agenda.
I challenge the kids to go home and watch and listen for other examples. One of my favorite stories is the 2nd grader who “outed” her dad because he couldn’t come up with the word “cornucopia.” She told him he needed a word finding cue…and then taught him the mnemonic corn/coke like we’d learned in speech.
Finding these similar-sounding “word confusions” in the media will help your students be aware that everyone confuses words sometimes. As they become more aware, they will begin the process of taking responsibility for their own word finding mistakes. That is the first step on the road to mastering their own difficulties and being good self-advocates.
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized
If you are old enough to remember the original Test of Word Finding, you will recall that Diane German divided responders into 4 quadrants: fast and accurate, fast and inaccurate, slow and accurate, slow and inaccurate. The type of intervention we use will depend on the type of word finding difficulties an individual child experiences. Even though the TWF-2 (and now, the TWF-3) doesn’t place children on the grid, looking at their errors in conversation can give us a lot of helpful information.
For those children who tend to overuse vague words (stuff, guy, thingy, whatchamacallit), I use a number of activities to increase their awareness of the changes they need to make. I start with having them identify errors in my speech. I provide a list of ambiguous sentences like these:
I found it in the thing.
Where did you put my whatchamacallit?
She put the thingie in her backpack.
I need to buy a something-or-other.
I saw a guy put it in his locker.
What different reactions we might have to the first sentence if “it” is an ice cream bar in the freezer or “it” is a threatening note in my backpack. If your friend asks you if you want a “thingie,” you’d better know what that “thingie” is before you answer.
So next we create our own ambiguous sentences and discuss using “exact” or “specific” words as opposed to “vague” words.
I also use this visual. Our homework is to listen to others and write down an example of another person using a vague word. This is also an opportunity to remind kids that no one likes to be corrected in front of others. Just discretely write it down (or dictate it into their iPad, for students in a technology-lucky classroom). Now it’s your turn….how do you increase AWARENESS of vague words?
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized
Where do I start?
Where do I start with this blog? I want to focus on word finding, or word retrieval, in children. There are so many ideas I want to share! I also want to provide a forum for you to air your concerns and successes. This is a place to share your ideas. The obvious starting point is identifying children appropriately. I’m going to save that topic for a future post, however. I think a lot of SLPs want practical ideas they can use in therapy right away.
So where do I start when I have a new speech therapy client and have identified word finding as a goal area? So often, we jump straight into expressive language activities. I feel very strongly, however, that we first need to get our young friend on board: if he is to be successful in therapy, he needs to be aware of why he is here and why it will benefit him.
When we begin articulation therapy, we first make sure a child can discriminate the “old” sound from the “new” sound, right? Shouldn’t we also be sure a child can recognize what a “word finding problem” is? Shouldn’t he be able to “discriminate” when he is stuck on a target word and when he is using the correct vocabulary word?
Step # 1 is AWARENESS. A child in language therapy needs to be aware that there is such a thing as a “word finding problem.” EVERYONE has word finding difficulties at some point in time….Mom, Dad , teachers, coaches, smart kids, cool kids. But if these difficulties occur too often, they can really interfere with our trying to express ourselves.
No child wants to be confronted with his difficulties when he first meets the new SLP. We have to strike the delicate balance between helping him become aware of his challenges and making him feel like a failure. So I start by helping him listen for the word finding difficulties others have.
Look at the media! TV and radio commercials are full of examples. His “speech homework” can be to find an example of a character in a favorite show stymied by getting stuck on the word he needs. At home, if he can catch his parent calling him a sibling’s name, he realizes that we are all “word finders.” Likewise, what about the teacher who says, “After math, we will go to music…I mean art”?
I have created a number of dialogs that I use to help my WF students become more aware of the types of word finding problems they may experience. You can write them yourself. The more specific they are to an individual child, the more meaningful they are. But I have provided one for you to get started on my “resources” page. Have the kids read it themselves, or read it to them and have them push a button to identify a WF “mistake.”
What ideas have you used to create AWARENESS of word finding challenges? Please share!
Posted in Awareness, Uncategorized