Halloween will be here soon! This is a big holiday for the kids I work with! They can’t wait to tell me about their costumes and about trick-or-treating. Be sure the word retrieval kids on your caseload have the words they need to tell about their costume, their classroom party, and trick-or treating. Have them practice describing their costumes using the specific words they need: Wig, make-up, skeleton, Frankenstein, mummy. To promote word retrieval, it’s not enough to have them know what the words mean. They need to say them aloud repeatedly. Remember that the most important factors in retrieval are frequency of use and recency of use. So have the kids use those words a lot, and review them repeatedly. I edited this post from October, 2014, because it describes once again the need to practice Halloween vocabulary AHEAD of the time kids need their words.
I make little trick-or-treat bags out of brown paper sandwich bags. I have a collection of miniature Halloween objects that the kids draw from a plastic jack-o-lantern. Some items are simply pictured or written on a slip of paper. Whatever item they choose, they name it and make a sentence. I individualize the vocabulary to include words highlighting their own costumes and activities.
When you can anticipate the vocabulary words needed, phonological mnemonic cues are highly effective. Use the strategy described in the Word Finding Intervention Program (Diane German, Pro Ed). The technique is described in detail here: https://www.wordfindingforkids.com/an-endorsement-from-the-word-finding-guru/
I make little index cards for the younger kids, and older children can make their own. Write the target word, write it out in syllables, then associate a common, easily-retrieved word with the “evasive syllables.” With my early elementary aged kids, I call this the “small words strategy,” or “using an easy word to remember a hard word.” We write the cue words in a “thinking bubble”. The older kids enjoy using the term “mnemonic cue.”
So to remember the word “cauldron,” I associate “caul” with a picture of a witch on a cell phone (“call”). For “coffin,” I use a mummy in a coffin, “coughin'” because he is stuck in the coffin. I try to use as many modalities as I can The cue word needs to be similar sounding to the target word, but doesn’t need to be similar in meaning. However, if you can come up with a clue that is also similar in meaning, so much the better. I try to use as many modalities as possible: What does the written word look like? What does the vocabulary item look like? What does it sound like? What does it smell like? Try to make as many neural connections as possible.
After you (or the child) adds a cue, have him say the target word aloud. Think the cue word, but say the target word. Have him write a sentence using the word. He now has a cue card for the word that had previously been difficult to retrieve. At the beginning of the school year, I like to send home a “word finding envelope” to keep his cards in. That also serves as a notice to parents about what we worked on in speech therapy that day.
Once you have mnemonic cues for a word, repeat, repeat, repeat. Have the child say the word aloud 5 times. Use it in a sentence. Can you think of a simple song that uses the word? Watch for opportunities to use the word in connected speech. You will soon have a child who can discuss Halloween with confidence!
Please share your Halloween word finding cues! I will add them to the drop-down menu on the home page (“vocabulary list for mnemonic cues” on the top left).