Word Finding for Kids.com

Here are two choices for inaugurate and inauguration.   Knock/rays/sun and knock/your/eight:   Which one would be more meaningful to your students?  My own views notwithstanding, on Friday we will inaugurate a new president.  Use these mnemonic cues to help retrieve these multi-syllable words.

Looking ahead to the new year?  Be ready when school resumes next week.  A lot of classrooms will be talking about “resolutions” in early January.  Here are two possible cues for re/sol/u/tion:

Red/sold (like a “sold” sign in front of a house) or red/salt (in the upper right hand corner of the picture).  The picture is tiny…there is “red salt” sprinkling out of a salt shaker.  I actually bring a salt shaker with red sugar and have the kids sprinkle it on the table for red/salt/u/tion.  It’s so good to get all those different senses involved!

Remember to make the syllables very explicit.  Clap them, tap them, pound the table, hop up and down.  Repeat, repeat, repeat!  And don’t forget to have fun!

I hope you saw last week’s post with Christmas and Hanukkah word finding cues.  Here’s the link: https://www.wordfindingforkids.com/prepare-for-the-holidays/ . Present Christmas and Hanukkah word finding cues NOW so your speech therapy kids have the holiday vocabulary they need at their fingertips.  Listen to their own language:  what activities they are anticipating?  What do they want for Christmas?  What are their plans for winter break?

Remember that the most significant determiners of ease of retrieval are frequency of use and recency of use.  The kids on your caseload may not have used words like wreath, reindeer, and Frosty since last year.  They don’t need cues for every word, just the ones that are evasive for them.  I love to sing Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs with the kids to reinforce vocabulary.  The rhythm, rhyme, and familiar tunes are a recipe for successful retrieval.   Obviously, that activity will depend on the religious culture of your caseload!

New Year’s will also be upon us before school resumes in January…stay tuned next week for cues for “resolution”!

[Originally published on December 3, 2014…]

It’s time to plan ahead and pre-teach vocabulary needed during the next few weeks.  In what activities will your students be participating?  What special classroom and family events are planned?  What are their traditions?  I like to play some games that use some vocabulary common to most of my students.  Each student makes a stocking from construction paper, then draws a picture from a pile that includes:

ornament                    greenery                     wreath                    frost                    garland                    celebrate                   celebration                    custom

tradition                       holly                             mistletoe               carol                    sleigh                       pine cone                  candy cane                   Advent

poinsettia                     nativity                       Hanukkah              menorah            dreidl                       gelt                             resolution                    blizzard

tinsel                             mantle                        Kwanzaa                toy names that are on their “wish list”

I have drawn pictures of many of these objects or used Google images.  Old Christmas cards are also a great source of pictures.  Your students may want to bring in photos of some of their own family activities.  It’s so much easier now that most families have smart phones!  Ask your speech parents to email you some family photos to add to the mix.  Younger children will enjoy manipulating real objects.  The child should name the object and use the word in a sentence.

Any vocabulary that is difficult to retrieve will need to be reviewed  and mnemonic cues provided if necessary.*  Obviously, not every word needs  a cue.   I have listed some of the cues I have presented in the drop down menu at the top of this page.  Please email me with additional cues and I will add them to the spreadsheet.

Don’t forget that the curriculum will move forward during this time as well.  Check in regularly with your classroom teachers and be sure you pre-teach vocabulary words to your “word finders.”    Review often and be sure the kids say the words aloud.  You will find they are much more successful at retrieving the words they need to communicate with their friends, families, and teachers.  And successful communication helps build happy kids!

*The “cloud” cards (I all them “thinking bubbles”) are from the Word Finding Intervention Program, Second Edition, German, 2005  . Please refer to my “resources” page for additional information.

Please welcome guest blogger Laura Mantoan, a speech/language pathologist from Northbrook, IL:

Laura writes….

Self-advocacy is a key part of word finding that becomes increasingly important as our students approach high school. I work in a middle school (grades 6-8) and, with 14 years of experience and Diane German’s Word Finding Intervention Program – Second Edition to guide my word finding intervention, I now place a lot of focus on this very piece of the word finding puzzle.

My ultimate goal for students with word finding difficulties is to make sure each child has a full understanding of what word finding is, how it impacts them with regards to school, and what they can do about it. Enter the “Speech Journal.” Almost all of my 7th and 8th graders, depending on cognitive and language abilities, have a “Speech Journal.” This journal is created as a Google Doc and shared with me. I then provide 8 possible prompts on which the students can reflect– 4 ways in which their word finding is facilitated, and 4 ways in which their word finding is impaired (see below). The students are then required to reflect on at least one prompt each week. While I do not expect the students to write a paragraph-long reflection, I do expect a few quality sentences. We then review the reflection together to discuss how it is related to word finding. I also write an IEP goal that aligns with this self-advocacy piece of word finding and, in my experience, 7th and 8th graders seem better equipped to reflect on their word finding skills, which is why it is a focus for those grade levels.  

In my opinion, students with word finding difficulties need to understand what parts of their school experience facilitate and impair their word finding and what they can do about it on their own. My expectation is that someday they will no longer need weekly speech language support to learn and review strategies, but instead will be able to manage their word finding on their own.

Laura Mantoan, M.A., CCC-SLP

Here are Laura’s journal prompts:

wf-impaired-and-facilitated-list  (in a chart format)

My Word Finding was Impaired

• I had a WF error (block, substitution error, twist of the tongue error).

• During a verbal explanation, my thoughts were unclear, disorganized, and I did not use specific words, powerful words, or terminology from class.

• Test Formats:
  • There was no Word Bank
  • Fill in the blank
  • Short answer

• I had limited time to give a response or take a test.

My Word Finding was Helped

I used a WF strategy (SSC, SSMC, FWC, synonym, described the word, visualized, paused

During a verbal explanation, my thoughts were clear, organized, and I used specific words, powerful words, or terminology from class.

• Test Formats:
  • There was a Word Bank
  • Multiple Choices

• I had extended time to respond or take a test.

I love Laura’s ideas!  I’m going to start word finding journals for my own middle school and high school clients.  If you want to respond directly to Laura, her email is mantoan.l@nb27.org.  You can also send a respond to this blog, and I will pass it on.

I’m always interested in what “non-SLP” media report about language.  Check this out from Business Insider –

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-it-hard-to-speak-and-keep-eye-contact-2016-11?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds

Researchers in Japan asked participants to maintain eye contact while coming up with associations for given words. It took participants longer to think of connections when eye contact was required.  However, the effect was only significant when trying to make weak connections, the type of associations that require conscious thought.   They posited that it requires cognitive effort to maintain eye contact.  Therefore, if you need mental effort to retrieve a word, the two cognitive tasks come into conflict, using up your brain’s resources.

If it is hard for neurotypical people to maintain eye contact when coming up with words associations, think of how difficult it must be for our kids with specific language impairment  or autism.

Think of people you know who close their eyes when trying hard to concentrate.  They may be on to something!

It’s the 7th game of the World Series!  If you aren’t a Cubs fan (or you don’t work with any Cubs fans) you can stop reading now…

I should have written this post 2 weeks ago so you could introduce World Series vocabulary.  Better late than never?

The Chicago Cubs have taken the city (and suburbs!) by storm.  Since word finding is all about being able to speak fluidly with one’s peers, teachers, and family, it is important for kids to have the words they need to communicate about this once-in-a-century event!  However,  I repeatedly remind you that word retrieval is all about frequency of use and recency of use.   Therefore, your students may not need any help coming up with those exciting terms they want to use.  They are hearing the baseball vocabulary so frequently that those neurons are already primed!

Have fun tomorrow talking about the game.  If your speech kids are sports fans, help them have the language to discuss the World Series with their peers.  It should be a happy day!

As Halloween approaches, be sure to review the vocabulary your language therapy kids will need.  Remember, they don’t need mnemonic cues for everything!   Since retrieval is impacted largely by frequency of use and recency of use, it is helpful to use the words NOW that they will be needing in the next few days.

Ask the kids what their costumes will be.  Review words like wig, web, cauldron, potion, vampire, jack-o-lantern.  Will they have a classroom party? What games might they play?  Even though the vocabulary is easy, these are words they probably haven’t used since last year.  Prime those neurons...practice the words aloud.

Here are some phonemic or mnemonic cues for the vocabulary that is common to most elementary trick-or-treaters.  Be sure to help the kids come up with cues for their particular costumes or props (wig?  suspenders? light saber? Stormtrooper? Dracula?  ).  What cues have you come up with?  Please share!

word                             cues                       picture or explanation