Speech and language

Baseline: the starting point of therapy The first thing that one does prior to beginning therapy is to take baseline information to determine the most appropriate goals you should develop. I am writing this blog as some clinicians are having difficulty writing these. The American…

We are off to a GREAT start this semester. I wanted to share some of the great ideas in terms of the set up of the clinic room, therapy ideas and data management systems that your fellow clinicians are using: Stacy set up her room…

  This year I wrote a grant for East Greenwich School system that helped support close reading strategies. The grant was from the Rhode Island Department of Education and it allowed staff from Frenchtown and Meadowbrook to be able to attend the Core Reading Institute…

    Writing goals can be a difficult task. Here are some more examples of good goals. In order to have a goal you need to have baseline information as well as an understanding of language development and the curriculum that is expected at the…

Visual supports can be invaluable tools in helping people with autism understand and interact with their environment. However, there is a need for standardized visuals that are used consistently to ensure optimal outcomes for those with autism. We will explore the importance of visual supports…

“Just as rigor does not reside in the barbell but in the act of lifting it, rigor in reading is not an attribute of a text but rather of a reader’s behavior-engaged, observant, responsive, questioning, analytical. The close reading strategies in Notice and Note will help you…

Super Duper Publications has a product Token Towers    (http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=chips22#.U6YPR41dUQQ) that I consistently use in my therapy sessions to visually reinforce my students. When they reach a particular mark they get a sticker for their chart and when the chart is filled they get a…

It is so exciting when you are part of having a child discover the joys of communication. In my profession as a speech and language pathologist I get to experience this not only with my own children but those that I see as a speech…

  How do you know how to write goals for your students?   The first thing that you need to do is to have some baseline testing that will assist you in knowing where the student is. Once you have the baseline testing evaluate what…

Similar to evaluating oral language we need to evaluate written language.  When we are looking at writing we want to examine the student’s sample in several ways. Conventions/ Mechanics (spelling, punctuation) Structure/ Organization (Does it have a beginning, middle and end, is there use of…