Cozy chats about speech, language and learning

Speech and language

Teaching Conversation Skills to Students with Severe Disabilities

Teaching Conversation Skills to Students with Severe Disabilities

 Most of us engage in conversation easily so we give no thought to the dynamics that are involved in a conversation which can make teaching the skills needed for conversation difficult.  If you think of a time that you were involved in a social situation…

Goals are hard to create: another blog with helpful information

Goals are hard to create: another blog with helpful information

Creating goals is hard but if prior to setting goals you follow a process it can become easier. First: Consult with the family: it is very important to include families from the beginning of the process as team members. Review records and any information that…

Homework an Important Connection

Homework an Important Connection

Home programming is an important part of speech and language therapy so that what the child is learning in the therapy room has practice outside of the treatment room. This seems very logical but what exactly should this be? First one needs to consider the…

Research Should Drive Our Instruction

Research Should Drive Our Instruction

As a speech and language pathologist or a teacher we need to use research to drive instruction. Recently on an emergency trip to the dentist, I complained that as I was getting older my teeth were falling apart and I lamented the aging process. However…

Diary of a Teacher/Speech Pathologist Observation

Diary of a Teacher/Speech Pathologist Observation

Just when you are thinking that you are safe from observations, the state changes the evaluation requirements and you are again required to have announced and unannounced observations! Now don’t get me wrong I love what I do. I am proud of the work that…

Vocabulary: New Research, Importance, Ways to Teach

Vocabulary: New Research, Importance, Ways to Teach

I am forever a student!  One of my favorite ways to learn is through a website called speechpathology.com.  It allows me to pick a topic that I am interested in and then also to pick how I want to learn that particular topic. Do I…

Top 10 reasons you should be a speech and language pathologist

Top 10 reasons you should be a speech and language pathologist

January 1979 I started my Clinical Fellowship Year as a speech and language pathologist. I have NEVER regretted the decision to become a speech and language pathologist. It has been a phenomenal adventure! When I began my college career I had not really known a…

Inexpensive Speech Therapy or Classroom Material to Promote Active Participation

Sometimes the best materials are ones that are inexpensive, readily available and easy to use. I am someone who is never without her cup filled with water and a straw.  I have straws stored at home, in the car and at school so I always have…

Writing Recommendations in a Speech and Language Report

Writing Recommendations in a Speech and Language Report

Have you ever skipped to the end of a book to preview how the story will come out?  This is a good way of thinking about how to write recommendations on a report. Some of your readers may have skipped to what they may consider…

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in Supervision of Graduate Students

Using Bloom’s Taxonomy in Supervision of Graduate Students

One of the most difficult things to do in supervising and/or instructing graduate students is evaluating their skills objectively. It is easy to observe rapport, set up of the learning space, development of the lesson plan, review of data collected and the student’s interpretation and analysis…