I am celebrating my 44th year as a speech and language pathologist and the majority of them have been in the public schools. What is the speech and language pathologist’s role in the schools? Speech-language pathologists (also known as speech therapists) play a vital role…

 I just finished reading the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. This equation is at the beginning of the book and sums up the philosophy: Small, smart choices + Consistency + Time = Radical difference The little decisions you make and habits you have amass into life-altering…

The Law The most significant legislative action that affected children with disabilities passed in 1975 with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This legislation means that students with disabilities have equal access to a free and appropriate public education. Access means that that students…

A potential friend is only a ‘Hello’ away. Paul Liebau One of the first social skills that I love to teach is greetings and student’s names. As a speech and language pathologist I know that although it might seem like a very simple skill when you…

“Once upon a time” we begin telling stories to our children even before they are born. Nighttime storytelling is part of our culture but do children understand the story structure? Understanding text structure aids in comprehension. It assists in anticipating and determining the information that…

Reading requires us to decode the words, understand the surface code of the words and sentence construction and then use our background knowledge to fill in the picture. But what happens if you don’t know anything about what you are reading? As an adult you…

There never seems to be enough money in the school budget to cover what is needed for the students. This means as school speech and language pathologists or classroom teachers we need to reach into our pockets to help meet this need. Our pockets however…

I am a horrible speller. I feel that I have been born at the right time with the ability to use spell check and Grammarly when I write. When I was a beginner reader/speller I was instructed to memorize a spelling list for the week…

How many of us teach our young children the Alphabet Song? The ending of the song which children sing proudly is ” Now I know my ABC’s next time won’t you sing with me!” Why do we do this? Learning the alphabet is important for…

Repetition of songs and stories help children develop language skills.