Cozy chats about speech, language and learning

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3  Ways To Teach Greetings and Names a Beginning Social Skill

3 Ways To Teach Greetings and Names a Beginning Social Skill

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…

How to Teach Narrative Structure

How to Teach Narrative Structure

“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…

How to Build Background Knowledge for Comprehension

How to Build Background Knowledge for Comprehension

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…

Dollar Store Hacks for the Classroom or Therapy Room

Dollar Store Hacks for the Classroom or Therapy Room

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…

Why Learning These 6 Essential Spelling Rules is Important

Why Learning These 6 Essential Spelling Rules is Important

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…

Why Learning the Alphabet is Important for Beginning Literacy

Why Learning the Alphabet is Important for Beginning Literacy

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…

What Ignited My Passion for Teaching Written Language Skills

What Ignited My Passion for Teaching Written Language Skills

My passion for teaching written language skills began in my undergraduate training in education and speech and language pathology.

What Does Articulation Therapy in the Schools Look Like?

What Does Articulation Therapy in the Schools Look Like?

Articulation therapy in the schools may look very different than in a clinical setting. Although just part of the caseload, people think of it when people think of a speech therapist. Articulation is the making of the sounds of speech. The production of speech sounds…

Making Transitions Easy

Making Transitions Easy

Transitions can be difficult. Whether it is a big transition to a new school year or what we might think of as a simple transition from one activity to the next the transition could be hard. One way we can make the transition less stressful…