Using Academic Materials to Enhance Speech-Language Treatment

One of the biggest challenges I face is how to make my sessions academically relevant. In my five years of working with middle and high school students, I tried it all. When I first started, I spent hours creating my own materials focused on skills my students needed. However, I often found my sessions offered little or no connection with the skills they covered in their classes. I also discovered my students couldn’t transfer skills they learned with me into the classroom. I eventually found successful ways to incorporate academic materials and topics into my sessions, and use them as a way to target the skills my students need. This process all starts with teacher collaboration. SLPs benefit in numerous ways when collaborating with the teachers in their school. A major advantage is always knowing their students are working on in class. In addition, the terminology I use during my sessions aligns with what students already heard. For example, if the English team uses a specific mnemonic for paragraph-writing, why confuse the kids by giving them something else to memorize? In addition, I get ideas for materials to use in treatment. When students learn about nonfiction, for example, I base the materials I choose during those sessions on nonfiction as well. I also incorporate terms and strategies to help them access those materials. SLPs work with so many grades, subjects and students, so I know this approach might seem overwhelming. I usually focus on collaborating with En...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Fluency Disorders Language Disorders Schools social skils Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs