Reading words or learning to read? Part II
I’ve been frustrated this year with the level of reading instruction my daughter has received. What did I notice about my daughter’s reading abilities? She skipped words she didn’t know, and she confused small words like “of” and “off.” When I asked her indirect questions about stories she had read, she’d fall out on the floor screaming. Okay, I […]
Reading words or learning to read? Part I
My daughter’s reading instruction at school has been frustrating this year. She is a fluent reader, but when you ask her what she has read. Her answer is sometimes, “I don’t know!” Her comprehension is not equal to her fluency level. Is this normal? Yes, she has been working on learning to read the words, […]
What’s language gotta do wit it? Language and Racism:
Being African American, statistics that document the fact that African American children are disciplined more harshly than their white peers is no surprise. The statistic just points out what every parent of color in the US already knows. Our kids are treated more harshly than their white peers. If you are a parent of color with a child in kindergarten, but certainly […]
Education: Is special education really necessary?
I’m very interested in education in general because I am involved in the educational process of my daughter. Secondly, I work with students from elementary school to college. Sometimes I wonder what school and education are really about? What should be taught? There is a lot of socialization that goes on in our school. Some of […]
Tutoring vs speech language therapy
Recently I worked with client on the autism spectrum who received A-and B’s on his papers at his traditional high school. In his papers his vocabulary was redundant, he had little sentence variety, and at times the content of his papers mirrored, the model provided so closely that it had little original thought. This student […]
Fostering a therapy relationship Part II
When working with middle and high school aged students the more motivation and self awareness that has been fostered in the home and learning environment the better. Without cooperation and interest it is difficult to motivate this age group through just the use of external rewards. Unlike elementary school age children, using external rewards with […]
What do clients need to bring to speech language therapy in order to have the greatest success
What do clients need to bring to speech language therapy in order to have the greatest success? They need to be able to build a trusting relationship, in addition to having their own internal motivation. Next they need to be able to be self reflective or taught to be self reflective, in order to explore […]
Moving toward independence…
Coaching clients in social language through Skype at college is a new and exciting way to help build social skills and help students be successful at school. What is involved in this coaching approach? Initially the specific problems are indentified, such as how do I identify the kind of person I would like as a […]
4th Multidisciplinary Salon: Auditory Processing
Multidisciplinary Salon: Auditory Processing was this month’s topic. Many psychologists we learned aren’t taught to recognize auditory processing disorders because they aren’t involved in the diagnosis. As speech pathologist we often work with clients regularly that are not officially labeled as having an auditory processing disorder. In order to receive an official diagnosis of auditory […]
3rd Multidisciplinary Salon: Language-based Learning Disorders vs. Dyslexia: Co-occurence or Correlation?
Yesterday was my third multidisciplinary salon and afterwards I just thought what a great idea it is to have professionals from different areas discussing issues that are relevant to but to all. Attendees included myself, Kai Long speech pathologist, and in order of appearance Tina Millar, speech pathologist contracting in Boston public schools, Robyn Glover […]