In South Hadley a child killed herself because of bullying. Being someone who teaches social skills lessons I’m always struck with the fact that while we focus social skills training on students that “ have social skills deficits” in many ways teens who are experimenting and testing social skill also need guidance and training. There …
Category Archives: Language
Looking for signs of …
Do you ever get the feeling people are not understanding what you are saying? What are some of the signs that this is happening to you? You are talking, but instead of people commenting, they are shaking their head with a stiff smile on their face as if they are agreeing. Another sign is no …
Schedule for this blog
I will post to this blog two times a month through June 2010. I’m always learning and discovering so this year I will share some of my observations and discoveries. I will write more about my specialty working with adolescent and adults. I especially like the intricacies of working with language-based disabilities, social language, accent …
What did I learn teaching my daughter to read? Part II
What was my biggest discover teaching my daughter to read. I already knew a lot, but it is different to teach reading to your own child. From day one the reading process slowly begins. Daily reading, word play, and rhyming games are all included in a rich language environment and provide the foundation for reading. …
Continue reading “What did I learn teaching my daughter to read? Part II”
An early reading adventure: Part I
My daughter and I read every night. When she was four, she loved to look at the pictures and tell me the story. Since I often teach reading and reading comprehension, I was surprised she was not a reading by three. I mean she was not that interested at two, so I waited another whole …
Small talk: Who needs it?
Until I found out what an important role small talk can play in life, I was not a big fan. Some people are very good at it, politicians or sales people for example. Small talk is the initial conversation American’s use to establish contact and break the ice. Did you know that other countries like …
Writing
The standards for written language are higher than for spoken language. Written language is one of the primary tools used for assessment in formal education. For all students acquiring basic written skills is important; however, for college bound students it is crucial. Spoken language is easier to learn because spoken language allows for repair when …
Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension improves greatly with the ability to visualize. Visualization is the ability to create pictures from words. In the example, “Sam the dog ran out the door” Can you picture Sam? The door? The yard? Maybe Sam is a medium-sized black and white spotted dog with short hair running out of a white screen …
Verbs
Writing is a challenge for many with language-based learning disabilities. Who knew writing was so complicated. Subjects, verbs, objects, how often do any of us think of them when we write. Yet, they are the building blocks of writing and the ability to identify them is part of reading as well. Writing remediation can take …
More on social skills
For people with social skills challenges it is not enough just to teach how to recognize different facial expression or how to greet someone, it is equally important to teach when and where to apply non-verbal language skills. Social skills make it possible to form relationships in order to feed our need for social interactions …