[ Post a Response | Preschool Page ]
Posted by slp on June 18, 2009, 3:20 pm, in reply to "Re: language therapy..."
169.204.212.116
You probably aren't doing anything wrong but just have kids who are slower at learning what you are teaching them. I have a lot of students who learn at an appropriate rate and others who just take much longer to learn the same concepts. You may need fewer goals for those students who are progressing more slowly. Are these students who have typical language delay or more complicated students who also have cognitive, OT and PT issues? That will also have an impact on learning.
Anyway, how many objectives to target in a session will always depend on the particular child and what they can handle. However, if I'm working on Wh questions, for example, I pick 1 or 2 questions (who and what) and target only those in a session and then stick with those forms until they have mastered them before moving on to other early developing question form. I tend to always work on a particular objective (Wh questions) for at least 2 therapy sessions in a row for those students who just aren't progressing rapidly rather than one objective one session and another the next. Some students may need picture cues and/or point prompts to help them answer the question. I may also ask the question the exact same way each time to help those students who are struggling.
You can target all the goal areas you mentioned with any number of literature- and play-based activities or an activity in the preschool classroom. So look through your books and toys and figure out which ones would be good for Wh questions, following directions, pronouns and concepts etc. I do a lot around themes or the themes from the preschool classroom and structure my activities around those.
Also, some students just need more modeling, recasts and teacher/parental support.
You may need to educate the teacher and parents on how to facilitate language to get everyone doing the same thing. I don't know how many times I hear parents and even teachers repeat back what a child said the wrong way, so now the child hears it wrong yet again, rather than simply providing lots and lots of recasts within a brief period of time.
If you get the opportunity to observe the other therapists, who you say are making great progress with their kids, do that because it's always nice to learn from watching others.
Hope this helps some--just have fun!
369
Message Thread:
« Back to thread