Defining Words: Part 2

When I did my student teaching, the speech therapist I worked with was pretty great.  Her name was Jacqueline.  She made sure to pronounce it "Ja-kwa-lynn" with the rounded 'w' in the middle.

Anyway.  She was a smart lady and I learned so much from her.  She made these charts and gave me permission to share, so today I shall do just that!  I like them because they are simple and straightforward, which is what I think these kids with language disorders really need.

I usually start teaching by introducing the concept of categories.  I give them this sheet and we discuss how each category acts as a file of sorts in our brain.  Then most any noun in English can be filed away into a specific file folder.  Imagine how many fun games you can do while teaching this!  The possibilities are quite endless.  I know you guys reading this have a million awesome tricks up your sleeves!

First we practice identifying categories.  I will read a list of 3 or more words and ask the student to tell me the category.  They often need extra help with 'appliances' and 'occupations' and 'vehicles/transportation'.  The app I use for that is "Name that Category" which is from Super Duper for $1.99

Then we practice listing things in categories.  For this I usually use "Let's name things" which is always free from Super Duper.  We also go the other direction and I read them a list of 3 or more objects and they tell me which category it goes to.

I also found this sorting game.  I don't even know who Erin Jackson is but I'll still give her a shout-out.  "Thanks Erin!"

What are your favorite ways to teach this? Next time I'm going to post a bunch of other available materials and apps to use while teaching sorting and categorizing.