Friday, November 20, 2009

Parent Teacher Conferences

Mrs. DeYoung will meet with parents during the week of November 30-December 3. Please contact her if you would like to schedule a conference to discuss your child's progress in Speech/Language class. Parents of students enrolled in District 66 special education programs, including speech therapy services, will receive progress reports from the special education office in the next two weeks .

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Helping Your Child

Speech-language experts agree that parental involvement is crucial to the success of a child's progress in speech or language therapy.
Parents are an extremely important part of their child's therapy program, and help determine whether it is a success. Kids who complete the program quickest and with the most lasting results are those whose parents have been involved.
Ask the therapist for suggestions on how you can help your child. For instance, it's important to help your child do the at-home stimulation activities that the SLP suggests to ensure continued progress and carry-over of newly learned skills.
Amy Nelson, MA, CCC-SLP kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/speech_therapy.html

Suggestions for Parents
At Prairieview, children working primarily on articulation skills are given assignments to practice at home. Please listen to them as they complete the homework and sign it to indicate that someone listened to them. Students should return the speech work to school in the speech pocket of their binder.

Parents can help students with receptive and expressive language deficits by discussing stories that they are reading or programs that they watch on television. Ask the child to explain the main idea from a page they have read, or 5-10 minute television episode. Encourage them to list one or two details from the selection. Older students should be able to tell how they feel about what they read/saw or how it relates to their own lives. This will help them to interpret what they read.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Writing Skills

In preparation for the ISAT tests, our district is focusing on written language skills this year. Teachers have met during inservice training sessions to review how to effectively teach writing. Recently district staff received a handout on research-based practices for teaching writing by Steve Graham of Vanderbuildt University. Professor Graham highlighted six best practices for improving student writing:

  • Teach Writing Processes: "The first and most effective practice is to explicitly and systematically teach kids strategies for planning, drafting, editing, revising, and regulating the writing process."
  • Have students work together. Students give each other feedback.
  • Create clear expectations.
  • Have students write on a word processor. Research shows that using the computer for writing (and editing) can make a significant difference from second grade onward.
  • Teach complex sentence structures. Modeling sentence combining and having students practice using complex sentences in their essays improves writing.
  • Establish writers' workshop where students are provided a supportive environment to engage in the writing process on a regular basis.

The small group setting of speech and language groups offers a natural opportunity to develop written language skills. Over the next several months, Mrs. DeYoung will be utilizing these practices to improve written and oral communication with many of her students grades 5-8.