Parent-Teacher Conferences

Mrs. DeYoung is scheduling conferences for the week of March 8. She will meet with parents of students whose annual reviews are due in March, and parents who did not have a conference first trimester who would like to discuss their child's progress. Please contact Mrs. DeYoung this week to request an appointment.

RTI Articulation Groups

As a result of recent speech and language screenings it has been determined that a handful of Prairieview students, while functioning well in the classroom, could benefit from Sound Improvement Training. This is an intervention being offered to students in compliance with the government's new Response to Intervention (RtI) program.

The program allows students to benefit from speech and language service without initially being placed in special education. RtI is a preventative measure that provides the student an opportunity to possibly reduce his/her risk for articulation difficulties that may negatively affect his/her educational performance.

In the Sound Improvement Group, the speech pathologist will meet with students with similar needs in small groups to 1) check for stimulability of sound production, 2) provide interventions to develop correct articulation, and 3) track data to interpret future needs of each student. This is a preventative measure used for a specific amount of time (up to 12 weeks) to see how the child's sound production develops. Participation at home is warranted for the duration of this program. Homework will be given and each child is expected to practice while in this group.

The next Sound Improvement Group at Prairieview will be offered March-May. Parents may contact Mrs. DeYoung if they are interested in their child participating in a group.

A Strategy for Interpreting Text

This week as students in language groups practiced reading and making inferences, Mrs. DeYoung demonstrated how to use starter phrases to formulate a response. Students were directed to highlight a fact from the text and then generate a Therefore.... or This tells me that... statement to elaborate on what they had read and explain what they learned or interpreted from the passage. Younger children were encoouraged to predict what might happen next or discuss why events in the reading take place. When provided with a starter phrase that focuses on cause-effect relationships, the students were able make an appropriate inference and word their thoughts in a way that would make sense to their audience.