7th grade and the SLP

Aug 27, 2015 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

Yesterday I received a question that had to do with transition to 7th grade “I find it difficult to transition students from 6th grade to middle school, meaning targeting appropriate goals/etc. What are the areas you find critical to this age? Do you have a screening tool you give to your students? What are the main areas you look at to gauge success in junior high/middle school?” First lets talk briefly about 7th grade. 7th grade, no matter what middle school model your school has, is a significant bump up in academics, expectations, higher order language (understanding and usage, texts, adult usage, peers……) and higher order thinking. 7th grade is the year the speech and language students dismissed from therapy a couple of years ago will end up back on your radar. The reason...

Use Comics to Develop Higher Order Language...

Mar 12, 2012 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

How long has it been since you read a comic book or the funnies? Most people began reading them for fun when they were young tweeners and probably never thought much of it. If you ever analyzed the language use in most comic books and funnies you might realize that they can make excellent and natural higher order language learning tools. Most of us developed higher order language so naturally that we didn’t even notice. Higher order language is basically the ability to use and understand synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, homographs, figurative expressions, dual meaning sentences, metaphors, similes, idioms, sarcasm and non-verbal messages that might contribute to meaning. Higher order language allows us to see the “big picture.” Without the ability to understand and mentally manipulate higher order language you are unable to...

When does a Middle School Child need a Speech and Language Evaluation...

Jan 30, 2012 by Teresa Sadowski MA CCC-SLP

By law every child who receives special education services has to have a Core Evaluation every three years. Depending on the child’s current needs and services it is not unusual for psychological testing or IQ testing be eliminated from that years test battery. We don’t always expect big changes with IQ over time. However, Speech and Language testing should be included in every three year reevaluation where the student currently receives therapy. During the middle school years the hope is that language will develop in leaps and bounds, even in children with language disabilities,. Think of how much a child grows and matures during the middle school years. Changes in a child’s language understanding and usage should be equally as dramatic. The middle school student should be developing higher order language skills that...