Marisha

What do we do now that our students are learning these words?

We’re doing so much work; we want to make sure these words stick! The good news is that there are things that we can do to set our students up for success!

1. Carefully Select Targets

Check out this blog post that dives into target selection!

2. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Students with delays/disabilities need more exposures. The average child needs 15 meaningful exposures for a word to become automatic (Marzano, 2004). Children with language impairment need more exposures (Pence & Justice, 2016). We need to provide students with adequate exposure before expecting mastery!

3. Make It Meaningful

We also have to make those exposures meaningful. Although it would be wonderful if they mastered a vocabulary target after repeating the definition 15 times, that’s not how it works!

Check out our framework blog post for some tips on how to make this happen!

4. Engage Students

“Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement that goes beyond definitional knowledge” (NRTAC, 2010). Check out our posts on vocabulary journals and apps for some ideas!

5. Communicate with Parents/Teachers

There is a tremendous amount of research on parent involvement. There are definitely some obstacles related to implementing this (especially for school-based SLPs), but Remind is a fabulous tool that can be used to bridge some of those gaps. Share what you’re doing in therapy and empower parents to be a support.

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As SLPs, we have quite a bit on our plates, don’t we?

I love using apps in therapy to make prep a little easier (and less messy)!

Today, we’re going to dive into some of my favorite apps for vocabulary intervention. The research articles I reach never mentioned these apps in particular. That said, I did apply what I learned from the research to make the most of these wonderful tools.

Spoiler Alert: These aren’t your typical vocabulary apps.

I think target selection should be individualized for the student (and not dictated by an app or a deck of cards). This is something that was a little bit out of my comfort zone initially, but it was so worth the effort.

So let’s dive in…!

Many of these apps are free and can be used to target vocabulary goals at almost any age.

1. Learner’s Dictionary

We know about the importance of student-friendly definitions, and this is a great starting point!

2. Epic

Epic offers a huge selection of books. You can easily access books that align with the curriculum. A must-have for literacy-based therapy!

Check out this post for quick look at some of the evidence behind contextualized language intervention!

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The next few apps are all about student engagement! “Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement that goes beyond definitional knowledge” (NRTAC, 2010). That’s exactly what these apps are meant to do! It also gives us tools to implement some evidence-based strategies.

3. ChatterPix

This is a fun way to practice saying new target words and creating sentences. The student might say the word/sentence once, but they’ll automatically get visual feedback (from seeing themselves say the word) and auditory feedback (from hearing the word be repeated). We’re all about increasing those meaningful exposures, right?! Plus the novelty is a surefire way to boost engagement and learning!

4. Little Spinner

Option 1: You could take pictures of scenes in a book. The student spins the spinner and then creates a sentence about the picture using his/her target word.

Option 2: You could add the student’s target words to the spinner. The student spins the spinner and creates sentences using those words. Better yet? They have to build a story using the words that they spin!

5. ToonTastic

Encourage the student to create sentences (or generate a story) using their target words. Once the student is done writing, he/she can create an animation for their sentence/story.

You could share any of these recordings with parents/teachers, as well (with permission)!

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I use the following apps for story retell/narrative generation using target words.

Why? “Retelling supports vocabulary learning because, like rereading, it increases children’s exposure to and use of new words and concepts in a story” (Snell, Hindman, & Wasik, 2015). Three studies in this review found that retelling had a significant impact on word learning!

We can also use apps to create digital vocabulary journals.

6. My Story Book Creator

This app makes it easy to create and illustrate a storybook. The app includes audio narration and sharing features.

7. Pictello

Pictello is another storybook app with audio narration and sharing features!

8. Notability

This is my favorite app! I use it for so many goals. I upload my narrative organizer to scaffold student story generation. We can add pictures, audio, drawings, and text. Check out the live video for some specific examples!

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Last but not least…

9. Remind

Read more about how I use Remind here!

Why? SLPs aren’t islands, and we can have a greater impact if we collaborate with those around us! Parents can be especially powerful resources.

This is an entirely different topic, but I wanted to plant a seed. There is a tremendous amount of research on parent involvement. There are definitely some obstacles related to implementing this (especially for school-based SLPs), but Remind is a fabulous tool that can be used to bridge some of those gaps.

Here are some of the articles I reviewed when making my picks!

Broen, P. A., & Westman, M. J. (1990). Project parent: A preschool speech program implemented through parents. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 495–502.

Cincinnati Children’s. (2011). Partnering with parents for greater treatment outcomes in speech-language pathology. Cincinnati Children’s.

Cirrin, F. M., Schooling, T. L., Nelson, N. W., Diehl, S. F., Flynn, P. F., Staskowski, M., … Adamczyk, D. F. (2010). Evidence-based systematic review: Effects of different service delivery models on communication outcomes for elementary school-age children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 233–264.

Gillam, S. L., Olszewski, A., Fargo, J., & Gillam, R. B. (2014). Classroom-based narrative and vocabulary instruction: Results of an early-stage, nonrandomized comparison study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 45, 204–219.

Cirrin, F. M., Schooling, T. L., Nelson, N. W., Diehl, S. F., Flynn, P. F., Staskowski, M., … Adamczyk, D. F. (2010). Evidence-based systematic review: Effects of different service delivery models on communication outcomes for elementary school-age children. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 233–264.

Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E., & Greenberg, J. (2012). Facilitating emergent literacy: Efficacy of a model that partners speech-language pathologists and educators. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21, 47–63.

Justice, L. M., & Pence, K. (2007). Parent-implemented interactive language intervention: Can it be used effectively? EBP Briefs, 2(1), 1–13.

Kaiser, A. P., & Roberts, M. Y. (2013). Parents as communication partners: An evidence-based strategy for improving parent support for language and communication in everyday settings. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 20, 96–111.

Mount, M. (2014). Facilitating cohesive service delivery through collaboration. Perspectives on School-Based Issues, 15(1), 15–25.

Roberts, M. Y., Kaiser, A. P., Wolfe, C. E., Bryant, J. D., & Spidalieri, A. M. (2014). Effects of the teach-model-coach-review instructional approach on caregiver use of language support strategies and children’s expressive language skills. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57, 1851–1869.

Roberts, M. Y., & Kaiser, A. P. (2011). The effectiveness of parent-implemented language interventions: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(3), 180–199.

van Kleeck, A. (2013). Guiding parents from diverse cultural backgrounds to promote language skills in preschoolers with language disorders: Two challenges and proposed solutions for them. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 20, 78–85.

That’s all for now!

What are your favorite apps?

Leave us a comment below!

Want to hear more about vocabulary intervention?

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So, we have all of these great strategies swimming around in our heads, don’t we?

Let’s figure out what this actually looks like in therapy!

If we set the journals up strategically, then we can make it easier for ourselves to implement evidence-based strategies in our sessions–especially when it comes to getting multiple repetitions! They are also a nice way to organize students’ practice.

Stay tuned, because we’ll also talk about other tools/apps in the following weeks.

Journal Options

There are unlimited options here!

1. Index cards on a binder ring – inexpensive, easy, and versatile!
2. Portfolio folders with paper
3. A composition book
4. Pieces of paper stapled together
5. Go digital! You can create a journal using iPad apps or using Google Drive.

The truth? It doesn’t really matter how you set this up!

Here’s my favorite set up:

I use file folders and attach file prongs (affiliate links). It’s also handy to have a two-hole punch on hand.

Using the Journal to Learn New Words

There are countless options here!

Students can…

• Define the word.
• Draw a picture.
• Identify synonyms/antonyms.
• Identify affixes.
• Write sentences using the word.

You can choose which components to include depending on your students’ goals.

It’s helpful to write the word, but repeating the word and using it in context increase the number of meaningful exposures and increases learning.

Using the Journal to Practice New Words

I personally love the index cards because they’re so versatile when it comes to practice! Kids also feel like it’s a game (like collecting Pokemon cards–or whatever is cool these days!). Here’s how we can use them…

You can use them to play a modified version of Apples to Apples or Bubble Talk (affiliate links). You can use the picture cards and then students have the opportunity to pick one of their words to describe the picture. Super engaging and individualized! Alternatively, you can walk around the room/school to find examples of their target words.

Index cards can also be used as interactive pieces to create sentences. I created mega sentence strips with placeholders. Students can then add their words to the sentence strip. (This is especially helpful in mixed groups, when you are targeting a number of goals at once!)

Even better, you can also do a book walk and use the target words to create sentences about the characters or events in the story. The journal entries make it easy for students to cue themselves and be reminded of their own definitions.

* You can also have students point to a word in their journal for the last two activities. It’s a little less interactive, but it still does the trick!

Using the Journal to for Generalization

Students can use the journal to keep track of how many times they use their new word in the classroom.

Especially if you are strategically selecting your targets (e.g., instructional verbs), it makes a lot of sense to leave students’ journals in the classroom. This way, teachers can use the entries as visual supports. Students may even be able to cue themselves.

If your teachers are already encouraging students to use journals, then it makes a lot of sense to use that same journal. No need to reinvent the wheel!

That’s all for now!

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One of the most common challenges with vocabulary intervention is selecting targets.

After all, there are hundreds of thousands of words to choose from! How do we narrow it down?

Last week, I shared four criteria for selecting vocabulary targets, but I thought it would be helpful to back up a bit.

How do we know which types of words to choose? Are we focusing on basic concepts, synonyms/antonyms, categories, Tier 2 words, context clues, affixes…? The list goes on and on!

Once we have a focus, what materials do we use? Do we work off of a word list? Do we use materials from the classroom?

The Answer to All of Your Questions

It depends.

And we don’t really have all of the answers yet.

Ack! I know! So frustrating!

What We Do Know

I’ve been sharing information in my vocabulary blog post series, and those are a great place to start for a general overview.

There are some suggestions in the literature (like Lowman, Stone, & Guo’s article), but there isn’t a road map. There is a good dose of clinical judgment involved when answering these types of questions for our students–even though it would be lovely to have a proven step-by-step guide, wouldn’t it?

Let’s look towards them for some inspiration…

They used interactive book reading to teach instructional verbs to preschoolers. Students in the intervention group were taught 12 words over the course of three weeks. Students in the control group were only exposed to the words during teacher talk.

The results? “Children in the book-reading group knew significantly more words on a receptive picture identification task than children in the control group both at posttesting and at follow-up testing in the fall. No significant group differences were noted at spring testing.”

(I found out about this study–and many others–from Meredith at the Informed SLP.)

Although the intervention didn’t have lasting effects, the students in the intervention group did gain an entire year of incidental learning in just three weeks! I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the intervention continued… And how can we use this with other ages?

My Approach

Caveat: These are very general statements! My approach varies depending on the context, unique characteristics of the student, and countless other variables. The research isn’t there to tell me exactly what to do with all of my students, so I’ve integrated as much as I can and use clinical judgment to figure out the rest!

Across the board, I love using contextualized interventions. I’ve tried a more traditional drill approach, but I feel like I get a better result when I focus on the student’s context. This article by Gilliam, Gillam, and Reece (2012) gives a helpful overview with a sample lesson. They focused on narrative language skills in this particular study, but many of the principles can still apply. The Contextualized Language Intervention textbook (affiliate link) goes into a lot more detail! This approach makes a lot of sense to me, and that’s why I write so much about literacy- and curriculum-based therapy!

Early Communicators

PracticalAAC is a fabulous resource when it comes to figuring out where to start with emerging communicators! Core vocabulary can be a great approach, but it’s not the answer for all of our students.

Foundational Vocabulary

When I work with younger students, basic concepts are one of the first things I look at. They are one of the first things that I target because they’re key to developing more complex vocabulary and are a key part of the preschool/kindergarten curriculum. Students also need them to follow directions! I use an approach similar to the one that Lowman, Stone, & Guo described in their article when teaching concepts. I also wrote about some additional strategies here!

If we want students to learn more complex vocabulary, then they need a way to describe those words and make associations between them. I find the Expanding Expression Tool to be very helpful for these types of goals. I collect baseline data and identify specific areas to focus on (e.g., Does the student struggle with one area more than others? Are they using a variety of words or do they stick to a select few?). Once students have a solid base of describing vocabulary, we’ll move towards comparing/contrasting items. Comparatives and superlatives end up being a big focus, and it’s also a great way to target more complex syntax.

Notice a trend? It’s all about the building blocks and building a solid foundation!

More Advanced Vocabulary

As students gain these foundational skills, my focus shifts towards vocabulary for comprehension. I will pull texts from the curriculum and identify words ahead of time. I choose words based on the criteria we discussed in last week’s post. If you want to learn more, Bringing Words to Life (affiliate link) is a great resource! We may focus on different types of vocabulary here. Do they struggle with multiple meaning words? Do they struggle to break down words?

There is some mixed research when it comes to teaching context clues, but I’ve had success using that approach with some of my students. I think a “strategy” approach makes a lot of sense for the “right” student. I’m all about teaching students to fish! More on that later. 🙂

P.S. Please do grill me on my “framework”! I’m constantly learning and adjusting my approach. I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions–especially if you have some research to support a certain approach!

Individualizing the Process

This general framework helps me make decisions, but it is not a cookie-cutter approach! I know there’s a problem if all of my early elementary students have the same vocabulary goal. I use assessment data (including formal assessment results, teacher report, language samples, classroom observations, probe data, ongoing data collection, etc.) to drive decision-making.

Because we want to provide educationally relevant services, teachers are a huge asset in this process! I always want to know: What is the student struggling with in the classroom? What can we do to scaffold their success?

Diving into Treatment

I use the strategies discussed in previous posts when targeting vocabulary at all of these levels. That said, there are always exceptions!

For example, Beck et al. (2012) recommend teaching new vocabulary after reading a book with younger students and pre-teaching vocabulary for older students.

I implement these strategies and keep a close eye on the data to help me adjust. If I learn about a new strategy, I’ll implement it with a few groups and compare progress. It’s not a perfect system, but I’m making do with the resources that I have! Until someone builds that perfect roadmap, it’ll have to do. 🙂

Check out our live chat about this topic!

Let’s Keep in Touch!

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Whew! There’s a lot to dig through when it comes to vocabulary intervention.

Where in the world do we start?

Last week, we dove into a framework, but you might still feel a little overwhelmed.

Let’s simplify things, shall we?

I’m writing about four key strategies that I think you need to know about. I’ll share a few resources to help you get started with each strategy.

My wish for you? Pick one strategy to focus on. Implement it for a few weeks and see how it goes! If you feel like you’re rocking that strategy (or if it just isn’t working for you), then come back and grab another strategy!

Strategy 1: Use Student-Friendly Definitions

Students with special needs often struggle to learn words indirectly and benefit from direct teaching of new vocabulary targets (Pence & Justice, 2016).

Don’t use definitions that students don’t understand. Pence and & Justice (2016) indicate that we may get more bang for our buck if we directly teach the definitions (rather than having students infer the meaning).

Recommended Resource #1: This dictionary is incredibly helpful when coming up with student-friendly definitions! We may still need to adjust the definition based on the student’s level and prior knowledge, but it sure is a great start!

Strategy 2: Create Opportunities for Multiple Repetitions

The average child needs 15 meaningful exposures for a word to become automatic (Marzano, 2004). Children with language impairment need more exposures (Pence & Justice, 2016).

Don’t expect your students to master a new word after a few exposures.

Recommended Resource #2: Check out last week’s blog post.

Strategy 3: Select Targets Strategically

If we are picking the “right” targets, then we’ll be able to get more bang for our buck!

Don’t pick targets just because they’re convenient (or they happen to be included in a deck of cards). Have a reason for the words you select!

Beck et al. (2013) includes four helpful criteria in their book, Bringing Words to Life (affiliate link).

1. Select words for direct instruction.

2. Select words that are unfamiliar.

3. Select words that are not too difficult to explain.

4. Select words that could easily be used in spoken language in a number of contexts. (Consider literacy-based and curriculum-based therapy targets!)

Recommended Resource #3: This article includes great suggestions for kindergarten students!

Strategy 4: Foster Engagement

Encouraging students to play with words creates an interest in knowing more about them (e.g., word consciousness) which is essential to vocabulary growth (Stahl, 1999).

Don’t let learning vocabulary be boring!

Recommended Resource #4: This blog post includes four ideas to keep your students engaged!

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Video Version!

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You know that Johnny is struggling with vocabulary. He scored below the 4th percentile on subtests, including vocabulary. His teacher says that he struggles to learn new words and that it is having a significant impact on his progress in the classroom.

Where in the world do we start?

It feels like we’re already so far behind. Typically developing children learn new words at an incredible rate. Will we ever be able to catch up?

Either way, we want to make sure that we’re setting the right goal and implementing strategies that will give him the most gains. We want to make as much meaningful change as possible.

After all, the “right” goal or strategy can have an incredible impact.

If we make the “right decisions,” Johnny will make more rapid progress. He’ll be able to start participating in the classroom more quickly. He may even be able to “catch up”–no longer needing special education services.

On the other hand, the “wrong” goal or strategy can have the opposite impact.

Johnny will make slower progress. He’s more likely to fall behind and continue to need special education services. He’ll miss more time in the classroom and will have less of a chance to “catch up” as time passes.

Now, that is a little dramatic. 🙂 It definitely doesn’t boil down to one decision. We do want to make sure we’re making the best decisions we possibly can. Every decision we make as clinicians has an impact.

Now, if that isn’t overwhelming, then I don’t know what is!

That’s why we’re starting this series on vocabulary intervention.

Let’s dive into the research so we can start wrapping our heads around all of this! Let’s arm ourselves with knowledge so we can make the best possible decisions for our students.

We are going to be discussing a variety of articles over the next several weeks, but let’s dive into one framework to get us started.

It comes from this article:

Snell, E. K., Hindman, A. H., & Wasik, B. A. (2015) How can book reading close the word gap? Five key practices from research. The Reading Teacher. 68(7), 560-571.

The authors “identified 34 rigorous experimental studies (published between 1988 and 2014) of book-reading interventions that directly raised children’s vocabulary and determined what strategies (or, in many cases, combinations of strategies) explained children’s vocabulary gains.”

One caveat: The authors presented these strategies to teachers. I will list the five strategies the authors identified, but I will share the research I found that will help us apply this to a therapeutic context. (The authors did include some articles/studies that focused on students with language delays/disorders.)

That said, we don’t have an abundance of research to direct what we do in therapy (especially when it comes to broader frameworks). This article was one of the most helpful ones I found; however, we still need to think critically. How does this apply to your students? If you are going to apply these strategies, then how can you make sure they’re working?

In order to make that step easier, I will share articles that support the use of these strategies in a therapeutic context with students of different ages.

Also… Why the focus on literacy? You all know that I love literacy-based therapy! If we have to select therapy targets anyway, then it seems logical to choose targets that are related to the student’s context. Check out these blog posts for a review of the research and “how to’s” related to this type of therapy.

Now let’s jump in…

1. Define New Words

This first step of the framework is to define new words for students!

Students with special needs often struggle to learn words indirectly and benefit from direct teaching of new vocabulary targets (Pence & Justice, 2016).

2. Discuss New Words (Ask Questions)

Engaging in discussion gives the student the opportunity to engage with the word in a meaningful way. This also gives us the opportunity to target other goals. That’s a win for those of us who work with mixed groups!

Note: If you’re looking for a more general framework, check out this article by Marzano. This is also geared towards teachers, but the suggestions can still apply to students on our caseloads!

3. Reread

The authors point out that rereading books gives students additional exposure to target words in meaningful contexts.

Students with delays/disabilities need more exposures. The average child needs 15 meaningful exposures for a word to become automatic (Marzano, 2004). Children with language impairment need more exposures (Pence & Justice, 2016).

4. Retell

“Retelling supports vocabulary learning because, like rereading, it increases children’s exposure to and use of new words and concepts in a story” (Snell, Hindman, & Wasik, 2015). Three studies in the article found that retelling had a significant impact on word learning.

Note: It’s okay to think outside of the box. Encouraging students to play with words creates an interest in knowing more about them (e.g., word consciousness), which is essential to vocabulary growth (Stahl, 1999). A retell doesn’t have to be a verbal recount of a story. We can re-enact the story, use visuals, etc. Anything that keeps students engaged will give us more bang for our buck. Here are four ideas to get you started.

These experiments included preschool and kindergarten students, but the concept can also apply to older students. It took a little bit of modification, but I used this with a group of 5th graders. The students had multiple opportunities to practice their targets in a meaningful context. Best of all? They retained the words and were able to use them in context! Scroll to the bottom of this post for a description of how this worked.

5. Integrate New Words into Activities

If we are teaching vocabulary being used in the classroom, then we already have a huge advantage. Check out the Lowman, Stone, & Guo (2018) article for one example of how to strategically select targets.

We will continue discussing how to select words for intervention. We’ll also be sharing more activity ideas over the next several weeks.

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Whew! That’s a lot, isn’t it?

The good news is that we’ll continue to break this down together!

Enter your name and email below to follow this series! We’ll send you a weekly email (and a bonus resource) to help you implement these vocabulary strategies with your caseload!

 

References

Gray, S. (2003). Word learning by preschoolers with specific language impairment: Predictors and poor learners. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 1117-1132.

Lowman, J., Stone, L. T., & Guo, J. (2018). Effects of interactive book reading for increasing children’s knowledge of instructional verbs. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 1-13.

Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Pence, K. L., & Justice, L. M. (2016). Language development from theory to practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. (Affiliate Link)

Stahl, S.A. (1999). Vocabulary development. Cambridge: Brookline. (Affiliate Link)

Stanovich, Keith E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 360-407