I left graduate school much less prepared for the real world than I initially thought. I am pretty sure this is mostly due to my own youthful arrogance and just the naturalness of forgetting things that you don’t immediately use. I don’t blame my university at all. I am telling you this story because I believe in transparency and continual learning. This story certainly does not make look like one of those all knowing SLPs that seem to flood our inboxes and instagram feeds.
Each new year, I better understand why I was told do something (Language Sample Analysis- I am looking at you). Or, I see a new disorder that I haven’t seen before. Or I come across a student with a disorder I have heard about, but honestly, I am not really sure how to treat it or evaluate it (ahem, Voice Disorders).
But recently, I came across a disorder I don’t remember learning about in graduate school. I am not quite sure if it is because I wasn’t paying attention, I forgot I learned about it, it was called something else, or because I really wasn’t taught it existed. *shrugs shoulders*
You want to know what it is, don’t you?
It’s called Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders or OMD. That’s a mouthful, I know. It is also commonly referred to as a tongue thrust.
So how did I find out about this? Well, I had a little boy come in for a standard, run of the mill, articulation evaluation. I tested him and holy moly, he had an interdental lisp on any and every sound that could be lisped! “Well, that was a nice easy evaluation”, I thought to myself. But something kept nagging at my mind. His mom kept mentioning how concerned she was that he drooled-A LOT.
So, on a whim, I got onto trusty old Google and decided to type in the symptoms “interdental lisp” and “drooling”. I am so glad I did.
The first thing that came up in my search was this ASHA page on Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders. I was not expecting an ASHA page to come up first, and since I had never heard of this disorder, I eagerly clicked the link. As I scanned the page, I realized my student had about 90% of the symptoms that are associated with this disorder.
Let’s look at some common symptoms, shall we?
“Distorted Productions of /s/, /z/ often produced with an interdental lisp” and “Abnormal lingual dental articulatory placement for /t, d, l, n, ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, ʓ/” -Check, my student did that.
Open mouth resting posture-Yep, he did that too.
Drooling beyond 2 years of age-Yes again.
Airway incompetence due to enlarged tonsils or adenoids- I wasn’t sure.
Restricted Lingual Frenulum- I needed to check that too.
Typical swallowing patterns- I had no idea.
Structural differences of the face- I didn’t think so, but maybe.
So, I went back and did a better Oral Mechanism Exam. I determined that he did have severely enlarged tonsils. He did have restricted tongue movement. He did have a funky swallow. It turns out he already had a relationship with and ENT and the ENT was already suggesting having his tonsils removed. It also turned out he had a dentist appointed scheduled the next day, so his mom ran everything past the dentist too. A care of plan was established and mom wanted to move forward with therapy after he had a tonsillectomy and the ENT gave us the green light to move forward.
Based on what I read from ASHA, I wrote goals for articulation, swallowing, and oral rest postures.
BUT I WANTED TO KNOW MORE.
I needed to know more so I could confidently treat this little boy. So, I studied, and I researched, and I obsessed. I took the things I learned and I used them to make an Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders tool box. I wanted something that would help me through each step of the process- Evaluation, Education, Oral Rest, Swallowing, and Articulation. I needed it all right there, planned for me so I didn’t have to think about it any more.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Here is the thing. This disorder is actually pretty common. According to my research, about 30% of the general population are tongue thrusters. In retrospect, I have treated several kids who probably had this, I just didn’t know it had a name. If I had known, I would have known that I needed to target skills like swallowing and oral rest posture too. If you have a student who is suffering with a significant lisp, maybe they have an OMD too.
If you are like me and you feel a little uncertain about treating this disorder or you suspect your student might have this disorder and you want to learn more about it, I have listed two versions of this toolbox for sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. The first version is the complete toolbox, with hundreds of articulation cards to help you treat the speech component of this disorder.
Click this image if you want to see the complete tool box!
The second version is the abbreviated version. It has all of the evaluation and teaching tools, but it DOES NOT include the articulation cards.
Click this image if you want to see the shorter, therapy guide thatdoes notinclude the articulation cards or the organization tools to make the complete tool box.
So, if you feel like you have access to all the articulation cards you need, then go ahead and check out the second set. If you need some more flashcards or you just love all things color coordinated and organized, check out the complete toolbox!
“I don’t have any friends!” “No one likes me!” Have you ever
heard a student say these words? Did it absolutely break your heart? It’s
broken mine.
As I began researching this topic, it became evident to me that many people don’t know how to make friends, and I am not just talking about people with Autism or Social Language Disorders. I was talking to my best friend the other day about her (typically developing) son who is having a hard time finding a group of friends at school. I asked her if she has tried teaching him how to make friends and she said “I don’t know how to make friends; it is just something that happens.”
Now that got me thinking.
Is making friends something that just happens naturally? Or is there a magic formula that will bring you success?
I think it is a little bit of both. When you make friends
naturally, you do follow a certain set of steps. So, I think it is reasonable
to assume that if people who do not make friends naturally follow these steps,
they should be able to make friends. Or at the very least, they have a better
shot at it than if they went into it blindly.
After doing some research, I simplified this extremely complicated process into 8 simple steps. I feel like these steps help students with social language difficulties break down this skill into pieces that they can manage, which leads them to greater success. Each skill builds on each other, so that students start by learning a simple and concrete task and keep learning new skills until they understand the steps to making a new friend. So, what are these 8 steps you ask? Read on and find out.
Step 1: Smile and Say Hello
Do you agree that making a good first impression is the first step to making a new friend? “Surely people aren’t that shallow!”, you say.
If that is what you are thinking, I hate to break it to you, but you are wrong.
There is research that suggests we begin to make our first impressions of people in less than a second of meeting someone new. LESS THAN A SECOND, people. That is a really scary thought because I know that deep in your heart you know that your babies who struggle with social skills don’t usually make good first impressions.
It is a cruel and vicious cycle, but we can give these students a leg up by teaching them about the importance of first impressions and by teaching them how to make polite greetings. That is why the first step is practicing something as simple as smiling, and saying hello.
Step 2: Be Polite
Being polite. Are you cringing at the thought of trying to teach this? I kind of am.
I will be honest, this is not a skill that your students will learn, master, and use overnight. This will take weeks, months, probably years of you gently pointing out and explaining rude behaviors to students. They probably don’t mean to be rude. They probably don’t even realize they are being rude, but nevertheless that is how their actions come across. So how do we begin to teach this skill? We teach what it means to be polite like we would any other vocabulary word. Then, as we see or hear about specific situations, we use them as teaching moments.
Step 3: Find Common Interests
We find it easier to talk to people with whom we have things
in common. I know for me, when I meet someone who is a teacher, an SLP, or
anyone in the education field, I have an instant connection with them and we
have lots of potential conversation topics. This is because we share the common
interest of education. The more common interests we share with someone, the
more likely it is that we will be that person’s friend.
When teaching your students how to find interests they share with others, first help them identify their own interests. After that, teach them how to ask other people about their interests. After they have learned how to ask others about their interests, help your students continue practicing these skills until they are proficient at finding shared interests with others.
Step 4: Listen and Ask Questions
Watch yourself the next time you have a conversation with someone.
Is your first impulse to sit back, listen, and ask questions? Or is it to find a way to relate the other person’s comments back to yourself? If you said listen and ask questions, good for you! There are good listeners out there, but many of us (myself included) have a tendency to want to primarily speak about ourselves. Our kiddos with social language deficits really have a tendency to monopolize a conversation by talking about their specific interests.
We need to clearly explain this step to our students. They need to understand why it is important to ask questions to their communication partners and they need to be made aware of the times that they are monopolizing the conversation. We need to be teaching them how to ask good, strong “wh” questions and how to sit and listen to the persons response, then ask another good “wh” question. They will also need to be frequently reminded to not ask many yes/no questions and try and not comment about themselves or bring the conversation immediately back to their interests.
Step 5: Spend Time Together
This is the step when true friendships are made.
Good friends spend time together. It has often been my experience that the more time I spend with someone, the better friends we become. In fact, this step can be someone’s saving grace if they made a bad first impression. When we spend time together, we get to know each other better and it becomes easier to talk to them.
Help your students think of ways they can spend time
together using the interests they share with their friends. For example, if
your student identified that a shared interest is playing video games, the time
spent together could be playing video games at the other persons house.
One word of caution-not every parent will want their child spending time at other people’s houses. Not every student will feel comfortable hanging out with their friends outside of school. So, as you are thinking of ways that students can spend time with their friends, make sure that you are also helping them brainstorm ways they can spend time with their friends at school (or wherever it is that they met this friend).
Step 6: Resolve Disagreements
Disagreements are a part of human nature; we know this.
What many of our students with Autism or social language disorders don’t know, is how to resolve those disagreements in a way that benefits both parties. This is why resolving disagreements is step six in my how to make friends guide.
I explain to my students that if they don’t resolve their disagreements properly, they won’t keep the friends they have worked so hard to make. After all, no one wants to be in a friendship where they don’t feel heard. I explain to my students what a compromise is and then I give them scenarios of disagreements for them to practice resolving. In my structured speech therapy room, they usually can identify a good compromise pretty quickly. The challenging part is using these strategies in real life.
Step 7 is similar to step 6, but it takes it a little bit
further. I don’t just want my students to learn how to compromise, I want them
to learn how to make a sincere apology.
Many times, our students just want to say “sorry” and walk
away from the person whose feelings they have hurt, but in my opinion, these
apologies are not adequate.
I explain to my students that there are two important pieces
of a good apology.
Say sorry for the specific situation (preferably
using the other person’s name).
Make a plan so it won’t happen again.
So, if Johnny spills his drink on Maria’s project, he should say something along these lines. “Maria, I am sorry I spilled my water on your project. Next time, I will make sure that my drink is far away from your work.”
Step 8: Be Patient and Keep Trying
Oh, step eight. This is the hardest step of them all.
As adults, we logically know we will not be friends with everyone and this step is still excruciatingly hard. After all, if someone doesn’t want to be our friend, it feels as if you have been personally rejected.
I am pretty sure that many of our students actually expect
everyone to be their friend. Actually, I think we are guilty of teaching them this
when they are very young. While I DO think it is appropriate to encourage
everyone to be friends, I KNOW the reality is the opposite. This harsh reality
needs to be gently explained to our students. *Insert nervous emoji*
So, how do I teach this painfully difficult lesson? I
explain that making friends takes time. I explain that they might need to do
all of these steps many times before making a friend. I explain that the more
time you spend with someone, the more likely they are to become a friend. I explain
that the more shared interests you have, the easier it is to become someone’s
friend. Then I explain that even if you do all these things, you still will not
be everyone’s friend. I explain that that this is normal. I remind them to
be patient and keep trying. Eventually they will find a friend.
After I have explained this, I give my students authentic
scenarios they might encounter in the real world and we walk through ways to
handle them together. This is not pleasant and should be presented carefully
and with an attitude of kindness, but I do think it is necessary. Here are a couple of sample scenarios:
You try to sit in a certain seat in the
cafeteria, but the people sitting by that seat tell you it is saved. What would
be the best thing to say and do?
You ask your friend to be your partner for the
group project, but he/she wants to work with another group. What would be the
best thing to say and do?
You text your friend asking about going to a
movie, but he/she never responds. What would be the best thing to say and do?
As with step six, students can usually give an appropriate answer shortly after we begin these discussions. However, when they face these situations in real life, I have found my students to be deeply hurt and sad. Honestly, I feel that way too in some of these situations. It is important to keep an eye out for situations like this your student might be experiencing so that you can go back and talk about them later.
Self Analysis
One more thing that I like my students to do is participate in a friendship self-analysis. I have created a worksheet that reviews the steps and I use it to help my students see how they are doing at following these strategies outside of the speech room.
Making Friends Social Story and Companion Activities
Click the image above if you would like to see more of this social story about making friends.
Friends, I know we are all insanely busy, so if you are struggling with teaching friendship skills to some of your students, I would love for you to check out this resource. It is a social story about making friends using these 8 steps. There are also companion activities that go along with the story, so that your students can practice the skills that they have learned. If you are interested in learning more, please click the picture above and it will take you to it!
If you’re interested in upping your pragmatic language therapy/evaluation game then you have come to the right place. Let me share my tips and tricks with you so that you can approach this tricky area with confidence. Click here and we can start learning together–I even want to give you a free pragmatic language evaluation checklist so you can sample my work. If my style isn’t your cup of tea, you can unsubscribe at anytime. 🙂
Click the image above to get your free pragmatic language evaluation checklist!
We need to talk and I want to be 100% honest with you. I am not an expert Speech-Language
Pathologist. There are many, many things I don’t know.
Phew! *Wipes brow* Serious moment done! Now that you know
that I will NEVER pretend to be anything I am not; we can talk about narratives
and their role in speech therapy.
The reason I need you to know I am not an expert SLP is because I used to know nothing about teaching narratives. I didn’t even know I should be working on them! I discovered their importance while reading some reviews on The Informed SLP. (Seriously-click that link to check it out, it might just change your speechie life.)
Why Should I be Working on Oral Narratives in Speech Therapy?
I am so glad you asked! As it turns out, there are quite a few reasons you should be working on narratives, but for this post I am going to focus on the three that stood out to me.
The first reason is that when you work on narrative skills, there is evidence that suggests that other language skills may improve simultaneously. My understanding is that the trick here is not to get caught up in perfecting the “microstructure” of stories, but instead to focus on improving students understanding of the “macrostructure”. (In case you need a little refresher, when I say microstructure, I am talking about things like grammar, vocabulary, syntax, etc. When I say macrostructure, I am referring to the bigger story elements such as the character, setting, problem, and solution.)
Do you know what else gets better when you work on oral narrative skills? WRITING SKILLS! We know that we need to be working on writing skills in therapy (after all, writing is written language). But typically, we only have about 30 minutes at a time to get our speech business done and, oh my word, writing takes FOREVER. It almost feels like a waste of a session when you spend the entire 30 minutes helping each of the four students in your mixed group write two, maybe three sentences. I’m just saying, if the people who know more about these things than me say that when you work on oral narratives it also helps with writing skills, I think we should be giving it a try. I am all about efficiency, and what is more efficient than working on two things at once?
According to ASHA, storytelling deficits are indicative of pragmatic language disorders. (Click the link here if you want to read what ASHA has to say). So working on oral narratives not only helps students with receptive and expressive and writing deficits, but it ALSO helps with social language disorders?! That is like working on four things at once! If working on two things is efficient, what does that make working on four things?
How Do Oral Narrative Skills Develop?
As it turns out, narrative skills actually begin to develop when children are very young. (As I began researching this topic, I read this article that showed me that my two-year-old son is already learning narrative skills!) When we are talking about how narrative skills develop, it gets pretty complex really quickly. I am not even going to attempt to break down the complexity of these development skills, but I am going to tell you the basic hierarchy I developed that I think makes a good starting point for your everyday speech therapist.
Retelling Stories About Familiar Routines:
In the first stage, children are talking about familiar routines. Since they
have done these things before, they have an easier time sequencing and
organizing the story.
Retelling Past Personal Experiences: In the
second stage students begin to tell a story that actually happened to them. It
requires students to pull an event from their long-term memory and sequencing
skills might deteriorate slightly.
Retelling a Fictional Story: The next
step is having your students retell a fictional story. This is best done with
stories that have easy to identify characters, settings, problems, and
solutions. In this stage, students must now rely more heavily on sequencing
skills and short-term memory skills.
Creating a Fictional Story: Students
begin creating their own fictional stories in the final stage. This is the most
complex stage because it requires students to have an understanding of story
elements, sequencing skills, and they must also rely heavily on both their long
term and short-term memory to create a story that makes sense.
How Do I Work on Oral Narratives in Speech Therapy?
Now for the moment you have all been waiting for! (Cue the
drum roll in your head) It is time to talk about how we can target narrative
skills in speech therapy!
Target sequencing skills. Many students who struggle with storytelling skills have a hard time organizing a story into a logical structure, so we need to be making sure our students are proficient in this skill.
Teach the main story elements (macro elements). Again, you can make this much more complicated, but for your average SLP, I personally think targeting the basic story elements (character, setting, problem, and solution) are a good starting point when you are trying to target macro elements. I would suggest helping your students get really proficient at identifying these and then moving onto more complicated story elements, if you think it is necessary.
Help your students identify the main idea. Often times when students struggle with narratives, they have a hard time getting to the point of the story. They get wrapped up in details and never really tell us what they wanted to say in the first place. Helping them learn to weed out the main idea from the details will help them tell more stream lined stories.
Help your students make personal connections to the story. This is the basic stage of making inferences. When students feel connected to the characters in the story, it makes it easier for them to make emotional inferences. This is especially important to work on with students who have Autism or pragmatic language disorders.
Practice making inferences about the emotional states of the characters. This is the more advanced stage of making inferences. It is known that students with Autism struggle with understanding the emotional states of characters in stories, so the more you can practice this, the better. A great way to introduce this skills is by showing a picture that shows an emotion and helping your students make a story about the picture.
Pre-teach Tier 2 Vocabulary: If students are retelling a story, make sure they understand the important Tier 2 Vocabulary.
Practice, practice, practice. Practice retelling stories until they are securely stored in long term memory. Each time a student retells a story, it should get better. The story should become more fluid and other language elements such as sequencing, grammar, and vocabulary should improve.
This interactive notebook activity contains everything you need to target oral narratives using the strategies listed above.
Now that I have told you everything I think you need to know
to start tackling those narrative goals, I want to tell you about this
interactive notebook I created to help me work on narrative skills with my
caseload. It will help you target each of those 7 areas that I listed above in
one beautifully curated speech therapy session. Here is how it works.
Students will practice their narrative skills by
creating an interactive notebook.
Print off the activity pages and assemble them
using the instructions I have given you in the download.
As students create their notebook, they will be
practicing using sequencing skills, identifying story elements, finding the
main idea, making inferences, and practicing some Tier 2 Vocabulary.
By creating a notebook, students have all the
resources they need to go back and practice retelling the stories they have
already created in the notebook. This repetition is paramount for improvement
in storytelling skills.
The activities in the notebook build in
complexity using the hierarchy I listed above. You can practice each level as
much as your students need until they are ready to move to the next section.
If you are interested in learning more about this notebook, click the picture below and it will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!
Click the image above if you would like to learn more about this Speech Therapy Oral Narrative Interactive Notebook
If you’re interested in upping your pragmatic language therapy/evaluation game then you have come to the right place. Let me share my tips and tricks with you so that you can approach this tricky area with confidence. Click here and we can start learning together–I even want to give you a free pragmatic language evaluation checklist so you can sample my work. If my style isn’t your cup of tea, you can unsubscribe at anytime 🙂
Click the image for your copy of this free pragmatic language evaluation checklist!
Articles About Narratives and Speech Therapy
Click the links below if you are interested in reading more about narratives and speech therapy!
Adolf,
S. M., McLeod, A. N., & Leftwich, B. (2014, April 14). Structured narrative
retell instruction for young children from low socioeconomic backgrounds: A
preliminary study of feasibility. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00391/full#h9
Gillam, S. L., Olszewski, A., Squires, K., Wolfe, K., Slocum, T., & Gillam, R. B. (2018, April 5). Improving Narrative Production in Children With Language Disorders: An Early-Stage Efficacy Study of a Narrative Intervention Program. Retrieved from https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2017_LSHSS-17-0047
Spencer,
T. D., & Petersen, D. B. (2018, July). Bridging Oral and Written Language:
An Oral Narrative Language Intervention Study With Writing Outcomes. Retrieved
from https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-17-0030
Westerveld, M. F., & Roberts, J. M. (2017, October). The Oral Narrative Comprehension and Production Abilities of Verbal Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum. Retrieved from https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2017_LSHSS-17-0003
How do you like to work on narratives?
Leave a your favorite narrative strategies in the comments so we can all get some fresh ideas!
If you have ever wondered how to teach tone of voice, you are not alone. I have been there, sitting across from a boy who has confusion written across his face, as I try and explain that yes, saying I’m sorry is usually a good thing, but that it was his tone of voice that made his teacher upset.
Have you been there? Can you see that student? Do you want to help this child, but have no idea where to begin? I have been there too, and I can tell you what I would do to try and help this boy.
Introduce the topic:
Reading passages are a great way to introduce a new topic. They educate the student about the topic and introduce new vocabulary. It’s a great way for students to warm up their mind to receive the knowledge they are going to be taught. I also love reading passages because they are versatile for mixed groups. All students can benefit from additional reading practice and it is easy to use reading passages to target articulation skills as well.
I use two reading passages. One passage explains what tone of voice is and why it is important. The second one teaches students how to listen for changes in tone of voice. I also give my students a short quiz to reinforce their understanding of the passage. As an extra bonus, the quiz also gives them a chance to practice reading comprehension skills.
2. Learn the vocabulary.
The topic of tone of voice requires knowledge of two types of vocabulary. The first type is emotional vocabulary. Students must have a strong foundational knowledge of emotions before they can be successful with tone of voice. And I am not just talking about basic emotions. I am talking about complex emotions such as embarrassed, frustrated, or disappointed. (You can read more about teaching complex emotions by clicking here).
The second type of vocabulary relates to
the changes in tone of voice. These are words like “rate”, “pitch”, “emphasis”,
“prolong”, and “volume”.
The following YouTube videos provide good
examples of the following vocabulary words:
Pitch & Volume:
After
you watch this video practice talking in louder and softer volumes and higher
and lower pitches.
Emphasis
& Prolongation:
After you watch this video, help your students identify why Rachel prolonged certain words while she was talking to Joey and which words Rachel and Monica were putting emphasis on.
Rate:
Use this video to discuss Elliot’s rate of speech, why you think she is talking fast, and how it effects the communicative message.
3. Learn to listen.
Before students can interpret tone of voice, they must learn to listen for it. At this point I would have my students listen to the same word, pronounced with several different emotions/tones. For example, you could use the word “no” and say it with a happy tone, a sad tone, a frustrated tone, and an embarrassed tone. Using audio clips that do not show other non-verbal cues, such as facial expression, will help your students to practice only using their listening skills. Many similar emotions also have similar tones, which can be difficult to identify without knowing context or seeing body language, so I would focus less on identifying the correct emotion, and more on picking out the tonal differences in each word.
I use a worksheet to guide my students through the listening process. The worksheet helps students identify the rate, pitch, volume, and any emphasis’ or prolongations the speaker used to convey the emotion. You can continue to practice this skill using a variety of words and sentences until your students are proficient at listening for the tonal differences in a communicative message.
4. Practice identifying emotions based on tone:
The next step in the process is probably the trickiest-learning to listen to a speaker’s tone of voice and interpret the communicative message. Here are a few activities you can use to practice this skill:
Watch Video Clips: The first time you play the video, don’t let your students watch the characters, instead, have them practice listening only to the tone of voice. I would have my students complete a guided listening worksheet to help them through this process and to help them guess which emotion they think is being portrayed. After they have listened without watching, allow them to watch the video and discuss how it is easier to understand the communicative message when you can see the speaker’s body and facial expressions. You can use these video clips below to get you started.
How I Met Your Mother: Marshall’s Dad Died (Sad)
Star Wars: “Luke I Am Your Father” (Anger, Disbelief)
The Devil Wears Prada: “You Think This Has Nothing To Do With You” (Annoyed)
Titanic: “I’m The King of The Word” (Excited)
Barrier Games: Practice identifying tone of voice when you cannot see your partner. You can do this by having the student sit with his or her back to you (or another student). One student is given two cups. One cup contains a word or sentence, the other cup has emotion words. The student draws one card from each cup and must say the word or sentence using the emotion that they drew. The other student must guess the correct emotion.
There you have it! Four steps to teaching tone of voice. It looks easy enough in writing, but we know how challenging this skill is to teach. If you would like a little extra help, check out my resource on tone of voice by clicking HERE. It contains reading passages, audio clips, guided listening worksheets, and activities to help you get started.
What tricks do you use to teach tone of voice? Please share in the comments below so that everyone can learn something new!
If you’re interested in upping your pragmatic language therapy/evaluation game then you have come to the right place. Let me share my tips and tricks with you so that you can approach this tricky area with confidence. Click here and we can start learning together–I even want to give you a free pragmatic language evaluation checklist so you can sample my work. If my style isn’t your cup of tea, you can unsubscribe at anytime. 🙂
Complex
emotions and empathy. Guys, these are some seriously tricky concepts. Most
typically developing humans just “get it,” but for our students with social
language delays and disorders the struggle is real. When we instinctively
understand empathy and the complex emotions, figuring out how to teach these
skills to the little humans that don’t get it, is also a struggle.
So how do we find the words to teach something that we intrinsically know, but have rarely tried to articulate? First, we start by teaching emotional literacy. Emotional literacy is “the ability to recognize and understand the feelings and needs of yourself and others” (Davis, K.G. 2017). (You can read more about emotional literacy here). When I say we need to teach our students to understand their feelings, I am not talking about just happy, sad, and mad. We need to really delve into those complicated emotions such as frustration, anxiety, pride, and relief.
Here is how I would
go about teaching emotional literacy:
Choose the emotions you want to target. Each person is different, so the emotions you choose are going to be individualized based on your student’s needs. Generally speaking, I try and choose an area of greatest need, or, I like to start with an easy concept and scaffold upon that skill into a more difficult one. For example, I might start with mad and then talk about frustration. Or I might start with scared and then introduce anxious.
I always like to begin teaching a new task with an engaging introduction activity. Using GIFs is a really fun way to introduce emotions. GIPHY has both an app and a website that allows you to type in an emotion and watch GIFs for that particular emotion. This is a fun way to introduce a new emotion before you begin to talk about it in-depth.
After a topic has been introduced, I begin to explicitly teach the targeted skill. When teaching emotions, I begin by defining the emotion and giving common examples. I also want my students to get really good at identifying situations that might make them feel the targeted emotion. For example, first I would explain that frustration is a feeling of upset or annoyance you experience when you can’t do something you want to do. Next, I would give examples of things I find frustrating, such as slow internet, long lines, or not being able to fall asleep. Then, I would have my students try and generate a list of things they find frustrating.
Up until this point I have only been having students think about their feelings, but the next step is to encourage our students to think about how a situation might make someone else feel. I make a chart and have my students pick someone they know. We pick an emotion and list things that make us feel that way. Then we create a list of things that would make the person they picked feel that same emotion. We talk about why we think the other person might feel that way and we look for any similarities and differences. Going back to the frustration example, I would say that I feel frustrated when my baby cries. If the person I was comparing emotions with was my son, I might say that I think he feels frustrated when he can’t do a puzzle. My son and I probably both get frustrated when the baby cries, because it is loud. I don’t get frustrated by the puzzle, because I am able to do puzzles.
Drill and practice. Continue to challenge your students to think about a wide range of situations and predict how those situations would make them feel.
This is so much information and we haven’t even talked about
empathy yet! Stay tuned for the next blog post in this series to learn more about
teaching empathy.
In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about teaching empathy and complex emotions, check out my resource “How to Teach Empathy and Complex Emotions”. This resource contains activities to help you teach complex emotions and empathy using the strategies outlined in this post.
I hope this post gave you a new perspective on teaching empathy
and emotions to your students with social language disorders. If you have any
other tips or strategies, please leave them in the comments below so everyone
can learn something new!
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