Many of my colleagues working in the public sector are skeptical of companies selling products to school districts. I’ve felt some of this skepticism myself as I’ve seen certain approaches gain traction because they’re well-marketed (yet not evidence-based). So it’s understandable to me that people would question the motives of companies selling products; especially in…
Tag: literacy
EP 189: Reframing the purpose of social narratives, video modeling, and social skills lesson plans
Many people treat social skills groups as if they’re the complete package, when in fact they’re just one part of a bigger service plan. When we “lesson plan” we can’t think of our intervention as something that starts and ends with a 20-minute therapy session. Instead, we should think of it as a “planning” or…
EP 188: Scaffolding syntax and semantics for non-readers and redefining life skills
Syntactic use is considered an “academic” skill that’s useful for reading comprehension and writing, but the impact of sentence comprehension goes way beyond school. Our ability to comprehend messages at the word and sentence level in oral and written language has a huge impact on our ability to function. So when clinicians ask me, “Should…
EP 187: Dynamic Assessment: Evaluations are a process, not a test (with Destiny Johnson)
I regularly hear from therapists who ask me questions about how to evaluate language in a way that gives detailed, meaningful, and accurate information. Most people know standardized tests only show a small fraction of what we need to know when it comes to language and cognition, yet many clinicians still don’t consistently utilize a…
EP 186: Supporting multilingual students and taking part in state and national advocacy work (with Puja Goel and Prabhu Eswaran)
Language evaluations are challenging enough; but when we’re evaluating multilingual and bilingual students, they become even more complex. Language in state education codes may not take the nuance of multilingual evaluations into account; which means they may unintentionally encourage protocols that don’t enable clinicians to conduct quality evaluations and service plans. When clinicians ask me…
EP 185: Is it a behavior issue or a language and literacy issue?
In this interview, I revisit conversations surrounding the school-to-confinement pipeline, giving students’ the language skills to understand their rights, the link between language, literacy and “behavior problems”, and how to get started with policy work. I share my commentary on the following: ✅ Why students who’ve received repeated detentions or suspensions should be screened or…
EP 184: Defining educational technology and considering homework equity issues
In this interview, I revisit conversations surrounding the use of the term “dyslexia” in the schools, the use of technology, and equitable access to books. I share my commentary on the following: ✅Saying “dyslexia” in the schools: Both the positive and negative consequences ✅Educational technology definitions: What “counts” as technology? What’s the difference between instructional…
EP 183: Morphology hierarchies, etymology, and reframing the “joy” of reading.
How much do we need to know about morphology and etymology to effectively help students? Is etymology an essential component to spelling and reading instruction? Will phonics instruction bore students? Is exposure to interesting books enough to foster a love of reading for people who don’t have solid word decoding skills? I revisit my conversations…
EP 182: Leveraging read-alouds to build language and getting started with advocacy work (with Dr. Molly Ness)
Many skeptics of the science of reading are concerned that structured approaches will bore kids and make it less likely they’ll enjoy reading. These concerns are unfounded for a number of reasons. First, structured approaches help reach students who don’t learn through implicit learning (which is a lot of kids). It’s hard to develop a…
EP 181: Developmental language disorder: Impacts on literacy and life beyond school (with Dr. Karla McGregor)
Students who meet the criteria for developmental language disorder (DLD) are often categorized as “speech only” in the school systems. In many cases, these students qualify for special education services under the eligibility category of “speech and language impaired”, which puts speech-language pathologists who serve as case managers in a difficult position ethically. Sometimes students…