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Blinking Keys Speech - Teacher Page Blinking Keys

Just when you thought you've tried everything to help a child succeed... well, there are MORE strategies that you can incorporate into your classroom lessons. Try some of these classroom accommodations to help your students improve their communication skills.
Difficulty with Listening:
  • Provide visuals
  • Reduce extraneous noise (talking, radio, A/C, outside noises)
  • Modify vocal intonation patterns and rate to emphasize key ideas and concepts
  • Pause between each step when giving directions
  • Shorten listening time
  • Use note-taking buddies, tape recorder
  • Avoid abrupt changes in topic and straying from topic

Difficulty in Conversations and Small Group Discussions:

  • Provide direct instruction in the rules of conversation (i.e., turn-taking, social distance, topic maintenance)
  • Provide student with responsibility or position of leadership, with a clearly defined role
  • Use strategy cards to teach group interaction skills (online strategy cards here) 
Owl teacher

Difficulty Pronouncing Words or Sounds:

  • Using pictures of similar sounding words, say each word and have the student point to the appropriate picture (i.e., run vs. won)
  • Play a game, such as "Simon Says" in which the student tries to imitate the targeted words when produced by the teacher or peers
  • Have the student raise a hand or clap hands when he/she hears the target sound produced during a series of isolated sound productions (i.e., sssss, shshshsh, errrrr, mmmmm, etc.)
    Question mark with eyes
 

Difficulty with Social Skills: 

  • reinforce the student for using appropriate verbal and/or nonverbal language in social situations or interactions with peers and/or adults: give the student a tangible reward (ie, classroom privileges, line leading, passing out materials, five minutes free time, etc.) or intangible reward (ie, praise, handshake, smile, etc.)
  • act as an appropriate model in social situations with adults and peers
  • communicate to the student that he/she is a worthwhile individual
  • provide the student with many academic and social successes
  • pair the student with someone with whom the student wold most want to converse and allow them to spend time interacting each day
  • reduce stimuli which contribute to the student's inappropriate language
  • use pictures or other visuals with "scripts" that provide language needed during interactions (ie, When someone says, "Hello," I say, "Hello, how are you?")
    Computer on a table
     

 

Difficulty with Fluency (Stuttering):

  • provide the student with an appropriate model of slow, easy speech. Lengthen the pauses between words, phrases, and sentences
  • during conversations, calmly delay your verbal responses by one or two seconds
  • have the student practice techniques for relaxing (ie, deep breathing, tensing and relaxing muscles, etc.) which he/she can use
  • encourage the student to maintain eye contact during all speaking situations
  • empathize with the student and explain that he/she is not more or less valuable of a person because of stuttering; emphasize the student's positive attributes
  • allow ample time to continue speaking, even if he/she is not speaking fluently
  • do not interrupt or finish the student's sentences even if you know what he/she is trying to say; this can be extremely frustrating for the student and may decrease his/her willingness to communicate
  • do not require the student to speak in front of other students if he/she is uncomfortable doing so
  • when the student is dysfluent during conversation, explain to him/her that this happens to everyone at times
    Pencil with face and hands

Hagan, J.S, McDannold, S.B., & Meyer, J. 1990. The Speech & Language Classroom Intervention Manual. Columbia, MO: Hawthorne Educational Services

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