Speech / Language Groups
Speech/Language Pathology is provided to all Porter Academy students. All students participate in language groups and all of our teachers integrate speech/language activities into the classroom.
Speech/Language Therapy is another way in which Porter Academy builds a strong foundation for our students. There are many components involved in speech, and we must ensure that our students have these foundational abilities so that they can go on to be successful with higher level tasks such as academics and social interactions.
- You must be able to hear sounds to produce them. Many students who have had chronic ear infections or other damage to the auditory system do not accurately discriminate sounds that are close in pitch. A person who is unable to hear a certain frequency accurately is going to be unable to accurately reproduce that frequency (a.k.a., letter sound). Porter Academy students have the option to participate in Integrated Listening Systems; one of the benefits of this program is that it retrains the auditory system to clearly distinguish the different frequencies associated with speech.
- You must be able to retrieve the words you want from the language centers of the brain, organize these words, utilize non-verbal components such as tone of voice, facial expression, and body language, and learn what is appropriate to say in various situations. At Porter Academy, we utilize fun activities and games that motivate the children to practice their word retrieval, vocabulary skills, word and sentence organization, and pragmatic language.
- Motor Planning (Apraxia):
- Ideation: Some children struggle to plan how their mouths need to move in order to make certain sounds. At Porter Academy, our speech therapist helps students explicitly learn this step that does not come naturally for them. For example, students learn that to make the “L” sound, you put your tongue on the tip of the alveolar ridge of your mouth. They then use a big mirror to see their own tongues touch the alveolar ridge, integrating verbal, visual, and tactile input in order to teach these children how to correctly make the sounds.
- Muscle Control: Some children’s oral muscles are weak or uncoordinated to the point where they are unable to move their tongues and lips in the right way to make the sound they want. Porter Academy students participate in oral-motor exercises to strengthen and develop coordination of these muscles.
Speech / Language Activities
We start with games such as “Magic Wand”, “Go Fish” and “Artic Bingo” (solving riddles). Students will listen for a letter sound, identify where they hear it: in the beginning (initial), middle (medial) or end (final), and count the number of syllables. Articulation is incorporated into many of the language games. Other skills addressed include rhyming words, building vocabulary, word retrieval, and speaking in complete sentences with correct syntax.
The “Go Fish” game offers many benefits in addition to increasing phonemic awareness and practicing articulation skills. Students need to remain focused, listen carefully as other players describe their cards, process information, and draw from their short-term memory.
We utilize many games and activities that develop students’ ability to sequence. Sequencing is the process of putting events, ideas, or objects in logical order. This allows students to see the relationships between cause/effect and actions/consequences.
As students progress, the use of context clues is developed to aid in deciphering the meanings of words and build vocabulary. Concentration is placed on realizing when a sentence does not make sense and learning to self-correct. Games are played to reinforce reading, listening, processing, and verbalizing thoughts.
As a deeper understanding of reading and comprehension is achieved, games such as “Inferences”, “Drawing Conclusions”, and “Social Inferences” are introduced. In these games, students are asked to identify the main idea as well as to make inferences based on information available to them. Students are then asked to explain how they came up with their answer; this helps them understand the steps of their own thinking as well as developing the ability to organize and express their own thoughts and ideas.
Anytime students are in speech/language therapy, they are expected to use clear speech and complete sentences with correct syntax. This way articulation and word/thought organization is integrated into every activity.
These are just a handful of examples of the games used and skills developed during speech/language therapy. Mrs. Porter is proud to be called “The Game Lady” by many of our students and the students get very excited when they “beat Mrs. Porter”. This intrinsic motivation and true enjoyment of their time spent with Mrs. Porter improves the benefits that come from time spent in speech/language therapy. Please see our research page to better understand why.
