help to foster language acquisition and pre-literacy (pre-reading)

either directly or indirectly

phonology and phonological processing

joint book reading

 sense of story - beginning, middle, end, plot, characters - listen to it, talk about it

hook up writing and speaking early - draw pictures, add words -  include more print during therapy

collaborate with teachers and parents to show them the connection between talking and reading/writing

track students who you suspect might have difficulty down the road

participate on pre-referral teams

observe in classrooms to see the language involved in a particular curriculum

can be formal or informal depending on your comfort zone, i.e. if you administer the OWLS you might also administer the written portion; if you’re familiar with the CTOPP, that might help the team

contribute all you know about the student’s sound awareness, discourse skills, listening abilities, see where they might fit into the reading and/or writing process, such as decoding, comprehending, spelling, organizing discourse, formulating thoughts

make sure your therapy goals are relevant to the curriculum (vocabulary, developmental, discourse)

match your intervention goals to the student’s areas of weakness for reading and writing, i.e. phonological, sequential, formulation

teach self-advocacy skills to older students, it’s similar to students who have processing difficulties, “Can you show me what I have to write?”, “You said to write about x, I don’t understand what you mean.”

document what works and doesn’t

collaborate with school literacy projects

provide assistance to teachers, parents and the community showing the link between spoken language, reading and writing