Speech Therapy in Elementary School
Speech therapy for children ages 6-10
Parents tell me,
“My child…”
“is very disorganized-they are constantly losing things”
“has difficulty with learning how to read.”
“only talks in short sentences, says ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ and seems insecure when talking.”
“has trouble with spelling and writing.”
“uses incorrect grammar when talking and writing.”
“struggles with getting started on work and needs constant reminders to get work done.”
“difficulty sounding out new words when reading. ”
“Has difficulty with understanding what they read.”
Your child might be struggling with speaking, reading, writing, or executive functioning skills like organizing, planning, prioritizing, and attention. Your child might even be struggling in all of these areas at once!
In order to help your child best, here at Mindful Speech, we work on all of these skills together to help make life easier and more fulfilling for your child.
Read below for more information on what language, reading, writing, and executive functioning skills are expected for your child in elementary school and how speech therapy can help them.
Speech Therapy for Language
in Elementary School
When I work with children who are in the earlier grades in elementary school, we work on many skills that are important for school and home.
In addition to helping your child learn to read and write, I also work on specific language skills important for both written and spoken language, like:
Together, we work on language skills in elementary school by:
Telling stories that are age-appropriate, including the setting, problems, and resolutions in stories so the listener doesn’t have to “fill in” so much. Knowing how to tell stories is an important link between speaking and reading.
Asking grammatically correct questions.
Word finding: changing from vague words like “it” “that” “thingy” to specific age-appropriate vocabulary words they are encountering in books and class.
Using longer sentences (That boy is the one who kicked the ball), not just short sentences (The boy kicked the ball).
Improving vocabulary, focusing on words that are relevant to their daily lives at home and at school.
Using language to connect what they are learning in school to their lives.
Using grammatically correct sentences to talk about the past, present, and future.
Noticing when they need help and asking for it.
Speech Therapy for Reading in Elementary School
First grade and beyond in elementary school is a critical period for learning to read.
Children use the language skills that they already have in order to build their reading skills.
Together, we work on reading in elementary school by:
Learning how to read simple words like bat, dog, and other short words.
Learning how to read longer words.
Understanding parts of words that have different meanings, like prefixes (re-do), suffixes (teacher), and grammatical markers (he walks).
Reading words automatically so children don’t have to sound out every word that they encounter.
Reading sentences with a conversational tone, aka “reading fluently.”
Learning new facts by reading.
Reading complex sentences.
Reading paragraphs, passages, and book appropriate for their age, grade, and skill level.
Visualizing what they read.
Summarizing what they have read in their own words.
Making predictions about what will happen next in a story.
Making inferences about what they are reading.
Speech Therapy for Writing
in Elementary School
In elementary school, students are not only learning how to spell words, but they also learn how to express their thoughts, show that they understand new ideas by writing.
Together, we work on writing in elementary school by:
Spelling words children know how to read.
Learning rules of punctuation and capitalization.
Practicing using more complex language by writing with different conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions like but, so, or and subordinating conjunctions like before, although, whenever, etc.
Learning the basics of writing paragraphs: having a topic sentence, supporting information, and a concluding sentence.
Learning the basics of writing essays: having a thesis, an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs that support the thesis, and a concluding paragraph.
Speech Therapy for Executive Functioning in Elementary School
Students in elementary school are slowly but surely expected to be more and more independent.
They are expected to follow verbal and written directions, expected to follow the rules and norms of the classroom (hang up coat, keep an orderly desk), and expected to notice when they need help and ask for it.
Together, we work on executive functioning in elementary school by:
Following the organizational system of the classroom.
Developing organization systems for their personal items, such as backpacks.
Building motivation by thinking about their priorities and their parents’ priorities.
Getting started on difficult tasks they are tempted to avoid.
Visualizing what “done” will look like.
Building self-awareness about their feelings, strengths, and difficulties.
Managing homework.
Planning ahead for bigger projects.
Building awareness of what they can do by themselves and what they need help with.
Building independence:
getting started with work.
figuring out what needs to get done.
identifying when they are finished.
Hi, I’m Hollis, the owner of Mindful Speech.
I’m a speech-language pathologist licensed in Illinois and Colorado.
I specialize in providing speech therapy to help children, teens, and young adults to improve language, reading, writing, and executive functioning skills. Now offering in-person sessions in Chicago!
Learn more about me on my About Hollis page.