In 2020 I reviewed a product kit (instructional guide and cards) from Learning By Design, Inc. entitled Wordtivities: Word Study Instruction for Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading. Today, I am reviewing a companion to that product kit: Wordtivities Word Lists. This 180-page guide contains sets of pattern-focused word lists for whole class, small group, and 1:1 word […] The post Wordtivities Word Lists Review first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

For years, I have been seeing a variation of the following questions from SLPs on social media on a weekly if not daily basis: “My student has slow processing/working memory and did poorly on the (insert standardized test here), what goals should I target?” “Do you have sample language/literacy goals for students who have the […] The post Dear SLPs, Don’t Base Your Language Intervention on Subtests Results first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

Social media forums have long been subject to a variety of criticism related to trustworthiness, reliability, and commercialization of content. However, in recent years the spread of misinformation has been steadily increasing in disproportionate amounts as compared to the objective consumption of evidence. Facebook, for example, has long been criticized, for the ease with which […] The post In Search of Evidence in the Era of Social Media Misinformation first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

Recently I wrote a blog post offering a free handout for parents and professionals entitled, “Deconstructing Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) for Parents and Professionals: Informational Handout“. While it was incredibly well-received, it resulted in numerous professionals asking the same questions: How do we help students with “APD? What constitutes a good quality assessment for a […] The post Quality Assessments for Students with Suspected/Confirmed “APD” first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

A few years ago I wrote a post, which offered a compilation of FREE literacy resources for parents and professionals. Today I would like to expand upon my previous article by providing professionals with a compilation of free literacy assessment tools. Assessment tools tend to be expensive. Few professionals have unlimited budgets to purchase the […] The post Free Literacy Assessment Resources for SLPs first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

In August 2021, the CEU Smart Hub (Powered by the Lavi Institute) has launched a new certificate program: The Science of Reading (SOR) Literacy Certificate for SLPs.  Because of the multitude of questions we have received in advance of the certificate rollout (Financial Disclosure: I am a 50% partner in the CEU Smart Hub/Power Up […] The post The Science of Reading Literacy Certificate for SLPs: FAQs first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

The diagnosis of auditory processing disorder (APD) has long been steeped in significant controversy. I have been writing about the serious issues surrounding it for a number of years. Today I am expanding upon the posts I wrote in the past on this subject by adding a link to a handout for parents and professionals […] The post Deconstructing Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) for Parents and Professionals: Informational Handout first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

How many parents and professionals have experienced the following scenario? The child in question is reading very fluently (Landi & Ryherd, 2017) but comprehending very little of what s/he is reading.  Attempts at remediation follow (oftentimes without the administration of a comprehensive assessment) with a focus on reading texts and answering text-related questions. However, much […] The post Comprehending Reading Comprehension first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

Today I am reviewing a newly released (2019) kit (instructional guide and cards) from the Learning By Design, Inc. entitled Wordtivities: Word Study Instruction for Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading. The 101-page instructional guide was created to address the students’ phonological awareness, spelling, reading, vocabulary, and syntax skills by having them engage with sounds, letters, and […] The post Review of Wordtivities by SPELL-Links first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more

As a speech-language pathologist (SLP) working in a psychiatric setting, I routinely address social pragmatic language goals as part of my clinical practice. Finding the right approach to the treatment of social pragmatic language disorders has been challenging to say the least. That is because the efficacy of social communication interventions continues to be quite […] The post On the Value of Social Pragmatic Interventions via Video Analysis first appeared on Smart Speech Therapy ..read more