Multiple Meaning Vocabulary Words Build Language Skills
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Yes, there are some surprising skills that you can teach along with vocabulary! You just have to choose your words carefully. Have you thought about using multiple-meaning words in your speech therapy sessions?
Don’t spend waste your time trying to keep up with a weekly vocabulary list used in the classroom when you only have about an hour a week with a student. Instead, build some learning skills while you are teaching new vocabulary.
Research shows that building deeper word knowledge helps students retain and use new vocabulary words. Incorporating language skills and word associations into your vocabulary work will help with this. And if you only have a few sessions weekly, you are drilling classroom vocabulary, not teaching strategies or deep knowledge.
Choose Vocabulary Carefully
The number of vocabulary words that upper elementary to high school students are supposed to learn each year is a staggering amount. Most of the new vocabulary for older students is gained through reading, curricular teaching, and vocabulary-building programs. But SLPs couldn’t possibly increase vocabulary by this much in our hour or so weekly with our students.
Some SLPs have had success aligning their other goals to the vocabulary being used in the curriculum. They can support their students’ academic progress this way. But if you have students who take a long time to accomplish their goals and need much practice to retain new vocabulary, this may not work well for you.
Then, to top it off, many special needs students have difficulty reading. Which means that they don’t like to read. So they don’t expand their vocabulary that way. They often aren’t able to grasp the complete meaning of words taught academically. So what are we to do?
Try Multiple-Meaning Word Vocabulary!
You can increase your students’ language skills in so many ways using multiple-meaning words. Incorporating many different language skills lets students acquire a deeper level of understanding. It improves word association skills. This promotes vocabulary retention and use.
Want to read more? Download the free PDF “A Review of the Current Research on Vocabulary Instruction” from the National Reading Technical Assistance Council in 2010. How about the K-3 teaching guide? You could also read “Effective Vocabulary Instruction Fosters Knowing Words, Using Words, and Understanding How Words Work” by Margaret McKeown 2019. “Teaching Children to Read”, by the National Reading Panel, is a very complete resource to read.
Do you have students who can parrot a list of meanings but don’t understand the vocabulary in context? This is exactly what got me started developing multiple-meaning sets that incorporate multiple skills. Using the same vocabulary in different contexts, with varied language skills, did the trick for my SPED students who couldn’t retain word meanings. Try the FREE Multiple Meanings mini unit to see for yourself when you sign up for the LLL emails below.
Try out the BOOM Card free previews and take a look at all of the skills in the printable task cards and worksheet sets.
Get some fun activity ideas for your speech therapy sessions. Then check out this post for more free digital teaching ideas!
Did you find it surprising how many different language skills can be incorporated into learning multiple-meaning words?
