Plus two free tools that help me do it
As speech-language pathologists, we are language specialists. Back when I was in grad school, the implication was that this language specialization pertained only to spoken language, sign language, and language generated by an AAC device. Our language specialization, seemingly, did not extend to written language.
As the years pass, this blind spot seems increasingly weird to me. What were they thinking?
As I've written about in other blog posts, I've done a great deal of continuing education around literacy development and dyslexia. I've learned all about how intertwined language and literacy are and how these two systems develop in tandem.
After a great deal of continuing education, I now feel much more competent in supporting my students as they develop as readers.
However, supporting my students in writing has felt like yet another frontier.
Fortunately, in recent years, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with other educators who have exposed me to different instructional approaches for writing, such as Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) and the Hochman Method.
Not only has my confidence in supporting my language-disordered students as they learn to write grown, but I've also come to see the use of written language in my therapy as a very effective tool for improving language skills overall.
Why do I work on writing intervention in speech-language therapy?
I've come to see incorporating writing into my language intervention as somewhat similar in philosophy to using the complexity approach in speech sound disorder intervention: challenging kids to master more complex sounds can correct not only the targeted sounds but also the less complex sounds that haven't been targeted directly. Similarly, in writing intervention, I suspect that having students work on writing more complex sentence structures can positively impact other areas that aren't being targeted directly, such as vocabulary, syntax, and grammar in oral language. (See my post all about why I think complex sentence structures are so important.)
Pair this with the knowledge that many kids with DLD have an especially difficult time with written expression, and I'm determined to work on written language as much as possible.

How do I work on writing in speech-language therapy?
In addition to supporting my students with the writing assignments they have to complete in their classrooms, I've started to really dig sentence-combining activities.
Here are two examples:
The student is given two simple sentences and is required to combine them into a complex sentence by adding a subordinating conjunction related to time. For example:
A volcano erupts.
Ash covers the ground.
Complex sentence: After a volcano erupts, ash covers the ground.
The student is given three simple sentences and is required to combine them into a sentence while eliminating redundant information. For example:
The team won the game.
It was a soccer team.
It was the championship game.
Final sentence: The soccer team won the championship game.
I love these writing tasks so much. I can practically see my students' brains creating new grammatical insights, links, and frameworks as they work out how to combine these sentences in a way that is grammatically correct.
Fortunately, I can create these types of activities quickly and easily for my students.
Here are two amazing websites that make creating writing intervention tasks easy
Quill.org provides free literacy activities that build reading comprehension, writing, and language skills for elementary, middle, and high school students. It is a nonprofit organization that has "adapted research-based writing instruction into a free, open-source digital platform." Their content is free to use for students and teachers. According to the website, "our activities help students develop their sentence construction and grammar skills and are designed as supplemental writing exercises that students complete over short, 10 to 15 minute sessions at the beginning or end of a class period. Quill offers prompts and exercises and delivers instant feedback to help students write, revise, and revise again until they are able to produce succinct, powerful sentences."
The Writing Pathway "is a free, research-based and researched scope & sequence for teaching writing, with AI tools that create practice for students in any subject or curriculum, grades 3-12." Believe me when I tell you this site is incredible. It covers 180 distinct writing skills and allows you to generate grade-specific materials on whatever topic you'd like. Is your student learning about the different layers of the earth in their science class or reading a specific text in their ELA? The Writing Pathway can use AI to generate leveled materials on whatever topic you choose. (As I mentioned in my post about how I support my students with DLD, tying my therapy to the concepts and vocabulary they are learning in the classroom has proven to be an effective approach.) Your students can complete the activities as a typed task online, or you can print out a paper and pencil PDF. It also brings students through the entire progression of writing, from the sentence level to persuasive essays. Did I mention it's free?!
I hope these resources help as you support your students to improve their writing skills. Let me know how it goes in the comments!
LEVEL UP YOUR SPEECH THERAPY ACTIVITIES WITH STORYWHYS
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StoryWhys has introduced Speech and Spell resources. I am always trying to tie articulation work and spelling together in my therapy, and I've never found any good resources out there to help me do this. So I made my own! Many more speech sounds and spelling rules to come. They'll be 50% off for 48 hrs when new resources are added to the StoryWhys store. Find them here.
Did you know book companions can be among the best speech therapy materials for elementary students? Explore all of the StoryWhys book companions for speech therapy in my store. You'll find comprehensive book companions that target many different language skills or Spotlight Series book companions that focus on one type of skill, all using high-quality, beloved storybooks.
And get your FREE, 71-page book companion for speech therapy on the free downloads page.
Enjoy!
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