Communication 4 Forever! Strategies for Preschool Teachers to Increase Communication Skills with Students in Their Classrooms and Collaborate with Speech- Language Pathologists Leslie Rainey, M.S., CCC-SLP

Birth to One Year:

One to Two Years:

Two to Three Years:

Three to Four Years:

Four to Five Years:

When to Worry:  The Child has difficulty following directions.  The Child has difficulty formulating sentences.  The Child has weak vocabulary skills.  The Child is difficult to understand.  The Child has decreased social interactions.

The Basics: Do What You Do!

The Basics: Vocabulary  Be explicit and intentional.  Build on prior knowledge through questions and discussion.  Make connections through questions and discussion.  Offer definitions.  MULTIPLE EXPOSURES and OPPORTUNITIES.  MAKE IT REAL.

The Basics: Expanding Repeat a child’s utterance in a grammatically correct format.

The Basics: Scaffolding Add information to a child’s utterance with one or two words.

The Basics: Use Visuals  Pictures  Graphic Organizers  Expanding Expression Tools

articulation stuttering social skills Phonological disorder Selective mustism swallowing language dyslexia

Inclusion: Co-Planning Ideas   5 minutes in the hall  Teacher 1 shares plans with Teacher 2 and Teacher 2 develops a plan based on Teacher 1’s direction.  Designated and protected plan time.  Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 determine a theme and targets. Each develops on piece of plan.

Trust me… I’m a teacher!

Inclusion: Observer  Teacher 1 gives instruction.  Teacher 2 observes and takes data.  Co-planned or Teacher 1 plans independently.

Inclusion: Drifter  Teacher 1 gives instruction.  Teacher 2 supports students within the classroom.  Co-planned or Teacher 1 planned independently.

Inclusion: Parallel  Teacher 1 gives instruction to a portion of the class.  Teacher 2 gives the same instruction or lesson to the other portion of the class.  Co-Planned.

Inclusion: Alternator  Teacher 1 gives group instruction.  Teacher 2 follows up with small group instruction.

Inclusion: Teaming  Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 give instruction together.  Co-Planned.

Inclusion: Stations  Teacher 1 provides small group instruction.  Teacher 2 provides small group instruction.  Co-Planned.

Your Challenge  Let go of the fear.  Work through your differences.  Embrace what you can accomplish together.

References  American Speech Language and Hearing Association. (n.d.). Communication disorders: prevalence and cost in the united states. Retrieved from  American Speech Language and Hearing Association. (n.d.). How does your child hear and talk? Retrieved from  Christ, T. & Want, X.C. (2012). Supporting preschoolers’ vocabulary learning: Using a decision making model to select appropriate words and methods. Young Children, March,  Kohnert, Kathy. (2013). Bilingual Language Development. On YouTube. Retrieved from

References  Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word age gap by 3. American Educator, Spring,  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2015). Nearly 1 in 12 children ages 3–17 has a disorder related to voice, speech, language, or swallowing: infographic. Retrieved from infographic.aspxhttp:// infographic.aspx  Schuleman, Jess. (2013). Cute articulation norms. Retrieved from  Smith, S. (2010). Expanding Expression Tool. Retrieved from

References  Waltman, E. (2012). Coteaching differentiation. Retrieved at  Wright, P.W.D. & Wright, P.D. (2015). Questions and answers on least restrictive environment requirements of the IDEA. Wrights Law. Retrieved at