We can do more critical thinking activities and use our working memory to come up with words that mean the opposite of another word. Knowing opposites of words can help us compare and contrast different concepts and organize the vocabulary in our brain.įor example, if we say it is not small and not short, we can assume that the object in question is big and tall if we know the antonyms for each word. Sometimes learning what something is not can help us understand what something actually is. We can say, “They did an excellent job making the delicious food with the fancy pots and pans.” We are able to help readers imagine what we are describing with more accuracy when we use a broader selection of words. Have you ever read a story that repeated the same words over and over?įor example, “They did a good job making the good food with the good pots and pans.” We can use synonyms to spice up that sentence and make it more interesting for our readers. I could use a general word and say that it’s hot outside, or I could say that it is muggy and help you understand the specific type of heat. The more words that we have in our lexicon, the more complex and precise our language will be. I could say that I feel “bad” or I could say that I feel “achy.” The latter word should conjure up a clearer picture in your brain of how I am feeling. A bigger vocabulary means that we can use specific words that help our communication partners to visualize and to better understand our thoughts. Knowing different synonyms for a word can help us to better express ourselves, allowing us the ability to convey exactly what we are thinking at any given time. Knowing the why behind our goals will also help us to better explain them to the entire IEP team and will subsequently increase the likelihood that team members will make an effort to work on the goals in other settings.Ī synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). This can provide additional intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm when participating in therapy activities to strengthen skills. This is done so that they understand the real-world applications and relevance of what we are going to learn. In dynamic assessment, a very important component of the protocol is to explain to our students the why before attempting to teach a new skill. As professionals, we want to make sure that we have clear reasons for selecting and targeting specific speech and language goals that match the academic demands being placed on our students and help them be more autonomous communicators. In this series we will explore the reasons why we work on specific skills in speech and language therapy. Written by: Amanda Blackwell, SLPD, CCC-SLP
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