2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
Integrating Vocabulary Targets Throughout the School Day
Vocabulary development plays an integral role in children’s overall language development and later academic and reading success. When working with deaf and hard of hearing children in the classroom, with a listening and spoken language emphasis, there are a variety of ways to help ensure students obtain new vocabulary targets, in order to help expand their receptive and expressive vocabulary. Young children learn best through play-based meaningful experiences. In the classroom, teachers can create meaningful experiences by relating vocabulary targets to the theme, intentionally focusing experiences throughout the day around the targeted vocabulary. By truly diving into the theme within each aspect of the school day, students are given many opportunities to explore and practice using their targeted vocabulary. Exposure to vocabulary targets can be provided during any activity in the school day, including but not limited to: pretend play experiences, music and movement activities, snack experiences, sensory activities, and circle routines. Another key part of eliciting vocabulary is setting up the environment to provide opportunities for the child to use their targeted vocabulary. Creating Experience Books from meaningful experiences in the classroom can help facilitate a natural way to provide repeated exposure to the child’s vocabulary targets. When targeting functional vocabulary, it is imperative to provide real life experiences for the child to explore the vocabulary targets in as many ways and contexts as possible. Practicing vocabulary should be extended to the home setting in addition to the classroom. To help facilitate this home carryover, teachers/providers can utilize a home-school journal and include vocabulary targets in their daily entries. In weekly classroom newsletters, teachers/providers can also describe real life ways for caregivers to target vocabulary words at home, incorporating common household materials.
- Teaching vocabulary through meaningful experiences
- Setting up the environment to elicit targeted vocabulary
- Helping to support carryover of vocabulary targets at home
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Presenter: Diana Dehler
Diana Dehler is the Instructional Specialist at Texas Hearing Institute’s Melinda Webb School in Houston, Texas. As Instructional Specialist, she provides support and mentoring to MWS teachers, helps to maintain and develop school-wide curriculum, and teaches a part-time Toddler Class, in which she coaches parents in AV sessions. Diana has a Master’s degree in Deaf Education from Utah State University and is a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Cert. AVEd.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Megan is a Toddler Language Teacher at Texas Hearing Institute’s Melinda Webb School in Houston, Texas. She received her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Ohio University and her Master’s in Deaf Education and Hearing Science from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -