Speech-Language Pathologists: Strategies to Support Students with Reading and Language Deficits (Grades PreK-12) Presented by MariBeth Plankers Outstanding Speech-Language Pathologist and National Presenter

Specifically Designed for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists Working with Students in Grades PreK-12

Practical Ideas and Strategies

As a Speech-Language Pathologist, your expertise in oral language and literacy skills makes you an invaluable member of the literacy team at your school and in your online sessions and meetings. In this seminar, MariBeth Plankers, an experienced Speech-Language Pathologist and Assistive Technology Professional, will share practical methods for assessing and treating reading and writing skills in students with language disorders. You will learn effective, efficient and easy-to-implement techniques to identify children who are at risk for problems with decoding, reading comprehension and written language. MariBeth will share with you evidence-based practice, from the ASHA (2016) evidence-based triangle, about the language skills that strongly predict learning deficits across settings and situations and provide strategies that will address these language skills in your daily therapy. This seminar will focus on practical strategies that can be implemented in the context of therapy, as well as generalizing across settings and situations.

You will leave with numerous ideas for reading comprehension, writing, language, and games to assist students with moderate to severe reading, writing and language deficits, as well as ways to maximize your effectiveness as an SLP.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

1. What Every SLP Should Know About Literacy and Language Deficits and How They Relate to Students
   Learn the different types of language-based reading challenges you will see in students with significant language-literacy disorders, specific reading disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders, and autism spectrum disorders
2. Expand Your Role as an SLP in Teaching Decoding and Spelling
   Utilize techniques such as morphology and word investigation to help children develop detailed lexical representations that include information about the word meanings, grammatical uses, spelling, and pronunciation within your current vocabulary lessons
3. Learn the Impact of Oral Language and Written Language on Students’ Reading Skills
   Gain practical information about language, reading and writing assessments and the different types of language skills that each assessment evaluates
4. Determine the Best Methods for Assessment
   Address your language, reading comprehension and written language assessments to best uncover a child’s unique language-literacy challenges
5. Establish Yourself as a Key Team Member for Students with Reading Disorders
   Bring your unique expertise in language, literacy, phonology, and pragmatics (social interactions) to the table or virtual meeting in your consultations with classroom teachers and reading specialists
6. Expand Your Toolkit of Therapy Ideas Both Inside and Outside the Classroom Setting
   Learn practical, engaging and effective techniques to systematically help your students generalize their language and literacy skills in reading across settings and situations
7. Align Your Therapy with Evidence-Based Practice to Support Literacy Development
   Discover what research says about oral language skills that align with evidence-based techniques to build the language skills that will help your students become skilled readers
8. Utilize the Most Effective Inclusive Practices for Implementing Language and Literacy Skills
   Maximize your time as an SLP by learning how to most efficiently use inclusion practices … When and how to work in the classroom and ways to coach teachers and paraprofessionals to address your language goals throughout the school day
9. Implement Universal Design for Learning to Support Student Success at School and Online
   Manage behavior utilizing Universal Design for Learning three guidelines and real-life examples, such as interactive games to support students with language disorders
10. Receive an Extensive Digital Resource Handbook and Electronic Resources
    Each participant will receive an extensive digital resource handbook and electronic resources that address language, reading and writing supports and strategies that you can immediately apply

Outstanding Strategies You Can Use Immediately

• Practical ways to incorporate reading comprehension and writing language goals into all aspects of your oral language therapy
• Advanced strategies for addressing phonological awareness systematically and hierarchically
• How to align your language therapy with the literacy programs your students use in the classroom and in their specialized reading interventions
• What aspects of reading/writing break down for children with typical communication disorders that SLPs treat every day
• Efficient, practical methods for assessing reading comprehension and written language in the context of your language evaluations
• Current technology resources that support both language skills and the development of reading and writing skills
• Specific ideas and strategies to strengthen the core language skills that allow your students to become good readers
• Practical therapy techniques that align with English Language Arts state standards
• How your unique role as an SLP differentiates you from the literacy specialist and why you are such a key player on the team
• Ideas for incorporating multi-disciplinary instruction, Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology in programs addressing language and literacy deficits
• Generalization strategies to help teachers and paraprofessionals carry over the work you are doing in therapy

A Message From Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague:

For many years, I have worked with students who have a language disorder which leads to challenges in reading and writing. Knowing my own personal passion for reading and writing, I can’t imagine any skill more important to teach! When I initially started working on literacy skills with students, I was frequently asked why the SLP should have anything to do with a student’s reading growth. Our educational background and expertise in language is even more reason for the SLP to be highly involved with reading and writing. Over the years our role as SLPs has expanded, and our expertise in language and literacy is now more widely acknowledged. We can assist with spelling, reading fluency and most importantly, reading comprehension and writing language.

It is imperative that we demonstrate a practical approach to addressing literacy skills along with our oral language goals. We don’t need more work but do need to address reading in the context of our current therapy programs. Our role is to provide effective strategies to teach other specialists what we know about language and literacy.

I have developed this seminar to share with you the best practices that we, as SLPs and other specialists, can use to support students with language and literacy deficits. We will explore the alignment of oral language and literacy skills and how valuable your expertise is to the school IEP team. We will explore the different types of reading challenges that your students with language disorders encounter across the curriculum. The emphasis will be on practical, doable methods to evaluate students and to develop individualized planned programs that may be implemented through direct intervention, the general education classroom and consultation.

My goal for this seminar is to send you back to your schools and online learning communities empowered with many new ideas you can put to practice immediately! We can lower the barriers in order to raise the level of success for our students.

Sincerely,
MariBeth Plankers, M.S. CCC-SLP, ATP

P.S. I know how valuable your time is, so my focus for the day will be on sharing practical strategies that work in today’s traditional or virtual schools with today’s students.

Who Should Attend

School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists and Assistive Technology Professionals working with students in Grades PreK-12

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive digital resource handbook giving you access to countless strategies.

The handbook includes:

• Comprehensive descriptions of all the skills and strategies addressed throughout the seminar
• A review of research in reading and written language, including an extensive reference list

For in-person seminars, registrants will also receive a printed copy of the resource handbook as long as their registration is received in the BER office at least 15 calendar days before the event.

ASHA - CEUs

ASHA-Required Disclosure Statement for MariBeth Plankers:
Financial:
Presenter for the Bureau of Education & Research and receives honorarium compensation.
Nonfinancial:
No relevant nonfinancial relationships exist.

Semester Credit Option
Up to four graduate level professional development credits are available with an additional fee and completion of follow-up practicum activities. Details for direct enrollment with University of Massachusetts Global, a nonprofit affiliate, will be available at this program.

Meet Inservice Requirements
At the end of the program, each attendee will receive a certificate of participation that may be used to verify hours of participation in meeting continuing education requirements.

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