“We store vocabulary in our heads like we store books in a library… so when we want to find the word we want to use and quickly find it… you can go into the library and find all of the books on the floor.”
Finding all of the books on the floor is what a child who has word retrieval deficits experiences. They have difficulty finding a word that they know and understand and have used before. They must become detectives and mentally sort through numerous disorganized books or categories to find the correct word. This can be time consuming, frustrating, and embarrassing!
As SLPs, children often cross our paths who are experiencing word retrieval deficits. This is because it is not uncommon for a child with a language disorder to have word retrieval difficulties. Word retrieval difficulties make it difficult for children to participate in social interactions and academic tasks such as telling narratives. The good news, however, is that we can teach them strategies to find the words they want at the appropriate time!
Watch how an SLP and school helped Aroob, a child recovering from a stroke, with her word retrieval difficulties and empowered her as a communicator.
Here are some resources to help you target word retrieval difficulties during speech therapy!
I’ll Teach My Dog 100 Words
How many engines does it take to get the struck unstuck?
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