Page 62 - Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

Teaching Expanded Phrases 4.4

Some children are highly verbal in certain situa ons and really struggle to

communicate in others. As an example, many children engage in personal interac ons well

but then when it comes me to demonstrate any sort of knowledge or academic ability, they

are le with very li le to say. Cloze procedures are a support we can provide to children to

help them be successful with structures that are more complex than they are able to produce
on their own.

In a cloze procedure, we provide the por on of the structure that the child cannot pro‐

duce and allow them to complete the part of the structure they are able to produce. For ex‐
ample, a child is reques ng a toy car. The parent says, “I want…,” leaving the word “want”

hanging in the air and then the child fills in with “car.” Or the teachers says: “The train goes...”

and the child says, “Choo choo.”

Strategies to Expand a Child’s U erance

Successful u erance expansion depends on having a child iden fy the basic parts of a

phrase and then add to it. This can easily be accomplished with visual or auditory support.

Sentence Strips

Think of the words of a sentence as a series of blocks. Even with children who are not

yet reading, we can point to the words in a sentence every me we say a word. This provides

visual representa on for each thing being said. At the school level, words can be wri en on
different cards and physically assembled. Either way, we are dividing the big u erance into its

components so the child can see it ge ng bigger or smaller.

Auditory and Tac le Techniques

Clapping along with a sentence, tapping on the body, or even stomping our feet with

each word gives a child mul ple sensory cues about the different parts of a phase. A child can

clap with you three mes and then repeat and clap with you, “I want milk.” The auditory and
tac le input the child gets from clapping helps her successfully produce a three‐word phrase.

Flip‐boards

Flip boards are visual versions of Cloze procedures. As an example, on the board it

says, “I want,” and then the child can flip through a series of pictures to finish the phase.

Copyright © 2014 Bilinguis cs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
54