Language Pages

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Download Syntax (2 pages): PDF; Download Semantics (6 pages): PDF

Pre-Academic – bed – you sleep in it; coat – when it’s cold, you wear this to keep warm; cup – it holds drinks; fork – you eat with it; gloves – you wear them on your hands to keep them warm; house – you live in it; napkin – helps clean up messes; pencil – writes and erases; telephone – helps you talk to far away people;  other words with functions – can, car, door, eraser, glue, hammer, hat, house, ladder, lamp, paper, refrigerator, sack, shoes, shovel, sunglasses, tape, telephone, television, umbrella, window

Early Elementary – backpack – holds your school supplies; clock – displays the time; comma – marks pauses in written sentences; dictionary – helps you spell and figure out the meanings of words; fireman – puts out fires and helps people; money – buys things you want or need; opinion – what a person thinks or believes; period – tells you the end of a sentence; rules – helps people know and remember acceptable behavior; scale – measures the weight of things; senses – gain information for your body from the environment; shell – protects and shelters animals, such as turtles and snails; soil – provides nutrients and shelter for plants to grow; stamps – letters need them to be sent through the mail; temperature – tells you how hot or cold something is; traffic light – controls vehicles to keep them from crashing; wings – helps birds and planes fly;  other words with functions – binoculars, calculator, calendar, capital letter, compass, cover, decimal, description, experiment, hibernation, healthy food, job, judge, lock, magnet, map, microphone, model, period, policeman, punctuation, receipt, road, ruler, shelter, shield, setting, skeleton, telescope

Late Elementary – adjectives – describes nouns; author – writes books; business – provides goods and services for income; compass – helps people keep from getting lost; evidence – provides proof of a theory or guess; index – lists words within a book alphabetically to quickly look them up; government – creates and enforces laws; persuasion – uses methods such as language to convince; plural – special type of word that shows more than one of something; research – gathers information to support or refute a hypothesis; voting – how democratic leaders are chosen;  other words with functions – abbreviation, ballot, character, culture, credit, data, draft, evidence, index, interview, introduction, employment, explorer, force, glossary, graph, law, measurement, prediction, recipe, recycling, resource, settler, signature, society, symbol, title, treaty, trial, verify, voting

Secondary – American Revolution – fought to gain American Independence from Great Britain; encyclopedia – provides detailed information on specific subjects; jury – group of citizens determining outcome of trials; percent – tells parts of numbers; suffix – goes at the end of a word and changes its meaning; tax – money used to fund government services;   other words with functions – advertisement, Civil War, context, Declaration of Independence, ecosystem, erosion, evaporation, immigration, interest, intersection, judge, negative, percent, prefix, pronoun, quotation mark, reasoning, reproduction, Senate, technology

List of Curriculum Relevant Vocabulary Words with Parts

Basic – airplanes: wings, cockpits, wheels, etc.; animals: legs, eyes, mouths, etc.; apples: seeds, cores, skins, etc.; books: covers, pages, titles, etc.; bugs: legs, antennae, eyes, wings, etc. cars: tires, steering wheels, headlights, etc.; houses: windows, doors, rooms, etc.; pencils: erasers, lead, tip, etc.; schools: kids, teachers, rooms, etc.; shoes: shoelaces, soles, tongues, etc; other basic vocabulary with parts: backpack, birds, buses, cats, coats, dinner, dogs, elephants, kitchens, pants, people, refrigerator, snakes, squares, stores, telephones, trains, trees, yards

Later Developing – atmosphere: clouds, layers, weather; books: titles, authors, indexes, etc.; calculator: buttons, screens, numbers, etc.; computer: mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc.; country: cities, capitols, borders, etc.; flashlight: lens, batteries, switch, etc. oceans: water, shores, whales, etc.; paper: top, lines, edges, corners, etc.; pencil sharpener: handle, gears, shaving container, etc.; sentence: capitalized word, punctuation, words; solar system: planets, sun, asteroids, orbits, etc.; watches: springs, gears, hours, minutes, etc.; other later developing vocabulary with parts: banks, boats, breakfast, buildings, calendars, cameras, cities, continent, deserts, dollars, equations, fiction, fish, glasses, highways, forest, map, movies, ovens, paragraphs, poems, recipe, rectangles, skyscraper

Secondary – business: presidents, workers, products, services, etc.; contract: signatures, promises, paragraphs, etc.; the Earth: core, mantle, oceans, etc.; fractions: numerators, denominators, ratios, etc.; reports: introductions, conclusions, transitions, etc.; wars: disputes, battles, treaties, etc.; other advanced vocabulary with parts: democracies, diets, economies, elections, experiments, piano, space shuttle, teams, trials, vacation

Basic Attributes Activities

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

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Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Matching Parts – Basic 1 Doc PDF;     (2) Matching Parts – Basic 2 Doc PDF;       (3) Fill in the Blank – Functions 1 Doc PDF;     (4) Fill in the Blank – Functions 2 Doc PDF;     (5) Pick Two – Functions Doc

Attributes Activities – Tic Tac Toes and Grids

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

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Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Tic Tac Toe – 3 in a Row – Basic Parts Doc PDF;     (2) Tic Tac Toe – 4 in a Row – Elementary Parts Doc PDF;     (3) Varied Attributes Grid 1 Doc PDF;     (4) Varied Attributes Grid 2 Doc PDF ;     (5) Functions Grid 1 Doc PDF;     (6) Functions Grid 2 Doc PDF

Attributes – Other Activities

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

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Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Matching and More Doc ;     (2) Various Activities Doc;     (3) Functional and More Doc;     (4) Scripts and Drills Doc;     (5) Functions Bingo (2 pages) Doc (2 pages)

Background Information

Functions - The targeting of functions is an integral part of working on other semantic language skills, such as adjectives, attributes, categories, and describing. Functions are often thought of first when asked “What is a ____?” Filling in the blank with words, such as refrigerator, fire extinguisher, telephone, pencil, etc. shows how frequently this is true. For many other words finding the function requires thinking outside the box. These are words where examples are much easier to produce than what each word does. Consider words, such as state, senses, punctuation, and months, that can also be described by what they do.

Research suggests that depth of semantic representation is an important contributor to word retrieval (Capone and McGregor, 2005). A richer semantic representation of a word leads to greater recall ability of that word. Children with difficulties describing may benefit from working on functions prior to categories. This is because functions as a means of describing is more prevalent in earlier developing language, while categories become more prevalent with advanced age (Reed, 2005).

A good extension of addressing functions is working on providing functions that best describe a vocabulary word. This overlaps with the concept of specificity. For example, when asked to describe a period, a definition that includes “It tells you when a sentence is over,” is more specific than “It goes after a sentence.” Tests that assess for functions include the Battelle, CELF, LPT , PLS, TOSS-P, TOSS-I, Woodcock Johnson, and WISC assessments.

Basic –

Categories – body parts, beverages, colors, days of the week, drinks, food, numbers, relatives, shapes, toys, vegetables, etc.

Functions – things that can be climbed, closed, grow, used for eating, opened, play music, stick things together, tell time, used as tools, write, etc.

Parts – things with arms, bones, buttons, doors, eyes, hands, holes, glass, legs, lids, locks, numbers, pages, pockets, screens, tails, walls, water, wheels, whiskers, words, etc.

Descriptions/ Adjectives – things that are big, blue, fast, happy, healthy, heavy, long, loud, old, orange, quiet, round, scary, shiny, short, slow, smooth, strong, tall, wet, etc.

Later Developing –

Categories – directions, beverages, hazards, insects, instruments, jobs, liquids, mammals, oceans, planets, punctuation, states, tools, transportation, seasons, vowels, etc.

Functions – things that are used as currency, entertain, help things grow, go in sentences, magnify, measure, medicine, protect, reflect, senses, shelter, slow, used as symbols, etc.

Parts – things with atmospheres, belts, branches, blades, borders, digestive systems, directions, engines, flavor, gears, handles, layers, lids, pipes, strings, stripes, switches, tone, tops, volume, etc.

Descriptions/ Adjectives – things that are alive, ancient, boring, crowded, dangerous, dry, easy, flexible, gray, healthy, important, impossible, rough, round, sour, straight, serious, valuable, etc.

Secondary -

Categories – adverbs, cities, constellations, cuisine, elements, energy, fasteners, habitats, languages, medicine, mammals, minerals, music types, religions, reptiles, etc.

Functions – things that advertise, help a democracy, communicate, conceal, consume, expand, explore, evolve, inflate, intersect, make laws, orbit, persuade, repeat, support, vibrate, etc.

Parts – things with advertisements, beliefs, causes, charts, circumferences, conclusions, judges, economies, fins, indexes, poles, protons, stems, transmitters, vice-presidents, etc.

Descriptions/ Adjectives – things that are common, damp, dull, exact, extinct, frequent, historic, hollow, medical, modern, parallel, political, productive, rapid, ripe, unnecessary, vacant, etc.

Basic Worksheets and Activities

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

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Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Zig Zag – Basic Similarities Doc PDF;      (2)Overlapping Ovals – Basic Similarities Doc PDF

Later Developing Worksheets and Activities

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

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Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Similarities Zig Zag Doc PDF;     (2) Overlapping Ovals Doc PDF;     (3) Overlapping Ovals 2 Doc PDF;     (4) Sentence Search 1 Doc PDF;     (5) Sentence Search 2 Doc PDF;     (6) Similarities and Differences Sentence Maze Doc

Other Similarities and Differences Worksheets and Activities

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(1) Miscellaneous Activities/ Functional Ideas Doc ;     (2) Ovals/Analogies  Doc;      (3) Word List/Data Sheet  Doc;     (4) Scripts/Drill  Doc;     (5) Extra Practice Doc

Similarities and Differences Background Information

The fundamental cognitive process of comparing ideas and objects greatly aids understanding, learning, and communication. The use of similarities and differences can serve as prerequisite and parallel skill for many other aspects of semantic knowledge. These include categories, examples, functions, attributes, parts, antonyms and synonyms.

The ability to group objects by means such as semantic similarities is a critical factor in learning words outside one’s direct experience (Borovsky and Elman, 2006). The research that supports direct instruction of similarities and differences is strong. Among the findings are that students benefit by having similarities and differences pointed out by a teacher in an explicit manner and that graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams, comparison tables or charts, and hierarchical taxonomies, that help students construct their own comparisons, can significantly boost student achievement (Focus on Effectiveness, 2005).

A general knowledge of similarities and differences greatly overlaps with several skills common to assessments. These include metaphors, analogies, and comparing/contrasting. Teaching this relatively simple skill can greatly influence how well a child demonstrates understanding of concepts with previous familiarity. For example, a child may be able to state or identify that Canada and Mexico are countries, but be unable to answer the question “How are Canada and Mexico alike?”

One verbal comprehension core subtest of the WISC-4 tests similarities. Analogies have long been standard fare on tests such as the SAT (though controversially, not since 2005), ACT, and GRE. Tests used by SLPs with this skill include the CASL, EOWPVT, LPT, PLS-4, and TOLD-I.

Similarities and Differences Elicitation Ideas

Similarities and Differences Goal Suggestions

Cher will identify two functional words that are similar, when given a similarity and foils. For example, “Which two of these play music?”

Bono will label one similarity and/or one difference between two age appropriate words. For example, “How are a comma and a period alike?’

Madonna will label one similarity and one difference between two curriculum relevant vocabulary words. For example, “Tell me how thunder and lightning are alike, and how they’re different.”

Personal

Subject – he, she, I, you, it, they, we

Object/Indirect Object – me, you, it, him, her, them, us

Possessive

my, your, his, her, their, our, ours, mine, yours, hers, theirs, its

Reflexive

myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, itself

Demonstrative

this, that, these, those

Relative

who, which, that, whose, what

Indefinite

all, another, any, anybody, both, each, either, few, many, everything, anyone, nothing

Pronoun activities and printable worksheets

Picture Activities          Functional/Etc.            Fill in the Blank            Dice Activities/Etc.

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Subject Pronoun Pix   Pronoun Blanks  Possessive Choices   Possessive Pix    Sentence Search

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Possessive               Subject/Object               Possessive                  Reflexive

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Possessive Pronouns       Demonstratives      Reflexive Pronouns  Possessive Pronouns

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Background Pronoun Information

Pronouns serve both syntactic and semantic functions within sentences.  They can serve as subjects, objects, direct objects, and indirect objects; they can do anything that nouns can do.  Pronouns reduce both redundancy (a good thing) and specificity (a not so good thing).  One main difference between nouns and pronouns is that pronouns do not allow adjectives to modify them – you can say “a big car,” but not “a big it” (Crystal, 1995).  Pronouns are often a source of syntactic ambiguity when their referents are confused.  For example, in the sentence, “Elizabeth gave Mary her coat.” it may not be evident to the listener which girl the word her refers to without knowledge outside of the sentence.

Unlike many areas of language acquisition, the specific order of pronoun development has been studied extensively (Owens, 1996).  Much of the research suggests that pronoun development is variable, although there is some agreement on basic pronouns, such as I, it, and you. (Chiat, 1986).  According to Roseberry-McKibben and Hegde, normally developing children begin using first pronouns, such as “I” and “me” at 2-3 years of age, “you,” “they,” “us,” and “them” at 3-4 years of age, most pronouns, including possessives by 4-5 years of age, and all pronouns by 5-6 years of age (Roseberry-McKibben and Hegde, 2000).

Pronouns are classified by case (subjective, nominative, possessive, and reflexive) and person (first, second, and third).  They can also change according to the referent’s number (singular or plural).  Advanced difficulties with pronouns are frequent, and include problems such as gender confusion (“Each child must listen to his or her parents.”) and subject-object confusion in phrases (“The teacher spoke with him and me.” not “The teacher spoke with him and I.”)  Relative pronouns may be specifically addressed if working on clauses.  Other types of pronouns include intensive, interrogative, and reciprocal.  Assessments with pronouns include the OWLS, SPELT, PLS, and CELF series of tests.

Elicitation Ideas

Pronoun Goal Suggestions

Artemis will identify objects and pictures when given personal and possessive pronouns, for example, “He is smiling,” or “Where is your shirt?”

Artemis will identify objects and pictures when given reflexive, demonstrative, and/or indefinite pronouns, for example, “Pat fed himself,” or “Point to that cat.”

Persephone will label personal and possessive pronouns in response to questions, for example, “Whose shoes are those?” or “Who is wearing that shirt?”

Persephone will label reflexive, relative, and/or indefinite pronouns in response to questions, for example, “Who was he talking to?” (himself), and “Which bug is walking?” (that one).

Hercules will use personal pronouns in sentences, for example, “They are eating.”

Hercules will use possessive pronouns in sentences, for example, Their books are new.”

Hercules will use reflexive, demonstrative, and/or indefinite pronouns in sentences, for example, “Do you have any money left?”

Basic Location

up, down, beside, above, at, behind, below, beside, by, in, in front of, off, on, out, outside, over, to, under

Later Developing Location

aboard, across, against, ahead of, along, among, around, beneath, between, beyond, into, near, onto, past, through, throughout, toward, underneath, upon, within

Relation

about, as, but, by, from, despite, except, for, like, of, to, with, without

Time

after, at, before, during, since, throughout, till, until, while

Prepositions printable worksheets

Previews – Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity.

(1) (2)  (3)  (4) (5) (6)  (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18)

Documents – Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) Choose the Correct Prep Sentence 1 Doc PDF;     (2) Choose the Correct Prep Sentence 2 Doc PDF;     (3) Comprehension Strips – Basic Prepositions 1 Doc PDF;     (4) Comprehension Strips  – Basic Prepositions 2 Doc PDF;     (5) Comprehension Strips – Later Developing Prepositions 1 Doc PDF ;     (6) Comprehension Strips – Later Developing Prepositions 2 Doc PDF;     (7) Preposition Pictures Download Doc ;     (8) Sentence Search 1 Download Doc ;     (9) Sentence Search 2 Download Doc ; (10) Sentence Search 3 Download Doc; (11) Sentence Maze 1 Download Doc; (12) Sentence Maze 2 Download Doc ; (13) Sentence Maze 3 Download Doc;      (14) Preposition Bullseye 1 Download Doc ; (15) Preposition Bullseye 2 Download Doc;      (16)Preposition Sentence Drop 1 Download Doc;      (17)Preposition Sentence Drop 2 Download Doc; (18) United States Prepositions Download Doc

Prepositions Cards

Cards                                              Sentences                                Backs

Card Doc 1 Card Doc 2 Sentence Cards 1 Sentence Cards 2 Sentence Cards 3 Backs

Functional and other preposition activities

Battleshapes/Choices  Pictures/Simon Says  Following Directions   Functional/Misc  Scripts/Drill

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Background Information

Prepositions express relationships between two parts of a sentence. Some prepositions consist of more than one word. The words in these prepositions are typically inflexible, for example in spite of can’t be changed to “out spite of” (Crystal, 1995) Much of what is currently categorized under “basic concepts,” such as on the Bracken and CASL tests, actually are prepositions and adjectives.

Prepositions, and location prepositions in particular, have been studied somewhat extensively (Owens, 1996). From these studies, many presumptions about acquisition have been made. These include:

• Children often respond to the objects mentioned before the preposition used

• Interpretation of more difficult prepositions requires being able to adopt the perspective of the speaker.
• Terms that signal movement toward the speaker should be easier than their opposites.

Certain prepositions can be used to achieve similar, yet distinct, functions. At can be used for time (“Meet me at 3 o’clock.”), or location (“Meet me at the store.”). Studies with brain injured patients have indicated that these functions are performed in different areas of the brain (Kemmerer, 2005).

Much of the difficulty in learning any new word or linguistic concept is determined by two factors: 1) complexity of the relationship the word symbolizes, and 2) frequency of exposure. Prepositions provide a perfect example of how this is true. Between usually develops later than under, because it describes relationships among three items rather than two. Through develops later than above because it occurs less frequently in typical language.

Tests that assess prepositions include the SPELT-3, CELF-P2, TACL, Bracken, CASL, and the OWLS.

Elicitation Ideas

Preposition Goal Suggestions

George will identify objects and pictures upon hearing basic location prepositions; for example, “What is behind the tree?”

John will answer questions requiring varied location, relation, or time prepositions; for example, “Where is the rope?” or “When do you eat dessert?”

Thomas will use varied location, relation, or time prepositions in sentences; for example, “Use the word ‘without’ in a sentence.”

Prepositions express relationships between two parts of a sentence. Some prepositions consist of more than one word. The words in these prepositions are typically inflexible, for example in spite of can’t be changed to “out spite of” (Crystal, 1995) Much of what is currently categorized under “basic concepts,” such as on the Bracken and CASL tests, actually are prepositions and adjectives.

Prepositions, and location prepositions in particular, have been studied somewhat extensively (Owens, 1996). From these studies, many presumptions about acquisition have been made. These include:

• Children often respond to the objects mentioned before the

preposition used

• Interpretation of more difficult prepositions requires being able to adopt the perspective of the speaker.

• Terms that signal movement toward the speaker should be easier

than their opposites.

Certain prepositions can be used to achieve similar, yet distinct, functions. At can be used for time (“Meet me at 3 o’clock.”), or location (“Meet me at the store.”). Studies with brain injured patients have indicated that these functions are performed in different areas of the brain (Kemmerer, 2005).

Much of the difficulty in learning any new word or linguistic concept is determined by two factors: 1) complexity of the relationship the word symbolizes, and 2) frequency of exposure. Prepositions provide a perfect example of how this is true. Between usually develops later than under, because it describes relationships among three items rather than two. Through develops later than above because it occurs less frequently in typical language.

Tests that assess prepositions include the SPELT-3, CELF-P2, TACL, Bracken, CASL, and the OWLS.