Session Descriptions

These pre-recorded lectures are on-demand and last about an hour, so you can listen to them whenever time permits!

The SLP as an Integral Member of the School Literacy Team
Elizabeth Buck, MA, CCC-SLP

The SLP scope of practice has expanded in recent years to include literacy; however, it can be difficult for school SLPs to carve out their role within the school literacy team. This session focuses on the relationship between the school SLP, reading specialist, and/or special education teacher and how SLPs can cultivate that relationship to provide unified interventions that promote school-wide student success. The speaker shares examples of how school-based SLPs have successfully integrated into the school literacy framework. 

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain commonalities and differences between SLP and reading specialist scopes of practice
• collaborate with school literacy team members to identify children at risk of language/literacy disorders
• plan unified interventions for students with language/literacy disorders

Curriculum, Reading, and the SLP’s Role
Donna Thomas, PhD, CCC-SLP, and Dee M. Lance, PhD, CCC-SLP

This session addresses the connection between oral and written language as it applies to service delivery for school-age children. The speakers explore incorporating children's literature in treatment, meeting states' curricular standards, and using various service delivery models that support language intervention in schools.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain the connection between language and reading
• identify the unique contributions of the SLP with regard to the curriculum
• apply research findings in the provision of evidence-based practices

Oral Narrative Language Intervention to Improve Writing and Reading Outcomes
Deborah Crawford, MS, CCC-SLP

Do you find that your students can answer questions about stories but are not able to tell stories themselves or tell about a personal experience? This session explores strategies for assessing narrative discourse skills, implementing oral narrative intervention strategies, and measuring progress. Strategies can apply to students of all ages.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• assess the cognitive and linguistic foundational skills necessary for narrative discourse
• assess level of narrative discourse in young children through adolescents
• implement narrative language intervention for children with a range of language abilities

The Link Between Speech Sound Disorders and Reading/Writing Disorders
Kelly Farquharson, PhD, CCC-SLP

Speech sound disorders (SSDs) exist along a spectrum of severity and abilities, with many involving both the motoric and the phonological system. As a result, many children with SSDs experience related issues with the phonological skills needed for word reading and spelling. This session reviews the Simple Views of Reading and of Writing and connects those theories to assessment practices. The speaker discusses ideas for adapting speech sound intervention activities to include phonological awareness, decoding, and spelling.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe the Simple View of Reading and the Simple View of Writing
• select assessments that examine various “strands” related to reading and writing
• modify an intervention activity to include phonological awareness, decoding, and/or spelling

Addressing Morphological Awareness in the Classroom to Improve Writing
Kenn Apel, PhD

This session provides information on morphological awareness and its importance to writing (and reading). The speaker discusses the impact SLP consultations with general and special education teachers can have on students in the classroom. The session includes discussion of specific evidence-based activity examples.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain morphological awareness and its importance to writing to non-SLP colleagues
• state the evidence for using morphological awareness to improve writing
• create a plan for implementing SLP-guided morphological awareness instruction in the general education classroom

Literacy Instruction for Students With Severe Disabilities
Ann-Marie Orlando, PhD, CCC-SLP

The learning characteristics of children with severe disabilities necessitate collaboration with families and professionals to determine goals and objectives of literacy instruction. This session provides an overview of the SLP’s key role in literacy instruction and describes student learning characteristics and research-based literacy instruction for students with severe disabilities.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe learning characteristics often seen in students with severe disabilities
• distinguish between traditional and current models of literacy instruction
• outline the SLP‘s role in literacy instruction for students with severe disabilities

Literacy and English Learners
Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, EdD, CCC-SLP, CALT 

This session describes the foundational skills of literacy as defined by the National Literacy Panel Report and describes the methods for differentiating language and literacy instruction for school-age students who are learning English. The speaker models evidence-based strategies and provides resources for implementation.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain structured literacy components
• differentiate instruction for literacy among learners of English
• model lesson design for foundational skills such as phonological awareness, phonics vocabulary, and comprehension

Using a Strengths-Based Approach to Support Adolescents With Language Disorders
Kimberly Murza, PhD, CCC-SLP 

In order to best serve adolescent students transitioning to post-secondary settings, SLPs have to keep the end in mind. What are students’ college and/or career goals and how can we use current research on what employers want and what entry-level college courses expect to best prepare them for their future? In this session, the speaker discusses tools to modify intervention plans to incorporate current evidence in neurodiversity and self-determination theory as well as strategies for collaboration with a focus on student strengths.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• use a strengths-based approach to modify intervention plans for adolescents, with workforce literacy in mind
• collaborate effectively with students and stakeholders to support the post-secondary transition needs of adolescents you serve

Cultural Considerations in Diagnosis and Treatment of Literacy Issues
Lakeisha Johnson, PhD, CCC-SLP

SLPs have noted the diagnostic challenge of distinguishing between the clinical indicators of language disorder, language delay based on the impacts of being reared in poverty, and the linguistic variation of students who speak African American English (AAE). This session discusses evidence-based assessment and treatment practices that SLPs can utilize when working with speakers of AAE and other nonmainstream dialects to help them identify students with true language and literacy disorders and provide needed interventions in a timely manner.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• discuss ways in which African American English is differentiated from Mainstream American English
• describe the relationship between oral language skills and literacy outcomes in students who are African American
• discuss non-biased assessment and treatment practices for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Phonological Awareness Skills for Word Reading and Word Writing
C. Melanie Schuele, PhD, CCC-SLP

The development of word reading and word writing skills relies on a child’s foundation of phonological awareness. This session provides a phonological awareness road map to guide assessment and intervention that addresses each child’s needs – as well as collaboration across educational team members.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• select a phonological awareness assessment that aligns with a clinical question
• explain to colleagues why the establishment of a foundation of phonological awareness is essential to a student’s achievement of word decoding and word spelling skills
• evaluate a phonological awareness instruction or intervention program using criteria for evidence-based and evidence-principled practice

Disciplinary Literacy for Secondary Student Success: SLPs’ Key Role
Melissa Malani, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

This session examines the difference between disciplinary literacy and content-area literacy and takes an in-depth look at the various intricacies of the disciplines. The speaker shares a thinking-points questionnaire to help SLPs collaborate with content-area teachers and determine students’ language needs.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• advocate for SLP supports for adolescent students with regard to disciplinary literacy across standards
• document language/literacy differences across disciplines
• discuss possible collaborations with content-area teachers

It's More Than Writing, It's Communication! Writing Assessments and Goals for Preschool Through High School
Nickola Wolf Nelson, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

This session examines methods for gathering written language samples and the rich findings SLPs may gain about a child’s or adolescent’s knowledge of language and related skills, including discussion of advantages and limitations of more- and less-structured assessment methods. The speaker discusses how to apply a language-levels model for analyzing discourse, sentences, word choices, and lexical and sublexical word-structure knowledge and how to use that information to plan goals and language interventions targeting written expression and more.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• select written language assessment methods for different purposes and populations
• apply a language-levels model (discourse, sentence, word, and writing processes) to analyze a student writing sample
• work with a classroom teacher to plan an authentic curriculum-based activity that targets goals for both oral and written communication

Understanding Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder
Suzanne M. Adlof, PhD

Dyslexia and developmental language disorders (DLD) – relatively common, language-based disorders that affect children’s reading and academic achievement as well as social and life outcomes – frequently co-occur in the same child. This session examines the differences between the two disorders, how to identify children at risk for either or both, and how to provide treatment and accommodations to promote positive outcomes. The speaker discusses evidence-based practices for assessing and treating reading difficulties.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• compare and contrast the characteristics of dyslexia and developmental language disorder (DLD)
• list the literacy-related language skills that should be assessed and supported across different school grades/ages to promote proficient reading skills
• list educational accommodations that may be useful to support children with dyslexia and/or DLD

Comprehension Strategy Intervention for Elementary Students
Teresa Ukrainetz, PhD, S-LP(C)

As students move from learning to read to reading to learn, they step onto the path toward becoming active, independent, strategic academic learners. This session explains strategy intervention, which is supported by a strong body of research evidence and well-suited to the expertise and resources of school-based SLPs. The speaker discusses selecting teachable strategies, teaching through spoken interactions around written texts, connecting to the classroom, and moving strategies from SLP teaching tools toward student learning tools. The session demonstrates an evidence-based contextualized skill intervention called Sketch and Speak and discusses core teaching procedures as well as adaptations and extensions for different students and situations.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain how SLPs can strategically select strategies and structure intervention
• develop a core strategy intervention procedure to expand and adapt to students, purposes, and contexts