Tiffany Tuggle

GHSWT study guide

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Get ready, get set , get organized!

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Welcome Back! 08-09 School Year

Welcome back to the start of a brand new year!!

What is Speech-Language Therapy?

Speech-language therapy/pathology is a service provided to individuals for exhibit communication impairments. Communication impairments include disorders of articulation (pronunciation), fluency (stuttering), oral motor, voice, and language (includes vocabulary, listening comprehension, expressive language, receptive language, language comprehension, and processing).

What does a Speech-Language Therapist do?

1. identify and provide services to students who meet eligibility requirements for the speech-language programs
2. communicate with professionals and parents information regarding integration of speech and language goals into the classroom and home environment.
3. evaluate communication skills of students referred and diagnoses speech and/or language disorders
4. prepare, participate in and/or conduct IEP meetings in order to discover and relate pertinent data used in the determination of student needs.
5. assure placement of students in the speech-language program and develop and implements speech-language goals/objectives on individualized education plans
6. schedule students appropriately

7. provide consultative services to teachers, parents, administrators, and allied agencies in order to integrate speech and language goals into the classroom, other educational programs, and the home environment.

Where can I find the SLP ?

Hillgrove’s campus on Mon., Wed., Thurs, & Fri each week.

Cooper Middle School on Tuesdays of each week.

Cramming for a final

Cramming for the final

Ok, so you haven’t had time to study for your finals. Do the following as soon as possible:

·         Preview material to be covered

·         Be selective: skim chapters for main points

·         Concentrate on reviewing and learning main points

·         Don't read information you won't have time to review

Remember, Final are on Thursday, May 22 & Friday May 23.

Good Luck!!

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EOCT - study tips

Below are are tips to preparing for any EOCT. There is a specific guide for 9th grade Lit.

Hope this helps!

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Making a Presentation

Making an Oral Presentation

When making an oral presentation in class, you must know your subject well and convince your audience that they have something to gain from listening to you. Here are some things you can do to make an effective oral presentation.

Be prepared

Research your subject to ensure that you are
knowledgeable. Practice your presentation until you feel comfortable. Make sure you can present your information within whatever time limits you will have. Anticipate questions you may be asked and prepare answers to these.

Know your audience

Tailor your presentation to your audience’s level of knowledge about the subject of your presentation, what they need to know, and their interests.

Be positive

Make it clear that you are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about your subject.

Don’t read your presentation

Talk to your audience. Use your notes as prompts
as needed.

Provide examples

Try to make your presentation as concrete and “down to earth” as possible. Add appropriate anecdotes and humor to drive home a point.

Use visual aids

Supplement what you say with visual aids such as handouts, charts, transparencies, and slides. Make sure that everyone can easily see the visual aids. Don’t use visual aids that are so complex that the audience will spend its time trying to read them instead of listening to you. Visual aids are supplements to what you say, not replacements for what you say.

Maintain eye contact

Shift your eye contact around the room so that everyone feels that you are talking to them.

Actively involve your audience

People can only listen so long without their attention wandering. Making your presentation interesting will help you to capture and keep your audience’s attention for a while, but you must do more. Build in some simple and quick activities for your audience so that they are actively involved in your presentation. Ask questions that you are confident your audience will be able to answer.

Use your voice effectively

Vary the tone of your voice and be careful not to talk too quickly.

Resource: http://www.how-to-study.com/OralPresentation.htm

Critical Thinking Skills

Here is a way to stimulate your brain? How many can you answer?

Download thinking_critically.ppt

1. Two men play five games of checkers. Each man wins the same number of games. There are no ties. Explain this.

2. What is pronounced like one letter, written with three letters, and belongs to all animals?

3. A man builds a house rectangular in shape. All sides have southern exposure. A big bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why?

4. What is the beginning of eternity, The end of time and space; The beginning of every end, And the end of every race?

5. What is very light but can't be lifted?

Building Vocabulary

Building up your personal vocabulary is essential to performing well in class and on tests. As the GHSGT and EOCTs approach, now is the time to start using strategies to build up you vocabulary. You'll never know what words will appear on these tests.

Download building_vocabulary_read_only.doc

Overcoming Dyslexia

Overcoming Dyslexia

Timing connections are key

Key brain areas for language and working memory involved in reading are connected differently in children with dyslexia than in those who are good readers and spellers, new research reveals. However, the patterns of functional brain connectivity normalize after children participate in a three-week instructional program (Journal of Neurolinguistics, September 2007).

"Some brain regions are too strongly connected functionally in children with dyslexia when they are deciding which sounds go with which letters," said lead author Todd Richards, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle.

"We had hints in previous studies that the ability to decode novel words improves when a specific brain region in the right hemisphere decreases in activation," he explained. "This study suggests the deactivation may result in a disconnection in time from the comparable region in the left hemisphere, leading to improved reading," which requires sequential as well as simultaneous processes.

Dr. Richards and co-author Virginia Berninger, PhD, director of the Learning Disabilities Center at the university, said temporal connectivity, the ability of different parts of the brain to communicate at the same time or in sequence, is a key to overcoming dyslexia.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which typically shows activated brain areas but does not indicate how they are connected. Software developed by Dr. Richards enabled them to see activity in the left inferior front gyrus and showed how the area was connected to a similar region in the right hemisphere.

The study involved 18 children with dyslexia and 21 good readers and spellers. The students, in grades 4-6, had to judge whether groups of pink highlighted letters in pairs of nonsense words could represent the same sound. For example, the letters "ea" and "ee" in "pleak" and "leeze" could have the same sound, but the "ea" and "eu" in "pheak" and "peuch" could not.

The children with dyslexia participated in a three-week program that taught the code for connecting letters and sounds with an emphasis on timing. They underwent brain scans before and after the program.

Following treatment, the fMRI scans showed the patterns of temporal connectivity had normalized and were similar to those of the good readers and spellers. In particular, the connectivity appeared to be normal between the left and right inferior frontal gyri. The left area is believed to control the functional language system, especially for spoken words, while the right area may be involved in controlling the processing of letters in written words.

Prior to treatment, the two areas were over-connected. The left inferior frontal gyrus also was over-connected to the middle frontal gyrus, which is involved in working memory that requires temporal coordination.

"These results might mean that after special teaching the children with dyslexia activated letters in written words first and then switched to sounds in spoken words rather than simultaneously activating both letters and sounds," said Dr. Richards. "The over-connection between the language conductor and working memory at the same time may be a signal that working memory is overtaxed. When language processing is more efficient, working memory does not have to work as hard."

The idea that English is an irregular language is a myth, stated Dr. Berninger. "We have a set of alternative ways of spelling the same sounds, but this is not taught explicitly. The way phonics is often taught over-focuses on single letters and not the letter groups that go with sounds as well. Teaching children with dyslexia to read requires a different approach—one that stresses knowledge of spelling-sound relationships with a twist that tweaks the letter and sound processes to get connected in time in the brain."

The treatment used in the study is not a cure for dyslexia, the researchers cautioned. The program helps children read better during specialized instruction but has not yet been proved over a long period of time.

"We have shown that gains can maintain for up to two years with behavior measures, but much research is needed before it can be demonstrated that functional brain connectivity can be maintained," said Dr. Berninger.

The research was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

ADVANCE Magazine Vol. 17 •Issue 46 • Page 14

Study Skills checklist

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