Last February, I had the pleasure of participating in a “product swap” with fellow SLP and blogger, Tatyana Elleseff . I’m back again to review another of her fantastic products.
Tatyana is a bilingual SLP with a full time hospital affiliation as well as private practice in Central, NJ. She specializes in working with multicultural, internationally and domestically adopted as well as at-risk children with complex communication disorders. She presents workshops for a number of medical, academic, and non-profit organizations and writes articles for various specialized publications.
In case you’re not sure how this product swap works, we will review each other’s product on our respective blogs and then hold a giveaway for that product. Tatyana is reviewing a product from my TpT store: The Healthy Heart and Language Mart. I created it for American Heart Month in February, however it is perfect for any time of year since it sends such an important message regarding good health, fitness and nutrition to young people. Be sure to check out the review on her blog!!
I reviewed Treatment of Social Pragmatic Deficits in School Aged Children . It is available for $13.99 in her product shop http://www.smartspeechtherapy.com/shop/. This 61 slide presentation is filled with intervention strategies to use with school-aged students on your caseload suspected of having social pragmatic language deficits. As an SLP who works primarily with middle and high school students, I address social pragmatic goals with several of the tweens and teens I work with. Having this treatment packet on hand is a helpful reminder of which strategies might assist me in successfully meeting my students needs as I work toward helping them improve this vital communication skill. As a result of this review, I have gained some valuable background information, a few new strategies, and suggestions for materials that will help my students improve their social pragmatic skills.
This packet clearly outlines its purpose and goals which include:
1-Describing components of successful social skills treatments.
2-Listing common challenging behaviors and behavior strategies.
3-Summarizing social pragmatic treatment approaches.
4-Identifying materials that can be used to address treatment goals.
Tatyana brings to light the fact that social pragmatic deficits are often under diagnosed and under treated in the school setting and the reasons why this occurs. It takes a team approach to identify and assist children who fall into this category. Team members are identified and their roles are outlined.
The packet highlights and breaks down social pragmatic skills by levels: initial, intermediate, and advanced skills are included. Do you work with students individually or in a group session when implementing social skills treatment? The differences between individual and group therapy approaches are pointed out. I have several students that I work with individually on social skills. There is definitely a difference in the way that I conduct my individual sessions versus group social skills in therapy. I appreciate that this product points out the differences in dynamics between the two therapy approaches.
What makes a social skills therapy session successful and effective? Intervention approaches are clearly laid out to help set the groundwork and guide your sessions. The packet then highlights the behavioral issues that are often an obstacle when addressing social pragmatic therapy. It identifies types of behaviors and possible approaches to addressing some of these behaviors.
Social stories and scripts are one of the most effective ways of providing students with the necessary guidance for improving social skills. The packet discusses social stories products and approaches that may benefit your students. Additionally, within the realm of social pragmatic therapy, there are several targeted skills that SLPs address. These areas are identified and include problem solving, pragmatics, (conversation skills,) and social emotional competence (perspective taking, big vs. little problems, flexible thinking), advanced listening comprehension (inferencing, predicting, drawing conclusions), narrative productions (sentence formulation, story grammar).
My favorite aspect of this packet is the comprehensive collection of social pragmatic resources that can be used with your students. (The products are broken down by age/grade level which will be very helpful when deciding which materials will best suit my middle/high school caseload.) Programs from various vendors (Linguisystems/Super Duper), program developers (Michelle Garcia-Winner/Social Thinking) and apps/software are provided to help assist the new or seasoned SLP in making their therapy sessions a success.
Another very crucial aspect addressed in this packet is the importance of parental carryover. Ways to address this all-important piece of the puzzle is included.
This product concludes with an appendix, consisting of seven pages, which provides a “snapshot” of all the areas discussed. I plan on utilizing this helpful go-to resource by laminating, hole punching and securing it with a binder clip. I will keep this information readily available as a tool for facilitating discussion when collaborating with teachers and meeting with parents.
If you are in need of some additional social pragmatic resources to supplement this product, Tatyana offers a wide range of packets for pre school and school age children.
You can find her Social Pragmatic Checklist for School Aged Children in her store:
A Social Pragmatic Assessment for School Aged Children product:
A Social Pragmatic Checklist Sample for FREE:
A FREE Social Pragmatic Checklist Sample for Preschool Children:
A Social Pragmatic Deficits Complete Packet for preschool children:
It was a pleasure to review this product. It provides a variety of strategies and materials for addressing social pragmatic skills across several age groups. The information is clearly and thoroughly organized and explained. It is also a great refresher for the therapist or educator who needs a go-to reference when planning therapy strategies and activities for students with social skills deficits on their caseload.
You can visit Tatyana’s blog: www.smartspeechtherapy.com/blog/ and “like” her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SmartSpeechTherapyLlc
Now for the giveaway! You can enter from Monday, March 2 through Wednesday, March 4 for a chance to win one copy of Treatment of Social Pragmatic Deficits in School Aged Children. Be sure to head over to Tatyana’s blog where she is giving away a copy of my Healthy Heart and Language Mart packet!!
I work with deaf and hard of hearing population. Always looking for a better or supplemental way to assess their pragmatic language skills.