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4 SLP Tips for Teaching Special Needs Students How to Ask Questions

We all see and hear it everywhere: WH Questions, WH Questions, WH questions. It’s all over our students’ goals. It’s constantly being worked on every time we present new information or read a new book. It’s a HUGE search criteria on our favorite websites (Pinterest, anyone?!) Sooooo, you might think it sounds insane to say that WH questions are largely being neglected.

Hold tight! We promise we aren’t insane!

The truth that we have found over and over again as professionals is that our students are often bombarded with practice answering WH questions. And, of course, answering questions is fantastic to target. It’s a skill we all need.

But the piece we tend to forget is that our students also need to know how to ASK questions. In fact, it’s a crucial way for them to understand what is happening in their daily lives, stay safe, and maintain a sense of responsibility and awareness.

Let me detour for a minute and take you back to “Grad School Meg” - - - the days when I only dreamed of the glory of being a ‘real’ SLP 😉 I received a case that challenged me to my core- a woman who had experienced a stroke and could no longer retain almost any information pertaining to memory.

She lived a life where every few seconds she would forget where she was, who people were (even loved ones) and what she was doing. It made for a pretty scary world. An option to help her was INTENSE repetitious practice with a few key phrases. Repetition so intense that I might be able to tap into her procedural memory. In other words, her body would take over and she would almost instinctively know what to say. So what life-changing phrases could I teach her?

You might have guessed the answer: I taught her to ask questions.

“Where am I?”

“Who are you?”

“What am I doing?”

These three questions over and over and OVER.

I’m going to be honest, if she had been able to remember that she had spent an entire hour asking the same questions over and over (week after week) she probably would have tried to have me committed.

BUT- here is where it gets fun- IT WORKED!

Her husband laughed as he told me it may have worked a little too well and that he had caught her rehearsing the questions aloud in her sleep!

Now, when she found herself confused, she could ask “Where am I?” Once she felt safe with her whereabouts she moved on to “Who are you?” Just so you know- EVERY SINGLE time she asked she got an answer.

Asking questions grounded her. Asking questions gave her a sense of safety.

Okay, okay, so what’s the point? Our student’s are not typically needing the ability to ask questions to the same extent as my grad school client, right? Well, it turns out you might be a little surprised at how crucial asking questions is. Even in your own life!

I’d bet in the last week you have asked literally hundreds of questions!!! But hey, who’s counting? (Oh, it’s Meg, the SLP with a passion for asking questions. She is ACTUALLY COUNTING . . . . . . . . . )

So asking questions is important. We’ve got that. Easy Peasy.

Now how to target asking questions? Not so easy peasy. Unless that is, you have an SLP friend willing to share her successes!

So I’m compiling a list of my best tips and tricks! I say it’s high-time we get your students asking questions too 🙂

But I’m an SLP and, let’s face it, I really love to talk. So one more story before we get to that list. I want to tell you about a not-so-successful attempt at teaching my students to ask questions. Because we have all been there. My heart was in the right place, but my materials were firmly in the zone of BORING LAND. You know, the place where students yawn, fidget in their seats and stare at you with half-open eyelids while they pray for the lesson to end.

I tried to teach my students how to ask questions by drilling them over and over again. Kind of like that client I just mentioned. But there were two key differences between my grad school client and my students: 1) The students WERE able to remember that I had been making them ask the same questions over and over. 2) They were children! They needed to be engaged!

So my “boring” materials (and the chorus of groans that accompanied their arrival) were having no success. I finally figured out why that was- my students had absolutely no investment in asking the questions. Why should they ask a question when they didn’t care about the answer?

So, FINALLY, we get to that list of tips and tricks.

Tip #1: Strive to make sure that when your students ask a question they actually want to know the answer!

It’s all about that little thing called communicative intent. In order for asking questions to be rewarding to us we need to care about the response. We need to have interest in finding out new information. Which leads us to . . .

Trick # 2: Use humor!

No matter the grade level or population you are working with, humor is your friend. It ’s the great equalizer when it comes to getting everyone engaged in their learning. When kids are expecting something funny in return they will usually “stay tuned” and put in the effort. Let’s be real- if you have a kid asking “Where is it?” to find out where the car key wound up they are probably going to go crazy if they see the answer was “In the cat litter box!” Cue chorus of “EWWWWWWWW” and giggles. The good news is that the internet is abound with simple, but hilarious images. Take this one from one of our “Asking Why Questions” products: *****

You kind of have to smile, right? (Plus, let’s be real here. We could use a little comedic release too, right guys? Especially on Mondays!)

Tip #3: Use high-quality images that pique interest.

We can’t always be funny. It’s soooooo helpful to throw humor into the mix, but we can’t do it 100% of the time. Another way of engaging students is by being aware of the types of materials and visuals you present to them. Color is great, which is why utilizing technology like computers and tablets can be a wonderful way to present products and materials {all the beautiful, colorful glory without the need to stockpile color printer cartridges!]. Here at AdaptEd, we prefer to use REAL images whenever we can. Cartoons are great and they have their place, but real images are able to captivate their audience in a whole different way. Try switching it up by presenting realistic images and see how your students respond!

And lastly, my favorite:

Trick #4: Make it personal.

What better way to make asking questions meaningful than to have the answers be ABOUT your students? It adds a whole new element of fun when the students are taking turns asking questions about each other. We even like to add a little surprise into the mix, like with this editable “Asking Who” material.

Students ask the question Who? or Who is it? and, to their delight, find one of their classmates featured as the answer. They love to be surprised, to feel included, and to laugh out loud when the smallest girl in class turns out to be a football player!

There are many ways to make asking questions personal for students. Include their favorite foods, toys, hobbies. Even include pictures of their families and friends. When you discuss the things they love, your students feel appreciated and . . . wait for it . . . INVESTED.

So there you have it. Sounds like you are ready to go explore the world of asking questions. Have fun trying all of the possibilities! Or, if you want a head-start, check out our “Asking Questions” line below. Teaching your students to ask questions just might become the next hot goal in your goal bank 🙂 (It is in ours!)

Happy Teaching!

Meg from AdaptEd

You may also be interested in reading our article on Core Vocabulary: How and Why click here to check it out!

CORE Vocabulary in Action. It may seem complicated, but it's really just everyday life. Check out this blog post, and we'll show you exactly how simple it is.

Core Vocabulary- Why and How to

By Krystie | Speech and Language

Teach CORE VOCABULARY AAC SPECIAL EDUCATION

What is Core Vocabulary?

Core Vocabulary is beginning to enter the limelight. To many of us it may seem like the hottest new thing. However, in truth, core vocabulary has been around for many years.

The early exercises in core vocabulary began with linguists who took immense samples of spoken and written language and analyzed them (I like to think of it as a language sample to the power of a million). What those gigantic samples offered was a look into the everyday use of language. As it turns out, there is a relatively small chunk of words (roughly 350 words) that people use in order to communicate about 80% of what they say.

In other words, we use and re-use the same high-frequency words throughout the day for the majority of our communication. These 350 or so words are what we refer to as “core vocabulary” because they make up the core of our communication.

What may be surprising are the types of words that are part of this core group- words like “it,” “go,” “put,” “stop,” “little.”

These words may seem insignificant in the face of burlier words like “stethoscope” and “volcano,” but they pack a much bigger punch. Consider it this way: have you used the words stethoscope or volcano today?

Maybe you have if you are a doctor or are planning your next vacation to Hawaii, but I’m going to safely assume that it’s those other words like “it” and “go” that have been rolling off of your tongue all day.

This knowledge that we can say a whole lot with a pretty small group of words has extremely important implications for our special education students. With exposure and access to that small group of core vocabulary students can communicate in all the ways that are natural to us: commenting, asking, requesting, initiating conversation, rejecting, expressing feelings and so on.

With access to core vocabulary words there is access to sentence building and free expression.

It’s the difference between giving a student an icon for all of the items he may come across at the doctor’s office (there’s that stethoscope!) and giving a student icons for more powerful words such as “scared” “what?” “hurt here.”

Core vocabulary is, in essence, using a little to say a lot.

Why you should teach Core Vocabulary in your special education classroom. With CORE words you can teach your students: initiation, commenting, requesting, asking and more. Adapted 4 Special Ed

What Does CORE Mean for Our Students?

As an SLP (or educational professional in general) there are always opportunities to learn new things- always a plethora of new ideas and concepts waiting to be explored. This can be exciting and refreshing, but it can also be overwhelming at times.

For me, core vocabulary started out as one of those overwhelming things.

I had heard about it here and there and I was genuinely interested, but at that time it only existed as a buzz word on the periphery of my daily work. Looking back it seems that there was a clear path that I needed to travel in order to get to where I am now- a place of involvement, motivation and hope.

For me, there have been three key parts of this journey: 1) The realization, 2) The knowledge and 3) The liftoff.

With any luck, hearing about this journey can help you navigate your own journey and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, take core vocabulary out of the periphery and bring it into focus.

Part 1: The CORE Realization

I was at Closing the Gap 2014 in Minnesota when I got my first real taste of core vocabulary. To preface this, I had come from a world where it was the norm for students to be using loose pictures or a selection of icons on a page-based system to “communicate” throughout their day. But there was a rampant problem: they weren’t communicating.

Of course there were personal successes here and there, but overall my students were not learning to communicate.

At best, they were learning to make requests. Requests for cookies, crackers, breaks and play time with the forever-requested tablet. Now, to give everyone their due, the whole team had worked very hard to make requesting a success.

The hardest workers of all were the students.

But it was that first video clip I saw of a classroom using core vocabulary to actually communicate (to comment and question and converse!) that changed my entire outlook on AAC.

I saw students using single words to make profound statements (“Don’t!” “Go” “Stop” “Look”).

I saw students experimenting and putting words together to get their own unique messages across (“I do it” “Want that” “I like it”).

I saw teachers communicating with students, students communicating with each other, and a program with enough strength to support language growth throughout the entire day. In an instant I was convinced that core vocabulary was going to offer so much more to my students.

What was the moment of realization for you? Have you had it yet?

CORE Vocabulary is critical to communication. When you focus on CORE vocabulary development you'll be able to teach your students how to truly communicate.

Part 2: The Knowledge

Our gut feelings are some of our most important tools. As clinicians and educators we know this. My gut feeling that I needed to implement core vocabulary was a strong first step.

However, a gut feeling can only get you so far. The next step in the journey is education. It’s not enough to know that something works. To be truly invested, we need to understand why it works.

In an effort to better grasp this thing called core vocabulary I needed to jump in headfirst and get educated. I began where most of us do- with a good old internet search. There are a lot of fantastic resources out there.

One of the most well-known blogs for AAC was one of my first stops: PrAACtical AAC. I bounced around and collected information from wherever I could, but decided I would benefit from grasping the big picture.

That’s the mindset that eventually brought me to the Pittsburgh AAC Language Seminar Series. Unlike anything else I have ever heard of, this seminar is a 2 & ½ day immersion in all that is core. Learning from some of the most influential people in the AAC field (name dropping Bruce Baker, Tracy Kovach, and Caroline Musselwhite!) is a surefire way to ground yourself in the basics.

And, just in case the impressive presenters aren’t quite enough to get you off of your seat and moving, there are other amazing perks to the experience. How about FREE registration?! How about meals and lodging provided?! In case it sounds too good to be true, I can personally vouch that this was easily the most hospitable experience of my life!

Interested in seeing if the Pittsburgh AAC Language Seminar Series might be a good fit for you? Check it out here:

Part 3: The Liftoff: How to Implement CORE Vocabulary

Rolling out a core vocabulary program bridges the gap between “interesting” and “practical.” Each day is a test drive, but one that is backed by knowledge and inspiration.

If you are lucky then you have colleagues who have been going on this exploration of core vocabulary with you (I was lucky!) But, regardless of whether or not you start as a team or as a solo act, the first stage in the “liftoff” is spreading the word.

For me, as an SLP, this meant that I needed to reach a variety of people. I needed to reach out to administrators, to other SLPs, and to special education teachers. I took what I had learned about core vocabulary and organized it.

It seemed to make sense that all of the information that had motivated me would motivate others as well.

This, in a surprisingly short period of time, turned into what looked like a suitable presentation on the topic. I started slowly. I had some laidback talks with a program coordinator about what I had learned and why it could be so beneficial to our special education program. The more I talked about the knowledge I had acquired, the deeper rooted it became.

I knew once people had a glimpse, that core vocabulary would appeal to them- at least to some of them initially. This is where a team can start to form. If you spark an interest then people will come to you for more (which is pretty handy when you are ready to move on from that solo act)!

CORE Vocabulary makes up the majority of communication. 80% of of what we say are CORE words. Taking the time to systematically teach your special education students versatile core words will get your kiddos communicating!

-Meg

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