Interventions for students you suspect may have a language impairment.

There will be many different students in your classroom throughout the year. One type of student who may struggle academically may be language impaired. This does not mean the student speaks a different language and is having difficulty with English; this student will have typically spoken English all of their life and lived in an English-only speaking home. This student will have difficulty with vocabulary, possibly following directions, understanding meaning of words, and/or verbalizing their thoughts and ideas. Here are some interventions to attempt:

1. Explicit and systematic small group instruction within the general education classroom.
2. Break instruction down into manageable steps.
3. Emphasize important points with color by using highlighters, colored transparency strips, or colored reusable transparent tape.
4. Provide concrete, hands-on activities and manipulative so the student could actually experience the concept being taught.
5. Provide an outline or organizer so that the student need only fill in key words and phrases.
6. Don't let the child struggle for too long to find or recall a word. Give the child the word they are looking for after a few seconds. Then after the child finishes their thought, provide an additional verbal cue to help the child remember or practice the word again.
7. Read books that contain rhymes, predictable text, opposites, classifications, and repetitions.
8. Play category naming games: apples, oranges, grapes are all (fruits).

What are some interventions you have used in your classroom?