TDSB S-LP Services

To continue our turn-taking theme - we love this post from on all the skills required to engage in effective turn-taking!

Posted • Ahhh pragmatic goals. We all seem to have them.

We all teach the language necessary for social interaction.
And then so many of us wonder why the children we work with don’t apply the scripts we work on outside of the therapy room independently in actual social interactions.
It’s because the issue is not based in language.
It’s executive function.

Pragmatics is not language, it is executive function.

Do we use language for social interactions? Of course!

Do we use language for the majority of social communication? No. Most of it is nonverbal.

In his book, Executive Functions, Russell Barkley talks about how executive function developed evolutionarily when humans started living in communities and needed to work and survive together. He writes that EF skills developed in particular for social pragmatics. Humans learned that they needed to work with others in order to survive. As a result, humans had to learn how to attend to others, inhibit themselves, understand that short term loss (inhibiting and stopping of a desired task) created longer term gain (making a friend or having an ally).

Executive function is the foundation for social interactions.

Turn-taking is an important skill for communication!

Swipe for some tips and suggested activities to help your child or student develop their turn-taking skills.

November is Indigenous Education Month at the Toronto District School Board. This month is an opportunity to learn from Indigenous perspectives on treaties, Indigenous leadership, achievements, resistance and creativity. To kick off Indigenous Education Month, Speech-Language Pathologists at the TDSB are diving into the book Braided Learning as part of a reflective book study. Through this book Study, SLPs aim deepen their understanding of indigenous history and contemporary realities while actively listening to and learning from indigenous voices.
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Here are some of the SLP cozying up to read Braided Learning.
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Joint attention is an early communication skill that lays the foundation for social interaction and the development of language.
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Swipe through for ideas on how to promote joint attention skills in everyday activities!
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Happy ! Today we are sharing ’s excellent tips on how to support children with developing their conversation skills! 🗣️💬

TRICK OR TREAT! Here are some spooky vocabulary words to get you in the spirit. Remember, when you are teaching your child new vocabulary, make sure to include nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs! Happy Halloween from the TDSB Speech and Language Department!

It’s repost Friday! 🔄 Check out this post by on some tips to help students regulate their voice volume! 💬🔊

🍂 Happy Fall! Here are some simple language/literacy activity ideas to enjoy during this fall season 🍂😊

October is AAC Awareness Month! We love this post from talking about reasons to personalize devices for our students.

Ever wonder what we do what we do and how we can help your child/student? Look no further!

How can speech affect literacy development? This helpful post by explains how speech difficulties can impact phonological awareness (one of the key building blocks when learning to read)!📗
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Posted - You should all know by now that I only treat speech sound disorders. BUT I also incorporate phonological awareness goals and activities into my therapy because they support each other! Many times I’ve had to work on phonological awareness FIRST and then incorporate my speech goals after that has been strengthened. Swipe through this information from to see how they intersect, and stay tuned for more tips!

It’s always helpful to pair activities with visuals such as sequence strips, visual schedules, and independent activity schedules. Swipe left for examples of sequence strips for some fun October activities!
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Thanks for providing great examples illustrating how to recast a student/child’s speech errors! 💬👩🏻‍🏫
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“Here are some examples of how you can recast a child’s mispronounced words – without overtly correcting them. This provides them with a model of how the word is said. You can help to shape a child’s articulation and phonological system by recasting their mispronounced words.”
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Today is National Walk to School day! 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏻🚶‍♂️If you walk with your children, try out these ideas/tips to support their language and communication development!
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🔁 It’s repost Friday! Check out this amazing post by .slp to see all the ways bubbles can be used to build communication skills! 🫧

, awareness

🗣 Many students in the junior, intermediate, and even senior grades are developing their articulation skills. Similar to any motor skill, this takes regular practice, both at home and in the classroom!

✨ If a student is able to produce a target sound clearly, swipe through from some suggestions to provide support in the classroom.

☝🏽 Note that if a student is unable to physically produce a sound (e.g., the /r/ sound), limit your feedback to modelling the sound clearly in your own conversation, with no demands for repetition.

🗣 Many students in the junior, intermediate, and even senior grades are developing their articulation skills. Similar to any motor skill, this takes regular practice, both at home and in the classroom!

✨ If a student is able to produce a target sound clearly, swipe through from some suggestions to provide support in the classroom.

☝🏽 Note that if a student is unable to physically produce a sound (e.g., the /r/ sound), limit your feedback to modelling the sound clearly in your own conversation, with no demands for repetition.

🔄It’s ! Continuing on our back to school theme, thanks for these simple tips and tricks that can be done on-the-fly to encourage communication

Posted - Simple list of ✅ Do’s and ❌ Don’ts for encouraging communication at home!

💥 Keep in mind all kids are different and what works for most doesn’t work for ALL. Keep this in mind as you support individual kids 🎉