Complicated Comprehension - Receptive Language in 4th -5th grade

As a child goes through elementary school, following directions, and keeping track of essential information gets harder. This is because directions come with many steps and intricacies, especially in subjects like science. And then all subjects start to have multiple choice questions - where it is important not just to read the question thoroughly, but also to read every question choice properly as well.

How can you continue to work on receptive language as your child gets older? Well, here's a couple of suggestions!

1. Arts and Crafts - this is a great one, especially if particular projects are accompanied by directions. And, it's even better if directions are particularly intricate, with multiple steps, and modifiers like adjectives and adverbs. Practice highlighting important parts, and repeating them a few times, as you work, to train your child to pay attention to such details even at school

2. Baking - same as above!

3. Worksheets on Reading with multiple choice questions - unfortunately, there is really no shortcut here. Practicing having your child read the entire question, and all the answers, is crucial. Then, sifting through the choices to pick the right one - practice, practice practice. It does help if you pick a topic your child is interested in. Do a simple google search, and see if you can find some passages. There's stuff out there on everything from astronauts to zebras

And finally - check out Smarter Speech's worksheets on following complex directions, and on semantic relationships - basically, translating a phrase among four choices!

Happy talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.