after school speech part 37

Last Tuesday, SJ had his weekly speech therapy appointment.  His therapist began the appointment going over some listening skills with SJ.  She read him a paragraph asking him to pretend he was listening to a teacher giving a boring speech (I don't know any 5th grader that would be bored by a teacher's speech.  Do you?).  She described how the student was acting.  He was slouching in his chair, looking out the window and tapping his fingers on the table. 

She told him that all of these actions tell the teacher that the student isn't listening to her.  The student doesn't have to say anything out loud.  His actions express his feelings to the teacher.  She then went over some basic rules about listening in a conversation. 

1. Face the person and give them eye contact.  (She had to explain "eye contact" to SJ.  We always say "look at their eyes".)  After she explained the term eye contact, she told him to make occasional eye contact, not to stare at the person and to not focus his eyes on anything else around him.

2. Pay attention to what the person says and the way the person says it.  She told him to ask himself how does the person feel, why is the person talking to me and what is the person thinking?

3. Show that you are paying attention to the person and what he says.  She told him to nod his head to show understanding, use facial expressions to show if you don't understand and keep still and don't fidget.

4. Wait your turn to talk.  She told him to not interrupt people.  She also told him if he is not absolutely sure his partner is finished talking, wait a few seconds.  They will either start talking again or signal to him that it is his turn to talk. 

We have been working on this skill for years, but maybe coming from his therapist it will sink in a little easier.  I will say that SJ is much more willing to ask questions and try to initiate conversations will familiar people.  Hopefully with these additional reminders, he will be able to utilize these skills to talk to his peers. 

She also went over a Problem Solving worksheet with him.  This was the story.

Rick is at the movies with this mom and brother Trey.  He is not having a good time.  In fact, he is having a terrible time.  Rick wanted to see "Spy School".  His brother Trey wanted to see "Fright House".  Their mom decided that it was Trey's turn to choose.  Now Rick is mad.  He has to watch a movie he didn't want to see.

Rick's mom is not happy with him, either.  She has warned him twice to stop complaining.  Now he has decided to just sit and not watch the movie.  He'd rather sip his soda and pout.  He gets even madder when he looks at Trey.  His brother is happily munching his popcorn and acting like nothing is wrong.  Rick hopes this movie goes by quickly so he can go back home. 

SJ then had to answer some questions.  The first three were on the main idea and details.  SJ got the first two correct, but needed a cue for the third question.  The question was how many times has Rick's mom warned him to stop complaining?  After the cue, he answered twice, which was the right answer.

He then had to answer five questions on problem solving.  He got all five answers correct.  The therapist then did the writing prompt with him.  (This was new.  She doesn't usually do the writing prompts.)  The writing prompt was "What do you think the movie Fright House is about?"  This is SJ's response.

Fright House is a horror movie.  It has ghosts, bats, witches, vampires, Frankenstein, Invisible Man and a Mummy.  Some guys who come to the house try to destroy the monsters. 

It wasn't a lengthy response, but that was still a valid response for the prompt.  Great job, SJ!  She assigned him two Figurative Language worksheets for homework.  (I still have to do those with him.  Bad mom!)