Speech Therapy in
Middle School
Speech therapy for children and teenagers, ages 10-14
Parents tell me,
“My child…”
“has to read things more than once to get the meaning.”
“has difficulty sharing ideas and opinions in class and at home.”
“has trouble getting started on homework and finishing tasks all the way.”
“uses vague words like ‘thing’ ‘that’ ‘it’ and ‘ya know.’”
“has difficulty understanding long words and long sentences.”
“hates reading.”
“writes essays that don’t make sense and has a hard time knowing what to write. ”
“has difficulty prioritizing what is most important.”
Your child might be struggling with speaking, reading, writing, or executive functioning skills like organizing, planning, prioritizing, and attention. Your child might even be struggling in all of these areas at once!
In order to help your child best, here at Mindful Speech, we work on all of these skills together to help make life easier and more fulfilling for your child.
Read below for more information on what language, reading, writing, and executive functioning skills are expected for your child in middle school and how speech therapy can help them.
Is your middle school student struggling with essay writing and you need some quick help ASAP?
I’ve made something just for you!
Click the link below to get my Essay Writing Toolkit for middle school students.
Speech Therapy for Language
in Middle School
When I work with children who are in middle school, we continue to work on the skills listed above, but in the middle school setting.
In middle school there is increased focus on learning by reading and writing, so be sure to check out those sections below as well.
Together, we work on language skills in middle school by:
Understanding the complex sentences their teachers and textbooks use.
Expanding their vocabulary, specifically increasing their comfort using academic vocabulary that is expected in class discussions
Using complex sentences that help express their complex ideas.
Using grammatically correct sentences to talk about their opinions and perspective.
Telling stories that are age-appropriate, including the character’s motives, plans, and complications to the plan. Knowing how to tell stories is an important link between speaking and reading.
Using language to connect what they are learning in school to their lives
Asking grammatically correct questions.
Noticing when they need help and asking for it.
Speech Therapy for Reading
in Middle School
Students are expected to be pretty independent in reading by the time they make it to middle school and are expected to supplement what they learn in class by what they read for homework.
When a middle schooler has difficulty with reading, learning in most classes can be a challenge.
Together, we work on reading in middle school by:
Understanding and being able to describe the perspective and purpose of what they are reading. “Is this trying to educate me, persuade me, or entertain me?”
Making connections between what they are reading and:
what they’re read before,
their own life experiences,
and what they are learning in class
Summarizing what they’ve read in their own words.
Articulating opinions about what they are reading
Making inferences and predictions while reading.
Reading, breaking apart, and understanding complex sentences.
Noticing when they need help and asking for it.
Understanding written directions.
Visualizing what they are reading.
Understanding parts of words that have different meanings, like prefixes (re-do), suffixes (teacher), and grammatical markers (he walks).
Reading words automatically so children don’t have to sound out every word that they encounter.
Reading sentences with a conversational tone, aka “reading fluently.”
Speech Therapy for Writing
in Middle School
In middle school, students are expected to do more and more writing on their own. Writing becomes one of the ways that they can show they have learned new information from a textbook, research project, or unit in school.
Together, we work on writing in middle school by:
Spelling most words accurately.
Consistently following rules of punctuation and capitalization.
Practicing using more complex language by writing with different conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions like but, so, or and subordinating conjunctions like before, although, whenever, etc.
Learning how to use an outline to plan their writing.
Mastering the basics of writing paragraphs: having a topic sentence, supporting information, and a concluding sentence.
Mastering the basics of writing essays: having a thesis, an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs that support the thesis, and a concluding paragraph.
Learning how to revise and edit their writing.
Mindful Speech is currently putting together a group for middle school students to join to improve their essay writing skills.
Learn more about the essay writing groups at Mindful Speech.
Speech Therapy for Executive Functioning in Middle School
Students in middle school are expected to follow directions without as many repetitions and detailed instructions as would be allowed in elementary school.
They are still expected to follow the rules and norms of the classroom (hang up coat, keep an orderly desk) but they might not have as many reminders or systems to keep them organized (cubbies, posters, etc) as would be available to them in elementary school.
Students who struggle with executive functioning might find it difficult to follow unwritten rules and independently do work.
Together, we work on executive functioning in middle school by:
Prioritizing work by what is most important.
Following the organizational system of the classroom, even if it isn’t explicit.
Developing organization systems for their personal items, such as backpacks.
Building motivation by thinking about their priorities and their parents’ priorities.
Getting started on difficult tasks they are tempted to avoid.
Building self-awareness about their feelings, strengths, and difficulties.
Managing homework.
Planning ahead for bigger projects.
Building independence:
getting started with work.
figuring out what needs to get done.
identifying when they are finished.
Building awareness of what they can do by themselves and what they need help with.
Visualizing what “done” will look like.
Hi, I’m Hollis, the owner of Mindful Speech.
I’m a speech-language pathologist licensed in Illinois and Colorado.
I specialize in providing speech therapy to help children, teens, and young adults to improve language, reading, writing, and executive functioning skills. Now offering in-person sessions in Chicago!
Learn more about me on my About Hollis page.