Language, Middle School, Therapy Ideas

Teaching Compare and Contrast Skills in Speech & Language Therapy

  1. Andrea Manz says:

    I really agree with you about SLPs jumping into practicing/testing in order to gather data and not teaching the skills first! I love posts like this that offer teaching strategies so much and the packet looks great! As a brand new CF, I humbly ask if you would consider putting it up for sale during the SLP sale on the 7th? 😉

  2. Sarah Worcester says:

    Awesome post! I think I will be sharing it with some of my teachers. You give a nice clear explanation of how and why to teach this skill, which would help my teachers understand how to support these kids in the classroom. Thanks for sharing this!

  3. Michelle says:

    You are amazing! Thank you for sharing.

  4. Vanessa says:

    I love this resource! Do you take data with this type of activity for an IEP goal? Do you have an example of IEP goals applicable for compare/contrasting and how you take data for it? Thank you!

    • Shannon says:

      Yes I do! Below are some examples of goals I’ve written:

      -Given two pictures, STUDENT will identify how they are similar and how they are different with 80% accuracy.
      -Given two pictures, STUDENT will identify 2 or more ways they are similar and 2 or more ways they are different in 80% of opportunities.
      -Given a familiar graphic organizer and/or visual, STUDENT will compare and contrast two familiar items in 3-5 ways in 3 out of 4 observed opportunities.
      -Given a familiar graphic organizer, STUDENT will compare and contrast two characters from grade level books in 3 out of 4 observed opportunities.

      I also use this packet to target summarizing, text structure, vocabulary, and writing complex/compound sentences. I have more speech and language goals in my goal bank at the link below:
      https://speechymusings.com/middle-school-speech-language-therapy-goal-bank/

      Hope that helps!

  5. Kimberley says:

    Fantastic relevant and really useful post. This can assist other SLPs and teachers. Thank you for sharing in such detail 🙂

  6. Myra Aubin says:

    Where can I get these visuals? Love this article.

  7. stephany sed says:

    Hi, I’m wondering what would be the next appropriate goal after a student has mastered comparing/contrasting skills. I am at a loss for a student who just met this goal.

    • Shannon says:

      I would consider stepping back and looking at the student’s current language skills again. What would be most functional/impactful? What can their peers do that they struggle with (that impacts them in the classroom). Sometimes I like to do simple tasks like picture description or narrative generation just to get a feel of where they are at. Hope that helps!

  8. Angelina says:

    I am saving this post. I loved that you gave examples of goals. I downloaded the packet. Thank you for this!!!

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