{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"De Facto Leaders","title":"How to make syntax instruction useful for the real world","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3349,"description":"Schools often get criticized for not teaching enough “real world” skills to kids, and there’s a lot of truth to that statement. Most of the therapists I work with are worried that what they do in therapy isn’t functional enough to transfer to day-to-day skills; and this is a legitimate concern. A lot of the clinicians I mentor have somewhere between 30-40 minutes with students; which means they have to make every second count. Some of them wonder if the traditional “pull out” therapy model is even useful at all. The truth is that there are certain skills that can be effectively addressed in more of an “academic”, small group or 1:1 situation. When we think about the language skills needed to support reading and literacy, it’s actually ideal to address some of the foundational skills in this “school” format. Otherwise kids don’t get the intensity they need to develop automaticity. So when we ask the question of whether language skills should be taught in an “academic” format vs. a “functional, real-world” format…it’s not a black or white, either/or kind of a thing. School-age kids need a blend of BOTH. With that in mind, schools and the people working in them are doing a lot of things right. This is why I feel disheartened when I see negativity directed towards schools suggesting that they’re not teaching kids anything useful.  We don’t need to burn it all to the ground; we need to find out which things schools are doing right and do more of it. That’s why I aim to help clinicians focus on high-impact skills, and ways to address skills from multiple angles: From very structured situations that isolate skills, to highly functional situations that require kids to integrate many skills at once. (which is what they’ll have to do in the “real world”). I recently got some great questions from readers about how to do this with syntax skills. Syntax is definitely one of those “high-impact” skills; but the key to making it functional is teaching it in a way that...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0oJtWPTQt3MqWFWHje3EV3iJ5_UHHgZpH9PmybuxIWw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQxNTY4LzE2ODM5/MjY0NDgtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}