Analyze A Narrative Writing Sample
In a recent blog for Cinco de Mayo, we posted the analysis of the book, Too Many Tamales. (Previous blog.)
Too Many Tamales is quite complex in terms of its content. The reader needs to be attentive to the illustrations as well as the text itself. Complexity of a text poses challenges to students and instructors alike. There are several measures of complexity of text. They are: Lexile Measures, Qualitative Complexity and Knowledge of the competence of the student as reader/listener in order to match him/her to text and task. (Please see references below for further study.) As instructors and interventionists, we are constantly attentive to these measures...
Story Analysis: “Too Many Tamales”
Thursday is the celebration of Cinco de Mayo, a day commemorating a military victory between Mexican and French forces in 1862, but is now a celebration of Mexican culture, food, and music. May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, which celebrates the contributions of speech/language pathologists world-wide striving to enhance the communication abilities of children and adults of all ages. In keeping with both of these celebrations, we decided to feature the picture book entitled, Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto and Illustrated by Ed Martinez, because of the festive nature of the book as well as the fact that it is a picture book written at the highest level of narrative development...
MindWing Concepts joins Chapman University in celebrating Story Grammar Marker®!
I was delighted to receive this picture from friend and colleague Dr. Judy Montgomery at the 
Kick-Off of “SGM® Week” at Chapman University in Orange, California. This picture was taken at the 2015 ASHA Convention in Denver and showcases our newest publication (at the time) The Essential SGM®. Judy has been interested in the SGM® and narrative development for many years and approached Maryellen three years ago about the need for a manual written especially for college professors of Communication Disorders and Special Education Programs. She volunteered to write the Foreword...
3 Ways SGM® Bolsters the Role of Narrative Development in Collaboration
Orange County Public Schools
Orlando, Florida 2007
As a speech language pathologist, I am a member of two of American Speech, Language and Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Special Interest Groups: Divisions 1 & 16. Both relate to schools and to students who are having problems with language and literacy. It has long been my thought, as many of you know, that discourse level language skills, those that extend beyond the sentence as students strive to express personal stories, story retells and expression of content area knowledge, are oral language skills that are vital and foundational to academic learning and social success...
Oral Language: A “Hot Topic” In Literacy Education
Today I am finishing up details for an ongoing consultation that I have with a school system here in Massachusetts pertaining to Language Learning Disabilities. 
I am, as you know, an ASHA certified Speech/Language Pathologist. Most of my professional life—over forty years—has been spent researching and working with children who have reading disabilities (from the code to comprehension) and how the children and their reading are impacted by oral language deficits/differences. Consequently, in addition to ASHA, I belong to several other associations and look forward to the arrival of their journal publications. One of these associations is the International Literacy Association, formerly known as the International Reading Association. The IRA publishes The Reading Teacher and The Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy.
As an SLP with a great interest in reading and writing, I enjoy the points of view of authors within these publications and use the articles to provide discussion among the educators with whom I work.
This issue of the IRA’s publication Literacy Today (Volume 33, Issue 2...
May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!
To kick off Better Hearing and Speech Month we wanted to share MindWing Concepts’ Pragmatics Chart and Pragmatics Poster. We also suggest a wonderful book to use in conjunction with the chart and poster for lessons on the social uses of language; including body language, tone of voice as well as listening and speaking skills, which are a large part of the Common Core State Standards. This book is Decibella and Her 6-Inch Voice by Julia Cook (Author), Anita Du Falla (Illustrator). The ideas and illustrations are perfect for Better Hearing and Speech Month because they focus on speaking (and listening) skills!