Saying “I have a million things that I have to do in the next hour” is much more dramatic than saying the more accurate, “I have three things to do in the next hour.” In the same way, utilizing **similes ** can convey more feelings and help listeners visualize concepts beyond the words that we are saying. **Hyperboles **in our speech can help to illustrate the urgency or dramatic nature of what we are saying. Phrases involving symbolism, like a dove meant to represent peace or an owl representing wisdom, require that a reader/listener understand the connection between the two situations. When words and phrases go beyond their literal meaning, it can be helpful to break them down to better understand them and then teach creative ways that we can incorporate them into our creative expressions of language. ![]() In their daily conversations with peers and adults, as well as in the books and materials that they read, our students will likely come across several different types of figurative language including symbolism, hyperbole, similes, metaphors, and personification, among others. While most speech-language pathologists are busy as bees and barely have a spare moment to process why we do things before we hit the sack each night, it’s essential to realize that we’re all in the same boat when it comes to teaching the nuances of figurative language. Knowing the why behind our goals will also help us to explain them to the entire IEP team better and will subsequently increase the likelihood that team members will make an effort to work on the goals in other settings. This can provide additional intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm when participating in therapy activities to strengthen skills. This is done so that they understand the real-world applications and relevance of what we will learn. ![]() In dynamic assessment, an essential component of the protocol is to explain to our students the why before attempting to teach a new skill. As professionals, we want to make sure that we have clear reasons for selecting and targeting particular speech and language goals that match the academic demands being placed on our students and help them be more autonomous communicators. In this series, we will explore why we work on specific skills in speech and language therapy. Written by: Amanda Blackwell, SLPD, CCC-SLP
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