Talk Time

      "I can't remember it right now, but it's on the tips of my tongue..."          

Word retrieval, or automatic naming, affects one’s ability to efficiently retrieve words from stored vocabulary banks and to execute a series of operations quickly and repeatedly. Some children demonstrate difficulty accessing the system in which word knowledge is stored to isolate the exact words appropriate to express a specific thought. Communication may break down due to difficulty with retrieving a word and, in turn, expressing a thought with fluidity. 

In conjunction with a speech therapist, a formal and individualized therapy program can be implemented to target improved word retrieval. Additionally, here are some exercises to target word retrieval skills in the home setting:

1. Sentence completion activities
   1. We eat ____                f. We read a ___
   2. We sleep in a ___         g. We throw the___
   3. We cut with___            h. We watch ___
   4. We ride in a ___           i. We blow the ___
   5. We drink the ___          j. We wash our ___

2.  Expanding categories: Listing 3-5 items per category
   1. Things to eat                
   2. Things we wear                     
   3. Things to ride               
   4. Things to cook              
   5.  Animals (farm, ocean, pets, zoo)              

3. Play “name that category”
   1. “Red, blue, green, orange”- are all what?
   2. “Lions, tigers, monkeys, elephants” - are all what?
   3. “Pretzels, popcorn, crackers, cookies” - are all what?

4. Completing action-agent questions
   1. What sleeps?
   2. What flies?
   3. What roars?
   4. What bites?

Formal testing is required to diagnosis word retrieval deficits. Contact a speech therapist at Child and Family Development (704-541-9080) to learn more about this difficulty or to schedule an appointment.

-Lisa Peterson, M.S., CCC-SLP