Students can't understand entire paragraphs if they can't comprehend individual sentences.
The Ultimate Guide to Syntax solves that problem.
If you're working with school-age kids you've probably supported dozens...maybe even hundreds of kids with "processing" concerns.
If so, you may have seen the following:
👉Students give irrelevant answers to “wh” questions, even if you reword the question.
👉Reading comprehension isn’t improving, even when you practice “stating the main idea”.
👉When students retell stories, the sentences don't sound right and you can’t quite pinpoint why.
👉Students struggle with inferencing in class, and you're working on it in therapy and seeing little progress.
👉Written language and essays are full of of grammatical errors and disorganized sentences.
👉 You've worked on verb tenses and pronouns…but you know there’s something else holding them back.
👉When you students to use vocabulary words in a sentence, you get the same sentence structure over and over again.
👉You've worked on the “Will follow 2-step directions with 80% accuracy” goal for ages.
Before I go on, let me introduce myself.
I'm Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan, and I'm a licensed speech-language pathologist, administrator, and founder of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering therapists and educators to design interventions that support language, literacy, and executive functioning.
Back in 2004 when I started practicing, I didn't know where to start when it came to language therapy.
That's why I went back and got my doctorate and made language, literacy, and executive functioning my areas of expertise...
Since then, I've helped thousands of clinicians through my programs and trainings.
But when I first started practicing, my students weren't making progress with comprehension tasks. I didn't know how to help.
I knew I was missing something.
I was drilling "wh" questions, working on inferencing and retelling stories.
Many students struggled to express their thoughts, especially in writing. I was randomly correcting grammatical errors without a clear strategy.
So I worked on pronouns and verb tenses...but often saw poor carryover.
I was working on the same things over and over again to improve “language processing”. I’d even figured out which curriculum standards went with my objectives.
As I did more research, I realized I was addressing a lot of SYMPTOMS, but was missing ONE very important SKILL.
The essential skill I was missing was SYNTAX.
Syntax is the set of linguistic skills that enable us to:
- Put words together to express our thoughts.
- Understand how to use a vocabulary word correctly in a sentence
- Formulate grammatically correct sentences in oral and written language.
- Pay attention to relevant words in a sentence so we understand the message.
- Sequence what we're saying or writing so others understand.
- Comprehend and answer questions.
Many students catch on to syntax on their own through exposure in their daily lives. But exposure alone isn't enough for students with disabilities impacting language.
For those students, intervention needs to be:
Explicit
Syntactic rules are explained directly; including how words connect ideas.
Intensive
Consistent, repetitive, strategic practice over time to develop automaticity.
Here's why syntax is so important:
Many students continue to struggle with reading without direct work on foundational language skills; even if they’re taught comprehension strategies (Eberhardt, 2013; Scott, 2009; Scott & Koonce, 2014; Nippold, 2017).
Research has also shown that syntax is a necessary skill for reading comprehension (Nippold, 2017; Scott, 2009).
Critical thinking, inferencing, and the ability to retell past events require a significant amount of internal dialogue; which is very difficult to engage in without adequate vocabulary or ability to use and understand complex syntax (Fahy, 2014).
Complex sentences contain language that indicates cause and effect or temporal information; all which are essential for strategic planning, which has an impact on executive functioning.
Finally, seminal work has shown that the use of complex sentences is linked to comprehension and the development of other sophisticated language skills (Loban, 1976; Zipoli, 2017).
"I viewed how you teach passive voice. I used powerpoint to do that online and he had his first understanding! His mother and I were ecstatic! With enormous gratitude for your expertise! Thank you."
-SHARON BARDY, CALIFORNIA
Yet syntax is often not addressed at the level kids need because of several common misconceptions:
MYTH 1: Sentence level work isn't functional for language development.
Play-based intervention is a powerful tool, as well as therapy focused on narratives and storytelling. But if students are school-age and struggle to connect clauses to formulate ideas, they often need more intensive work focused on complex sentence types; which is difficult to do if your treatment doesn't provide enough structured practice. Giving your students a blend of structured, intensive practice at the sentence level in combination with other more contextualized practice can give your students a balanced, complete approach that helps them generalize.
MYTH 2: Syntax is a skill for "older" students.
Students begin to use subordinate conjunctions such as "because", or "before/after" in early elementary school; which enables them to answer "why" and "when" questions or connect clauses in oral language. While students have not fully developed their ability to engage in sophisticated problem-solving, these language skills help them form a foundation so they can inference and think critically in the later grades. Syntactic skills in the early years facilitate and enable more advanced cognitive skills to develop through young adulthood.
MYTH 3: Syntax isn't a useful life skill.
Students with language impairments who don't get explicit work on syntax continue to struggle with reading comprehension without targeted work in this area (Nippold, 2017). Even if they get practice with "comprehension strategies". This means their ability to access advance education will be significantly impacted without intervention. Complex syntax is needed to succeed many jobs that aren't considered "academic" roles; such as trades or the service industry. Many jobs require use of written documents or sophisticated oral language. Syntax skills are LIFE SKILLS.
But most people don't teach these skills to students soon enough, or at the intensity they need.
And if you've made that mistake, you're not alone.
I did the same thing myself. There were SO MANY grammatical rules and I didn't know where to start.
That's why the first step to successful syntax intervention is answering the million-dollar question:
What sentences am I supposed to teach, and how do I teach them?
If that's what you're wondering, I have good news :)
I've outlined all of this for you in the Ultimate Guide to Syntax.
The Ultimate Guide to Syntax is a complete bundle + tutorials with three separate guides, goal banks, assessment probes, over 300 sentence probes, and step-by-step guides for targeting challenging sentences.
(It expands on what you get in my free "Ultimate Guide to Sentence Structure")
"I have been very impressed with the progress I am seeing in my clients as I incorporate your suggestions. Confidence, comprehension, and participation (as well as grades) are all going up. Thank you for all that you do for our profession.”
-SKYLEE NEFF, UTAH
What's inside the Ultimate Guide to Syntax?
VOLUME 1: How to Teach Passive Voice
This guide will show you how to define observable behaviors for goals and data collection, how elicit difficult sentence types, and how to assess comprehension when standardized tests don't tell the whole story.
VOLUME 2: Using Sentence Combining for Complex Syntax
This guide will show you how to write goals for compound and complex sentences, how to encourage kids to use conjunctions and multiple clauses, and how to do dynamic assessment using picture cues.
VOLUME 3: Deconstructing Challenging Sentences
This guide will show you how to help kids identify the key message in complex sentences, use a commonly overlooked data collection strategy to gather rich assessment of comprehension, and boost linguistic reasoning skills.
In addition the downloadable guides, you also get access to video trainings to walk you through implementation.
TRAINING #1: Intro + Syntax Development Guide
In this video training, I walk you through an overview of how to use these syntax guides, research on syntax development across the school-age years, and how to work on sentence types that facilitate more sophisticated language use.
TRAINING #2: Reflective and Directive Questions
In this video, I share how to elicit challenging sentences and scaffold to help students expand their thoughts and pay attention to important linguistic information.
Get the Ultimate Guide to Syntax Tutorials today and get over 300 sentence probes to help boost student's comprehension and processing.
- Volume 1: Teaching Passive Voice: Define observable behaviors, elicit difficult sentences, supplement standardized tests.
- Volume 2: Sentence Combining: Streamline goal-writing, encourage sophisticated language use, and get rich, meaningful data from sessions and assessments.
- Volume 3: Deconstructing Sentences: Identify relevant information, improve linguistic reasoning skills, boost comprehension.
- Training 1: Intro + Syntax Development Guide: Learn the research on syntax development across the school-age years and use it to facilitate more sophisticated language use.
- Training 2: Reflective and Directive Questions: Learn how to help students expand their thoughts, and pay attention to important linguistic information.
Give student's the skills they need to thrive for $67.
You can sign up for the Ultimate Guide to Syntax Tutorials risk-free.
If you still don’t feel confident and focused with your intervention…
… Then all you need to do is email me within 60 days your purchase at talktome@drkarenspeech.com and I’ll give you a full refund — no hassle.
Syntax intervention needs to happen SOONER, not later.
Most kids start using complex sentences in oral language in early elementary school.
When we assume that syntax is just a skill for "older" students, we miss opportunities to build a foundation.
This foundation is NECESSARY for students to fully participate in their education, benefit from instruction focused on comprehension, and practice critical thinking.
Without the skills to support sentence-level comprehension, students won't have the language skills needed to learn from written texts, in-depth discussions, or tasks that require complex problem-solving...
These are things that happen across their entire day!
But the good news is you are perfectly equipped to help students build the skills they need to thrive in all of these situations.
"My heart bursts with pride when I see these intelligent, amazing kiddos learn how to more effectively express themselves. I didn't think I could possibly love my profession any more than I do, but you came along and made me love it even more. I feel competent and effective--and I now know that I am capable of changing the world, one child at a time.”
-JENNIFER SMITH, TENNESSEE
Get the Ultimate Guide to Syntax Tutorials today and get over 300 sentence probes to help boost student's comprehension and processing.
- Volume 1: Teaching Passive Voice: Define observable behaviors, elicit difficult sentences, supplement standardized tests.
- Volume 2: Sentence Combining: Streamline goal-writing, encourage sophisticated language use, and get rich, meaningful data from sessions and assessments.
- Volume 3: Deconstructing Sentences: Identify relevant information, improve linguistic reasoning skills, boost comprehension.
- Training 1: Intro + Syntax Development Guide: Learn the research on syntax development across the school-age years and use it to facilitate more sophisticated language use.
- Training 2: Reflective and Directive Questions: Learn how to help students expand their thoughts, and pay attention to important linguistic information.
Build the language skills kids need to thrive for just $67.
Students won't benefit from "comprehension strategies" if they can't comprehend at the sentence level.
You need to know which sentence types impact comprehension the most.
Drilling "wh" questions...
Practicing following directions tasks over and over again...
Randomly correcting grammatical errors as they come up because you aren't sure what skills to prioritize...
You already know these things aren't working for your students.
Your students need to know how sentences are constructed, what words are IMPORTANT, and how to use sophisticated language to express their thoughts.
They likely aren't getting this explicit practice anywhere else at the intensity they need.
It's possible to give them EXACTLY they need WITHOUT complicated prep or complicated lesson plans.
I'll help you do that with the Ultimate Guide to Syntax.
See what others are saying about Dr. Karen's resources:
"Dr. Karen leaves out the fluff and gets straight to the facts...She brings a much-needed element of simplicity to an otherwise very broad area of language therapy.”
-RACHEL SMITH, UTAH
"Language can be sooooo complex and overwhelming and she organizes it in a way that makes sense.”
-WENDY EINHORN, CALIFORNIA
"I had a great session with one of my struggling 3rd graders...I told him how grown up his long sentences sounded. He loved it!"
-JESSICA HARMON-JOHNSTONEAUX
Get the Ultimate Guide to Syntax Tutorials today and get over 300 sentence probes to help boost student's comprehension and processing.
- Volume 1: Teaching Passive Voice: Define observable behaviors, elicit difficult sentences, supplement standardized tests.
- Volume 2: Sentence Combining: Streamline goal-writing, encourage sophisticated language use, and get rich, meaningful data from sessions and assessments.
- Volume 3: Deconstructing Sentences: Identify relevant information, improve linguistic reasoning skills, boost comprehension.
- Training 1: Intro + Syntax Development Guide: Learn the research on syntax development across the school-age years and use it to facilitate more sophisticated language use.
- Training 2: Reflective and Directive Questions: Learn how to help students expand their thoughts, and pay attention to important linguistic information.
Turn things around for your students for just $67.
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