Speech language pathologists are often trying to increase the length and variety of what a child says or writes. This short video explains a visual tool that I created to help children learn and recall vocabulary. Parents, teachers, and therapists can use this tool to expand a child's vocabulary in minutes with no preparation.
Kids love animals. I created Pamela E., a cat and my virtual pet. Pamela E. is especially cool with her purple eyes. Each letter of her name represents a semantic feature used expand the knowledge associated with an item- P-Parts, A-Actions, M-Made Of, E-Explanation, L-Location, A-Associations, E-Extra Information. Once you learn the Pamela E. mneumonic and teach it to your child, vocabulary knowledge will explode!
You will use the semantic features to help describe everything that you know about an item from the parts that you would use to draw it or build it, how it is used, what it is composed of , what it looks and feels like, where you can find it, how you would classify it, and anything else you may know about it.
In this short video, I teach you how to remember the meaning of the letters of Pamela E.'s name and provide an example of how you can use her to expand your child's vocabulary.
You can use Pamela E. with older children. Challenge them to come up with more interesting and less common words or have them compare and contrast items. For example, if you are talking about apples, have provide less used terms such as "skin" or "core". Have them be creative with what they would do with an apple "pick", 'skin it", "bake", or "slice" instead of accepting "eat it". Challenge them to naming locations where one can be found such as the "produce section of supermarket" or "in an orchard" instead of grocery store. Can they say more specific than it is a "food" and classify a "fruit", "healthy snack", or a "food that grows on trees"? How many types of apples can they name? "Granny Smith", "Braeburn", "Fuji" . Is there anything unique fact that they know? You can press and squeeze apples to make juice or cider.
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