Goal: Expand Vocabulary of Nouns from Basic Categories
Sample Goal:
Client will increase his/her vocabulary by expressively naming (using spoken speech, sign language, or AAC) 10 words from each of the following basic categories when shown a picture/object: animals, clothing, food, household objects, bathroom items, vehicles, kitchen items, people, toys, and school items
Download the No-Prep Therapy Kit:
We have a start-to-finish therapy kit that will give you everything you need to practice this skill in therapy and send home homework. Click the packet below to open it. Then, print it out and place it in the child’s notebook or binder.
Therapy Phases:
For each of the following categories, go through these two phases. In therapy, you’ll want to focus on one category at a time. But you can write your goal for all of the categories combined.
- Receptive Identification: Client will increase his/her receptive vocabulary by pointing to 10 pictures/items from each of the following categories when named: animals, clothing, food, household objects, bathroom items, vehicles, kitchen items, people, toys, and school items
- Expressive Labeling: Client will increase his/her vocabulary by expressively naming (using spoken speech, sign language, or AAC) 10 words from each of the following basic categories when shown a picture/object: animals, clothing, food, household objects, bathroom items, vehicles, kitchen items, people, toys, and school items
What’s Next?
- Once your client has expanded his/her vocabulary to include many different items from a variety of categories, evaluate the client’s vocabulary again to see where there are areas of weakness. Are there certain types of words that are missing, such as adjectives or grammatical markers? Does the child need to learn vocabulary words related to his/her school curriculum? Or does the child need to learn vocabulary-learning skills for how to approach new words when they are encountered?
Supplemental Materials
Here are some other resources that may help you when working on this skill:
Vocabulary Practice Sheets: Basic Categories
Extra worksheets for practicing vocabulary in several different categories.
Vocabulary Matching Activity: Common School Objects
This simple activity shows multiple examples of photos of objects commonly found in schools and encourages matching. Great for extra practice on common objects.
Mixed Vocabulary and Questions Pack
Extra practice for common nouns, grouped by category. This kit contains questions as well but you can just use the pictures for vocabulary modeling.
What’s the Function? Basic School Vocab
Another way to learn vocabulary words is to talk about the function of those items. Practice the function of school items with this worksheet.
