So many people say ‘you do so much more than just speech!’ that I thought it would be helpful to give some information on an aspect of our work known as critical thinking. As speech therapists we often see children and teenagers who have diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder or Specific Speech Language Impairment.

When I was searching for information I decided that rather than re-invent the wheel I would quote directly from the manual for the TOPS (Test for Problem Solving) and summarise some of their therapy suggestions.

1. A student may respond with a shrug of the shoulders or say ‘I don’t know’. This response may reflect an inability to recall words other than naming what is in the picture.
2. A student may fail to process all the information in the question or fail to understand some or all ‘wh’ questions.
3. A student may lack specific vocabulary and use responses such as ‘like that stuff’; ‘and all that’
4. A student may fail to make the shift from one topic to another and perseverate on an earlier item.
5. A student may only be able to respond from an egocentric (self) perspective and not appreciate how someone else may act or think.
6. A student may fail to integrate what he sees with what he hears. Students may need help with visual tracking, identification and processing of information.
7. A student may respond with answers to problems that have not been well thought out or that are referenced in TV programs or familiar routines.
8. A student may fail to ask for help or repetition of the question and respond with an irrelevancy.
9. A student may not be able to approach a problem for which they have no concrete experience.
10. A student may demonstrate in their answers a limited self-concept and give ‘timed’ responses that reflect their personal experience.

Suggestions for Intervention…

• Start a topic with the student’s knowledge and then fill in the gaps. Tell me about ____ ‘
• Compare and contrast the student’s information with new information
• Give them time to respond
• Use visual teaching (mind maps, colour, captioning)
• Use scripts ‘so if I say _____ you could say ______ ‘.
  • Ask the student to compare a paragraph that was vague language with one that uses specific vocabulary
• Ask questions that have more than one right answer.
• Teach students that it’s ok to make assumptions but it’s not ok to act until the facts are checked. This should help impulsivity.
• Help the students to identify what may be weak areas in their thinking rather than pointing them out.
• Pose problems and work together ‘I wonder what would happen if ___’.
• Encourage students to research and gather information before drawing a conclusion, (to reflect)
• Discuss how concepts and words change depending on the situation i.e. wicked/wicked, weird/weird
• Ask student to describe what they see, feel, hear, and smell.
• Categorise
• Sequence
• Teach the difference between reality/fantasy; fact/opinion.
• Identifying true/false statements
• Teach them how to answer ‘wh’ questions
• Teach them how to answer ‘what if’ and ‘if… then’ questions.
• Teach them how to form analogies
• Teach the concept of jokes/riddles that play on words with multiple meanings
• Encourage students to create their own ends to scenarios/stories.
• Identify single and multiple causes of problems
• Role-playing to help the student see another perspective.
• Ask for an explanation of why a particular choice was made.
• Practice paraphrasing information
• Ask the student what knowledge and prior knowledge they have to a problem to explain why they replied ‘don’t know’
• Discuss and give illustrations for feelings and emotions
• Teach and use the vocabulary of thinking i.e. explain, suppose, predict, infer and discuss

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