I just came across another one of Dr. Holly Lane's gems: "...the best ways to keep kids engaged and excited about the lessons include: (a) frequently reviewing and always enforcing behavioral expectations (b) giving students more opportunities to respond (c) keeping your instruction enthusiastic and at a perky pace (d) providing effective feedback..." "TEACH THE STUFF AND CUT THE FLUFF"- Dr. Anita Archer

Please hear me out. I am speaking as a reading teacher who exclusively works with students who have not responded to instruction or intervention, not a speech pathologist. Kids need to receive corrective feedback about their misarticulations. I have kids who have no speech diagnosis or apparent speech problem who in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6 grades are misarticulating sounds. For at-risk and vulnerable students the impact on reading and spelling is significant. If kids can articulate the sounds there is no reason why we are not emphasizing the proper articulation of speech sounds. I get it. Not all kids need this but for some, there is a true lack of awareness of how some sounds are articulated and the correction gets harder the older the students get. Please note that I am not talking about kids with articulation needs. Which sounds am I talking about? Sounds like /s/ vs /z/; /th/ voiced and unvoiced, etc. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.😊