• Home
  • Popular Posts
  • About Natalie S
  • Free Materials
  • Contact Natalie
  • Shop

Natalie Snyders SLP

Making the life of a busy school SLP easier and a bit more beautiful everyday!

in Helpful Ideas for Other SLPs· Product Promos

Explaining Language Disorders in Parent & Teacher Friendly Terms

ShareTweetGooglePinterestMail

In my decade in the schools, one thing I’ve found to be incredibly helpful is spending time to assist teachers and parents in understanding what I do as a speech-language pathologist, and why it is important.

how to explain language disorders to parents and teachers as an SLP

After grad school, I felt fairly prepared to conduct and write comprehensive evaluations in the school setting, but something I found myself less prepared for was how to explain things in terms that teachers and parents without a background in communication disorders or neurology could understand.

For this reason, I came up with my speech-language therapy explanation handouts for teachers and parents, which are incredibly helpful to send home after lengthy and sometimes overwhelming meetings.

But I also needed a concise analogy or explanation to share verbally as well.  The simplest way I thought of is to have your listener imagine a file folder or cabinet.

  • For our typically developing students, their “files” are nice and neat, full of experiences and knowledge, well organized, and easy to find the information they need in their brains.

  • For many of our students with language disorders or delays, the information may be all in there, but there’s such a lack of organization that so little of the information can found efficiently when needed. For others, their “folders” might have holes in them, which makes it difficult to hold onto the information in the first place.
  • For many of our students, the ineffiency of trying to sort through all this information in their brains makes it difficult to keep up with everything else going on, which means it may be difficult to hang on to new information and learn new things in class.
  • Our goal in speech-language therapy is to help fill the “folders” where needed and help our students learn to organize their information effectively.

How do you describe language disorders to parents?  I’d love to hear in a comment below!

PS: Make sure to sign up for my email newsletter to stay up to date with all my latest blog posts and more!

 

 

 

 

  • Related

    Leave a Comment

    « SLP Book Recommendation: Lucas the Lion Loves the Tiny Talker
    Free 100 Trial Charts for Articulation »

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    I accept the Privacy Policy

    Let’s Connect

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Categories

    • Articulation (Speech Sounds)
    • Back to School
    • Design or Decor Ideas
    • Free or Low Cost Ideas
    • Helpful Ideas for Other SLPs
    • Other
    • Product Promos
    • Resources for SLP Sellers/Bloggers
    • Reviews of Other Products or Services
    • Seasonal Ideas
    • Stepping Outside Your SLP Comfort Zone Series
    • Therapy Ideas
    • Uncategorized

    Quick Links

    • Home
    • Contact Natalie
    • Disclaimer/Terms of Use

    Let’s get social

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Looking for something?

    Copyright © 2025 — Natalie Snyders SLP • All rights reserved.

    Site customised by Laine Sutherland Designs