What are high frequency words and sight words?
While similar and both very important, high frequency words and sight words are different. Understanding the difference between the two will help you more confidently prepare for high-impact and evidence-based therapy sessions with your students.
High frequency words are the words that are used most commonly in printed English text. Fun fact– over 50% percent of all text is made up of these words!
Sight words are words that are recalled from memory in an instant and effortless way. Sight words can be phonically regular or irregular.
As SLPs, reading educators, and language specialists, we should really aim to help students recognize high frequency words instantly, just like they do sight words! This can be done through helping students memorize these words but also by infusing them into many parts of the teaching curriculum.
Why target high frequency words and sight words in speech therapy?
Once you understand the meanings of these word types, using high frequency words and sight words in speech therapy just makes sense! We want our students to generalize their skills into their daily lives, but we can’t expect them to do so if we constantly use irrelevant words in therapy sessions. Practicing articulation and language goals using words our students will actually use will make carryover easier …Yay!
How do we target high frequency words and sight words in speech therapy?
Use resources that include visuals and text together and separately
Now, I totally understand that it takes time to figure out what these types of words are and can really feel a little daunting when considering how to add them into therapy sessions. I know because I was there! So, I created High Frequency and Sight Words Sentence Strips for Speech Therapy. Backed by evidence, this speech therapy resource can be paired with ANY speech and language activity. It includes functional words that were carefully chosen from the Dolch and Fry Word lists and separated by sound and/or language goal. This grab and go high-frequency and sight word sentence strips for articulation and language can easily supplement what you already have to promote literacy while encouraging generalization! These strips are crucial during the generalization stage (after all, you’re using words the kids are saying outside of therapy).
Shift your mindset
It might take a little bit of time, but you CAN shift your therapy mindset! High frequency words and sight words really can make your life as SLP so much easier. If you have mixed therapy groups or do push-in or travel therapy, you know that you need versatile resources that fit a variety of needs all at once. By familiarizing yourself with high frequency words and sight words instead of reaching for that comfortable list of synonyms or /r/ words in your therapy resource manual, you will quickly find that you can target a variety of articulation and language goals with the same group of words. The grab and go nature of these strips will prove convenient for ANY busy SLP!
Identify high frequency words specific for your students
Some high frequency words are specific for each child. These words are ones like their names, family members’ or pets’ names, and favorite activities or places. These unique words are fun to add in throughout sessions to jazz things up a bit. Involve your students during sessions, and let them take control of some of the words you target. You’ll be surprised how engaged they are when they have some ownership in the process.
Use high frequency words and sight words for student supports
Use these words in Response to Intervention or Multi-Tiered System of Supports for students in your school. The classroom teachers responsible for providing many of these supports for students will be able to transition easily from their teaching curriculum to providing additional support for students in the areas of speech and language when these familiar words are involved. Since I’ve researched and used words from both the Dolch and Fry word lists, the hard work is done for you!
(I’m all about being a team player and love it when the classroom teachers around me understand the purpose in what I am doing and are happy and eager to collaborate with me!)
Extension Activities
I LOVE pairing all my sentence strips with my Toolkit Strips for apraxia, phonology, articulation, and language! This is because I’m a huge fan of working on two or more things simultaneously to yield great results! The picture below shoes my High Frequency Sight Word Strips paired with my Toolkit Strips to work on morphological awareness and self-monitoring.
I am always looking for ways to incorporate books into my sessions. Finding target words within a book is an EASY way to create a love for literacy.
My Holiday & Seasonal Open-Ended Themed Tasks include HUNDREDS of no-prep options that the kids LOVE! Not only does it keep little hands busy, they kiddos love showing each other their masterpieces!
