Describing is an important part of vocabulary intervention. Strong describing skills help students recall information and learn new words more easily. So, how do you teach describing in speech therapy? Let’s dive in! Here’s a step-by-step guide to teaching this important language skill.
Why Do We Teach Describing?
Describing using different types of information helps children give more detail when talking about something.
For example:
- An apple → fruit, red, round, you can eat it
- A dog → pet, furry, has four legs, barks
- A chair → furniture, you can sit on it, has legs
Describing skills are important as they help support vocabulary development and help children:
- share their ideas more clearly when speaking and writing
- understand and use new words
- recall information more easily
Foundational Skills for Describing
We often use various types of information to describe an object, food, or animal in more detail. If the child has difficulty with any of these foundational skills below, you might want to focus on it.
Some important skills for describing include:
- categories
- object functions
- actions
- word associations
- identifying attributes (color, size, shape, texture, etc.)
- parts
- locations
For example, to describe a tiger as “a large orange animal with stripes that lives in the jungle”, a child needs to understand vocabulary related to animals, categories, colors, patterns, locations, and attributes.
How To Teach Describing in Speech Therapy
Step 1: Review the features we use when describing
As mentioned above, children need to understand the different types of information we use when describing, such as categories, functions, actions, attributes, parts, and locations.
When first introducing describing, it can be helpful to review each feature one at a time using simple examples and visuals. This helps children understand what kinds of details they can use when talking about an item.
For example, you can review each feature for describing objects. We can say:
- what group it’s in (category)
- what we use it for (function)
- what it looks like (attribute)
- what it’s made of (material)
- what parts it has (parts)
- where we find it (location)
I like to use more specific visuals when describing animals vs. food vs. objects rather than using one general visual so the features are more relevant to the item being described.
For example, in the visual below, I include taste and texture for describing food, material type to describe objects, and traits (like speed) to describe animals because I find it more functional to say that a lemon is sour and a lion is fast, rather than talk about what they’re “made of” like when describing objects.
If a child has difficulty understanding or using one of these features, it may help to spend extra time teaching and practicing that skill before expecting them to use it independently when describing.
Step 2: Model how to describe with visuals
Model how to describe an item so the child can see how we can describe using various details. They often need to see it in action before we can expect them to do it independently. You can use visuals to support learning this skill. For example, see the image below for visuals and an example for modeling describing. You can also describe real objects and use sentence starters.
Step 3: Practice with support
Next, the child can practice describing with some support. We’re still not expecting them to describe independently yet, so you can provide prompts, choices, visuals, examples, and any other support to guide the child to use different types of details when describing. For example, you might use visuals like the image above (left page) to have some examples of what they could answer or you could also have choices they can choose from when answering like in the image below (e.g., “Is a cow a farm animal, a bug, or a jungle animal?”). Gradually fade supports so the child works towards independent responses.
Step 4: Practice describing independently
As the child becomes more familiar with describing, you can use visuals that remind them of what kind of information to add but that don’t include specific examples so they are generating ideas independently. See the image below (left page) for an example of visuals you might use. It’s important to remember that we’re practicing using different types of information and generating ideas, and not getting a specific “correct” answer.
Activities to Teach and Practice Describing
Here are some of my favorite ways to teach and practice describing in speech therapy sessions:
Toys
Toys are a great way to practice describing using real objects in play-based activities. Different toys naturally encourage children to talk about categories, actions, attributes, parts, locations, and functions.
Here are some great toy sets you could use:
- Play food sets
- Toy animal sets
- Block sets
- Car and truck sets
- Dolls and dollhouses
Toy animals are great for practicing describing during play. For example:
- “The cow is spotted. It has a tail. Where does it live?”
- “The dog is brown. It barks. What else does it do?”
Books
Books are an amazing way to practice describing in context. Pictures naturally create opportunities to talk about what items look like, what they do, how they’re used, etc.
- “What is the house made of?”
- “What do you think the sheep feels like? Soft, spiky?”
- “What does this key do?”
Books can also help the child learn new describing vocabulary (e.g., textures, emotions, locations, actions, categories).
Structured Activities
Structured activities like printable activity sheets can help children practice describing in a focused way. They’re great to use as mini-lessons to pre-teach a skill before practicing it in natural contexts like books and toy play.
If you’re looking for no-prep materials for teaching describing, I created a Describing Activity Packet that includes visuals, examples for modeling, activities with multiple choices for extra support, and lots of pages for independent practice.
Adapting Activities for Older Students and Virtual Sessions
Older students
When working with older students, you might want to use activity sheets or classroom assignments to ensure the activities match the student’s age and interests. You might want to use real objects or engaging activities like the guessing game I’ve described in other vocabulary guides. The guessing game is super simple and really fun and motivating! You pick an object in the room or from a set of images and the other person uses describing skills to guess the object. They can ask questions about the object’s category, function, size, color, location, etc. to guess what the item is and you take turns giving clues and guessing!
Teletherapy
You can teach describing virtually with a variety of activities like games, online books, picture scenes, and digital worksheets. For example, see the image below for a fun activity to target describing virtually, which is included in the Activity Packet. The guessing game described in the older students section above also works really well virtually!
Carryover and Home Practice for Describing
Practicing describing outside of speech therapy helps the child apply what they’ve learned in other situations.
Caregivers and teachers can support this skill during daily routines by describing items in their environment. This can happen naturally during activities like:
- cooking and cleaning
- getting dressed
- making crafts
- playing with toys
You can also use information handouts to provide caregivers and teachers with simple ideas for practicing describing outside the speech therapy room.
What’s Next After Describing?
Once children have strong describing skills, they can continue developing their vocabulary skills by learning other types of word relationships. Some related language processing skills include:
- Similarities and differences
- Synonyms and antonyms
- Multiple meaning words
A Step-by-Step Resource for Teaching Describing
We’ve discussed how to teach describing skills in speech therapy step by step. Whether you’re a speech therapist, parent, or educator, teaching this skill can be simple and effective! If you’re looking for a structured way to teach and practice this skill, my Describing Activity Packet includes leveled activities that keep children engaged while they’re learning and practicing.
The packet includes visuals as well as structured activity pages to practice describing animals, food, and objects with support and independently. These activities are perfect as mini-lessons to introduce the skill or to use during therapy sessions for structured practice and alongside play-based activities to support vocabulary development.
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