Language (Receptive & Expressive)
Learn the essentials, plan useful therapy, write a measurable goal, and document the work.
- Learn
- Therapy Ideas
- Write Goals
- Document
- Use Resources
General Information
Receptive language supports understanding of spoken information; expressive language supports communicating ideas, needs, and narratives. Assessment considers both, the person’s languages, functional contexts, and relevant cultural patterns. The SLP selects goals based on demonstrated needs rather than using a single standardized score or checklist in isolation.
What to consider in assessment
Gather information across the person’s languages and settings. For receptive language, examine what the person understood under specific task and support conditions; for expressive language, sample their own words, grammar, narratives, and functional messages. Interpretation must account for language exposure and dialect.
What the SLP can address
The SLP identifies strengths and needs in comprehension and expression, targets meaningful communication, and supports partners or classroom routines. A receptive target should not be scored solely through a response mode the person cannot access.
Therapy Tips
Read a short, culturally relevant story and use visuals to support event sequencing. Check comprehension with accessible choices, then invite the student to retell in speech, AAC, or another mode. Record receptive and expressive results separately.
- Separate comprehension opportunities from expressive responses when collecting data.
- Record the linguistic demand, supports, and examples of the person’s own language.
- Practice target skills in meaningful routines or curriculum contexts and across languages when appropriate.
Choose strategies using assessment findings, the person’s preferences, and the treatment context.
Goal Writing
Specify the functional context, observable response, criterion, support level, and how progress will be checked.
After hearing a short story in an accessible language, the student will retell four of five relevant story elements using speech, AAC, or another preferred mode with visual support in three sessions.
SOAP Note Tips
Name the language, task, target, response mode, and supports. Distinguish a comprehension error from difficulty producing an answer, and include examples of language the person generated.
- S: Capture the student’s or caregiver’s report on understanding and expression.
- O: Specify receptive or expressive target, context, correct/total responses, language used, and cue level.
- A and P: Interpret the addressed goal and plan functional carryover.
After a four-event story with picture supports, the student identified 4/5 details from a choice of three and independently retold three events using speech; one event required a visual cue.
Site Resources
Continue with resources currently available on Culturally Speaking SLPs.