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Colourful Semantics – Traditional or Modern Method?
Colourful Semantics is the ‘meaning of the words’ and this is made colourful by breaking down and colour coding different parts of a sentence. Colourful Semantics is a speech and language therapy intervention that indirectly works on developing a child’s grammar through the use of:
- Spoken sentences
- Answering W/H questions
- Use of nouns, verbs, prepositions and adjectives
- Story telling skills
- Written sentences and language comprehension
A speech and language therapist will work through the 5 levels of the Colourful Semantics programme to encourage the child to create sentences. This is initially taught by focusing on sorting out colours, which will then progress to an understanding that there are
different parts that make up a sentence.
The overall aim is for the child to eventually produce grammatical and informational sentences.
The 4 key levels are:
Level 1 – Who? The Dog. Subject -( ORANGE)
Level 2 – What doing? Is playing with. Verb – (Yellow)
Level 3 – What? The Ball. Object (Green)
Level 4 – Where? In the Garden. Location (Blue)
Speech and Language Therapists at Integrated Treatment Services (I.T.S) have been using this approach for years and find that it is very effective especially with our clients who are visual learners, which is generally the case with children with Autism. Our therapists have used Colourful Semantics in it’s basic form through the use of symbols or by finding pictures to cut out. This method works brilliantly as it gives them the freedom to tailor their therapy sessions to the child’s specific interests.
You can download our free starter pack to get started on using Colourful Semantics today. To find out more about the approach and how to implement it have a look at our PowerPoint presentation which talks you through the key issues:
If you or your child’s therapist is using colourful semantics then check the I.T.S website regularly for new material to use (look out for some free symbol downloads for Christmas along with some Christmas related activities such as writing a letter to Santa using Colourful Semantics very soon!)
If you think your child could benefit from using Colourful Semantics you can contact a therapist at I.T.S. We are available throughout the week to give advice about speech, language and communication needs or can visit you and your child in your home to further assess their speech, language and communication needs.
We are happy to speak with you over the telephone on: 0845 838 2921 or by email: info@integratedtreatments.co.uk.
If you have found this article helpful and have more questions then you can contact us with ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future blogs by simply clicking ‘Ask us a Question’.
Laura Oldakowska
November 2013
