There is nothing mystical, magical, or terrifying about teaching your students how to ask and answer WH questions. The key is making sure they understand what each of those words mean before you start.
Several years ago my friend, Leah, was struggling with a group of ASD kids who could not move beyond a what question. No matter what was asked they answered as if they had been asked what. They knew what the word WHAT meant, but they didn’t know how to respond to WHO, WHERE, WHEN, or WHY questions, so I created this resource to help her teach them those words. I quickly discovered she was not the only one who needed help with this and it has become my all time #2 best selling product on TpT.
Before you begin instruction with any of the WH Questions keep in mind the developmental hierarchy for WH question acquisition.
What, Who, and Where are the easiest to learn.
To learn the When word the child must have an understanding of time, so check that they have that understanding before using When. Certainly Why and How are the most difficult to learn because they require understanding of what causes events to happen, and must have prior experiences and be able to think abstractly and problem solve.
In this resource,
I provide you with visual cue cards that show what the question word is asking. It shows the question word with examples of appropriate responses.
What- shows objects animate and inanimate.
This resource also includes picture cards that depict a variety of things, people, and places. These are provided to be used as prompts for answering and asking questions.
There are basically 3 levels of instruction in this packet.
Level One will teach the meaning of each WH word with visual cues. When using in a small group your students will learn not only their given word but also the other students words through incidental learning as you use the activity. To make it engaging it has a small game incentive. If they answer the given question appropriately they earn the picture card. They try to collect more cards than the other students. They think they are playing a game and we know they are learning to answer question words appropriately.
Level Two will require the student to answer all 5 WH question forms to earn the card. It is completed the same as above with the instructor creating the questions for the pictures drawn. Use the mats with all 5 WH words on them.
Level Three- REVERSE the tasks and allow the student to formulate the questions for the pictures drawn. You will use the speech bubble card and place a specific person, place, thing, card on it visually show them they are to do the asking.
What is in the present?
There are no preset questions for you to use in the product. I deliberately did not include any so that the SLP can create their own that would be appropriate for her client. However, because others have asked for them, I will be adding some preset questions to this resource in the next update.
As I mentioned earlier, this is my #2 best selling resource in my TpT store and teachers love it.
Here’s what buyers have said:
Whether you use my resource or not you can use this same strategy to teach WH questions to your kids today!
