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Good Talking Words

Grades PreK–1

Develop Social Communication Skills For Children in Early Grades

Good Talking Words is an engaging and developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to help young children in preschool and the early grades develop effective social communication skills. It facilitates social-emotional learning (SEL) through lessons focused on progressively helping young children learn specific concepts, vocabulary, and the expected behaviors needed for successful communication and interactions with their peers and adults.

 
Good Talking Words Group at Table

Social-emotional learning contributes to many positive aspects of academic and life success. Social-emotional learning helps us:

  • Understand and manage our emotions
  • Build a sense of resilience
  • Establish and maintain positive relationships
  • Attend to feelings
  • Set and achieve positive goals
  • Make decisions


Good Talking Words provides a series of 10 engaging, playful, and developmentally appropriate lessons that follow learning principles based in cognition and brain research. Lessons are delivered in an intentional sequence that cover these critical skills:

  • Foundational sensory perceptual skills (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic)
  • Personally responsible social communication skills
  • Interaction skills
  • Problem-solving skills
Good Talking Words - Class

Meet the Authors

Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson
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Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson
Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, has more than 40 years of experience working with children, their families, and their teachers in schools and clinical settings focusing on developing social communication, oral language, and literacy. She served as an associate professor teaching in areas related to communication development and challenges. She has provided professional development for a variety of audiences across the United States and internationally. Lucy presents an inclusive and research-to-practice perspective, blending areas of social communication, oral language, and literacy, resulting in effective and engaging learning opportunities for children. Lucy is the lead author of Good Talking Words 2nd Edition, a social communication skills program for young children; Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) for Early Childhood Educators 2nd Edition, and Building Early Literacy and Language Skills, a resource and activity guide for young children.
Learn more about Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson
Linda L. Attridge, BA
Linda L. Attridge
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Linda L. Attridge, BA
Linda L. Attridge
Linda L. Attridge, B.A., with a minor in fine arts, has taught kindergarteners and welcomed their families to participate in the classroom alongside her in the public school setting for well over two decades. She possesses a strong background in early childhood literacy, communication skills, and the arts. Through her animated teaching style and keen ability to create engaging lessons with relevant content, Linda maximizes learning while seamlessly connecting with her students. Linda is the second author of Building Early Literacy and Language Skills and also provided feedback on developing the Good Talking Words 1st Edition’s activity components. In her classroom, Linda’s students benefited first-hand from the Good Talking Words program.
Learn more about Linda L. Attridge
Lynnea A. Avenetti, MA, LPC,
Lynnea A. Avenetti
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Lynnea A. Avenetti, MA, LPC,
Lynnea A. Avenetti

Lynnea A. Avenetti, M.A., LPC, is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) helping individuals of all ages, including children and their families, gain emotional awareness and regulation, learn and implement more effective communication and coping skills, work through past trauma, and navigate relational challenges. She has worked in a myriad of therapeutic settings for children including inpatient and outpatient hospitalization programs and day treatment and residential treatment programs. Lynnea holds a master’s degree in Professional Mental Health Counseling with an emphasis on children and adolescents with specialized training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based practice, and Attachment Theory.

Learn more about Lynnea A. Avenetti

Resources

5 Ways to Integrate SEL Into Your Classroom

We know weaving SEL into your academic curriculum may seem overwhelming, but we’ve compiled a list of simple activities you can begin implementing this fall to get you started. Regardless of what grade your students are in, these activities can be adapted to help teach the core social and emotional competencies.

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A Teacher's Guide to Having an Inclusive Classroom

One simple but important way to foster student success is to establish a space that is welcoming and comforting for all. Inclusive classrooms are those in which each student can equally participate in every learning experience.

 Read More

Transform Your Classroom with a Sound Wall

A sound wall is an interactive reading and writing instructional tool for students. It focuses on sound, instead of the letters of the alphabet, with the 44 phonemes in the English language. Sound walls are created to facilitate the connection from speech to print.

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