Teaching and Practicing Conjunctions in Speech Therapy

Have you ever needed to work on expanding language with older students who are beyond using simple sentences, but are having trouble formulating more complex thoughts?

Or maybe you've started seeing a student who has a syntax goal for using conjunctions. And mayyybe your head is spinning because you left your knowledge of conjunctions in your high school English class years ago? Relatable.

Understanding and using conjunctions are important syntax skills for language use. They enable us to tell stories, comprehend what we read, make (and successfully explain) connections between our ideas, and perform other higher-level language tasks. The ability to use and understand conjunctions advances both written and verbal language skills and children age. 

TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS

As a brief refresher (for those who might need it 🙋‍♀️), conjunctions are words that connect multiple words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. There are 3 types of conjunctions:

1. Coordinating Conjunctions 

   The most basic type of conjunction is a coordinating conjunction, which connects grammatically equal ideas. In other words, a coordinating conjunction joins two words, phrases, or independent clauses (complete sentences on their own). The 7 coordinating conjunctions can be remembered with the acronym FANBOYS, which stands for for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

   
   

2. Subordinating Conjunctions

   Subordinating conjunctions show relationships between ideas (cause, time, contrast). They show how one idea relates or depends on the other. These conjunctions connect a dependent clause (which is not a complete sentence on its own) to an independent clause. Examples of subordinating conjunctions are because, although, when, and if.

   
   

3. Correlative Conjunctions

   Correlative conjunctions work in pairs in a sentence. They link balanced parts in a sentence to show a relationship, contrast, or agreement between them. Examples of correlative conjunction pairs include either/or, both/and, whether/or, and neither/nor.

DEVELOPMENT OF CONJUNCTIONS

You might be surprised to learn that using conjunctions isn't just a goal for your middle school students. Children with normal language development begin to use conjunctions before preschool.

When language samples of children with typical language development were analyzed, researchers found that the children were able to use coordinating conjunctions by three years of age (Glória et al., 2016). Not surprisingly, "and" is usually the earliest conjunction to be used as children formulate basic compound sentences.

The researchers also found that basic subordinating conjunctions began to appear around three and a half years of age. Common Core standards for third grade include use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, so development of conjunctions may continue throughout elementary and even secondary grades.

HOW TO TEACH CONJUNCTIONS IN SPEECH THERAPY

When it comes to targeting syntax in speech therapy sessions, it’s easy to feel unsure and doubt yourself. Conjunctions can seem so technical– like something out of a grammar textbook rather than a speech therapy goal.

The good news is that a clear, systematic approach can take the guesswork out of it. By breaking the process into manageable steps, you can confidently target syntax in a way that feels purposeful and doable for both you and your students.

Provide direct instruction.

A moment for explicit teaching 👏 This is not a skill you can just jump right into practicing. Start by explaining what conjunctions are and why they are used. Be sure to break down multiple examples, too.

You can create your own lesson, or use these 2-3 minute video lessons to teach (or review) different conjunctions:

• Coordinating Conjunctions

• Subordinating Conjunctions

• Correlative Conjunctions

Allow for repeated practice.

It's important that direct instruction be followed by structured practice. Students need multiple opportunities to use new sentence structures in meaningful ways before those patterns become automatic.

As with other areas of language intervention, start with simpler tasks and move to more complex ones as students become familiar with the conjunctions and improve their abilities. This might include providing choices, fill-in-the-blank answers, or modeling before moving into open-ended practice, such as formulating sentences about pictures or texts.

This conjunctions speech therapy Boom Card bundle is an organized resource that provides a clear step-by-step for learning each type of conjunction. In this digital activity, students move through a systematic progression where they:

1. Learn or review each type of conjunction

2. Select the correct conjunction to complete a sentence (below)

3. Complete a sentence with a conjunction plus a phrase or clause

4. Formulate a compound or complex sentence to describe a real photo

Work toward generalization.

Lastly, facilitate opportunities to practice conjunctions in meaningful contexts. Some ways to do this include writing or talking about stories, books, short YouTube videos, picture scenes, real-world events, or personal experiences.

CONJUNCTIONS SPEECH THERAPY ACTIVITIES

There are so many different speech therapy activities that can elicit modeling and the use of conjunctions. Here are a few ideas that you can use for many different levels of practice.

Story Retell

Have students retell a story using conjunctions to link the events. Encourage them to use words like and, then, because, or but to make their narratives more connected and cohesive.

Describing Sequences and How-To Tasks

Sequencing activities are great for many speech therapy goals, including conjunctions. Students can use conjunctions to show order or reason of the events. For example, you could use sequence pictures to prompt students to formulate sentences using a word bank of conjunctions. A student might say, “She walked the dog before she gave it water.” This helps students connect ideas logically while practicing both sequencing and sentence formulation.

For older students, a how-to task might be a more age appropriate option. When following a recipe, students could say something like, “First I pour the water, then I add the rice, because it needs to cook evenly.”

Comparing and Contrasting Items

Comparing and contrasting two items, ideas, or characters is a great way to sneak in conjunction practice! The task lends itself to the use of conjunctions like but, while, although, or whereas to link thoughts.

Perspective-Taking or Cause/Effect Discussions

Engage students in conversations about why someone acted a certain way or what might happen next, targeting conjunctions that show cause and effect, such as because, so, or therefore.

Sentence Combining Activities

Students can practice constructing sentences using a conjunction and two phrases or sentences. In these coordinating conjunctions worksheets (which also include a no-prep Boom Cards deck), students first arrange parts of a sentence in the correct order. Then, they progress to formulating their own sentences by combining two shorter sentences with a conjunction.

A mixed practice section allows students to extend their learning by choosing the correct conjunction from a set of three answer choices, reinforcing both understanding and application.

Picture Scenes

Picture scenes are a great way to prompt students to describe what’s happening using conjunctions to connect ideas. For example, they might say, “This person is roasting a marshmallow, but this person isn't” or "They'll go to sleep after the campfire burns out." These picture scenes for mixed groups have prompts for conjunctions right on the page!

Video Clips

Play and pause short videos (such as wordless shorts) and ask questions to facilitate the use of conjunctions such as:

• What happened because of that?

• Why did that character do that?

• How did one event lead to another?

• Was there something surprising that happened?

Answer Comprehension Questions

After reading a passage or story, students can formulate sentences or use sentence starters to summarize and identify relationships between ideas and events that they read about.

Academic Coursework

Don't forget about using a student's academic curricula to target conjunctions. Older children can practice sentence formulation and using conjunctions during tasks like answering wh- questions and filling in graphic organizers.

TIPS FOR TARGETING CONJUNCTIONS

Try these practical tips to make conjunction practice more meaningful and engaging in speech therapy.

Isolate each type of conjunction.

Focusing on a specific conjunction type (e.g. coordinating, subordinating, correlative) will help students solidify their skills. You can even target one specific conjunction word at a time. Tell what the conjunction is used for and provide examples before engaging in structured practice.

Focus on the function of the conjunction.

Discuss that we use conjunctions in speech and writing to provide more details. Conjunctions help us show timing of events, contrast, cause/effect, and more. You may even group conjunctions by their meanings to help students remember them.

Use visual supports.

Anchor charts, icons, graphic organizers, and visual sentence strips can help make the somewhat abstract concept of a conjunction more concrete. For example, a simple conjunctions anchor chart can help teach or review conjunctions and encourage carryover by inform parents and teachers about speech therapy goals.

Start simple before moving into more complex tasks.

A systematic approach ensures students learn conjunctions without frustration (or or guesswork on your part). For example, begin by having the student choose a conjunction to complete a sentence from a set of choices. Once they are comfortable with that, fade the choices so the student identifies an appropriate conjunction on their own. Eventually, the student can formulate an entire sentence about a picture or real photo.

It’s also important to support generalization by providing opportunities to practice conjunctions in meaningful, real-world contexts. This helps students transfer their skills beyond structured worksheets and activities, making their use of conjunctions more functional and natural.

Conjunctions may be small words, but they have big meaning!

While conjunctions may not come to mind when you think of the major parts of language development, they are very important for helping students show understanding and connect their ideas. 

Targeting sentence structure goals doesn't have to feel dry and boring! With engaging activities, meaningful visuals, and a step-by-step approach, you can make practicing conjunctions fun and creative while helping students build longer, more complex sentences while keeping therapy purposeful and motivating.

Reference

Glória YA, Hanauer LP, Wiethan FM, Nóro LA, Mota HB. The use of conjunctions by children with typical language development. Codas. 2016 Jul 4;0:0. English, Portuguese. doi: 10.1590/2317-1782/20162015107. PMID: 27383224.

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