Expanding Language

 Can you tell me more? EET To The Rescue!

 One therapy tool that gets a lot of use around the TALK clinic is the Expanding Expression Tool (EET).  The Expanding Expression Tool (EET) is a multi-sensory tool that helps children organize and retrieve information when providing oral and written descriptions or definitions. It was developed by Sarah Smith, a Speech-Language Pathologist.  The EET consists of a rope with seven large colored beads. Each bead provides a reminder for the type of information that can be included in a description. It is considered a multi-sensory tool because the child is simultaneously using their sense of touch, sight, and hearing while using the EET. This makes the EET a powerful teaching tool for children with various learning styles.

The parts of the EET are:

Green bead (Group) – What category does the object belong to?

Blue bead (Do) – What does the object do? What can you do with the object?

Eyeball bead (Look like):  - What does it look like? (e.g., shape, size, color)

Wooden bead (Made of) - What is it made of (or come from)?

Pink (Parts) - What are its parts? What parts go with it?

White (Where) - Where do you find it? Where does it come from?

Question Mark - What else do I know? What is the child’s prior knowledge?

This simple strand of beads has magical powers when it comes to teaching clients to understand and expand their knowledge of categories, function, and important features of everyday objects.