What Is Word Retrieval / Word Finding?
Word finding, also called “word retrieval”, is a person’s ability to think of the right word when he/she needs it, such as during conversation. We all have those moments when we can’t think of the right word, in that instant, we’re having a word finding or word retrieval problem. Sometimes, children with language delays (and even those without) may have difficulty with word finding. This may cause them to have unnecessary pauses, use filler words like “um” and “like”, or use non-specific words like “that thing” or “that stuff”.
Word Finding Strategies:
What can be done to help a child who is struggling with word finding or word retrieval? Speech therapy is often helpful for a child who is struggling to find the right words. Several strategies and activities have been shown by research to help a child improve their word-finding abilities. The two main methods for improving word retrieval are semantic strategies and phonological strategies.
Semantic Strategies for Word Finding
Semantic strategies for word finding are those that help the child learn more about the meaning of words and use those word meanings to build stronger brain pathways to those words, thus helping the child retrieve them more easily when needed. The following activities are all strategies that can build a child’s semantic skills for word finding:
- Categorization: Putting words into categories or naming as many words from categories as possible
- Attributes: Providing attributes/descriptors for specific words and using attributes to define words
- Associations with Other Words: Associating words that are related by function, composition, or other attributes, or by part-whole relation
Wright et. al. (1983) studied the use of these semantic strategies in language impaired children and found that this type of therapy resulted in highly significant improvement in naming pictures.
Phonological Strategies for Word Finding
Phonological strategies for word finding focus on helping a child better learn how the word sounds and its phonological makeup. The following word finding strategies are examples of activities that can be used to improve a child’s phonological representation of words:
- Syllabification: A target word is broken down into individual syllables. The child counts how many syllables are in the word
- Sound Segmentation: A target word is broken into individual speech sounds. The child counts how many sounds are in the word
- Rhyming: A target word is matched with rhyming words/pictures. The child supplies rhyming words for the given word
- Imagery: The child looks at a picture of the word while the therapist says the word out loud. Then, the child closes his eyes and is asked to “see the picture in your mind” and “hear my voice saying the name of it in your mind”.
Wing (1990) studied the use of these phonological strategies in language impaired children and found that the subjects receiving the phonological treatment improved significantly in naming pictures.
Word Finding Strategies Using the Semantic Approach:
The following are examples of speech therapy activities that can be used to improve word finding/word retrieval using the semantic approach described above. These activities are also great for use by caregivers and teachers to boost language skills and word finding skills at home and in the classroom as well.
Word Retrieval Activity 1:
Fill in the Blank Associations
Have the child fill in the blank with common phrases and sentences. This will teach the child to use other words in the sentence or phrase to trigger the word he wants to get to. Here are some examples of fill in the blank associations you can use with your child. Try these while you’re riding in the car or waiting in line somewhere.
-
- A pair of _____
-
- Peanut butter and ______
-
- Close the _______
-
- The elephants live in the _____
-
- Head, shoulders, knees, and ______
Word Retrieval Activity 2:
Rapid Naming from Categories
Have the child list as many things as possible from a certain category. For example, have the child list as many foods as he can or as many clothes. You could write down how many he thought of each time so he can see the progress he makes as he does this activity more and more.
Word Retrieval Activity 3:
Providing a Word from a Definition
Define a word for the child and see if he can guess what it is. For example, you could say “it’s a red fruit that is juice and sweet and sometimes comes in green and yellow” and see how long or how many cues it takes for the child to guess apple. You can switch this around and have the child define a word for you as well.
Word Retrieval Activity 4:
List Things Needed to Complete a Task
Tell the child the name of a task and ask her to tell you all of the things she would need to complete that task. For example, if the task is swimming, the child could say “goggles, swimsuit, floaties, innertube, pool toys, towel”.
Word Retrieval Activity 5:
Finish Similes
A simile is when you say that something is ____ as a _____. Provide the descriptive word for the child and have him finish the simile. For example, you could say “sticky as a ____” and the child might fill in “peanut butter sandwich”.
Word Retrieval Activity 6:
Antonyms and Synonyms
Tell the child a word and have her come up with one synonym (a word that means the same thing) and one antonym (a word that means the opposite).
Word Retrieval Activity 7:
Part to Whole
Give the child a word and have the child list as many parts of that item as possible. For example, if the word is “car”, the child could list tires, doors, seats, steering wheel, etc. Then, have the child list something that the word is a part of (its whole). For example, with the word “car”, the whole could be “traffic”, “vehicles”, or “transportation”. These don’t have to be perfect, just try to come up with some associated words.
Worksheets for Word Finding and Word Retrieval:
About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP
Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.
Fun Fact: My kids and I all have had weird food reactions over the years. We’ve narrowed it down to knowing that gluten and dairy can only be eaten every once in a while. We’ve done multiple Whole30 elimination diets to help tease it all out. Food intolerances are HARD.
Connect with Me:
I like some of the things I see here but it seems to me that what I have found is too advanced for my daughter at this time. Where can I find more elementary suggestions?
This article on word retrieval is definitely a little more advanced. For word retrieval in younger children, I would try to come up with similar tasks that are easier, such as describing something that they know, such as “what’s a red, juicy, fruit?” or “what do you play with?”. Or, I would show the child pictures of various things and have the child tell me what they’re called. Are there other skills that you’re wanting to work on besides word retrieval that I can point you to?
I’m trying to generate a better understanding for the teachers and staff in my building for students who experience word finding. Just want to share some good strategies that they can implement in the classroom as well. I use strategies #1 & 2 in my sessions a lot. This is very helpful. Thanks 🙂
You are very welcome! Thank you for sharing my info!!
Awesome activities! Thank you!
You are more than welcome, Melissa! Please let us know if you have any questions.
Are their any pointers for middle school children having to take a foreign language? My daughter studies and studies but cannot pull the words up for the test. We are struggling and her school isn’t exactly helpful. We know she has RAN and she copes well in most subjects, but learning a new language is proving next to impossible.
Hello, Suki!
Thank you so much for reaching out. Unfortunately, we get a ton of questions every day about how to solve specific speech/language problems. Since we have such a small staff, we aren’t able to answer every question that comes through on the website, social media, or via email. If you are a parent, we suggest you reach out to a local speech-language pathologist who can work with your child directly and answer your question.
If you are another speech-language professional, we have created a membership where we pay a full staff to answer questions like this on a regular basis. We would be more than happy to answer your question inside the membership program. We’re able to answer more questions in here because we have a full library of questions that we’ve already answered so our staff can either link you to the answer if it exists, or write you a custom response if needed. We’d love to see you inside the membership!
Click Here to Become a Member: https://www.slpsolution.com/pediatric-signup/.
What do you suggest for a post-teen with severe stuttering issues? He didn’t get a lot of therapy growing up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, Sharon-I did a quick search of our site. Here is a link to some stuttering resources: https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/?s=stutter.
This article’s very useful. Thank you
How would you write a goal for word finding/retrieval?
Hello! Here’s one way you could write a goal. Think about what is the functional outcome you want as a result of the therapy: During a 10-minute conversational sample in the therapy room, client will demonstrate appropriate word-finding skills by using no more than 3 filler words during the sample on three consecutive data collection days.