This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission at no cost to you if you decide to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases.
How often do students hear WH questions? EVERY DAY! How often are students required to verbally respond to WH questions? EVERY DAY! So how often do SLPs work on WH question comprehension with students? You know it…EVERY DAY! Keep reading for some WH question comprehension strategies and practice activities to mix up your weekly speech sessions as well as a WH question FREEBIE.
Comprehension Strategies
The infamous 5 WH questions: who, what, where, when, & why. And their distant cousins: which & how. We all know them so, so well. These questions ask for specific information that many of our students struggle to understand and respond to during their school day.
Students must understand auditory WH questions, verbally respond, respond in writing, read questions, and formulate their own questions. Phew! That’s a lot! As SLPs, we can help students receptively comprehend the language within these questions as well as expressively formulate appropriate responses in speech therapy. By breaking down the language, we can help generalize their understanding of WH questions across settings!
Check out these helpful comprehension strategies as you get back into the swing of things this school year. Then be sure to grab our super fun back to school WH question activities. And keep scrolling to download your FREEBIE WH question cut & paste activity that can be used all year round as well!
WH Words
By teaching what each question word is specifically asking for is a great way to target WH question comprehension. This strategy will help students better understand what is being asked and how to answer the question.
Pair with Visuals
A lot of our students are strong visual learners. By pairing WH questions with pictures or picture choices, their auditory comprehension of WH questions increases. To start, asking questions about a simple picture scene or real life pictures can be helpful. As the student’s accuracy increases, lessen the amount of visuals. Offering a student visual or verbal choices can also be a good tool when introducing WH questions.
Simplify/Clarify
Often times, WH questions are embedded in additional verbal language. By shortening and simplifying questions, students with receptive language difficulties may have an easier time processing the information. Additionally, once a question has been asked, increasing response time can be extremely beneficial.
Carrier Phrases
Even with a paired visual and a clarified question, a student still may struggle when formulating a response. After asking the question, providing a carrier phrase can help students better understand how to answer each question. For example, if the target question is “When do you eat breakfast?”, a carrier phrase could be “I eat breakfast in…” to allow the student a few more context clues and support. In addition, this provides repeated exposure to complete sentences which is always welcomed!
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Lucky for all you SLPs out there, we have lots of fun and engaging ways to help target WH questions during your small group speech sessions. Many of our activities include simple WH questions as well as paired visual response choices. Once these activities are completed in the session, they can be sent home for further practice. Don’t forget to download your FREEBIE WH question activity at the end of this post too!
Back To School No Prep WH Question Worksheets
These no prep worksheets target who, what, where, when, why, and mixed WH questions. Simply choose the desired WH question target and have students cut out the answer pictures then paste on the worksheet while practicing fun back to school themed WH questions comprehension. These work great for mixed group therapy sessions, but could even be used in early literacy or center-based classes.
Here is what is included to help your students increase their WH questions comprehension:
- What Questions: Pg. 4-8
- Where Questions: Pg. 9-12
- Who Questions: Pg. 13-17
- When Questions: Pg. 18-21
- Why Questions: Pg. 22-24
- Mixed WH Questions: Pg. 25-32
Back To School School Bus No Prep WH Questions
Print these no prep school busses containing a variety of WH questions. Students can point to the picture/words to answer questions, mark the answer with different coloring supplies (crayons, markers, dot markers, etc.), or use an array of engaging manipulatives to cover responses. Each WH question type comes with a paired visual or just the written question. Great for when students need less visual support!
Here is what is included to help your students increase their WH questions comprehension:
- What Questions – pg. 5-10
- Where Questions – pg. 11-14
- Who Questions – pg. 15-19
- When Questions – pg. 20-23
- Why Questions – pg. 24-27
- Mixed WH Questions – pg. 28-35
Back To School WH Questions Hide And Seek Game
This WH question activity is perfect those students that need a little bit more movement during their sessions. All you need to do is cut out all the question cards and the discovery picture. Scatter the question cards on a table or hide them around the room. Place the discovery picture behind one of the cards. The student will answer each question and lift the card to see if they can find the special discovery picture. Picture choice boards can be used to give the student choices. Use the ”who” choice board to answer all the “who” questions and so forth.
Here is what is included to help your students increase their WH questions comprehension:
- What Questions – pg. 5-10
- Where Questions – pg. 11-16
- Who Questions – pg. 17-22
- When Questions – pg. 23-28
- Why Questions – pg. 29-34
- Mixed WH Questions – pg. 35-40
FREEBIE Bears No Prep WH Questions
Grab these general WH questions worksheets to target who, what, where, when, & why all year long. Have students cut the response picture and paste under the correct question. They can color the pictures and take home for more practice with caregivers.
Here is what is included to help your students increase their WH questions comprehension:
- What Questions – pg. 4
- Where Questions – pg. 5
- Who Questions – pg. 6
- When Questions – pg. 7
- Why Questions – pg. 8
- Mixed WH Questions – pg. 9
Like these bear themed WH questions? We have lots more fun and engaging bear themed activities! Check out our Direction Following Strategies & Practice Ideas blog post and snag another awesome FREEBIE!
We hope the start to your school year is a good one! We also hope these WH question comprehension strategies and activities will help maximize your speech therapy sessions.
Happy WH practicing, fellow SLPs!
Talking Mama Bears