Higher Order Language Skills: A Bundle of Remedial Tools

Some students struggle academically for the first time when concepts move from concrete ideas to abstract ways of thinking. This happens because they have weaknesses in higher-order language skills.

Higher-order language skills, also known as higher-level language or metalinguistic skills, refer to advanced language processing that is typically expected in middle school and high school. It requires both abstract and deductive verbal reasoning skills as well as the understanding of advanced vocabulary and word relationships.

What are the Common Difficulties Associated with Higher-Order Language Skills?

When a student has difficulty with higher-order language skills, they may struggle with any of the following:

Making connections and associations between words, sentences, or stories
Implied meaning or inferences
Social pragmatics skills
Oral and written comprehension
Writing skills
Main ideas and details
Jokes, riddles, and humor
Writing summaries and paraphrasing
Sequencing events
Cause and effect
Predicting outcomes

How Can I Help?

Appropriate intervention allows students to develop the core cognitive skills, and language-rich activities and games can help them master these abstract concepts. If you would like ready-made materials that can help strengthen these skills, consider my Higher Order Language Skills Bundle. This bundle offers a discounted price on a grouping of my popular publications. Click on the image below to learn more.

Higher Order Language Bundle featuring making inferences, main idea, abstract thinking, multiple meanings, paragraph building, word webs, and vocabulary development activities for students.

If you are looking for a combination of higher-order language activities and also executive functioning support, consider my Executive Functioning Activities Library:

If you would like to watch a video on this content, click on the image below.

Cheers, Erica

Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses.