Pam Payne's proprietary curriculum, Just Enough English for Pragmatics and Paragraphs (JEEPP™)
, combines academic theories and abstract generalizations into a specific treatment sequence progressing from single words, if necessary, to multi-paragraph stories about real-life experiences. The curriculum offers concrete suggestions to customize the content of the stories to the population you serve. And, the JEEPP template is useful to teach request/protest; follow/give directions; and commenting and answer/ask questions.Ms. Payne developed JEEPP after many years of discovering and testing which treatment strategies are effective -- and which are inadequate -- in classroom and clinical settings.
JEEPP teaches speech intelligibility, phonological awareness, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and literacy skills simultaneously and interactively within meaningful texts.
This systematic approach to teaching language and reading skills is applicable to children diagnosed as language disordered/delayed, Autism Spectrum Disorder, hearing impaired/cochlear implant and/or Childhood Apraxia of Speech, or for English Language Learners or children experiencing frustration in learning to read in regular education classrooms. It is appropriate for children with chronological ages of 2 ½ to 10+ years and mental ages of at least 24 months.
What is the methodology?
The system begins with a simple, quick screening.
The child starts with a single word, if necessary, and then combines words into phrases, and then phrases into sentences. Then, the sentences are combined into paragraphs about real-life experiences with meaning to the child. The child reads the story, tells the story and writes/types the story, facilitating comprehension. This sounds obvious to an adult -- how else would you do it? -- but in practice many therapists don’t do it this way with their clients. Naming pictures of animals or memorizing a list of spelling words doesn’t teach a child to read multiple, connected sentences (i.e., paragraphs).
Using Ms. Payne’s copyrighted
JEEPP™ Template, the
learning process moves faster and is much easier for the children.
This single-page template is the basis for teaching short
sentences as well as 25+ paragraph stories, and children love it.
Commercially available texts can be re-written within the
parameters of the template, by therapists and parents, for further
enjoyment and without sounding stilted.
This curriculum is the foundation to teach narrative skills, in which many students progress beyond learning to read and into successful academic experiences.
Each child is unique, of course, but it is possible to describe a typical therapy session that utilizes the curriculum. Once the child has progressed through single words, phrases, and sentences -- if necessary --the therapist/teacher/parent-- using the JEEPP template as a guide -- works through a story that involves a subject of interest to the child. The focus is on restricted syntax that does not sound contrived. Soon, many children reach a performance level of reading and telling quite elaborate stories, with true comprehension, for the first time in their lives. Imagine the delight of the children and their parents! Ms. Payne has videotaped many such success stories, and generous parents have allowed her to share them in presentations and initial evaluations for private therapy.