JustforAdult Abstract Category
JustforAdult Abstract Category
JustforAdult Abstract Category
Abstract Categories
by Kathryn J. Tomlin
Skills Ages
abstract categorization 16 through adult
reading and auditory comprehension Grades
inclusion and exclusion high school and up
perceptual features
vocabulary
word relationships
Evidence-Based Practice
According to the Clinical Guidelines of the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
(www.rcslt.org/resources, 2005) and the National Stroke Association (2006), the following
therapy principles are supported:
Communication, both verbal and nonverbal, is a fundamental human need. Meeting this
need by facilitating and enhancing communication in any form can be vital to a patient’s
well-being.
Therapy should include tasks that focus on semantic processing, including semantic cueing
of spoken output, semantic judgments, categorization, and word-to-picture matching.
Therapy may target the comprehension and production of complex, as well as simple,
sentence forms.
Therapy should be conducted within natural communication environments.
Rehabilitation is an important part of recovering from a stroke, and the goal is to regain as
much independence as possible.
This book incorporates the above principles and is also based on expert professional practice.
Zanmi, Kathy’s Samoyed, goes to work with her to encourage the clients.
Her clients enjoy feeding and spending time with Zanmi, and Zanmi
enjoys their company. Everybody wins!
Dedication
This book is respectfully dedicated to Danielle Fedele. Thanks for all your help in using
the exercises in this series of books. I couldn’t have done it without you. May your
journey in the world of speech/language pathology be fulfilling and fruitful.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Screening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Selecting Category Name—Three Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Selecting Category Member—Three Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Matching Across Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Matching Category to Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Locate Similar Category Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sorting—Four Category Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Selecting Category Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Pictures of Category Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Locating Items in Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Exclusion—Which Doesn’t Belong? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Name Category from Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Provide a Category Member Given First Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Name Category from List of Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Complete the List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Fill In Letters for Things to Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Listing Location Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Listing Category Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The exercises in Just for Adults: Abstract Categories have been developed to address abstract
categorization. Abstract categorization addresses intangible qualities and characteristics as opposed
to concrete categorization which refers to things that are definite and tangible. Abstract categorization
skills are foundational for many language and thought processes and for activities of daily functioning.
On page 6, you will find a screening tool that is not to be used as a test but rather as a way to observe a
client’s use of strategies and reasoning patterns. Some questions to think about while observing how the
client completes the screening include:
These guidelines will help you present the activities in this book.
• The goals of these exercises are to improve a person’s ability to converge upon specific members
of a category and to think divergently to determine the category to which members belong.
These abilities to converge and diverge information are foundational skills in many cognitive
functions. Be flexible with presentation and accept answers that differ from your viewpoint if
the person can give a logical explanation. The answers in the Answer Key are provided as a
reference and are not intended to be all inclusive.
• The exercises are not for testing purposes. Try to make them as enjoyable as possible.
Talking about the specific task items, particularly when correcting error responses, will help
to improve one’s ability for achieving the goals. Do not get into debates if the person is
unable to see another viewpoint for a response. Just move on to the next item.
I hope you and your clients find these exercises enjoyable and beneficial.
Kathy
_________________ _________________
Just for Adults: Abstract Categories 6 Copyright © 2007 LinguiSystems, Inc.
Selecting Category Name—Three Choices
Mark the category on the right that goes with the item on the left.
dawn loud
skunk arranged
flea narrow
turkey absorbent
window round
blood early
baseball stuffed
alley crunchy
hot suitcase
tied blood
fast bubble
peeled peacock
crunchy table
pops pretzel
young kangaroo
packed infant
flat sun
hit knot
jumps banana
I
_____ deep A. apple pie
D
_____ chewy A. puddle
Write these words under their categories. The first one is done for you.
Write these words under their categories. The first one is done for you.
1. He let the ice cream sit out awhile before serving it.
6. Kittens and puppies are playful but they also sleep a lot.
7. The boy liked to feel the mud ooze between his toes.
11. There were jellyfish lying on the sand along the water.
8. Among the rocks were many sea horses looking for food.
12. The deep sea diver saw many species of fish around the reef.
1. lemon: ____________________
sour
2. window: ____________________
3. ruler: ____________________
4. skunk: ____________________
5. mirror: ____________________
6. water: ____________________
7. bone: ____________________
8. pillow: ____________________
9. door: ____________________
1. lemon: ____________________
sour
2. ice cream: ____________________
3. hair: ____________________
4. tree: ____________________
5. cotton: ____________________
6. potato: ____________________
8. fire: ____________________
9. balloon: ____________________
1. _________________________ 1. _________________________
2. _________________________ 2. _________________________
3. _________________________ 3. _________________________
4. _________________________ 4. _________________________
5. _________________________ 5. _________________________
1. _________________________ 1. _________________________
2. _________________________ 2. _________________________
3. _________________________ 3. _________________________
4. _________________________ 4. _________________________
5. _________________________ 5. _________________________
1. _________________________ 1. _________________________
2. _________________________ 2. _________________________
3. _________________________ 3. _________________________
4. _________________________ 4. _________________________
5. _________________________ 5. _________________________
1. _________________________ 1. _________________________
2. _________________________ 2. _________________________
3. _________________________ 3. _________________________
4. _________________________ 4. _________________________
5. _________________________ 5. _________________________
11. things that are small 26. things that are chewy
13. things that are spicy 28. things that are colorful
14. things that are heavy 29. things that are flat
2. things that are hard 17. things that open and close
3. things that are inflated 18. things that have hair or fur
10. things that are turned on 25. things that are spotted
11. things that are large 26. things that are round
12. things that are ripped 27. things that are sticky
13. things that are lightweight 28. things that are thrown
14. things that are bright 29. things that are salty
15. things that are expensive 30. things that are sweet