
When working with students who are building their foundational literacy knowledge, one of the most common goals you will see is some variation of “Student will be able to answer WH questions.” If you are unsure how to target this goal, we have the perfect resource for you! The WH Flip Cards are the BEST resource to target WH goals.
What do you mean by “WH Goals”?
WH goals are simply the goals in a student’s IEP that tells them the types of questions that they need to be answering. All of the questions will begin with who, what, when, where or why. When we start a question like this, you let the student know what information they should be paying attention to.
The Best Resource to Target WH Goals!
Let me preface this by saying that the WH flipcards were the very first Simply Special Ed product I ever purchased. I’ve used these cards in EVERY classroom I have taught in for the last 5 years. I have recommended this product to colleagues, both special ed teachers and gen ed teachers a like. Even speech pathologists tell me that they have gotten this resource from my recommendation! So, this resource is my tried and true, and now I am going to teach you a few different ways I use it in my classroom!
When I teach WH questions, I introduce the questions from from most concrete to most abstract, or simplest to most challenging.
Introduce WH questions in this order:
1. What
A great resource to better understand how to teach WH questions
2. Who
3. Where
4. When
5. Why
How to Use Simply Special Ed’s WH Flipcards
Option 1: The way it was intended!
**Pro Tip: If you aren’t subscribed to Simply Special Ed on YouTube, Alyssa gives visuals on how to assemble and models a ton of her resources!**
There are 5 different decks of cards (separated by who, what, when, where, why) that you can print, laminate and put on keyrings for students to use during instruction. I use these during discrete trial training and mark each card as one trial. For each question, there are also three different levels to ensure you can differentiate based on student need. The three levels are picture, picture and word and just word. Personally, my kiddos are all non-readers, so I use just the picture level.
Pros: easy to assemble, a great way to practice fluency, the different levels allow for differentiation
Cons: if you have students who have positional preference in an array, you can’t change the order of the visuals each time.
Option 2: Addressing Positional Preference
When working with students with positional preference, it is critical to vary the placement of the correct response. Since the original resource is printed and laminated, you are unable to move the choices. So, I did a little DIY project. First, I chose five specific questions to target. Then, I cut out the questions and their visual choices and laminated them. Finally, I set up a grid where we are able to put a question on the top and three choices below. I keep the correct answers in one small ziptop bag and all of the other pictures in another. This way, it is easy to remember which is the target response.
Pros: able to vary placement of target stimuli
Cons: time consuming to prepare between trials
These are the target questions. The way the questions are presented to the student.
Option #3: Errorless Learning
For most of my students, the standard keyring is effective. But after repeated exposure to the questions, I began to see a pattern of incorrect responses for one particular kiddo. Thanks to data, I knew exactly which questions he was getting incorrect consistently. I was able to teach into these questions by identifying the part of the question that the student does not understand.
When wanting to focus a student’s attention to a particular target, you can use a visual prompt. My favorite way to do this is black Post-It notes. (affiliate link) Unlike other sticky notes that are usually bright colors, these are dark, opaque and allow me to block the responses I do not want my students to see, while not distracting them. Taking the questions that the student was struggling with and covering the incorrect/distractor choices, I made an errorless version of these key ring cards. As the student learns the correct response, I will reintroduce the distractor stimuli one at a time.
Pros: able to target specific responses, student will get every question correct (faster access to reinforcement)
Cons: won’t know if the student genuinely acquired the skill until another choice is available
These resources don’t fit your goals?
You’re in luck! Check out the WH Question Bundle to find context based WH questions, field of 4 choices and so much more!
Which is your favorite way to target WH questions? Let me know in the comments!