WH Question Materials

WH questions (who, what, where, when, why, how) are a core part of language development—and one of the most common areas of difficulty for children with language delays, DLD, or comprehension challenges.

This page is designed as a free learning resource for wh question materials for speech-language pathologists and educators who want a clearer, research-informed understanding of how WH questions work and why they can be so challenging for students.

You’ll find background information, clinical reasoning, and a small sample of WH-question activities to explore how these skills can be supported in therapy.

Rather than focusing on “right or wrong” answers, the goal here is to better understand what goes into answering a WH question—from interpreting the question word, to processing language and context, to formulating a meaningful response.

Whether you’re brushing up on the foundations or looking for a thoughtful way to approach WH questions in therapy, this page is meant to support your clinical decision-making and spark ideas you can adapt to your own students.

WH Questions Background

Before we jump into the WH questions materials, let's review WH questions. 

WH questions refer to:

• who
• what
• what happened
• why
• where
• when
• how

To answer WH questions, it takes a lot of different language skills. A person must:

• understand the question word 
• understand the grammar of the question
• understand each vocabulary word (not just the question word)
• makes sense of the information and the social context
• formulate a response
• put the words together (syntax & semantics)
• give a response

This is A LOT of language skills!

So, if your client or child is having trouble answering WH questions, he/she may need to work on one or many of the skills listed above.

If you would like to read more about the background of WH questions, click here. 

Here I will focus on the question word and how to figure out how to answer it!

Current Evidence

I just completed a thorough research review to get some ideas on how to make evidence-based WH question materials and came up pretty empty! 

• My research review started at ASHA and came up empty. 
• I moved on to Informed SLP and found a few articles, but they didn't relate directly to my current clients. 
• Then, I headed over to Pearson's Evidence Briefs and realized why my efforts were coming up fruitless.... there are only 4 research articles to date on this topic! Seriously! (I can feel your shock)

So, my best evidence comes from the articles I found at Informed SLP. They aren't perfect, but they are better than nothing!

The first article, Sanders, E. J., & Erickson, K. A. (2018). Wh - Question answering in children with intellectual disability. Journal of Communication Disorders, 76, 79–90. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2018.09.003:

• It discussed therapy techniques to students with intellectual disabilities. 
• The main take away was that visual supports don't help students. 
• THIS WAS SHOCKING and made me re-think my therapy techniques (I rely on visuals as most of you do as well).

The second article, Blything, L. P., Hardie, A., & Cain, K. (2019). Question asking during reading comprehension instruction: A corpus study of how question type influences the linguistic complexity of primary school students’ responses. Reading Research Quarterly. doi: 10.1002/rrq.279:

• I LOVED this article, and it rang true for me.
• The main take away was that even though children with DLD may require "low challenge questions" (i.e., yes/no questions or questions with a choice),they may benefit from "high-challenge questions" (i.e., how and why).
• I LOVE how "how" and "why" questions get us to "talk about our thinking." This is a therapy technique that I use ALL.THE.TIME and I'm excited to apply it here.

WH Questions Materials

Based on the articles I read, I will

• not throw out my visuals, I hope they do some good but I may need to rely on them less.
• make materials that combine low and high challenge questions to teach children HOW to reach the right answer.

New WH questions materials

• Use Google Slides (I am hooked on no-print and am not looking back)
• Use images that contain both low and high challenge questions
• Encourage client and therapist to thinking about thinking
• Are drill based and functional at the same time!

Access Materials

Members

Members of Speech Therapy Talk's Membership Site please click this link to access the following materials:

• Who
• Where
• Why
• When
• What Happened
• Spring WH
• Fall WH
• Winter WH
• Summer WH

Non-Members

To become a member (it is easy and affordable), click the link below

• Become a member of Speech Therapy Talk

FREE WH Questions Materials

If you would like a free sample of my WH questions materials, please fill out the form below!

You'll receive a complimentary language material every month! This is an excellent opportunity to sample the materials available at Speech Therapy Talk and add a touch of joy to your inbox.