Language Development and Delay

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Language Development and Delay

• The Impact of Language Delays on the Curriculum

Dickey LaMoure Special Education Unit
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Normal Language Development

• Age Language Level
• Birth Cries
• 2-3 months Cries differently in different
  circumstances coos in response to you
• 3-4 months Babbles randomly
• 5-6 months Babbles rhythmically
• 6-11 months Babbles in imitation of real speech,
  with expression
• 12 months Says 1-2 words recognizes name
  imitates familiar sounds understands simple
  instructions

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Normal Language Development

• Age Language Level
• 18 months Uses 5-20 words, including names.
• 1 - 2 years Says 2-word sentences vocabulary is
  growing waves goodbye makes sounds of
  familiar animals uses words (like more) to
  make wants known understands no.
• 2 - 3 years Identifies body parts calls self
  me instead of name combines nouns and verbs
  has a 450 word vocabulary uses short sentences
  matches 3-4 colors, knows big and little likes
  to hear same story repeated forms some plurals.

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Normal Language Development

• Age Language Level
• 3 - 4 years Can tell a story sentence length of
  4-5 words vocabulary of about 1000 words knows
  last name, name of street, several nursery rhymes
• 4 - 5 years Sentences of 4-5 words uses past
  tense vocabulary of about 1500 words identifies
  colors, shapes asks many questions like why?
  and who?
• 5 - 6 years Sentences of 5-6 words vocabulary
  about 2000 words can tell you what objects are
  made of knows spatial relations (like on top
  and far) knows address understands same -
  different identifies penny, nickel, dime counts
  ten things knows right and left hand uses all
  types of sentences

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• Language delay is when a childs language is
  developing in the right sequence, but at a slower
  rate. 
• Speech and language disorder describes abnormal
  language development. 
• Speech/language delays and disorders are the
  most common developmental problem among preschool
  kids.  It affects five to ten percent of
  preschool kids.

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Potential Impact
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Causes of speech and language problems

• Developmental Speech/Language Disorder  - trouble
  using language, producing sounds, or
  understanding others.   
• Hearing Loss
• Mental Retardation
• Extreme environmental deprivation - A
  neglected/abused child who doesnt hear others
  speak will not learn to speak.
• Premature Birth
• Auditory Processing Disorder - trouble decoding
  sounds
• Neurological problems - (i.e. cerebral palsy)
  affect muscles used for speech.
• Structural problems - (i.e. cleft lip) interfere
  with speech.
• Apraxia - trouble sequencing executing speech
  movements.
• Selective mutism wont talk in certain
  situations (often school).

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Impact on Academics

• Communicating orally is necessary in all
  curriculum areas. Students with speech
  difficulties avoid participating in class. This
  can result in low self-esteem. They also have
  difficulty learning sound/symbol associations and
  sequencing necessary for reading and spelling.

• Articulation disorders and poor oral motor
  coordination skills can make speech difficult to
  understand or distracting for the listener.
• Voice disorders - inappropriate quality
  (hoarseness), pitch (too high or low for age and
  gender), and volume (too loud or soft for the
  message or situation) can distract or irritate a
  listener. Students experience vocal fatigue when
  asked to speak too long

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Impact on Academics

• Fluency disorders stutteringdeviations in
  rate, rhythm fluency of speech.
• Cluttering (excessive rate of speech or
  "mumbling" patterns) may be present.
• Semantic Language Dysfunction (inability to
  understand/use language/vocabulary
  effectively)difficulty with multiple meanings,
  antonyms/synonyms, analogies and categorizing.

Make the student hard to understand or to
follow. Students use more immature, imprecise,
or limited vocabulary than peers. Language
subtleties are limited. Visual presentation of
information and opportunities to work on
vocabulary development benefit students.
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Impact on Academics

• Pragmatic Language Deficitdifficulty
  interpreting or expressing social aspects of
  communication. Choosing the correct word, rules
  of social language, forming questions, facial
  expressions, and body language, and the (i.e.
  turn-taking, being tactful, friendship skills).
• Syntax and Grammar Deficitsusing sentences with
  parts missing, incorrect verbs or plurals,
  incorrect word order.

Causes students to misinterpret information,
sarcasm, jokes, or puns. Negatively affect
writing, reading, speaking skills, as well as
ability to communicate ideas. Story-telling
skills will be "scattered."
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What can we do to help?

• Use visual cues in the classroom.
• List assignments on the board
• Provide lecture outlines
• Use demonstrations and examples to clarify
  information
• Step out directions
• Use graphs or posters help students visualize the
  information or concept
• Reduce noise and increase structure when the
  child can't pay attention
• Allow preferential or roving seating to ensure
  that the child is seated as close to the speaker
  possible

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What can we do to help?

• Use assistive listening devices (ALDs) such as a
  sound field amplification system or an FM
  auditory trainer
• Allow the child to use a tape recorder and/or a
  peer note taker
• Have the child look at you when you're speaking
• Use a slower speaking rate
• Repeat directions
• Allow time for the child to respond to questions
• Pause to allow the child time to catch up.

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Language Remediation Techniques

• Dramatize the meaning of a concept
• Use pictures or illustrations to show meaning
• Put vocabulary into sentences so the child can
  see how its used in context
• Correctly model the students incorrect syntax
• Expand what the student says (e.g. medicine--You
  got some medicine for your cold?).

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Language Remediation Techniques

• Give synonym and use in a sentence with synonym
  in parentheses (e.g. What effect outcome will
  this red stain have on my mothers white sofa?)
• Use negative definition (e.g. coldnot hot)
• Use general term to give a specific meaning (e.g.
  a type of walktrot)
• Explain vocabulary context by rewriting at a
  lower level.

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Strategies for Increasing Reading Comprehension

• Define new vocabulary
• Provide a variety of reading material on similar
  subjects
• Send the book home to review
• Role play/Act out the story
• Provide hands-on activities involving objects in
  the story
• Discuss vocabulary/concepts prior to reading.

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Strategies for Increasing Reading Comprehension

• Teach cognitive/language strategies to help
  understand the text
• Outline major points of the story
• Select appropriate materials which allow practice
  of skills at the students level and progress
  from this point
• Review written material with the student.
  Question and model to ensure comprehension.

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Helping Children Help Themselves

• Teach compensatory strategies, "meta" strategies,
  or executive functions
• Teach the student to identify and resolve
  difficult listening situations.
• Develop skills to understand the demands of
  listening (attending, memory, identifying
  important parts of a message, self-monitoring,
  clarifying, and problem solving).
• Develop memory techniques verbal rehearsal and
  mnemonics (chunking, cueing, chaining).
• Encourage use of external organizational aids
  (checklists, notebooks, calendars, etc.).
• Develop vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatic skills
  to facilitate comprehension.

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The End

• For more information, click one of the buttons
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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language
Bibliography
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Bibliography

• http//www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/speech.ht
  m
• http//www.thespeechy.com/speechprobs.asp
• http//www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/effec
  ts.htm
• The Bridge to the Future Language Arts
  Curriculum by the North Dakota School for the
  Deaf
• http//www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/auditory.asp
  
• http//ericec.org/digests/e634.html
• http//www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/cent
  ral_auditory.html

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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language

• Encourage turn-taking
• Pause after you say something
• give the child an opportunity to respond
• Describe what you and/or the child sees, hears,
  does as you engage in different activities using
  short, simple phrases.
• Talk about things that will happen in the future.
• Label and explain objects or activities (you have
  an apple, you have a red apple).

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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language

• Repeat what the child says and give a more
  acceptable way to say it or expand on it.
• Dont correct a child in the middle of sharing an
  exciting experience
• If the child says me go circus, say You went
  to a circus! Where was the circus? What did you
  see?
• Watch the child show interest in what they say.
• Play. Act out pretend situations. Encourage the
  child to use imaginative settings (the moon, a
  bridge, in a car).

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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language

• Say things that keep a conversation going
• Give the child a portion of an item and encourage
  them to ask for the rest (crayons but no paper,
  hat mittens but no coat).
• Use silly situations to encourage responses,
  e.g., put their shoe on your foot, make pudding
  and stir in the box, give silly responses to
  their questions (make sure they know youre
  joking).
• Begin conversations at or slightly above the
  childs level.

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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language

• Encourage the child to use puppets to act out
  conversations between people and in different
  situations.
• When using pictures to encourage responses, dont
  assume the correct response. Ask questions to
  determine what the child is thinking.
• Create situations where the child needs to ask
  for assistance (e.g. put toys on a high shelf).

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Encouraging Young Children to Use Language

• Ask questions using appropriate facial
  expression. Begin with yes/no ?s, then what,
  where, who ?s. Why how ?s come later.
  Play games that encourage the child to ask
  questions.
• When reading to the child, encourage discussion
  of the pictures. Model and expand on their
  utterances. Older children can read to younger
  children.
• Write. Younger children practice scribbling and
  progress to letters words. Older children can
  write stories.