EDU 3201 Language Deficient Learners

1
EDU 3201 Language Deficient Learners

• LD and Communication Disorders
• Dr. Ghazali Mustapha

2
Communication is...

• a process of exchanging information, thoughts,
  and ideas
• encompasses the ability to interpret transmit,
  and express messages
• involves tone of voice, rate of delivery, eye
  contact, facial expression, and body movement

3
Communication Disorders is...

• a general term comprising concerns affecting the
  development of language
• the ability to exchange information both verbally
  and non-verbally
• categorized into problems of articulation, voice
  disorders, stuttering and language disorders

4
Communication Disorders is...

• a childs disability to understand and/or
  formulate a message
• result from both organic or non-organic factors
  such as biological readiness and cognitive,
  social, and environmental factors

5
Types of Communication Disorders

• Articulation Disorders
• Voice Disorders
• Stuttering
• Language Disorders
• - Language Processing Disorders
• - Language-Based Learning Disabilities

6
Articulation Disorders

• ability to pronounce vowel and consonant sounds
  correctly
• appropriate coordination of movements of the
  lips, tongue, palate, and jaw are necessary for
  proper articulation
• this coordination begins in infancy with the
  process of sucking, chewing and swallowing

7
Articulation Disorders

• as the child grows, drinking from a cup refines
  coordination of the muscles of the mouth to
  prepares the child for production of vowel and
  consonant sounds
• at the age of 6 7 years, most children have
  learned to produce all of the sounds of their
  language correctly

8
Articulation Disorders

• likely to be present in children who have
  physical problems
• children with language delays or structural
  defects such as cleft palate may have problems
  with articulation
• infants with swallowing or chewing difficulties
  or excessive drooling may also develop
  articulation problem

9
Symptoms of Articulation Disorders

• difficulties learning the rules for sequencing
  vowel and consonant sounds
• difficulties learning the rules for the position
  of these sounds in actual words
• delay in maturation

10
Causes of Articulation Disorders

• physical or structural abnormalities of the
  mouth, lips, tongue, jaw, or throat
• neurological impairment
• imitation of another child with pronunciation
  problems

11
Voice Disorders

• less common in children than in adults
• referred to as abnormal phonation
• the conditions of excessive or prolonged
  hoarseness or a nasal or de-nasal voice
• it is important to monitor closely any voice
  changes in the developing child.

12
Voice Disorders

• Hoarseness can be caused by chronic irritation of
  the throat, infection, allergy, and vocal abuse
  such as yelling or screaming
• Hypernasality exists when too much sound is
  passing through the nose.
• Hyponasality refers to too little sound passing
  through the nose

13
Causes of Voice Disorders

• Blockage of the nasal passages, allergies, and
  chronic colds can cause hyponasality
• Hypernasality occurs when the soft palate fails
  to close the nasal passages, thus allowing air to
  pass through the nose
• Children with cleft palate often have his type of
  voice pattern due to insufficient palatal tissue

14
Causes of Voice Disorders

• physical anomalies or misuse of the voice
  mechanism
• most often an ear, nose, and throat
• voice box and oral mechanism often are needed to
  determine the presence of a structural defect

15
Stuttering

• sentence production, occasional repetitions,
  hesitations, or long pauses
• also known as stammering
• a common part of the typical language development
  process

16
Stuttering

• a part of typical conversation for both children
  and adults
• parents who are concerned about the disruptions
  in the rhythm of their childs conversational
  speech should consult a professional for
  evaluation to determine the most appropriate
  method of intervention

17
Causes of Stuttering

• emotional or psychological factors in the family
  environment of in the children themselves
• problem to a malfunction of the central nervous
  system

18
Language Disorders

• generally categorized either by cause or in
  descriptive terms
• there is not a concise definition for language
  disorders due to variety of difficulties children
  can experience during the process of development
  of communication

19
Definition of Language Disorders

• A language disorder is the abnormal
  acquisition, comprehension or expression of
  spoken or written language. The disorder may
  involve all, one or some of the components of the
  linguistic system. Individuals with language
  disorders frequently have problems in sentence
  processing, abstracting information meaningfully
  for storage and retrieval from short and long
  term memory.
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

20
Definition of Language Disorders

• A language problem can refer to difficulties
  with sounds (phonological), grammatical structure
  and use (morphological and syntactical), word
  meanings (semantic), and the social skills
  involved in adjusting language to varied
  situations (pragmatic).

21
Causes of Language Disorders

• Central Nervous System Defects
• In the development of speech and language, the
  central nervous system and the nerves that
  control our senses and muscles play a vital role
• In order to absorb information from the
  environment, children must see, hear and feel
  what is happening around them

22
Causes of Language Disorders

• If damage has occurred to any of these sensory
  systems, delays or disruption of the typical
  process of speech and language development can
  occur
• It is important to recognize these problems early
  in order to aid the child in developing
  strategies to compensate for these deficiencies

23
Causes of Language Disorders

• two communication disorders caused by problems in
  the brain itself are expressive aphasia and
  apraxia
• refer to the inability to produce language due to
  problems in processing information and producing
  responses
• often are described as a short-circuit in the
  system of receiving and sending messages

24
Symptoms of Language Disorders

• the brains system is working at times and
  failing at others
• often have echolalic speech
• tend to be distractible, nonverbal, and easily
  frustrated by conversations they do not
  understand
• often are unable to respond correctly

25
Language Processing Disorders and Language-Based
Learning Disabilities

• school-age child may have problems in one or
  more of the following areas
• understanding spoken or written language
• expressing ideas either orally or in writing
• finding the appropriate words
• processing information through the senses of
  hearing, seeing, touching, or movement

26
Language Processing Disorders and Language-Based
Learning Disabilities

• the prevalence is believed to be between 40 and
  60 of the population
• language-based learning disabilities are not
  easily detected in the preschool years
• there are early signs that may indicate a
  language-based learning disability

27
Symptoms of Language Processing Disorders and
Language-Based Learning Disabilities

• having difficulty focusing on tasks
• becoming confused easily by lengthy directions or
  conversations
• having difficulty attending to and following
  stories reading aloud
• verbally rambling without actually communicating
  an idea

28
Symptoms of Language Processing Disorders and
Language-Based Learning Disabilities

• difficulty using the correct words in a given
  situation
• substituting an explanation for a specific object
  label
• having difficulty understanding multiple meanings
  of words and interpret figurative language
  literally

29
Symptoms of Language Processing Disorders and
Language-Based Learning Disabilities

• inability to understand and express the how and
  why of a situation
• difficulty making appropriate judgements in
  social situations
• misinterpret words that represent time or space
  concepts
• using nonspecific words

30
Incidence

• variable
• depends on the age of the population discussed
• approximately 6 of children ages 6-18 years have
  problems in the area of voice, articulation, and
  stuttering
• not include children with language-based learning
  difficulties

31
Treatments

• Assessment
• Therapy and Programs
• Communication Aids
• Communication Boards (Books)
• Mechanical Aids
• Electronic Aids
• Facilitated Communication

32
Assessment

• generally consist of 4 parts
• sent to a speech-language pathologist for an
  evaluation
• examines the physical mechanisms for speech
  production, hearing ability, speech quality,
  voice and rhythm patterns, and comprehension and
  expression of verbal language

33
Assessment of Oral Mechanism

• looking at the structure of the mouth and
  observing the movements of the tongue, lips, and
  jaw during the production of speech
• ask the child to imitate various mouth movements
  patterns, sounds, and words

34
Assessment of Articulation

• tested by asking the child to name a specific
  series of pictures or to tell a story
• important to hear how a child pronounces each
  consonant and vowel sound in isolation, in single
  words, and in conversational speech

35
Assessment of Articulation

• pronunciation often seems better in one-word
  responses than in conversation
• related to the amount of fine motor coordination
  involved in producing a long sentence to a single
  word
• if mispronounced, the child is to try imitate the
  appropriate pronunciation to determine if therapy
  or type of program needed

36
Assessment of Language Process

• the most time-consuming part-of the evaluation
• administers a series of standardized tests to
  determine a childs ability to understand and use
  spoken language
• type of tests varies, depending on the childs
  age, ability, and attention span

37
Assessment of Language Process

• involve the use of pictures or toy objects
• typically measure comprehension of nouns action
  words adjectives concepts such as size,
  quality, and quantity and grammar
• asking a child to point to the one picture in the
  group that has been named by the examiner or to
  follow a series of directions

38
Assessment of Language Process

• Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language
• Zimmerman Pre-School Language Scale
• Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development
• Tina Bangs Vocabulary Comprehension Scale
• Bracken Basic Concept Scale

• Test of Language Development
• Clinical Evaluation of Language Function
• The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
• MacArthur Commuicative Inventory
• The Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales

39
Assessment of Language Process

• evaluation of expressive language
• includes the use of vocabulary, sentence
  structure, thought sequence, ideas, and responses
  to simple what, when, how, where, and why
  questions
• involves the use of common pictures or toys
• imitate sentences produced by the evaluator

40
Assessment of Language Process

• to assess how children formulate their thoughts
  and communicate these ideas to the listener
• observes the body movements, gestures, and facial
  expressions that the child uses in addition to,
  or in place of, words

41
Assessment of Language Process (Instruments)

• Word Test
• Test of Problem Solving
• Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test
• Test of Language Competence

42
Assessment of Audiological

• the scores and observations are compiled
• include medical, educational, or psychological
  testing, may be recommended at that time to
  determine the cause of the childs language
  problem
• checklists
• tape recordings

43
Therapy and Programs

• type of communication disorder and the childs
  age will determine specific language or
  speech-language therapy
• very young children often require ongoing
  language stimulation activities
• school-age children may provided with
  individualized therapy or design programs to be
  carried out in the classroom

44
Communication Aids

• one of the numerous forms of alternative and
  augmentative communication (AAC) aids available
  may enable them to express their needs to others
• facial expressions, gestures, and writing are
  common examples of nonverbal communication

45
Communication Aids

• simple picture, word, or object systems are
  devised specifically for the individual child
• technologically sophisticated electronic aids
  with voice synthesizer or printers are used
• type of communication aid for the individual
  depends on age, physical ability, intellectual
  functioning, sensory adequacy, and other economic
  and environmental factors

46
Communication Boards (Books)

• simplest type of communication aid
• childs abilities, the board or book
• the child simply points to or touches the items
  shown to communicate
• children with severe cognitive deficits may
  communicate with object boards and can be
  cumbersome to carry around

47
Mechanical Aids

• refer to those that have moving parts but are not
  electronically operated
• example, old-fashioned non-electric typewriter
• children with poor fine motor control are unable
  to write legibly but are able to press keys on a
  typewriter to express their thought

48
Electronic Aids

• can provide a much larger vocabulary and can be
  programmed or updated relatively easily
• have voice synthesizers that speak for the
  child
• comes in various sizes

49
Facilitated Communication

• a communication technique in which a person with
  a language impairment is assisted by another
  individual to use an alternative communication
  device, such as a typewriter computer picture,
  letter, word, or symbol board or other
  augmentative system

50
Facilitated Communication

• facilitator assists the individual with a
  language impairment by physically supporting the
  hand, wrist, or forearm, as he or she points to
  the letters or types a message
• facilitators support reduces the motor control
  needed to make the selection

51
Conclusion

• children with communication impairments cannot
  wait until definite research results on this
  subject have been produced
• communication program should basic components to
  provide the best possible intervention
• assume that the child wants to communicate

52
Conclusion

• encourage multiple ways of communicating and
  involve appropriate interests and skills
• it should be noted that communication skills can
  vary from one environment to another
• ultimate goal is to enable the child to
  communicate with the people who are important to
  him or her

53
References

• Siegfried M. Pueschel, Patricia S. Scola, Leslie
  E. Weidenman, James C. Bernier The Special Child
  - A Source Book for Parents of Children with
  Developmental Disabilities, 2nd Edition
  Maryland, 1999
• Deena K. Bernstein, Ellenmorris Tiegerman
  Language and Communication Disorders in Children,
  2nd Edition New York, 1989

54
Thank You...

• - The End -