Speech-Language Impairments

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Speech-Language Impairments

• Tricia Hansen
• Oklahoma State Department of Education
• Instruction and Related Services Specialist

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Introduction to Speech Or Language Impairments

• The King's Speech
• Marshmallow Activity
• Sentence Activity
• Grocery List Activity

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Incidence

• More than one million students who receive
  special education services under IDEA in public
  schools are served under that category of speech
  or language impairments.
• Because many disabilities do impact the
  individuals ability to communicate, the actual
  incidence of children with SLI is much higher.

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Causes for Speech Or Language Impairments (SLI)

• Hearing Loss
• Neurological Disorders
• Muscular Disorders
• Developmental Delays
• Brain Injury
• Mental Retardation
• Autism
• Cerebral Palsy
• Drug Abuse
• Vocal Abuse or Misuse
• Physical Impairments (ex. Cleft Palate)

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Symptoms and Signs of SLI

• Interruptions in the flow or rhythm of speech
  such as stuttering
• Articulation or phonological disorders
• Improper use of words and their meanings
• Inability to express idea
• Reduced vocabulary
• Inadequate social skills
• Difficulties with vocabulary, site words,
  decoding, and comprehension
• Difficulty writing down thoughts
• Difficulties with abstract ideas
• Fluency impairments

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Signs of SLI

• Signs of SLI

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Definition of Speech or Language Impairment (SLI)

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  defines an SLI
• As a communication disorder, such as stuttering,
  impaired articulation, language impairments, or a
  voice impairment, that adversely affects a
  childs educational performance.

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Types of Speech-Language Disorders

• Types of Speech Disorders Refers to difficulties
  producing speech sounds or problems with voice
  quality.
• Articulation
• Speech impairments where the child produces
  sounds incorrectly (ex. Lisp, difficulty with l
  or r.)
• Fluency
• Speech impairment where a childs flow of speech
  is disrupted by sounds, syllables, and words that
  are repeated, prolonged, or avoided and where
  there may be silent blocks or inappropriate
  inhalation, exhalation, or phonation patterns.
• Voice
• Speech impairment where the childs voice has an
  abnormal quality to its pitch, resonance, or
  loudness.

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Speech Disorders

• sessions

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Types of Language Disorders

• Types of Language Disorders Refer to impairments
  in the ability to understand and/or use words in
  context, both verbally, and nonverbally.
• Expressive Difficulty in expressing ideas or
  needs.
• Receptive Difficulty in understanding what
  others are saying.
• Mixed Involves a mix of expressive and receptive
  difficulties.

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Expressive

• Sarah Scott
• Sariah

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Real Life Application Expressive

• Fourth-grader Elliott stays in his schools
  Extended Day program after school. When his
  mother picked him up one afternoon, he told her,
  Im glad you finally came. I was the last one
  here. Elliotts mother looked around the room
  and counted ten other children. Eventually, after
  much questioning, she ascertained that Elliott
  meant, I was the last of the fourth-graders
  here.
• The next day, Elliotts class was excited because
  the schools principal promised to visit them
  with an undisclosed treat from having the best
  attendance in the building. Elliotts teacher
  sent him to the office with this message, Ask
  the principal when she is coming to our
  classroom. Elliot went to the office but
  conveyed the slightly altered message, My
  teacher wants to know if you can come to our
  classroom. Based on his message, the principal
  thought that there was a problem and hurried to
  the classroom, only to find that a
  miscommunication had occurred.

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Elliott

• Elliotts scenario included two examples of
  consistent expressive-language mistakes.
• What were they?
• Have you ever known someone with similar
  expressive-language challenges?
• Is there anything you could recommend to his
  teacher or mother to help prevent similar
  communication breakdowns in the future?

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Real Life Application

• Twelve-year-old Briana was excited about the
  swimming pool that her grandparents were putting
  in their backyard. As she began to explain to her
  friends what it would look like, she said, Its
  shaped like a . and then paused, unable to
  recall the word that described its shape.
• After a few seconds, she continued, Its shaped
  like a circle, but the sides are longer.
• You mean an oval? teased one of her friends.
• Briana laughed, embarrassed, and replied Yep,
  thats exactly what I mean.
• Later that day, Briana found out that shed
  failed a science test made up of twenty
  fill-in-the blank questions. Briana was
  frustrated because she knew the content well. Her
  teacher decided to give her an alternate test--
  one in which Briana could use a Word Bank to
  answer the same twenty questions. Because she was
  able to recognize and select the correct answer,
  rather than recall the word herself, Briana got
  an A on the test.

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Briana

• Brianas scenario included two examples of a
  consistent expressive-language disorder. What is
  it? How was she able to work around her inability
  to recall the word oval?
• What ideas or suggestions can you suggest that
  Brianas teacher implement to support her during
  class discussions? During test-taking?

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Expressive Language Strategies

• Create opportunities for the child to interact
  with peers.
• Pair children to share stories of what they did
  on the weekend and have them report it to the
  class (accept all child responses).
• Model full sentence responses when 11.
• Create a safe environment for all students.
• Build a word wall.
• Allow time for the child to process the question
  and formulate an answer.
• Ask questions beginning with wh-words (who, when,
  why) rather than yes/no questions.
• Model sentences by repeating the childs message
  in a correct form
• Prompt the child to use expressive language
  strategies and skills following the specific
  recommendations of the Speech Language
  Pathologist (SLP).
• Prompt answers by giving choices (what it x or
  was it y?)
• Add to the childs message by paraphrasing and
  expanding on it. (ex. Its cold, or Cold air
  is coming in because the window is open.)

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Receptive Language

• Receptive Language refers to our ability to
  receive information. This may cause great
  frustration.
• Students with language disorders may struggle
  with
• Understanding what is spoken to them
• Comprehending what they read
• May have difficulty with
• Complicated sentence structure (simple v.
  complex)
• Unfamiliar vocabulary

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Real Life Application Receptive

• Maddie reads the following passage from The Witch
  of Blackbird Pond (8th Grade)
• Sailors began vigorously to roll out the great
  casks of molasses and pile them along the wharf.
  Two of the men lowered over the side the seven
  small leather trunks that held all of Kits
  belongings and piled them, one beside the other
  on the wet planking. Kit clambered down the
  ladder and stood for the second time on the alien
  shore that was to be her home.
• Her heart sank. This was Wethersfield! Just a
  narrow sandy stretch of shoreline, a few piles
  sunk in the river with rough planking for a
  platform. Out of the mist jutted a row of
  cavernous wooden structures that must be
  warehouses, and beyond that the dense, dripping
  green of fields and woods. No town, not a house,
  only a few men and boys and two yapping dogs who
  had come to meet the boat. With something like
  panic Kit watched Goodwife Cruff descent the
  ladder and stride ahead of her husband along the
  wharf. Prudence, dragging at her mothers hand,
  gazed back imploringly as they passed.

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Maddie

• This passage is confusing to Maddie for several
  reasons
• She doesnt know what the bolded words mean,
  decreasing her reading comprehension.
• She mistakes the word piles in the second
  paragraph for the word piled in the first, and
  imagines something being piled in the river, but
  wonders, Piles of what?
• She associates the term alien with science
  fiction and beings from outer space, resulting in
  a misinterpretation of that sentence.
• Some of the phrasing confuses her.
• Example She thought the phrase, Two of the men
  lowered over the side means that two men were
  lowered over the side.

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Maddie

• What can you do as a teacher to help students
  with language disorders comprehend the material
  and avoid confusion?

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Practical Life Application

• Myrons teacher asks him to help her put some
  photographs of leaves on a bulletin board. The
  pictures are part of a learning center in which
  the students will have to look at the photos and
  identify key characteristics. Myrons teacher
  tells him, I wouldnt put the photos up so high
  that students cant view them easily. He
  teachers choice of words confuses Myron he
  isnt sure whether he is or is not supposed to
  put the photos up high, and whether the students
  should or should not be able to view them easily.

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Myron

• Why do you think Myron was confused by his
  teachers instructions?
• Can you come up with 2-3 instructions that would
  be similarly confusing?
• Restate those 2-3 statements, as well as that of
  Myrons teacher, to be more easily understood.

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Receptive Language Strategies

• Signal the teacher when directions have not been
  understood
• Ask for Repetition of directions
• Ask for clarification of directions
• Sit close to the teacher and white board
• Sit in a quiet place
• Pre-teach specific vocabulary
• Build a word wall
• Review previously learned material
• Connect new vocabulary or information with that
  previously learned
• Use direct requests (Please close the window,
  instead of Its cold in here)
• Give directions in a time-ordered sequence
  (first, then, etc)
• Pair directions with gestures or visual cues
• Reduce visual distractions
• Gain students attention before giving directions
  or instructions
• Use a phrase or visual prompt before giving
  directions or instruction
• Speak clearly
• Stress key words in a sentence
• Provide additional response time
• Avoid asking the child to listen and write
  simultaneously

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Pragmatic Language Disorders

• Pragmatic Language refers to the appropriate use
  of language in social contexts.
• Students with language disorders may have trouble
  with language-based social interactions.
• Characteristics may include
• Difficulty interacting with peers and/or adults
• Violates conversational rules
• Has limited eye contact
• Interrupts frequently
• Makes odd, irrelevant comments
• Violates personal space
• Inability to interpret and use non-verbal cues
• Dominates conversation
• Has poor topic maintenance

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Pragmatic Language Strategies

• Practice appropriate body language.
• Make facial expressions and ask students to tell
  you how they think you feel (mad, happy)
• Teach conversational skills in the classroom
• Components of conversational skills
• Turn-taking
• Recognizing and responding to a topic
• Ensuring clarity of your part of the conversation
• Requesting clarification
• Topic transitions and time factors
• Terminating a topic

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Pragmatic Language Strategies

• Strategies for Teaching Conversational Skills
• Start with short conversations on one topic.
• Provide additional cues if the student does not
  respond (gestures, clarification)
• Provide the student with time to process
  information when beginning a conversation.
• Keep the conversation going by asking questions.
• Keep from asking yes/no questions.
• Encourage the student to listen to others as they
  speak.

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Real Life Application

• Two six-year-olds are playing a game on the
  playground when a third child approaches them and
  says, That looks fun! and is invited to join
  the game. A fourth child also asks, Can I play?
  and, once given approval, joins the game.
  However, through six-year-old Lela likewise wants
  to join the game, she is uncertain how to
  approach the others to initiate an interaction.
  She wanders around the general vicinity where the
  children are playing, approaches them several
  times, but walks away without saying anything.
  Finally, she joins in the game without asking.
  Although the others let her play, they are
  uncomfortable because she did not follow the
  normal social conventions.

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Lela

• What should Lela have done in order to join the
  girls game?
• What pragmatics skills does she need to develop?

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Real Life Application

• Eleven-year-old Libby has trouble following
  conversational rules. She approaches a group of
  classmates in the hallways and says, Hey
  Abigail, guess what? Abigail, who was already in
  a conversation with someone else, does not hear
  her and continues talking with her friend. Libby
  does not pick up on this social cue and instead
  proceeds to tell Abigail about her weekend, even
  though Abigail is still talking. When Abigail
  does acknowledge Libby and starts talking to her,
  the conversation breaks down further.

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Real Life Application

• Libby responds to some of Abigails comments with
  remarks that are not relevant to the
  conversation. She doesnt allow the usual
  give-and-take, instead taking longer
  conversational turns, and often talks at the same
  time Abigail does. In frustration, Abigail
  finally says, Libby, you never listen to
  anything I say! and walks away. Other girls who
  witness the scene agree that Libby is frustrating
  to talk to and decide amongst themselves that she
  is weird.

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Libby

• What social cues did Libby fail to recognize?
• How did this affect her conversation with
  Abigail?
• How do you think her peers perceptions of them
  could be negatively affected because of their
  language disorder.

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The Role of the Special Education Teacher

• Consult or collaborate with the Speech-Language
  Pathologist on specific needs and helpful
  strategies for the individual child.
• The Special Education Teacher may work on childs
  goals throughout the week in addition to the
  child meeting with the SLP.
• Ensure classroom accommodations are being
  followed.
• All additional responsibilities of a classroom
  teacher.

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Instructional Strategies

• Powerful strategies to support the learning of
  students with SLI impairments
• Always assume competence.
• Incorporate Literacy
• Provide Visual Input
• Model Fluent Reading (choral reading, paired
  reading, etc.)
• Use multiple types of Reading Strategies
  (prediction, readers theatre, etc.)
• Divide academic goals into smaller units
• Present only one concept at a time
• Use tactile and visual cues
• Offer Maximal social interaction opportunities

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A Story of Hope

• Hope
• Hope 2