Analyzing the Potential Benefit of Microcomputer Use for Teaching Figurative Language

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold ◽  
Ilsa E. Schwarz ◽  
Molly Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Microcomputers offer the potential for increasing the effectiveness of language intervention for school-age children and adolescents who have language-learning disabilities. One promising application is in the treatment of students who experience difficulty comprehending figurative expressions, an aspect of language that occurs frequently in both spoken and written contexts. Although software is available to teach figurative language to children and adolescents, it is our feeling that improvements are needed in the existing programs. Software should be reviewed carefully before it is used with students, just as standardized tests and other clinical and educational materials are routinely scrutinized before use. In this article, four microcomputer programs are described and evaluated. Suggestions are then offered for the development of new types of software to teach figurative language.

Verbal Analogical Reasoning in Children With Language-Learning Disabilities

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie J. Masterson ◽  
Lea Helen Evans ◽  
Mark Aloia
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Functional Relationship ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Verbal Analogies ◽  
Better Than

This study was designed to explore the influences of both cognitive and linguistic abilities on verbal analogy completion. School-age children classified as language-learning disabled were administered five types of verbal analogies: synonyms, antonyms, linear order, category membership, and functional relationship. The performance of the children with language-learning disabilities was compared with one group of normally developing children matched for mental age and another group matched for language age. Results indicated that the group matched for mental age performed better than the other two groups on all types of analogies. Although they had significantly higher mental ages, the children with language-learning disabilities did no better than the language-matched group on any analogy type except antonyms.

General Language Performance Measures in Spoken and Written Narrative and Expository Discourse of School-Age Children With Language Learning Disabilities

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl M. Scott ◽  
Jennifer Windsor
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Lexical Diversity ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities

Language performance in naturalistic contexts can be characterized by general measures of productivity, fluency, lexical diversity, and grammatical complexity and accuracy. The use of such measures as indices of language impairment in older children is open to questions of method and interpretation. This study evaluated the extent to which 10 general language performance measures (GLPM) differentiated school-age children with language learning disabilities (LLD) from chronological-age (CA) and language-age (LA) peers. Children produced both spoken and written summaries of two educational videotapes that provided models of either narrative or expository (informational) discourse. Productivity measures, including total T-units, total words, and words per minute, were significantly lower for children with LLD than for CA children. Fluency (percent T-units with mazes) and lexical diversity (number of different words) measures were similar for all children. Grammatical complexity as measured by words per T-unit was significantly lower for LLD children. However, there was no difference among groups for clauses per T-unit. The only measure that distinguished children with LLD from both CA and LA peers was the extent of grammatical error. Effects of discourse genre and modality were consistent across groups. Compared to narratives, expository summaries were shorter, less fluent (spoken versions), more complex (words per T-unit), and more error prone. Written summaries were shorter and had more errors than spoken versions. For many LLD and LA children, expository writing was exceedingly difficult. Implications for accounts of language impairment in older children are discussed.

Language Norms in School-Age Children and Adolescents

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Division I ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Language Norms

The four articles in this clinical forum developed out of a series of two miniseminars presented at the 1992 and 1993 Annual Conventions of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The miniseminars, entitled "School-Age Children and Adolescents: Establishing Language Norms" (Parts I and II), were sponsored by Special Interest Division I, now known as "Language Learning and Education." The sessions were offered in response to requests from a number of public school speech-language pathologists for additional normative information on various aspects of later language development. The authors of the forum (and their topics) are Cheryl M. Scott and Sharon L. Stokes (syntax), Marilyn A. Nippold (word definition), Cynthia J. Johnson (narration), and Janet A. Norris (pragmatics).

Linguistic Trade-Offs in School-Age Children With and Without Language Disorders

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1064-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie J. Masterson ◽  
Alan G. Kamhi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Trade Offs

Factors influencing the occurrence of trade-off effects among linguistic components were examined. Several linguistic measures were used to represent syntactic and phonological production in order to determine whether interrelationship patterns would vary across measures. Linguistic interactions present in imitated speech were compared to those from spontaneous speech. Group effects were explored by comparing data from children with language-learning disabilities, children with reading disabilities, and normally developing children. Results indicated trade-offs between some linguistic measures and positive relationships among others. More trade-offs were present in imitated speech than in spontaneous utterances. In general, interrelationship patterns were similar across groups. Interpretation of these results in reference to current models of sentence production is offered.

Improving Clinical Practice: A School-Age and School-Based Perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine P. Wallach
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
School Age ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
School Based ◽  
Elementary Grade ◽  
Goals And Objectives ◽  
Lead Article

Purpose In this article, the author presents a conceptual framework for intervention at school-age levels reflecting upon a number of aspects raised by Kamhi (2014) in the lead article of this forum. The focus is on the persistence of traditional practices, components of language intervention, and prioritizing goals for students with language learning difficulties. Weaving together learning and generalization challenges, the author considers advanced levels of language that move beyond preschool and early elementary grade goals and objectives with a focus on comprehension and meta-abilities. Method Using a 3-tiered macrostructure, the author demonstrates how integrating students' background knowledge into intervention, helping them develop an awareness of structure and content interactions, and addressing the increasing demands of the curriculum provide a roadmap for improving clinical practices at school-age levels. Conclusion Reiterating some of Kamhi's notions, the author addresses gaps that exist between available and, often, exciting research in language, literacy, and current practices in schools. Professionals are challenged by the persistence of approaches and techniques that defy what they know about children and adolescents with language learning disabilities. Nonetheless, there are reasons to remain optimistic about the future.

Lapbooks: Adding Creativity to Literature-Based Intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (16) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Jennifer K. Rickard
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Treatment Approach ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Instructional Videos ◽  
Pragmatic Language Skills ◽  
File Folder

Contextualized language intervention (CLI) is a treatment approach that seeks to target multiple language skills in the context of meaningful, functional, and curriculum-based activities. For school-age children, literature-based language intervention is a type of CLI that can simultaneously target a variety of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic language skills, while also supporting the core curriculum. This tutorial demonstrates how to design lapbooks (collections of mini-books, pockets, and foldables laid out in a standard file folder) to organize and creatively display the language learning activities completed for each literature unit. Links to a series of instructional videos are also provided via the author's YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCne6IbEwEf8eWVyJxHPXvPw ).

Expanding Norms for Narration

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia J. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Practical Consideration ◽  
School Age ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Time Information

Narrative development in school-age children and adolescents is important to speech-language pathologists providing language intervention. At this time, information on later narrative development and growth in particular dimensions of narration is only partially available. The purpose of the present article is to pave the way for the collection of a comprehensive set of norms for later narrative development. The article first considers the purposes and uses for norms in narration. Next, for practical consideration, it reviews information that currently exists for later narrative development, including published literature and diagnostic tests. Proceeding further, the article explores factors that make the expansion of current norms problematic, such as substantial ranges in storytelling ability at particular ages, situational variations, and the diversity of narrative genres. it concludes by suggesting factors to consider in future investigations undertaken in pursuit of an ideal set of norms.

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