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.

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.

Comparison of Two Reading Feedback Strategies in Improving the Oral and Written Language Performance of Children With Language-Learning Disabilities

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda K. Crowe
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Oral Reading ◽  
Written Language ◽  
School Age ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Feedback Strategies

Twelve school-age children with language-learning disabilities (LLD) participated in a study comparing the effects of two reading feedback strategies for improving their oral and written language performance. Children were matched for age, disability, gender, and general reading performance. Participants were assigned to one of three study groups, Treatment 1 (T1), Treatment 2 (T2), or Control (C). Children were pre- and posttested on standardized tests of reading and oral vocabulary. T1 and T2 participated in 6 weeks of reading intervention. T1 used traditional decoding-based feedback strategies, and T2 used meaning-based feedback strategies, termed Communicative Reading Strategies (CRS). Significant differences across groups were found for reading comprehension, oral reading, and expressive vocabulary measures. Pairwise comparisons indicated that T2 performed significantly better than T1 and C on reading comprehension at posttest. Though not reaching levels of significance, T2 made greater gains than T1 and C on oral reading and expressive vocabulary measures. Results are discussed with implications for using CRS (T2) with school-age poor readers.

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.

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.

What Do You Mean By That? Constructive Beginnings When Working With Adolescents With Language Learning Disabilities

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine P. Wallach ◽  
Stephen Charlton ◽  
Julie Christie
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Content Area ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
School Based ◽  
High School Setting

The authors recognize the challenges facing school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who are encouraged to create and deliver curriculum-focused and strategic-based intervention. The high school setting can be an especially daunting one but it is also a place where SLPs can use their expertise to participate in innovative partnerships with students and colleagues in the facilitation of language and literacy learning. This article outlines selected language initiates focused toward content area learning within a constructive comprehension framework.

Verb and Noun Morphology in the Spoken and Written Language of Children With Language Learning Disabilities

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1322-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Windsor ◽  
Cheryl M. Scott ◽  
Cheryl K. Street
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
School Age ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Typically Achieving

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of verb and noun morphology in school-age children's spoken and written language. Sixty children, with and without language learning disabilities (LLD), each produced 2 spoken and 2 written language samples. The children's accuracy in using morphemes that mark verb finiteness (regular past tense, 3rd person singular present tense, copula, and auxiliary BE) was compared with their accuracy in using noun morphology (regular plural, possessive, articles). As would be expected, the typically achieving children, who were aged 7 to 12 years, had mastered the verb and noun morphology in spoken and written samples. The children with LLD, aged 10 to 12 years, also showed high accuracy in the spoken samples. On the other hand, they showed substantial difficulty in the written samples with the regular past tense, with errors in 26% of obligatory contexts. However, the children with LLD also had difficulty with the regular plural, with errors in 12% of obligatory contexts. For both the regular past tense and plural, all errors were errors of omission. These results indicate that finiteness marking remains an area of relative difficulty, but perhaps not the only grammatical difficulty, for children with language impairments in the school years.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document