Strategies & Techniques

1. Strategies & Techniques Facilitating children’s listening and language skills in the classroom

2. Interpreting “Say it as s/he would if s/he could”

3. Example A pre-verbal child holds out a hand, and looks up at you, as you approach the table with some pencils -: “ David, you want a pencil”.

4. Listening check Low, middle and high frequency sounds must be heard clearly in order to process speech effectively. Families take the lead role for listening checks. But if you suspect a problem you can do the LING 6 SOUND TEST

5. What is the Ling 6 Sound Test? • A behavioral listening check to determine a cochlear implant’s effectiveness. • The test can be used to determine what sounds the student can detect, discriminate and identify…

6. Auditory skill development • detection = recognizing presence or absence of a sound • discrimination = Discerning if sounds are the same or different • identification = Pointing to a picture or reproducing the sound

7. LING 6 SOUND TEST Vowels: /a/ (as in ‘farther’) /u/ “oo” (as in too) /i/ “ee” (as in bee) Fricatives: /∫/ “sh” (as in ship) /s/ “s” (as in sun) Nasal: /m/ “m” (as in me)

9. Variables • Technique – detection/identification • Response – pointing/repeating • Presentation level – whisper/normal/loud • Distance – 3 feet / 6 feet / 12 feet • Reliability – Good/fair/poor • Monaural vs binaural

10. Instructions • Sit beside the student and instruct them to “listen” (can repeat at 3 feet) • Using normal conversational level, present each sound using listening alone • Present sounds in random order • Occasionally say nothing. • Goal – to have the student repeat the sounds

11. Tips…. • Timing – keep it short and sweet! • role reversal – let the child make the sounds and you respond accordingly • imitation – play a copying game – allow the child to sequence sounds and you copy them

12. Acoustic Highlighting “Your voice is your best tool.” You can modify: • Intensity – loudness • Rate – speed/pausing & waiting • Rhythm • Intonation - musciality

13. Speech most audible if… • No background noise • Close to microphone • Repetition is provided • Simple utterance • Slower rate of speech • Key word(s) at end of the utterance • Closed set • Acoustic highlighting utilized

14. Speech less audible if… • Background noise present • Distance from microphone is increased • Message presented only once • Complex utterance • Normal rate of utterance • Little or no specific acoustic emphasis • Key word(s) at beginning/whole utterance • Open set

15. The Hand Cue • used to emphasize use of audition • signals the child to listen intently • adult briefly covers mouth if there is eye contact with the child – can talk through a stuffed animal, toy or book • adult prompts for vocal imitation

16. Acitivity Role play: Making speech audible Adult – engage the ‘child’ for one minute with the toy/object in your bag. Child – respond to the audibility & acoustichighlighting rather than the content.

17. Experience Books • The single most important activity for building a knowledge-base required for reading success is reading aloud (Trelease, 2001) • Teach the child to want to read and focus less on how to read • Identify Early Literacy Beginnings and Reading Alternatives for Poor Attention Spans

18. Experience Book • ‘Diary’ or ‘journal’ from a very young age • Uses topics of interest & real life experiences • Can be use to build vocabulary, reinforce new grammatical elements (prepositions, pronouns etc) • Encourage child to ‘retell’ many times to familiar others (Miguel……) • Stories/events re/created with the child- hands on!

19. Additional Book Ideas for Creating Readers • Over sized “big books” • Books with props/flap books • Photo Albums • Books with relevance – “Things that go” “All about me” • Books with sounds • Thematic teaching • Informational texts

20. Soap making

21. Questions • How did the early American colonists make soap? • What is a strigil? • How did the Spanish and Egyptians obtain alkalis?

22. How could this have been made easier? • Discussion • Vocabulary review • Rate of presentation • Repetition & Review • Visual aids

23. Pre-teaching • Best managed as a team – parents can provide useful support • Prepares the child for new areas of learning – increases confidence • Encourages acquisition of new vocabulary • Allows child to access curriculum at their own level of language development – increase complexity gradually • Enables language goals to be addressed alongside the curriculum

24. A Student’s perspective “ The thing I remember the most, especially in high school (Gr 6 to 12) is having Mrs Owen come in and spend time with me before we started a new topic in English or Science. When the class had new work, I was prepared. I knew some of the words and concepts. It was tiring sometimes because my mum would insist on doing it again (smile), but looking back now, it was worth it.” (Nicky, 26, Audiologist).

25. Putting it all together….. Using the small picture card in your snack bag…consider how to adapt for: • Pre –verbal child (make sounds/label) • Early language user (combining 2 words) • Sentence user (3+ words; ‘here and now’) • Story teller (complex sentences; outside the ‘here and now’) Write down an example for each level – to share with the group. Prize for the best effort!