Chapter 16: Students with Speech and Language Disorders

1. Chapter 16: Students with Speech and Language Disorders By: andrea, Vanessa, Melanie, & romy

2. Speech and Languages: Myth? Speech and language disorders are synonymous Stuttering affects all ages and both genders equally Speech and language disorders are not related to intelligence Articulation disorders in very young children especially, are not serious, and correction is rarely worth the effort or the risk of trauma. If an individual has a speech or language disorder, that individual also has a learning disability

3. Opening Activity In your group (table) create an oral story with colleagues. Each person will add one word to the story. Try it out!(2-3 mins) Repeat this exercise, however this time you are not able to use sounds of : a, th, l (3-4 mins)

4. Defining Speech and Language Disorders Language and speech acquisition is a complex process, however follows a straight forward path. From birth parents and caregivers naturally develop the basic language skills for children. A child's successfulness in acquiring language will be dramatic in their social and academic worlds. Communication takes many forms; words, expressions, movements of body. If a student does not acquire these skills their capacity to effectively engage with other will be limited and learning will become more limited. Intervention and structured programs are needed to assist these students

5. An Important Distinction! Speech Disorders Language Disorders are characterized by impairments of voice, articulation of sounds, or fluency encompass both receptive and expressive language and, therefore, may result in a problem receiving information and/or formulating an acceptable and adequate response

6. By the end of age 3 : m/n/ng/p/f/h/w • By 3 ½ : /y/ • By the end of age 4: b/d/gl/k/r/ • By 4 ½ : s/sh/ch • By the end of age 6: t/l/v/th (then) • By the end of age 7: z/zh/j/th (three) Articulation Expectations By Age 8, most children have a repertoire of the sounds that they will use for adult speech, and most acquire these sounds in a similar sequence. In a normal population distribution, for example 9 out of 10 will master the following sounds

7. Clues to a Speech or Language Disorder Does the student follow simple directions? Does the student understand the meaning of words that others understand? Does the student have a limited vocabulary compared to age peers? Does the student understand longer, more complex sentences? Does the student follow the general rules of grammar? Does the student have more than normal difficulty finding the correct word?

8. Types of Speech Disorders • Have difficulty with production of sound • More common in individuals with lower intellectual ability, but not exclusively • Diagnosis and treatment usually performed by professionals in the field eg. Speech & Language Pathologists • Can be a teacher or EA who notices something wrong

9. Causes Inability to manipulate the tongue, lips and jaw Breath irregularities Vocal chord Damage

10. Most Common • Omission of sound (eg. Numer instead of number) • Substitutions (tack instead of back) • Additions (sawl instead of saw) • Distortions (theelp instead of sleep) • Must be regular and typical element of students’ speech to be regarded as a disorder Articulation Disorder Types of Speech Disorders

11. When variations in voice become so pronounced, they cause the speaker difficulty in communication . • Eg. Pitch (high/low) loudness, resonance (harsh or whisperer) Voice Disorders Types of Speech disorders

12. When flow of speech is irregular. Eg. Stoppages, repetitions, unusual pauses or atypical rhythms. • Stuttering is most common type, but most children usually outgrow stuttering – if persists more than 2 years, may become chronic. Fluency Disorder Types of speech disorders

13. Expressive Language Disorder Video

14. Types of Language Disorders • Difficulty in the use and understanding of language • Can be at risk in literacy development • Most often a combination of both expressive and receptive difficulties • Common Progression • By age 4, children have approximately 1000-1500 words • By grade 1 (age6/7) master more complex parts of language. (irregular words) • Not all children reach these milestones for various reasons: difficulty hearing, intellectual ability; insufficient exposure to language

15. Common Problems • Expressive language (formulation of understandable speech) • Use of incorrect tenses. Eg. “I go to the store yesterday” • Receptive language (ability to comprehend spoken, written or other symbol systems) • Directions that can be overwhelming. Eg. Get your red jacket from the closet and make sure to put on your scarf and mittens.” or as they get older, “Discuss the impact of urban society as a root cause for the civil war.” • Morphology – diff. understanding and using sections of words that have meaning • Phonology (combining and manipulating sound) eg. Says “bwush” instead of brush • Syntax (rules for combining words) eg. What he is doing?

16. Common Problems Cont… • Semantics (combining words and sentences to convey meaning) often lose meaning if metaphor • Pragmatics (using language socially) – may be unresponsive to social interaction • Selective Mutism – child’s inability to speak in certain social settings • Not considered communication disorder, rather a psychiatric disorder • Student may speak with family and/or select individuals at school • Usually due to severe anxiety, unable to speak in a variety of settings • May communicate through gestures or body language • Otherwise developmentally normal

17. CAP = Central auditory processing • Characterized by the inability to recognize as meaningful acoustic signals sent to auditory areas of the brain • Different than “tuning out”, which uses both ears to fuse information • CAP demonstrators may lose or mix up messages, or fail to integrate the information coming in via both ears What is CAP?

18. CAP Cont… • Students with CAP disorders generally exhibit the following types of behaviours: • Inconsistent response to oral speech • Better response to oral speech in quiet environments than in noisy environments • Poor response to speech in environments that distort speech (e.g. gym) • Better response to speech when the speaker is close • Frequent communication checks such as “what?” or “huh”? These behaviours may be exhibited when associated with other types of difficulties. It is due to these inconsistencies that the notion of CAP has not yet been fully accepted across the broad area of special education.

19. Coupling Speech and Language disorders with popular media

20. Case Study: Ben Ben is a 12 year old school boy who was referred to an audiologist by his school for a complete educational hearing assessment. The school's main concerns were Ben’s significant delay in reading and spelling, as well as difficulty understanding new concepts. Ben also frequently demonstrated disruptive behaviour in the classroom. His teacher believed this was due to frustration with complex tasks. Audiologicalassessment revealed that Ben’s hearing was within normal limits. During assessment, the audiologist observed that Ben consistently demonstrated slowed responses to stimuli and had difficulty understanding instructions, especially those which were long and more complex. Ben demonstrated more success on non-oral language tasks. A Central Auditory Processing assessment was conducted and results indicated that Ben’s difficulties could be attributed to (C)APD.

21. Getting Help • To assist those students with speech and language difficulties within the classroom, many school boards either employ or retain the services of speech and language specialties. •  The availability of these professionals to provide direct intervention on an ongoing basis varies from board to board • “Often, there are just too many students requiring support”  Is this the reality? • Where more extensive assistance is requires, but is unavailable at the school board level, specialists may refer cases to support services outside the jurisdiction or private support.

22. Role of the educator • It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to collaborate with the educational human resources at their school in order to develop program ideas for their students with special speech and language needs. • It is imperative for an educator to make a commitment to the whole child; offering consistent support and compassion, while providing appropriate opportunities for improvement and growth. • Normally, in the area of speech and language disabilities, a great deal of expert help is available, which is a service to the child, the classroom teacher and the class community alike.

23. Strategies for the Classroom

24. www.aacintervention.com • International Society for augmentative and alternative communication offers tips and tricks, products, activity ideas, conference and program information as well as teacher resources for those who teach students with special needs. • Using different communication devices, allows students to focus on literacy, language and speech in their every day classroom setting. • www.closingthegap.com • www.oacrs.com • Ontario Association of speech language pathologists and audiologists, offers information on hearing disorders, resources links as well as practitioners that are available in an area. Information on specific disabilities ( Autism, stroke, stuttering, ABI) • www.osla.on.ca Helpful Links