Teaching Students with Communication Disorders

●Stephanie Bronson●Joyce Mustafa

●Emily Stretcher●Linette Banks

Teaching Students with Communication Disorders

Communication is the process of exchanging

ideas, information, needs, and desires.(Owens, 2005)

Communication disorders include difficulties transferring knowledge, ideas, opinions, and

feelings. (Oyer, Crowe, & Haas, 1987)

Speech Disorders

The major components of speech include:● Articulation involves the production of speech

sounds.● Fluency is the flow and rhythm of language.● Voice is the quality of speech that includes

resonance, pitch, and intensity.

Articulation Disorders…

● The most common speech disorder.● Ability to produce speech sounds continues to

develop through 8 years of age.● There can be a 3 year difference between early

learners and late learners.● Girls usually develop earlier than boys.● Children's speech should be 90% developed by

the time they enter kindergarten.

Articulation Disorders continued....

Types of articulation errors :● Substitutions - one sound is substituted for another.

Examples:

wabbit for rabbit, tat for cat, free for three● Ommissions - when a sound is not included in a

word. Example: Boo for blue, pity for pretty● Additions● Distortions

Fluency Disorders

● Difficulty with the rate and flow of speech.● Most of us are nonfluent at times. An example of

this is when we hesitate in the middle of sentences, break the flow with fillers such as um, you know, like, and ah.

● Stuttering is the most common fluency disorder. It is characterized by an interruption in the forward flow of speech. (Palmer & Yantis, 1990)

Fluency Disorders continued....

● 98% of cases begin before age 10 (Mahr &Leith, 1992)

● Half of all children that stutter during the preschool years recover before the age of 7.

(Curlee & Yairi, 1997)

Voice Disorders

● 3 Dimensions considered:● Quality (hoarse, breathy,

hypernasal/hyponasal)● Pitch (high or low, monotone)● Intensity (loud or soft)

The most common type of voice disorder found in school age children is caused by vocal nodules.

Vocal Disorders

● Vocal nodules develop from using the voice incorrectly or from overuse.

● Nodules that are too large make the student lose their voice and require surgery.

● Students need to be taught the importance of good oral hygiene that includes: 1) keeping yelling at a minimun, 2) getting breath support from the stomach, 3) limiting time spent talking in noisy places, and 4) avoiding vigorous coughing (Lue,2001).

School-Age Language Disorders

● Language is the representation of ideas using a conventional code.

● Receptive language, or comprehension, is a person's ability to understand what is being communicated.

● Expressive language, or production, is a person's ability to convey an intended message.

Language Content

● Semantics is the meaning and content of words or word combinations.

● Vocabulary is an individual's working knowledge of words. A student's ability to grasp abstract concepts increase with their vocabulary.

● Word Categories and Word Relationships are understood and organized by students during school-age years.

Language Content continued....

Understanding the relationships among concepts are important to successful learning. Types of relationships include these categories:

● Comparative (taller than)● Spatial (above, under) ● Temporal-sequential (before, first) ● Causal (because, therefore) ● Conditional (if....then) ● Conjunctive (and) ● Disjunctive (either.., or)

Language Content continued....

● Contrastive (but, although) ● Enabling (so that, in order that)

Multiple Meanings - students with communication disorders usually have more limited vocabularies, and their word meanings are more concrete, and have a harder time grasping multiple word meanings that include which meaning to apply.

Figurative Language - represents abstract concepts

Language Content continued....

Types of figurative language:● Idioms (“It's raining cat's and dog's.”)● Metaphor (“She watched him with an eagle eye.”)● Similes (“He ran like a frightened rabbit.”)● Proverbs (“The early bird catches the worm.”)

Language Form

● Language form is the structure of the language and includes:

● Phonology- focuses on the sounds of language and the rules that determine how those sounds fit together.

● Phonemes are the smallest linguistic units of sound that can signal a meaning differ- ence. Phonological awareness is the students'

Language Form continued....... ability to understand that words contain sounds and that

sounds can be used to construct words.● Morphology – the rule system that governs the structure of

words and word forms. ● Morphemes are the smallest unit of language that convey

meaning.

Syntax is the rules that govern the order of words in sentences.

Language Form continued......

Types of Morphemes: ● Free morphemes stand alone.

Examples: cat, run, pretty, etc. ● Bound morphemes cannot stand alone when added to

words to change their meaning.● Syntax is the rules that govern the order

of words in sentences

Language Use/Pragmatics

● Pragmatics is the purposes or functions of communication, how we use language in a

social context.

Metalinguistics

● Involves thinking about, analyzing, and reflecting on language as an object in much the same way one reflects on a table or a friend.

Prevalence of Communication Disorders

● Approximately 10% of children in elementary school have communication disorders.

● 20% of all children with disabilities receive services for speech or language disorders

● Over 88% of these students are included in regular classrooms (US Dept. of Education, 2001)

Prevalence of Communication Disorders continued…

● Communication disorders occur three to four times more often in boys than girls.

● Occurs more often in pre-schoolers

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders

Language Form:● Does the student mispronounce sounds or

words and omit endings more than the other students do?

● Does the student comprehend and produce types of sentences similar to those of the other students?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders continued…

● Are the students comprehension and production

● IS the student's language as elaborate and descriptive as that of the other students?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders

Language Content:● Does the student comprehend and produce

vocabulary as rich and varied as that of the other students?

● Does the student comprehend others' ideas and express his or her ideas as effectively as other students in the classroom?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders continued….

● When talking, does the student have significantly difficulty finding the word he or she wants to use?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders

● Does the student comprehend and use figurative language and multiple meanings of words similar to that of other students in the classroom?

Language Use:● Does the student use language for different

purposes? including to gain attention?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders continued…

● Ask for and tell about information● Express and respond to feelings?● Use imagination to understand and tell stories

and jokes?● Express opinions and persuade?

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders

● For greetings, introductions, and farewells?● Does the student take turns appropriately in

conversations?● Does the student initiate conversations?● Does the student stay on topic during a

conversation?

,

Identifying a Student with Possible Language Disorders continued…

● Does the student have more than one style of interacting, depending on the listener, situation, and topic?

● Does the student recognize when the listener is not understanding and act to clarify communication for the listener?

Instructional Guidelines & Accomodations

Facilitating Speech Development