Language Instruction for
Students with Disabilities
Fourth Edition
© Polloway, E. A., Miller, L., & Smith, T. E. C.
(2012). Language instruction for students with
disabilities (4th ed.). Denver, CO: Love.
Instructors who adopt this book may use the Power Points to teach your
course without prior permission.
© Love Publishing: Lynda Miller
1
Chapter 1
Introduction to Speech, Language,
and Communication
Introduction to Language, Speech,
and Communication
• Importance of communication skills for
employability
• Communication skills needed in school and for
social interaction with peers
3
What Is Communication?
• Interchange of ideas, feelings, thoughts,
experiences, and information
• Communicating through language
• Speech—the oral sounds of the language code
4
How Is Literacy Related to
Communication?
• Literacy: the set of competencies children
develop with both oral and printed language
(including electronic forms)
– Speaking
– Reading
– Writing
5
Four Models of Language
•
•
•
•
Rationalism
Empiricism
Nature–nurture continuum
Social-interactionist model
6
Language Development from
Infancy through Adolescence
• The Building Blocks of Language
– Form
– Content
– Use
– Narrative
– Nonverbal
7
The Building Blocks of Language
•
•
•
•
Form: the structures of language
Content: how meaning is derived
Use: the social functions of language
Narrative: how conversations and stories are
structured
• Nonverbal communication: meaning carried
outside spoken and/or written language forms
8
Language Form
• Phonology
– 44 phonemes in English
• Vowels: sounds produced with an open vocal tract
• Consonants: sounds produced through place of
articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing
9
Language Form, continued
• Morphology: rules governing how
phonemes are combined into syllables and
words to convey meaning
• Two kinds of morphemes: free and bound
10
Language Form, Continued
• Syntax: the study of linguistic conventions for
generating meaningful phrases and sentences
• Examples: word order, use of active or passive
voice, arrangement of words in a phrase
and/or sentence
11
Language Content
• Language content: the meaning level of
language
• Also called semantics
• How humans attribute meaning (includes
study of vocabulary development in children)
12
Language Use
• Language use: the conventions governing how
language is used in various social contexts
• Rules a culture uses for what people say, to
whom, how, and under which circumstances
• Often called pragmatics: analysis of the
functions of language, particularly those
related to social contexts
• Significance of violations of the rules
13
Narrative Ability
• Narrative: a sequence of events tied together
in a story
• Major precursor to learning to read and write
• Story grammar: character(s), setting, and
episodes
• Cultural variations: topic centered or topic
associated
14
Nonverbal Language
•
•
•
•
Paralinguistics
Proxemics
Kinesics
Chronemics
15
Chapter 2
Language Development from Infancy
through Adolescence
Language Development from
Infancy through Adolescence
• Five stages of language development
–prelinguistic
–emerging language
–developing language
–language for learning (L4L)
–adolescent language
• Mean length of utterance is used as a
measure of language development up to
age 5
17
Communication in the Prelinguistic
Period
•
•
•
•
•
“Motherese” and language during infancy
Joint attention and joint referencing
Mutual attending
Babbling
Emergence of communicative intentions
18
Emerging Language
• Brown’s Stage I, MLU between 1.0 and 2.0
• Semantics and increasing vocabulary
• Syntax: from one-word utterances to twoword phrases
• Noun phrases and verb phrases
• Development of the interrogative and
negative forms
19
Phonology
• Variability in the development of phonological
abilities: phonetically consistent forms
• First phonemes to emerge
• Simplification of adult forms of phonology:
phonological processes
20
Pragmatics (Language Use)
• Doubling of children’s attempts to
communicate
• Increased range and number of intentions
children express
• Discourse functions: referrals to previous
speech acts
• Beginning awareness of the need for
presuppositions
• Increased ability in turntaking
21
Developing Language
• Between ages 27 months and 46 months
in typically developing children (Brown’s
Stage II through V, MLU of 2.0 to 4.5)
• Semantics: exponential vocabulary
development
–nouns, verbs, prepositions, temporal
words, adjectives, and pronouns
–emergence of inflections to change word
meanings
22
Semantics, continued
–regular and irregular verb forms
–contractions
–beginnings of pronoun acquisition
23
Syntax
• From two-word utterances to sentences
containing adjectives, prepositional
phrases, and subordinate clauses
–development of interrogatives and negatives
–increasing complexity of sentence forms
through embedding
(1) embedding phrases within sentences
(2) embedding clauses within clauses
24
Syntax, continued
• Compound and complex sentences
• Object complement clauses, wh-question
clauses, and relative clauses
25
Morphology
• Plural marker: one of the earliest morphemes
children use regularly
• Overgeneralization of morphemic rules
• Learning exceptions to morphemic rules
26
Phonology
• Children acquire most of the phonological
system during this stage
• Many children use later developing phonemes
incorrectly well into the next stage
27
Pragmatics
• Turntaking and topic maintenance improve
• Increased ability with conversational repair
• Moving from a preponderance of direct
requests to an increased use of indirect
requests
28
Figurative Language
• Emerging understanding that language exists
on several levels
• Increased understanding of synonyms and
homonyms
• Beginning understanding and use of
metaphoric language
– Idioms
– Humor
29
Narrative Development
• Protonarratives and heaps give way to
primitive narratives
• Four types of narratives children use in this
stage:
– Recounting
– Eventcasts
– Accounts
– Fictionalized narratives
30
Language for Learning Stage (L4L)
• Extends from age 5 through 10 or 11 years
• Language characteristics and knowledge of
children from homes in which literacy
practices are common
31
Relationship between Oral
Language and Print
• Recency of written language forms
• Advantages of being read aloud to before
learning to read
• Decoding and phonological awareness
32
Semantic Development
• Characteristics of vocabulary development in
this stage
– Addition of new words
– Using words they already know in new ways
– Choosing words for getting just the right meaning
– Chunking: classifying words into categories and
hierarchical subcategories
33
Semantic Development, continued
– Elaborated definitions of words
– Differentiation of nouns into subcategories
– Appearance of adverbs
– Fine tuning the pronouns
34
Figurative Language
• Nonliteral use of language:
– Metaphor
– Simile
– Idiom
– Proverbs, adages, maxims
• Development of humor in this stage
35
Syntactic Development
• Expanding noun and verb phrases
• Passive sentences: reversible and
nonreversible
• Exceptions to the rules
– Principle of minimal distance and
exceptions/violations
36
Syntactic Development, continued
• Embedding
– Infinitive phrases
– Object complements
– Relative clauses that modify noun phrases in
the object position (but not in the subject
position)
– Decreasing difficulty with confusing
embeddings
37
Syntactic Development, continued
• Conjoining
– Learning exceptions to logical (cause–effect)
order
38
Morphological Development
• Three significant morphological advances:
producing
– Gerunds
– Agentive forms
– Adverb forms
39
Pragmatic Development
• Moving toward the literate end of the oral–
literate continuum
• Discourse: different ways to talk, act, and
write in different circumstances
• Discourse genres
• Conversational competence
– Increased ability to sustain topics over time
– Improved skill in responding to clarifications
for repair
40
Pragmatic Development, continued
– Proficiency in understanding and using indirect
requests
• The oral-to-literate shift: shifting from using
primarily oral language to using language that
is primarily literate
– Characteristics of literate language
– Advantages to children from homes that use
literate language
41
Pragmatic Development, continued
– Six narrative genres children are likely to
encounter
•
•
•
•
•
•
Structured play
Wordless books
Comic books
Books on video/DVD/online
Folk tales
Trade books
42
Narrative Development
• Shift in narrative abilities during this stage
– Stories containing a basic episode give way to
stories that contain complete episodes
• Basic episode: initiating event, attempt, consequence
• Complete episode: basic episode plus internal
response, plan, and reaction or ending
• By age 7, most children produce stories with a
plot that may or may not be developed
43
Narrative Development, continued
• After age 8, children’s stories begin to
resemble adults’ stories:
– Clear plot line
– Problem is obvious
– Enough (not too much) information/detail
– Time and place described in enough detail
– Character’s actions and motivations make sense
44
Learning New Discourse Forms
• Classroom Discourse
– Often implicit and not verbalized by the teacher
– Initiation-Response-Evaluation (IRE) format
• Expository Discourse
– Highly decontextualized language
– Structures are different from story grammar
– Nested organizational schemes may be more
difficult for students until late in this stage
45
Learning New Discourse Forms,
continued
• Argumentative/persuasive discourse
– More abstract and complicated structure than
expository structures
– Some students in this stage develop proficiency
with oral forms but few are able to produce
written argumentative/persuasive discourse
46
The Metas
• Metalinguistic
• Metapragmatic
• Metacognitive
47
Metalinguistic ability
Most children develop some
proficiency with the various
metalinguistic forms; some are
considerably older
•Consequences for learning to
read
•Difficulties with phonological
awareness
Metapragmatic ability
•Metapragmatic strategies
•Decoding classroom
discourse
Metacognitive ability
• Comprehension monitoring
• Organizational and learning strategies
50
Writing
• Graphophoneme awareness
• Importance of oral language development and
emerging reading skills
51
Adolescent Language/
Advanced Language
• Primary developments in this stage
– Social interactions with peers
– Necessity of understanding and producing literate
language forms
– Using language to develop critical thinking skills
52
Semantics
• Vocabulary
– Enlarging number and types of words
– Elaborating vocabulary that reflects literate
language forms
– Further expanding the meanings of already known
words
– Learning Aristotelian definitions
53
Pragmatics
• Most prominent developments are:
– increased abilities with figurative language
forms
– Understanding and producing diverse
discourse types
• Figurative language
– Improved comprehension of metaphor,
similes, and idioms
– Playing with language for humorous effects
54
Pragmatics, continued
– The importance of slang for teenagers
– Increased emphasis on understanding and
using all the discourses presented by school
•
•
•
•
Narrative
Expository
Argumentative
Persuasive
55
The Metas
• Increased demand for metacognitive skills
– Emergence of:
• Analogic/inductive reasoning
• Syllogistic/deductive reasoning
– Comprehension monitoring during adolescence
– Organizational strategies for learning
56
The Metas, continued
• Metapragmatic requirements necessary for
negotiating school and peers
– Writing: purpose of writing; audience who will be
reading the writing; choosing the appropriate
discourse genre
– Social interactions: which discourse types to use
when and with whom
57
The Metas, continued
• Metalinguistic development
– Talking about language and its uses, both oral
and written
– Reflecting on language form, content, and
discourse type in order to write
– The emergence of an understanding of the
aesthetic aspects of language
– Humor
58
Writing
• Reading and writing as reciprocal processes
• Increased proficiency with writing mechanics
and different literary styles
• Three major processes of writing in
adolescence
– Planning
– Sentence generation
– Revision
59
Chapter 3
Cultural Diversity and Language
Differences
Cultural Diversity and Language
Differences
• Language varies across cultures
• Diversity in society
– More cultural diversity in the U.S. today than in
previous years
– One fourth of the U.S. population consists of
minority groups
– Population projections indicate a continued
increase in diversity in the U.S.
61
Language Characteristics Across
Cultures in the U.S.
• Immigrants to the U.S. speak a variety of
languages other than English
• As of 2007, one fifth of students in schools in
the U.S. were immigrants and likely to speak a
language other than English
62
Myths Surrounding Students
from Diverse Backgrounds
• A student’s ethnic background implies that
s/he has the same needs and intellectual
abilities of all other students from the same
ethnic background
• Speaking “broken” English or a dialect
indicates intellectual deficiency
• All “minority” students are disadvantaged,
lazy, and on welfare
63
Myths Surrounding Students
from Diverse Backgrounds,
continued
• All students from Asian-American families are
academically gifted
• All students from minority families are inferior
What teachers can do in the classroom:
1. Have reading materials addressing cultural diversity
2. Enlist advocacy groups to obtain information about cultural diversity
3. Seek out families of students from diverse backgrounds
4. Find professional seminars that focus on diversity
5. Learn about diversity from reading materials aimed at children
64
Disproportionality in Special
Education
• What is disproportionality?
– Overrepresentation
– Underrepresentation
• Primary cause of disproportionality = unfair
(i.e., biased) assessment
65
Policies and Practices Affecting
Education for Minority Students
• Institutional racism
• Reduced (or enhanced) expectations
• Mismatch between curriculum and student
needs
• Using inappropriate pedagogy
• Limited input from teachers and from
students and their families
66
Three Cultural Models
for Educating Minority Students
• Background regarding linguistic diversity in the
U.S.
• Eight linguistic regions in the U.S.
• Substantial linguistic variation: language
disorder, cultural mismatch, or language
difference?
67
The Cultural Deficit Position
• Assumptions
– Language of minorities constitutes a deficient
code
• Students not speaking standard English have an
automatic language deficiency
– Minorities are culturally deprived, which indicates
educational limitations
– Implications of using elaborated or restricted
codes of language
68
The Cultural Mismatch Model
• Primary assumption: there is a mismatch
between the expectations of the majority
culture and the student’s culture
• Educational implication: closing that gap, i.e.,
helping the student achieve majority cultural
values, prepares the student for success in the
majority culture
69
The Culturally Different Model
• Primary assumption is the same as the
cultural mismatch model: there are
differences between individuals from different
cultures, each of which has its own strengths
and weaknesses
• In this model, language systems may be
different but are not necessarily deficient
• Ebonics as an example
70
The Culturally Different Model,
continued
• Importance of using the term nonstandard
instead of substandard
• Challenges facing students who do not speak
“proper” (i.e., standard) English
71
What Teachers Can Do
• Characteristics of culturally responsive
teachers
• Self-reflection questions teachers can use to
understand their own and others’ cultural
beliefs, values, and expectations
72
Fair Assessment
• The challenge of finding fair, accurate
assessment instruments and procedures
– Content bias
– Construct bias
• IDEA requirements for reducing discrimination
in assessment
73
Four Instructional Approaches
1. English as a Second Language Approach
– English is the language of instruction
– Student’s native language not addressed directly
– Advantages and disadvantages
2. Bilingual Education Approach
– Instruction uses both English and the student’s
native language
– Advantages and disadvantages
74
Four Instructional Approaches,
continued
3. Submersion Programs
– No bilingual programs available
– Students are expected to develop the majorityculture language
– Student’s native language is not used
75
Four Instructional Approaches,
continued
4. Immersion Programs
– Students grouped with others who speak the
same primary language
– Teachers are fluent in both English and the
students’ native language
– No formal instruction in English
– Advantages and disadvantages
76
Code Switching and Code Mixing
• Code switching: proficient in both languages,
the individual switches from one to the other
deliberately and consciously
• Code mixing: the individual indiscriminately
mixes the two languages
77
Bilingual Education Materials
• Few Spanish-language materials are available
• Steps to use in selecting appropriate materials
for students from diverse backgrounds
78
Guidelines and Teaching Strategies
• Twelve specific suggestions for teachers to
meet the special classroom needs of students
with language differences
79
Families of Culturally Diverse
Students
• Factors influencing family participation in the
student’s education
• Importance of school–home communication
80
Chapter 4
Language Assessment and Instruction
for Preschool Children
Language Assessment and
Instruction
for Preschool Children
• For preschoolers, assessment is used to
determine the child’s developmental
characteristics
• The goal of instruction and intervention is to
assist the student in moving to the next
developmental stage
• Legislative background
82
Developmental Considerations for
Preschool Children with Disabilities
• How severely are communication and
language affected developmentally?
• Focus of assessment for preschoolers with
severe impairments
• Goal of assessment for preschoolers with
moderately compromised communication
and language
• Purpose of assessment for preschoolers
with mild impairments
83
Four Types of Assessment
•
•
•
•
Standardized tests
Nonstandardized approaches
Interviews with parents and caregivers
Observations of the child’s play and routines
in familiar environments
84
Standardized Testing
• Standardized instruments are norm
referenced
• Characteristics of norm-referenced
instruments
• Strengths and weaknesses of standardized
instruments
85
Nonstandardized Approaches
• Criterion-referenced procedures
• Developmental scales
• Dynamic assessment
86
Interviews with Parents and
Caregivers
• Constructing one’s own interview formats
• Using existing developmental scales and
behavior checklists
• Using a combination of the two
• Advantages and disadvantages of using
interviews
87
Observation of Children’s Play and
Routines in Familiar Environments
• Less intrusive for the child
• Likely to yield more representative
communication and language abilities than a
standardized instrument
• Advantages of using interviews to assess a
child’s communication and language abilities
88
Assessment of Preschool Children
• Purpose of assessment for children in the
– Prelinguistic period of language development
– Emerging language stage
– Developing language stage
89
Standardized and Nonstandardized
Testing
• Tools for Prelinguistic Language
• Tools for Emerging Language
• Tools for Developing Language
90
Interviews with Parents and
Caregivers
• Designing the interview format, location, and
process to reflect the purposes of assessment
for each stage of communication and
language development
• Available instruments
• Designing one’s own interview
91
Observations of Children’s Play
and Routines in Natural
Environments
• Passive observation
• Interactive observation and dynamic
assessment
• Constructing a worksheet or checklist to
organize observations
92
Communication and Language
Instruction for Preschoolers
• Types of guidelines and standards for
designing instruction
• The importance of literacy development
• Metalinguistic awareness in preschool
children
• Language-learning disabilities and dyslexia
• Long-term goals of language instruction for
preschool children
93
Language Instruction for Preschool
Children: Prelinguistic Stage
•
•
Specific instructional goals
Four effective interactive behaviors that
foster communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Turntaking and imitation
Joint attention
Anticipatory sets
Communicative intentions
Fostering language through reading
books aloud
94
Language Instruction for Preschool
Children: Emerging Language
Stage
• Factors that predict the need for language
intervention and instruction
• The role of symbolic play in developing
language
– Semantic development: relational and
substantive words
– Syntactic development
– Phonology
– Pragmatic skills
95
Language Instruction: Emerging
Language, continued
• Communicative intentions and discourse
functions
– Requests for information
– Acknowledgments
– Answers
• Presuppositions and turntaking: possible
instructional scenarios
96
Language Instruction for Preschool
Children: Developing Language
Stage
• Focus on language abilities underlying success
in school
• Instructional products (goals), processes
(methods), and contexts (settings)
– Instructional goals–linking to state learning
standards
• Long-term goals and benchmarks (short-term
objectives)
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and modifiability 97
Language Instruction: Developing
Language Stage, continued
• Example showing how to use the ZPD to select shortterm objectives
– Instructional methods
• Teacher directed
• Child centered
• Combinations of both of the above
– Instructional settings
• Collaborating with a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)
• Consulting with an SLP
98
• Language-based classroom
Children with Severely
Compromised Speech
• Alternative and augmentative communication
modalities (AAC)
• Primary goal = engaging in interactive
communicaion
• Guidelines for selecting AAC systems/devices
• Symbol systems
• AAC devices
99
Chapter 5
Language Assessment and Instruction
for School-Age Children
Language Assessment and
Instruction for School-Age Children
• Language abilities ranging from prelinguistic
and the language for learning (L4L) stages
• Two levels of assessment and instruction
– Basic communication and language skills
– School-related oral language skills and emerging
literacy
101
Assessment Goals, Procedures,
and Instruments
•
Four primary assessment questions: level of
development in
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Semantics, syntax, phonology, and pragmatics
Narrative discourse
Nonnarrative discourse
Metalinguistic ability
Assessing developmental abilities
– Semantics
102
Assessment Goals, Procedures,
and Instruments, continued
– Syntax and morphology
– Phonology
– Pragmatics
– Figurative language
– Narrative language
– Metalinguistic awareness
• Standardized measures
103
Assessment Goals, Procedures,
and Instruments, continued
• Nonstandardized measures
– Observational checklists
– Criterion-referenced measures and behavioral
observations
104
Assessing Language Development,
continued
• Phonology
– Phonological awareness and phonological
processing
– Rapid automatic naming (RAN)
• Semantics
– Receptive and expressive vocabulary
differences
– Instructional and textbook vocabulary
– Word retrieval and/or word finding
– Noun differentiation–categorization
105
Assessing Language Development,
continued
• Syntax and morphology
– Understanding and use of specific syntactic and
morphological structures
– Using dynamic assessment and the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD) for both assessment
and instruction
– Mediated teaching
106
Assessing Narrative Discourse
• Appleby’s stage model
– Heap stories
– Sequence stories
– Primitive narratives
– Chain narratives
– True narratives
• Miller et al.’s component model
– Story components
• Setting: time and place
107
Assessing Narrative Discourse,
continued
• Character information
• Temporal order
• Causal information
– Story ideas and language
•
•
•
•
Complexity of ideas
Complexity of vocabulary
Knowledge of dialogue
Creativity
108
Assessing Narrative Discourse,
continued
– Episode elements and structure
• Six episode elements
• Development of children’s episode structure
109
Assessing Nonnarrative
Discourse Genres
• Classroom discourse
– The hidden curriculum
– Decontextualized nature of classroom
discourse
• Other types of nonnarrative discourse
encountered by children entering school
– Descriptive
– Poetry
– Expository
110
Assessing the Metas
• Examples of assessing:
– Metalinguistic ability
– Metapragmatic ability
– Metacognitive ability
111
Pragmatics
• How difficulties with metapragmatic skills
manifests in the social–interactive rules
governing the various discourse genres typical
of school
• Difficulties students with LLD may exhibit
112
Language Instruction
for School-Age Students
• Linking language instruction to state learning
standards via the IEP
• How Section 504 can help students with
language disabilities
113
Language Goals
• Two primary goals for language instruction
during the language for learning (L4L) period
– Developing facility with the language structures,
forms, and functions typical of the language in this
developmental stage
– Making the shift from oral to literate forms of
language
114
Language Instruction
• Principles guiding language instruction in this
stage of development:
– Integrating oral and written language
• Language targets can include components of both oral
and written language
• Example for a second-grade student with difficulties in
phonological awareness and pragmatic abilities
• Two examples of how to use narrative language as a
means of integrating oral and written language
115
Language Instruction, continued
– Focus on the metas
• Engaging students on both the concrete and abstract
levels
• Using rehearsal of a performance of a piece of
literature to emphasize different discourse types,
pragmatic abilities, and talking about talking, language,
and thinking
– Narrative discourse
• Dynamic assessment and mediated teaching
• Using a variety of narrative genres
116
Language Instruction, continued
– Nonnarrative (expository) discourses
• Characteristics of nonnarrative discourse
• Graphical schemas as visual organizers
• Key words
– Mathematics discourse
•
•
•
•
Teacher instruction
Reading mathematical symbols
Story problems
Self-talk strategies
117
Methods for Language Instruction
• Recap of methods from Chapter 4:
continuum from teacher directed to
student directed
• Scaffolding
– Example of mediated teaching as a method
for utilizing scaffolding
– Wallach’s narrative development approach
– Westby’s book report sequence
• Whole language as a method of language
118
Settings for Language Instruction
• Classroom settings
– Collaborating or consulting with the speechlanguage clinician (SLP)
– Language-based classrooms
119
Web-Based Instruction
•
•
•
•
Teacher-hosted web pages
Teacher- and state-sponsored networks
Online technologies supporting instruction
Case Western Reserve University’s website
tutorial for teachers
• Internet4Classroom’s web design resources
for teachers
120
Web-Based Instruction, continued
• Websites offering specific language instruction
materials
• LD Online website resources
121
School-Age Children
with Severe Impairments
• Primary goal of language instruction
– Independence in daily living and vocational
settings
– Functional repertoire of communication and
language skills
– Contexts for language instruction
– Published programs for teaching functional
language
– AAC systems and devices
122
Chapter 6
Language Assessment and Instruction
for Adolescents
Language Assessment and
Instruction for Adolescents
• Assessment goals, procedures, and
instruments
– Social discourse with peers and in the classroom
– Literate language abilities
– Skill with the metas
• Standardized measures
– Oral language
– Written language
124
Nonstandardized Assessment
• Semantics
– A rubric for evaluating the student’s knowledge of
the literate lexicon
– Special verb classes
• Factitives
• Nonfactitives
– Word relationships and etymologies
– Evaluating words according to context of use
– Figurative language
125
Nonstandardized Assessment,
continued
• Syntax and morphology
– Assessing through an oral narrative sample
– Three aspects of oral and written syntax
• T-unit length
• Clause density (subordination index)
• High-level, low-frequency structures characteristic of
an advanced literate style
126
Assessing Pragmatics
• Conversational competence
– Larson and McKinley’s assessment procedure
– Two procedures for assessing negotiation
abilities
• Role playing
• Hypothetical situations
– Nelson and Rosenbaum’s procedure for
assessing slang vernacular
127
Assessing Pragmatics, continued
• Discourse genres
– Assessing competence with classroom
discourse
• Observational checklist
• Student self-rating
– Assessing listening skills
• Literal level
• Critical (metalistening) level
– Drawing inferences
128
Assessing Pragmatics, continued
– Retelling complete and complicated narratives
– Summarizing narratives through the use of
cohesive markers
• Cohesive devices used by good writers
– Assessing expository abilities, both oral and
printed
•
•
•
•
Assessing the process of writing as well as the product
A model for assessing written products
Using rubrics to evaluate expository writing
Portfolio assessment
129
Assessing The Meta Level
• Using dynamic assessment to assess
metalinguistic skills
• A set of questions to assess students’
awareness of classroom rules (metapragmatic
aiblity)
• Using Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to
assess metacognitive abilities
130
Language Instruction
• Purposes of language instruction
• Prerequisites for students’ being successful
with compensatory learning strategies
131
Language Instruction, continued
• Semantics
– Focus on the literate lexicon
– Ellis’s five elaboration techniques used to teach
vocabulary
– The Family Learning Association’s six-step
vocabulary development program
– Denver Public School’s Literacy Support Team
– Metalinguistic approaches to semantics
instruction
132
Semantics Instruction, continued
– Web resources for teaching figurative language
133
Syntax and Morphology Instruction
• Syntactic and morphological complexity of
literate language
• Using reading (or reading aloud) as a means to
teach syntax and morphology
• Self-cueing and editing others’ work
134
Pragmatics Instruction
• Conversational competence
– Teaching oral persuasion
– Teaching conversational discourse
– Peer modeling
– Helping students with classroom discourse
• Models of scaffolding
• Graphic organizers
• Role playing
135
Pragmatics Instruction, continued
• Narrative discourse
– Reading good stories
– Scrambling stories for students to reassemble
– Using story frames
– Online resources
– Literature-based rehearsal and performance
– Explicit instruction about story grammars
– Story grammar checklists
– Including cohesive markers
136
Pragmatics Instruction, continued
• Expository discourse
– Teaching the macrostructures of different
expository types
– Teaching students how to understand persuasive
discourse functions
– Teaching students to write expository discourse
• Rubrics
• Online resources
137
Pragmatics Instruction, continued
–Techniques for students with LLD
• Three phases of writing expository text
–The planning stage–generating ideas
–Generating and organizing sentences into
coherent wholes
–Editing their work
138
Instruction for the Metas
• Teaching comprehension monitoring
• Teaching metacognitive skills
139
Secondary Students
with Severe Impairments
• Teaching functional communication and
language skills
– Individualized Transition Plans
– Teaching conversational skills
– Teaching the communication skills needed for
self-advocacy
– Helping students learn the communication
and language skills needed outside school
– Teaching skills needed in independent living
140
contexts
Secondary Students
with Severe Impairments,
continued
• Alternative and Augmentative Communication
(AAC)
– Evaluating the communicative appropriateness
and effectiveness of the AAC systems used by
students in a secondary school environment
– Guidelines for assessing AAC systems needed for a
variety of different communicative situations
– Teacher resources
141
Chapter 7
Reading Concepts and Assessment
Reading Concepts and Assessment
• The increasing achievement gap between
students in general and students with
disabilities (the Matthew effect)
• Challenges in learning to read successfully
• Origins of reading problems
143
Development of Reading
• Early reading
– Three primary concepts guiding reading
instruction
• Phonemic awareness
• Understanding the link between speech sounds and
printed words (alphabetic understanding)
• Automaticity with the phonological/alphabetic code
– Key early reading skills
– The role of phonological and phonemic awareness
144
Initial Reading Skills
• Instruction for early reading skills, which are
prerequisite for initial reading instruction
– Sight vocabulary
– Word analysis skills
– Phonetic analysis
145
Acquiring Broad Reading Skills
• Automatic decoding: rapid reading and the
acquisition of a broader base of skills
• Development of fluency in reading
• Skill in the structural analysis of word forms
• Contextual analysis: the bridge between word
recognition and comprehension
146
Advanced Reading
• Students shift from learning to read to
reading to learn
• Characteristics of reading at this stage
• Focus on comprehension
• Variables affecting comprehension
– Student background, experiences, skills,
motivation
– The content to be read
– The reading purpose
147
Reading Comprehension,
continued
• Three types of comprehension
– Text explicit
– Text implicit
– Script implicit
• Specific comprehension skills for reading
development
148
Refined Contextual Reading
and Life Applications
• Reading independently
• Skills of students at this stage
149
Assessment of Reading
• Using assessment to guide instruction
• Formal tests to obtain quantitative
information
• Advantages and limitations of formal tests
• Survey and diagnostic tests
• Commonly used diagnostic tests
150
Informal Assessment
• Applying the results of informal assessment to
reading instruction
• Advantages of informal assessment
• Informal reading inventories
• Curriculum-based assessment
151
Using Assessment Data
• Using assessment data to
– Identify a reader’s specific problems
– Hypothesize reasons for the problems
– Derive implications that guide instruction
• Summarizing informal diagnostic data
152
Selected Teaching Strategies
• Direct instruction of critical skills for the
different stages of reading development
– Learning stages
– Acquisition learning
– Proficiency learning
– Generalization learning
• Specific recommendations for teachers to
provide effective instructional programs
153
Selected Teaching Strategies,
continued
– Provide incentives
– Foster cooperation
– Focus on using reading to teach reading
– Shift from oral to silent reading
– Allow sufficient time
– Group students effectively
– Use scaffolding
– Continue instruction at the secondary level
– Promote home–school cooperation
154
Chapter 8
Reading Instruction
Reading Instruction
• Bottom-up (decoding) and top-down (holistic)
approaches
• Phonemic awareness
– Rationale for teaching phonemic awareness
– General recommendations for teaching
phonological awareness
• Four elements of word recognition and
analysis
156
Word Recognition
1. Sight word identification
•
•
•
•
•
•
Automaticity
Strategies for promoting recognition and recall of
sight words
Using word banks
Fernald’s multisensory method
The Edmark program
Helping students build a functional reading
vocabulary
157
Word Recognition, continued
2. Phonetic analysis
•
•
•
Importance of phonics instruction
Balancing phonics instruction with other instructional
approaches
Teaching phonics skills
– Analytic phonics
– Synthetic phonics
– Teaching consonants first, then vowels
158
Word Recognition, continued
3. Structural analysis
•
•
•
•
•
Morphemic analysis
Syllabication
Teaching compound words
Teaching affixes
Contractions
4. Contextual analysis
•
•
Provides semantic and syntactic cues to help identify
words
159
The cloze procedure
Word Recognition, continued
– Combining word recognition strategies
• Steps to follow in teaching students to combine word
recognition strategies
• DISSECT
160
Vocabulary
• Importance of developing a strong vocabulary
• Approaches to enhancing vocabulary
development
161
Fluency
• Definition of fluency
• Repeated readings
– Steps in using multiple oral reading approach
– Cautions in using repeated readings to promote
reading achievement
162
Comprehension
• Definition
• Specific levels of comprehension
• The eight kinds of comprehension instruction
most likely to be effective and promising
• Holistic programs
– Key concepts
– Specific activities
– The language experience approach (LEA)
163
Comprehension, continued
• Teacher-directed questioning strategies
– Directed reading/thinking activity (DRTA)
• Student-directed strategies
– Why students need strategies to understand
expository text
– Comprehension monitoring (self-questioning)
• Importance of self-questioning in comprehension
• Features characteristic of comprehension monitoring
• The Reads-It approach
164
Comprehension, continued
– Other student-directed strategies
• RAP
• SQ3R
• Collaborative reading
• Graphic organizers
– The value of graphic organizers
– Semantic mapping
165
Students with Significant
Disabilities
• Specific considerations for teaching reading to
students with significant disabilities
166
Commercial Reading Programs
• Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program for
Reading, Spelling, and Speech
• Phonological Awareness Training for Reading
• Edmark Reading Program
• Gillingham-Stillman Remedial Reading Manual
• Reading Mastery Program
• SRS Corrective Reading Program
• Basal Readers
167
Chapter 9
Handwriting Assessment and
Instruction
Handwriting Assessment and
Instruction
• Definition, history, and importance of
handwriting
• Trends in handwriting
– Effect of technological advances
– Emphasis on the process of writing
– Renewed attention to handwriting instruction
– Teaching handwriting skills in isolation or context
169
The Nature of Handwriting
• The complexity of the mechanics of
handwriting
• Perceptual–motor skills required for
handwriting
• Handwriting development in children
– Continuous curvy lines
– Series of circles or straight lines or both
170
Handwriting Development,
continued
• Five levels of early handwriting development
171
Sequence of Skills
• From prewriting to skilled written expression
• The developmental sequence of handwriting
skills
• Patterns of development
– Basic prewriting skills
• Proper posture
• Proper pencil grip
• How to recognize and form uppercase and lowercase
manuscript letters
172
Sequence of Skills, continued
– Refining of manuscript writing and beginnings of
the forming of some cursive letters
– Cursive writing
– Written expression
• Sample handwriting at different grade levels
173
Assessment of Handwriting
• Common assessment methods: analysis of
errors in
– Letter formation
– Spacing
– Slant
– Line quality
– Letter size and alignment
– Writing rate
174
Handwriting Assessment,
continued
• Formal assessment
– Limited number of formal assessment instruments
specifically designed to assess handwriting skills
– Some general achievement tests include subtests
that measure handwriting skills
• Limitations of handwriting scales
– Small sample sizes
– Inadequate or missing information about
reliability
175
Handwriting Assessment,
continued
– Lack of differentiating between male and
female handwriting
• Specific scales
• Informal assessments
– Student work developed in natural settings,
especially the classroom
– A hierarchy of handwriting skills
– Most common forms of illegibilities
– Elements of legibility
176
Handwriting Assessment,
continued
– Examples of informal evaluation tools
177
Remediating and Teaching
Handwriting Skills
• Use of commercial teaching programs
– Some popular programs
– Scant evidence supporting any particular one
• Some instructional principles for teaching
handwriting
178
Handwriting and the
Whole Language Curriculum
• Incorporation of handwriting in the whole
language curriculum
• Decline of handwriting instruction tied to the
decline in the use of the whole language
approach
179
Manuscript versus Cursive Writing
• No one best method for teaching students to
write
• Manuscript generally taught first
– History
– Advantages of teaching manuscript first
– Advantages of teaching cursive first
180
Alternatives to Manuscript and
Cursive
•
•
•
•
D’Nealian Handwriting Program
Mixed Script Approach
Slanted Approach
Typing/Keyboarding
181
Instructional Activities
• Readiness skills
– Primary objectives
• Developing handedness
• Developing visual–motor skills
– Prerequisite skills for beginning formal
handwriting instruction
– Activities
182
Instructional Activities, continued
• Beginning to write
– Pencil grip
– Posture
– Activities for integrating visual motor skills into
prerequisite writing skills
– Questions and supports for handwriting
development
183
Instructional Activities, continued
• Manuscript writing
– Letters to focus on in initial instruction
– Steps and guidelines for students to follow
• Cursive writing
– Grouping letters into shape categories
– Steps and guidelines for students to follow
– Practice in penmanship
184
Instructional Activities, continued
• Handwriting programs
– Common characteristics of effective programs
– Guidelines to follow regardless of program
– Guidelines for parents to follow in
encouraging handwriting practice at home
• Remedial programs
– Individualizing based on strengths and
weaknesses
– Guidelines to follow for students with
disabilities
185
Instructional Activities, continued
• Left-handedness
– Incidence in the U.S.
– Unique challenges faced by left-handed writers
– Modifications for left-handed writers
186
Chapter 10
Spelling Assessment and Instruction
Spelling Assessment and
Instruction
• English orthography
– Definition
– Phoneme–grapheme relationships in English
– Five principles governing the regularity of English
spelling
– Two approaches to teaching spelling
• Rule based
• Word study
188
Spelling Assessment and
Instruction, continued
• Differences in spellers
– Two types of individuals with difficulties in
spelling
– Characteristics of proficient spellers
– Characteristics of less fluent spellers
– Difficulty of remedying spelling difficulties
• Development of spelling skills
– Models of spelling development
– Characteristic development of spelling in
students with learning disabilities
189
Spelling Assessment and
Instruction, continued
• Assessment
– Formal assessment
• Purposes of assessment
• How student performance is affected by the manner in
which the test is structured
• Current tests that include spelling subtests
• The Test of Written Spelling-4
190
Spelling Assessment and
Instruction, continued
– Informal assessment
• Error analysis
• Observations and clinical interviews
• Spelling error analysis chart
– Criterion-referenced tests
• Published CRTs
• Informal spelling inventories
• Progress monitoring
191
Instructional Approaches
• Purpose of spelling instruction
– Principles for teaching spelling to students with
learning disabilities
– Seven common effective practices
• Traditional approaches
– Traditional approach may not be effective for
students with disabilities
– Importance of adapting and modifying
commercial spelling texts
192
Instructional Approaches
• Remedial approaches
– Curriculum modifications for implementing
remedial programs
– Multisensory approaches
– Linguistic approaches
• Rule-based, bottom-up instruction
• Direct teacher instruction
193
Instructional Approaches,
continued
– Word study approaches
• Top-down instruction
• Principles for using a word study approach to
instruction
• The importance of combining a word study approach
with explicit strategy instruction
194
Instructional Approaches,
continued
– Word lists
• Determining which words are important to learn to
spell
• Categories of word lists
– Fixed lists
– Flow lists
– Cognitive approaches
• Specific instructional strategies
– Corrected-test method
– Study–test versus test-study-test method
195
Instructional Approaches,
continued
– Instructional cues
• Identifying the student’s specific spelling difficulties
• Using configuration
– Mnemonic devices
– Motivational techniques
– Computer-assisted instruction
– Detecting and correcting errors
• Activities for teaching proofreading
• Specific dictionary skills
196
Instructional Approaches,
continued
• Self-regulation and learning strategy
instruction
– Five ways to foster students’ self-regulation in
spelling
– Cover, copy, and compare
• Study skills
– Guidelines for teaching study skills
197
Chapter 11
Written Expression
Written Expression
• Recent research on written language
• Challenges for students, including
students with disabilities
• Aspects of written expression
– Formulation
– Syntax
• General considerations in developing a
writing instruction program for students
with disabilities
199
Stages of Written Language
• Prewriting: a planning stage
– Input
– Motivation
– Purpose
• Narrative (expressive)
• Informative (functional)
• Persuasive (functional)
200
Stages of Written Language,
continued
• Writing stage: drafting (transcribing)
– Vocabulary acquisition and word usage
(semantics)
– Sentence structure (syntax and morphology)
– Paragraph development (transitioning to wellwritten compositions or reports)
– Organizational development
201
Stages of Written Language,
continued
• Postwriting stage
– Editing structure
– Revising content
202
Assessment
• Emphases of assessment
– Assessing composition
– Assessing through indirect measures
– Assessment of process
– Assessment through holistic rating
• Formal assessment
– Subtests of achievement and diagnostic tests
– Test of Written Language (TOWL-3)
203
Assessment, continued
• Informal assessment
– ASCD’s qualities of writing to be assessed
• Prewriting considerations
– Student’s experiential background
– Prewriting skills
– Motivation and readiness for writing
• Writing fluency
– Words per sentence
– Types of sentences used
204
Assessment, continued
• Vocabulary
– Type–token ratio
– Use of unique words
• Syntactical analysis
– Specific skills
– Trends in error patterns
205
Assessment, continued
• Content assessment
– Questions to guide assessment of content
– Assessment of logical flow
– Assessment rubrics
– Portfolios
– Learning-to-learn strategies related to writing
• Postwriting assessment
– Questions guiding postwriting
206
Instructional Strategies
• Commitment to student success
• Relationship to general education curriculum
• Prewriting strategies
– Stimulation of students’ ideas
– Motivating students to write from their own
interests
207
Instructional Strategies, continued
– Steps to follow
•
•
•
•
Help students set the purpose for their writing
Specific strategies from NAEP
Questions for setting the purpose
Questions for functional writing
• Writing/drafting strategies
– General considerations
• Author role
• Secretarial role
208
Writing/drafting strategies,
continued
• A supports model for students with disabilities
• Using selective feedback
– Developing initial writing skills
•
•
•
•
Conducive atmosphere
Language experience approach (LEA)
Relating functional writing to specific purposes
Keeping first assignments short
– Developing vocabulary
• Goals of vocabulary instruction
• Reducing the stress of spelling
209
Writing/drafting strategies,
continued
– Sentence development
• Patterned sentence guides and structures
• Sentence extension/sentence combining
– Paragraph development
•
•
•
•
•
•
Elements to emphasize
Beginning with brief, functional writing tasks
Letter writing
Paraphrasing
Graphic organizers
Go For IT…NOW
210
Writing/drafting strategies,
continued
– Composition writing considerations
• Myklebust-Johnson stage model
–
–
–
–
Concrete–descriptive
Concrete–imaginative
Abstract–descriptive
Abstract–imaginative
• Methods for encouraging student expression
– Composition strategy training
• Story grammar strategies
• Self-regulated strategy development model
• Models using mnemonics
211
Writing/drafting strategies,
continued
• Postwriting strategies: revising and editing
– Selling students on the concept of the working
draft
– Self-evaluation questions to guide students in
revising and editing
– Organizing postwriting instructional exercises
• COPS
• REVISE
• Peer review and feedback
212
Chapter 12
Adolescents with Language Disabilities
Adolescents with Language
Disabilities
• Overview
– Impact of language disabilities on adolescents
– Importance of language skills for postsecondary
educational success
• The nature of adolescence
– Cultural variations
– Number of U.S. adolescents in grades 9–12
214
Adolescence
– Definition of adolescence
• Period between childhood and adulthood
• Shift in emotional maturity
• Beginning and end of adolescence
–
–
–
–
–
–
Puberty
Chronological age
Economic and/or emotional independence
Beginning to work and be free of parental sanctions
Questions to help define beginning and end of adolescence
Subcategories of adolescence
215
Adolescence, continued
– Tasks associated with adolescence
• Significant tasks associated with adolescence
• How the presence of a disability affects these tasks
216
Characteristics of Adolescence
•
•
•
•
Sexual maturation
Physical development
Moral development
Challenges created by rapid growth and sexual
maturation
• Responses to appearances, actions, and/or feelings
• Emotional responses
• Influence of peers
217
Characteristics of Adolescents
with Disabilities
• Comparisons with students without
disabilities
• Academic deficits
• Social skills deficits
– Types of disabilities affected
– Lack of peer acceptance
• Motivation problems
• Behavior problems
218
Characteristics of Adolescents
with Disabilities, continued
• General problems facing adolescents
–
–
–
–
Suicide and suicidal ideation
Drug and alcohol abuse
Teen pregnancy and other problems
School demands
• Language problems and interventions with
adolescents
219
Adolescents with
Language Disabilities
– Receptive language
• How a difficulty in this area affects adolescents in
school
• Reading
– Importance of teaching reading at the
secondary level
– Students’ reading vocabulary
– Woodward and Peters’ list of frequently used
content terms
– Using SQ3R with secondary students
– Literacy strategies
• Listening and attention
220
Adolescents with
Language Disabilities, continued
– Expressive language
• Written expression
– Teaching written expression in steps
– Isolated skills approach
– Holistic approach
• Spelling
• Handwriting
• Oral expression: Using Quick-Talks
– Expressive vocabulary: Activities
– Pragmatics: Examples of activities to promote
pragmatics
221
Adolescents with
Language Disabilities, continued
• General instructional considerations with
adolescents
– Student motivation
• Role of family and peers
– Curricular options
• Alternative curricular options
– Remediation
– Maintenance
– Functionality
222
Adolescents with
Language Disabilities, continued
– Study skills
• Commonly used study skills and their significance for
learning
– Accommodations
• Teacher efforts to modify the learning environment
– Advanced organizers
– Post-organizers
223
Adolescents with
Language Disabilities, continued
• General school survival skills
– “Teacher-pleasing behaviors”
– Six survival skills secondary students need
– Activities to teach school survival skills
224