Emily Leak
Annotated Bibliography
Benner, G. J., Nelson, J. R., & Epstein, M. H. (2002). Language skills of children with EBD: A
literature review. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10(1), 43-56.
The authors performed a literature review to look at the relationship between
expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language deficits and EBD. Several charts were
included that outlined the results of 26 studies. Of the 26 studies, 2,358 children had a
diagnosis of EBD and 438 were without EBD. Furthermore, of the 2,358, 136 had been
formally identified with EBD based on federal and state special education criteria. The
remaining, 2,222 children met established DSM criteria for EBD. Overall, the authors
concluded that there is a relationship between EBD and language disorders. The
literature review also suggested that a higher amount of children were identified with
having a language disorder when using less stringent criteria (using only 1 language
measure).
There were several concerns raised when reviewing this article. The first is the
inconsistency of the population that was studied. The 26 studies that were reviewed,
were inconsistent with reporting of gender, race, SES, and IQ. Another inconsistency
observed was the criteria used to determine language deficits. Of the 26 studies that
were reviewed, the mean prevalence rates for language deficits varied from 69% 6o
83% and were contingent upon the number of language measures used. A third
inconsistency observed was that the authors surmised that language deficits and EBD
was relatively stable over time. This suggests that therapy does not help with language
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or EBD. The limitations of the study were that no causal link could be discovered
through the literature review between EBD and language disorders. However, the
authors suggested further research could be performed in this area. Overall, this
article didn’t give supportive information on how they arrived at the statistics that
were reported.
Bruce, B., & Hansson, K. (2008). Early communication skills; Improtant in screening for language
impairment and neuropsychiatric disorders. Current Pediatric Reviews, 4, 53-57.
This article gives support as to why communication skills need to be screened at an
early age. This article is most appropriate for pediatricians, nurses, and early
interventionists who come in contact with young children. The article also cautions
that communication growth is robust but varies in timing. The authors suggest some
factors that can predict the future language development of the child: first, heredity
for language impairment, second, early signs of deficiencies in higher order
processing, and third, early deficiencies of cognitive behavior such as symbolic plan
and interactive skills. The interesting part of the article is where the authors state that
there is a high comorbidity between neuropsychiatric disorders and language
impairment. They further state that communication should be used as a tool to
stimulate language growth.
Gable, R. A., Bullock, L. M., & Evans, W. H. (2006). Changing perspectives on alternative
schooling for children and adolescents with challenging behaviors. Preventing School
Failure, 51(1), 5-9.
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This article began by looking at a historical perspective of alternative schooling for
children. They concluded that current discipline policies have not changed
significantly over the past 200 years. They further looked at the major issues that
surround children and adolescents who fail to exhibit acceptable behavior that allows
them to remain in a tradition school setting. Several facts are pointed out within this
article. First, a large portion of teacher’s time is dedicated to student compliance instead
of teacher accommodations. Another fact that was pointed out was that the drop-out
rate among students with disabilities is twice that of the general education population.
In the 1960s and 1970s a shift in program emphasis occurred. Programs begin to put
emphasis on education as a way to impact the life circumstances of troubled youth.
The authors suggest that alternative schools can be classified into 3 types but that there
is data to support that there are 6 core characteristics of alternative schools that are
essential. The essential characteristics are: comprehensive evaluation and referral
system; an educational program that is real world; programming that promotes social,
emotional, and behavioral change; ongoing staff training; and transition services back
to less restrictive schools. This article reinforces the idea of social skills training.
When conducting research, I want to find a program or school that is closely aligned
with these essential attributes.
Hill, J. W., & Coufal, K. L. (2005). Emotional/behavioral disorders: A retrospective examination
of social skills, linguistics, and student outcomes. Communication Disorders Quarterly,
27(33), 33-48. doi:10.01177/15257401050270010401
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The authors looked at a long-standing social skills instructional program for students at a
day program. All students were identified as having a language disorder. The purpose
of the study was to determine why a social skills program only produces weak results .
The authors suggest that there is a need for speech language pathologist to be more
involved in research in this area. In addition, they suggest that that the whole child
needs to be considered. Specifically, the linguistic deficits and needs of a child must be
compared with behavioral needs of the child. This study was an ex post facto threegroup survey which looked at change over time in the measurement of disruptive
behavior using past year and final year totals for disruptive behaviors. Results indicated
that those students in the program for more than 3 years had a reduction in disruptive
behaviors and those with less time in the program were not prepared for unsupervised
transition back to a less restrictive public school setting.
Overall, no new information was obtained. However, the specific language used in the
social skills program was questioned. The authors suggested that the verb used in the
program were potentially too difficult to in comparison to the child’s language ability. It
was recommended that simpler language should be used in the program.
Hyter, Y. D. (2003). Language intervention for children with emotional or behavioral disorders.
Behavioral Disorders, 29(1), 65-76.
This article was very interesting to me as a speech-language pathologist. This article
reported the research findings when a collaborative, classroom based, prevention
focused model was used with two children at risk for EBD. The article outlines specific
steps used for the focus of treatment by the SLP. The article summarizes the treatment
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outcomes as being successful because of 6 basic principles. The principles include a
cohesive intervention plan, collaboration between all people involved with the child at
risk, recognizing that the child’s caregivers are primary agents of change, the
intervention was child lead, intervention was embedding in naturally occurring contexts,
and using the child and his peers as communication partners. It is interesting to note,
which contradicts other research, is that neither of the children in the study (although the
sample was very limited) had an expressive or receptive language disorder that was
identified by the formal screening that was administered prior to intervention.
Lane, K.L., Wehby, J., & Barton-Arwood, S.M. (2005). Students with and at risk for emotional
and behavioral disorders: Meeting their social and academic needs. Preventing School
Failure, 49(2), 6-9.
This article provided very useful information about EBD students and their needs in the
areas of social skills and academics. The authors reported statistical information about
the incidence of EBD in the school age population. They reported that 1% of school age
children received special education services under the label of EBD and that researchers
estimate that 2%-4% of students could qualify for EBD services. Other disorders
associated with EBD are oppositional disorder and conduct disorder occur between 2%16% of the school age population. The authors identified that students with the label of
EBD have limited social skills and perform poorly in the area of academics. They
further state that the purpose of the article is to give teachers and parents specific
instructions about social skills programs. The article did not outline specific programs
but instead it referenced specific programs. These are very interesting and need further
investigation. One thing the authors pointed out which will be critical to my research is
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that they looked at the lack of success in social skills training (SST) programs and
concluded that the missing components were lack of teacher and parent input as to the
critical social skills targets and a lack of generalization of newly learned skills outside
the clinical setting.
Quinn, M. M., Kavale, K. A., Sarup, R. M., Rutherford, R. B. J., & Forness, S. R. (1999). A
meta-analysis of social skill interventions for students. Journal of Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders 7(1), 54-64.
This article is a meta-analysis of social skill interventions. This means that the authors
looked at the research literature and provided a synthesis of the results and further
provided a quantitative analysis to determine the effectiveness of a given intervention.
The authors analyzed the results of established social skill interventions versus
experimental social skills programs. No greater impact was made using an established
program. The authors then looked at the duration of the social skills intervention (more
than 12 weeks versus less than 12 weeks) and found no great impact of effectiveness.
The research quality was also analyzed in the 35 studies and no significant difference
found in the quality of the studies. No significant difference was found to impact the
effectiveness of treatment when the variable of age was considered. On significance that
was identified was that social skills training reduced anxiety. Lower than average
impact was discovered on measures of problem behaviors, measures of disruptive
behavior, and measures of aggression. This implies that social skills training may be
more effective for promoting prosocial behaviors.
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There are two main limitations pointed out by the authors. First, is the definition of
EBD. Each of the 35 studies in the quantitative analysis had varying definitions of
EBD. Second, this article is a meta-analysis and is a synthesis of other studies.
Therefore, the weaknesses of the other 35 studies will carry over into this study. Results
of this meta-analysis suggest that social skills training in small groups do not yield high
results. Furthermore, results also suggest that social skills training may have a greater
impact when it is more customized to the particular individual with social deficits.
Rinaldi, C. (2003). Language competence and social behavior of students with emotional or
behavior disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 29(1), 34-42.
This article discussed the prevalence of expressive language deficits that were
secondarily associated with social incompetency. The research indicated that not only
were there social language deficits prevalent in children with EBD but that there were
underlying difficulties of using and understanding language which were misinterpreted
by adults as noncompliant behavior. The authors suggested that the expressive language
difficulties compound the child’s thought processes, behavior control, and social
interactions. The authors also reported that 7% -10% of the school age population have
a language disability. The authors also stated that 55%- 83% of a sample of children
served in a day or residential treatment scored at least 1 standard deviation from the
mean on a pragmatic language test. This needs to be interpreted with caution. In
general, children do not qualify for speech language services unless the test shows a
significant delay (at least 2 standard deviations from the mean) in a particular area
tested. Their study looked at 4th and 5th graders that were given social skills rating test
(by the teacher), a formal language assessment and a formal pragmatic language
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assessment. There results concluded that there is a relationship between a language
deficit and a pragmatic language deficit. Once again, caution needs to be used when
using these results. The Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL) was used to assess the
child’s pragmatic language use. One source of research (Russell & Grizzle, 2008) ranks
pragmatic tests according to 6 core areas that are essential for valid pragmatic testing.
The TOPL did not assess the entire 6 core areas. This article is useful in the fact that it
outlines the assessment procedure that needs to include a formal language test, a
pragmatic language test, and a teacher given questionnaire.
Russell, R. L., & Grizzle, K. L. (2008). Assessing child and adolescent pragmatic language
competencies: Toward evidence-based assessments. Clinical Child & Family Psychology
Review, 11, 58-73.
These authors of this article performed a factor analysis of pragmatic language tests,
subtests, and questionnaires to determine the following: 1) Can the PLC (pragmatic
language competency) domains targeted by individual assessment items be reliably
identified? 2) What are the core PLC domains that are most commonly assessed by
checklists/questionnaires and tests? 3) What is the relationship between the salience of
PLC domains in tests/tasks versus checklists/questionnaires? And 4) what degree of
content, structural, diagnostic and ecological validity do the PLC assessment instruments
currently have? These questions were probed because they believe that the co morbidity
rates between language disorders and psychiatric disorders would actually be higher
than have previously been assessed and reported. The authors conclude that there are 17
critical domains that need to be assessed. They are nonverbal communication; discourse
attentiveness and empathy; speech characteristics and fluency; rituals, greetings, and
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goodbyes; vocabulary; comprehensibility; conversational turn taking; topic control and
maintenance; requests; speech acts; syntax/grammar; interlocutor variety; negotiations,
directions, and instructions; Theory of mind and emotion language; narrative; nonliteral
language, use of indirection, and presupposition; and Gricean principles. This article
will be important to my research when I begin choosing a test or tests to give students to
determine their pragmatic abilities.
Whitted, K. S. (2011). Understanding how social and emotional skill deficits contribute to school
failure. Preventing School Failure, 55(1), 10-16. doi:10.1080/10459880903286755
The author of this article starts the article by giving statistics about the number of
children entering kindergarten without the skills needed for school. The article goes
beyond the typical academic concepts and addresses social and emotional readiness for
school. The author attributes relationships as the foundation for social and emotional
development and growth but states that in the absence of a good model, teachers can
teach these skills. The role of a social skills program has shown improvement in
behavior and academic performance of elementary school students. The author
addresses four areas that need to be taught when implementing a social skills program:
management of feelings, empathy skills, problem-solving skills, and self-control. The
primary limitations of this article are that 1) a formal study was not conducted to get
these results. This information was based on literature and research review and 2) the
social skills programs were for the general population. Children with specials needs and
a social skills program were not discussed.
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Overall this article is useful for basic information. It gives a foundation for a social
skills program to be built upon. It also points out that a well-built social skills program
provides teachers with classroom management strategies, how to build positive
relationships with students, and recognizes that promoting social and emotional skills is
a critical component for classroom success.