Communication Disorder Handout
Nick C., Alex L., Jackie S.
Important Things for General Education Teachers to Remember
There may be language differences in a child’s speech that are not disorders! English is a language with many different dialects and they must be recognized and respected! Because teachers lack knowledge of different dialects they will often misdiagnose students with communicative disorders. Teachers must keep in mind these two important principles:
1.
If a child can communicate in their language community they don’t have a speech/language disorder.
How to teach students to value their dialects (from bottom of page 270)
1.
Take students cultural values and learning style into account.
2.
Ask for help from colleagues, parents, and others if necessary.
3.
View the student in the naturalistic context of the classroom.
4.
Know the features of the community’s dialects (speech teachers have knowledge of this).
5.
Take the student’s dialect into account.
6.
Use the least biased tools for assessment.
Expectations for General Education Teachers
1.
Affirm students with modeling and recasting of utterances.
2.
Showing empathy and patience.
3.
Modeling good academic and social language.
4.
Be able to recognize potential speech disorders.
Strategies for General Education Teachers
1.
Facilitate Discussion a.
Give adequate time for student response. b.
Make sure all students given opportunity to speak. c.
What to do if a student doesn’t want to speak?
2.
Use of patterned phrases
3.
Small Group work
4.
Socio-dramatic role playing
5.
Affirm students by modeling or recasting.
6.
Utilize your help!

Communication Disorder Handout
Nick C., Alex L., Jackie S.
7.
Collaboration with a speech-language pathologist.
8.
Question-asking strategies: changing the format of the question into words more suitable for the student to understand
9.
Focus on social use of language: Make sure students understand that school language is different from home language, but that their home languages are still important to maintain.
10.
Be patient: Allow students to complete their thought when speaking, even if there are disfluencies, etc.
11.
Use/integrate personal narratives in communication because it helps children organize and remember events, shaping their understanding
Online Resources for Dealing with Communication Disorders
1.
http://www.asha.org/ - The American Speech-Language- Hearing Assosciation. Great website for Articles and FAQ’s on communication disorders.
2.
http://www.talkingchild.com/ - Great website for speech development resources and developmental charts.
3.
http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/ - Good site directed toward parents. Explains the complexity of speech disorders in an easy to understand manner and provides parents with speech development techniques that can be used at home.
Resources for I-Pads
1.
Articulation Station Pro- This is an articulation app which helps students produce correct speech sounds using real photographs of objects and functions. Allows students to create their own personal narratives and progress to differing levels of articulation competence.
2.
ArtikPics- This articulation app helps students target speech sounds using picture cards.
Take-aways
1.
“Current trends are directed toward providing speech and language interventions in the typical environments of young children. This means that classroom teachers and speech language pathologists must develop a close working relationship.” P. 289
2.
“Classroom teachers are in a particularly good position to identify possible language related problems and to request help from a communication specialist.” P. 290
3.
Early intervention is critical!
4.
Interventions “must consider the content, form, social context, and use of language.” P.
285

Communication Disorder Handout
Nick C., Alex L., Jackie S.
Visual Overview of Speech and Language issues in children:
Impairs the ability to transmit or receive ideas, facts, feelings, and desires, and may involve language or speech or both, including hearing, listening, reading, or writing .
problems in comprehension and expression
impairments in production and use of oral language
Form of Language-
Phonology, morphology, syntax
(rules and organization of language)
Content of Language-
Semantics (attached meaning/concepts of words)
Content of Language-
Pragmatics (using language for social purposes)
Articulation Disorder:
The absence of or incorrect production of speech sounds
(e.g. lisp, difficulty articulating certain sounds)
Fluency Disorder
(Speech Disorder): interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and repetitions in sounds (e.g. stuttering)
Voice Disorder
(Speech Disorder):
The absence of voice or presence of abnormal quality, pitch, resonance, loudness, or duration