Receptive Expressive Language Disorders Overview Bonnie S Greenspan

Receptive & Expressive Language Disorders Overview Bonnie S. Greenspan, M. S. CCC-SLP Cathleen Kussin, M. S. Ed. , CCC-SLP

What do Speech-Language Pathologists do?

What is Receptive Language:

What is Receptive Language: • The understanding of language “input. ” This includes the understanding of both words and gestures. • Receptive language is more than just vocabulary skills. It involves one’s ability to interpret a question as a question, to understand concepts like “on, ” or accurately interpret complex grammatical forms. • Areas of Receptive Language Include: – – – – Understanding vocabulary Understanding word classes Knowledge of linguistic concepts Following directions Semantic Relationships Understanding questions Story Comprehension Making inferences in listening comprehension

What is Processing Speed:

What is Processing Speed: • Processing speed is the pace at which you take in information, make sense of it and begin to respond. This information can be visual, such as letters and numbers. It can also be auditory, such as spoken language. • It may take someone who struggles with processing speed a lot longer than others to perform tasks, both school-related and in daily life. • Saying too many things at once can also pose a challenge. If you give multiple-step directions, a student with slow processing speed may not follow all of them. Having slow processing speed makes it difficult to digest all that information quickly enough to finish the task.

What Delayed Processing Speed Looks Like: • Students may have difficulties with the following: – – – – Finishing tests in the allotted time Finishing homework in the expected time frame Listening or taking notes when a teacher is speaking Reading and taking notes Solving simple math problems in their head Completing multi-step math problems in the allotted time Doing written projects that require details and complex thoughts Keeping up with conversations

Strategies to Use with Delayed Processing Speed • • • When presenting information, make sure you are engaging the student. Establish eye contact. Speak slowly Allow additional time for the student to process and recall information. Tap into the child's prior knowledge regularly to help the child make meaningful connections. Use wait-time rather than repetition Check-in periodically to ensure student understands instructions Have the student repeat directions to you to ensure their understanding. Be sure student understands that he or she can request clarification. Break your tasks into CHUNKS, especially those requiring auditory attention. Reduce pressure whenever possible and observe the child as much as possible to ensure that understanding is in check.

What is Expressive Language:

What is Expressive Language: • Simply put, it is the “output” of language- how one expresses his or her wants and needs. • This includes not only words, but also the grammar rules that dictate how words are combined into phrases, sentences and paragraphs, as well as the use of gestures and facial expressions. • Areas of expressive language include: – – – – – morphology (word structure- internal organization of words) syntax (word order-grammar rules) semantics (meaning and content of words) use of vocabulary word retrieval oral narratives/writing conversation skills pragmatics facial expressions gestures

Tasks in Speech This Year • Journal writing • Idiom of the week

Classroom Strategies for Receptive/Expressive Language Disorders • Use a multi-modal teaching approach (i. e. , verbal, visual). • Reduce distractions in the classroom by having a clean teaching space. • Repetition and wait-time. Understand that some students have delayed processing and benefit more from wait-time rather than repetition. • Chunking of information • Pre-teaching vocabulary • Providing study guides • Check for understanding

What is Pragmatic Language: • Pragmatics refers to the social language skills we use in our daily interactions with others. They include what we say, how we say it, our body language and whether it is appropriate to the given situation. • Pragmatic skills are vital for communicating our personal thoughts, ideas and feelings. Children, adolescents and adults with poor pragmatic skills often misinterpret other’s communicative intent and have difficulty responding appropriately either verbally or non-verbally.

Examples of Pragmatic Skills: Conversational skills • Asking for, giving and responding to information • Turn-taking • Eye contact • Introducing and maintaining topics • Making relevant contributions to a topic • Asking questions • Avoiding repetitious/redundant information • Asking for clarification • Adjusting language based on situation • Using language of a given peer group • Using humor • Using appropriate strategies for gaining attention and interrupting • Asking for help or offering help appropriately • Offering/responding to expressions of affection appropriately

Examples of Pragmatic Skills: Non-Verbal Communication • Facial expression • Body language • Intonation of voice • Body distance and personal space

Classroom Strategies to Promote Appropriate Pragmatic Skills • Help students develop self-awareness • Question to raise awareness/Indirect prompts • Perspective-taking • Supportive feedback on positive social models • Use group activities which require turntaking

What is Executive Functioning: • Executive functions are necessary for goal-directed behavior. When we use the phrase “executive functioning skills, ” we are describing a set of cognitive skills that control and regulate other behaviors and abilities. Our thought processes influence attention, memory and motor skills. • Executive functioning skills help us to: – learn and retrieve information – plan, organize, manage our time – see potential outcomes and act accordingly When these processes work without difficulty, our brains do these tasks automatically, often without our awareness.

When Executive Functioning Skills are not intact… • It may be difficult to plan and carry out tasks. The student may seem unable to sustain attention and feel overwhelmed by situations others find easier to navigate. • Increasing executive functioning skills will enable him to become a more organized, less stressed and less frustrated individual as he grows into a world of everincreasing pressures.

When Executive Functioning Skills are not intact… Student may have: – Slow processing speed – Weak stamina – Problems dealing with frustration – Poor self-awareness – Difficulty with sustained attention – Poor organization and planning – – – Limited motivation Poor goal directed actions Impaired attention Poor self-regulation Poor time management Difficulties with word finding

Classroom Strategies for Executive Functioning • The 90 -90 Rule: A good rule of thumb in teaching students who are anxious, discouraged, defiant or have serious memory problems is the 90 -90 Rule: – Ask the student to perform (i. e. , answer a question) only if you are at least 90% certain that the student will be successful. – Make certain that the student is successful in at least 90% of “performances” over the course of the day.

Executive Functioning Scripts: The following is a general outline of how people achieve success when tasks are difficult. It is our job to plant this template into the heads of the students because they face more difficult tasks than students without learning differences. 1. GOAL: What is the goal? What are you trying to achieve? What do you want to have happen? What’s it going to look like when you’re done? 2. PLAN: So what’s the plan? What do we need to do? Do you need help? Do you want to do it as a team? Do you think that plan will work? 3. DO: Solving problem along the way or revising the plan. 4. REVIEW: How did it work out? What worked? What didn’t work? Why? What are you going to try next time? Goal, Plan, Do, Review

Other Areas We Target: • Articulation • Dysarthria • Fluency • Voice

Articulation • The formation of clear and distinct sounds in speech.

What is Speech Production: • “He can talk fine. He doesn’t need speech. ” • It is important to make the distinction here between expressive language and speech production. • Speech production relates to the formulation of individual speech sounds using one’s lips, teeth, and tongue. This is separate from one’s ability to formulate thoughts that are expressed using the appropriate word or combination of words.

Dysarthria • Condition in which the muscles used for speech are weak or the individual has difficulty controlling them. Dysarthria often is characterized by slurred or slow speech that can be difficult to understand.

Strategies for Dysarthria or Oral. Motor Disorders • Increase awareness • Model precise articulatory movements - overemphasize your articulation. • Encourage student to demonstrate precise articulatory movements

Fluency • A communication disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by repetitions (li-li-li-like this), prolongations (lllllllike this) or abnormal stoppages (blocks) of sounds and syllables.

Strategies for Fluency Disorders Do Do Not • Model a reduced rate of speech • Encourage student to use easy onset (gentle voicing and articulatory contact) • Provide student with uninterrupted speaking time • Attempt to finish a student’s thought • Tell him or her to push through it

Voice • Abnormal production and/or absences of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration which is inappropriate for an individual's age and/or sex.

Strategies for Voice Disorders • Check for understanding of appropriate volume versus too loud/too soft. • Provide verbal cues when student deviates from appropriate volume. • Visuals of appropriate vocal control in order to promote generalization of skills.

Questions?