Smoother Sailing:
Practical Strategies for
Accelerating the Acquisition of
Spoken Language in Preschoolers
Kameron Carden, MA, CCC/SLP
Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind
Learning Objectives
 Identify practical strategies to improve listening and
spoken language service delivery to preschoolers who are
deaf/hard of hearing
 Describe Modeling and Imitation
 Demonstrate understanding of Modeling and Imitation
through practical application exercises
 List types of assessments that are valuable for
documenting spoken language progress
 List methods for monitoring spoken language
development
AIDB’s Listening and Spoken
Language Program
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Established in March of 2012
Full-time staff: 1 SLP, 1 teacher, 1 aide
Part-time staff: 1 SLP
10 students
 Ages 3-6
 3 CIs, 5 HAs, 1 bone conduction aid
Our Results
 Each year, every student who spent at least 6 months
in the program made more than one year’s progress
in one year’s time in the areas of: total language,
receptive and expressive vocabulary, articulation, and
academic development
 Every student also made significant gains in listening
 2 students entering the mainstream next year with SS
at or above average across all measures
Practical Strategies
 Collaborative relationship with the Moog Center for
Deaf Education and annual on-site training
 Language-matched grouping for syntax, vocabulary,
conversational language, and snack lessons
 Ratio of no more than 3:1 for syntax, vocabulary,
conversational language, speech, and auditory
training lessons
 Ratio of no more than 5:1 for academic lessons
 Modeling and Imitation
Language-Matched Groups
 Teacher Assessment of Spoken Language (TASL)
 Level 1 – Single Words and Word Combinations (4)
 Level 2 – Simple Sentences of 3 or More Words (2)
 Level 3 – Simple and Complex Sentences of 6 or More
Words (3)
 Level 4 – Complex Sentences of 8 or More Words (1)
Language-Matched Groups
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Syntax/Vocabulary  5 or 6 groups of 1-3 children
Conversational Language 4 groups of 2-3 children
Snack  3 groups of 3-4 children
Speech/Auditory Training  children seen individually
or in pairs
Small Student to Teacher Ratios
 Rotational Model used to maintain small student to
teacher ratio
 Morning Rotations
 Five 25 minute rotations
 2 SLPs, 1 teacher, 1 aide
 Afternoon Rotations
 Centers, speech/auditory training, snack
 1 SLP, 1 teacher, 1 aide
 Conversational language – 2nd SLP comes back
Modeling and Imitation
 Modeling and Imitation is “a technique used to
accelerate the acquisition of spoken language for
deaf [and hard of hearing] children” (Betsy Moog
Brooks)
 Provides:
 Models of good language
 Practice producing good language
The Process
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Create an opportunity for the child to communicate
The child says something/vocalizes/gestures
Interpret the child’s intent
Provide a model of the child’s intention with
improved form
 Prompt the child to imitate the model
 Listen and, when appropriate, correct the imitation
The Opportunity
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Ask a question
Provide a choice
Manage the “set up”
Use a prop
Wait
The Interpretation
 What did the child mean?
 What language did the child use?
The Model
 Always expect an improved production
 Gesture
 Expect a vocalization
 Vocalization
 Expect an approximated word (duration, vowel, consonant)
 Approximated word
 Expect an intelligible word (duration, vowel, consonant)
 Single word
 Expect two words
 Two words
 Expect three words
Imitated Production
 The language a child produces immediately after an adult
provides a model
 Should be more correct or complete than the child’s
original production
 Vocabulary
 Syntax
 Speech
 Provides practice opportunities using target syntactic
structures/elements and vocabulary
 Provides adult with information about the child’s language
facility
The Goal
 Completing the sentence by filling in the pieces
 Correcting the language, vocabulary, or speech
 Expanding the sentence by increasing the length of
complexity
Strategies for Improving the
Imitation through Modeling
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Prompting
Chunking
Highlighting
Expanding
Partial Model
The Kitchen Sink Model
Prompting
 A Picture
 An Object
 A Word
 An expectant look
Chunking
Target: The dog eats the apple.
Target: The dog sits down under the tree.
Target: The dog is under the tree and the cat is on the
bench.
Highlighting
Target: a blue bird
Child says: a bird
Target: The baby is eating.
Child says: The baby eat.
Target: The baby is eating and the boy is drinking.
Child says: The baby is eat the boy is drink.
Expanding
Child says: Aubrey eat.
Expansion: Aubrey eats the peanut butter.
Child says: Aubrey spread the peanut butter.
Expansion : Aubrey spread the peanut butter on the
cracker.
Partially Modeling
Target: Brooke poured the juice.
Child says: Brooke juice.
Target: Brooke poured the juice in the cup.
Child says: Brooke pour in the cup.
Videos
 Please email me at [email protected]
if you would like to see the videos of me
demonstrating Modeling and Imitation with the
children from this presentation
When to Use Modeling and Imitation
Modeling and Imitation can be used in every
interaction.
Using Modeling and Imitation during all activities
provides the child with the opportunity to practice
talking throughout the day.
Assessment
Administered in August and May
Goldman Fristoe Test of
Articulation – 2
Receptive One Word Picture
Vocabulary Test
Expressive One Word Picture
Vocabulary Test
Clinical Evaluation of Language
Fundamentals – Preschool – 2
Bracken Basic Concept Scale
Early Speech Perception Test
Tracking
Throughout the school year
 Teacher Assessment of
Spoken Language (TASL)
 Speech Perception
Instructional Curriculum
Evaluation (SPICE)
 Monitoring tool for
articulation
 Monthly Language Samples
 Spontaneous Language
 www.moogcenter.org
Additional
Resources
 Teaching Activities for Children who
are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Moog, Stein, Biedenstein, and
Gustus
 My Baby and Me
 Betsy Moog Brooks
 [email protected]