Slide 1
The Building Blocks of Language:
Developing a Strong Base for Children
who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing
PAULA CROTTY M.S., CCC-SLP
KANSAS SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
OUTREACH
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[email protected]
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Slide 2
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“Data show that 90% of children born with a
profound hearing loss who obtain a CI before they
are 18 months old attain intelligible speech. If a
cochlear implant is obtained between 2 and 4 years
of age, about 80% of the children born with
profound hearing loss will attain intelligible speech.”
Cole & Flexer, 2007
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Slide 3
Obstacles to Vocabulary Acquisition
 Born to hearing/speaking families
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 Late age of detection
 Critical language window
 Limited access to incidental learning
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Slide 4
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Slide 5
Research Tells Us:
 Many children with hearing loss start preschool with significant
gaps and fewer words in their lexicons when compared to
children with typical hearing. (Prezbindowski & Lederberg,
2003)
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 By 18 years of age, a hearing high school graduate has a vocabulary of
> 30,000 words (Nagy & Herman, 1987)
 D/HH 18 year olds achieve 12,000 to 18,000 words
(Nagy & Herman, 1987)
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 “The reading abilities of deaf and hard-of-hearing children have been
found to associate especially strongly with their vocabulary skills.”
(Spencer & Marschark, 2010)
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Slide 6
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“By approximately age five, a child’s foundation of
general semantic, syntax, phonology, morphology, and
pragmatic aspects of language has been established.”
The Source for Processing Disorders, Chapter 7: Remediation for LPD
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Slide 7
“Swiss Cheese Effect”
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Slide 8
“Seems Like”
“The language of the playground is not the language
associated with learning in mathematics, or social
studies, or science. Nor does it normally require the
language associated with higher order thinking
skills, such as hypothesizing, evaluating, inferring,
generalizing, predicting or classifying.”
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power, and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. United Kingdom: Multilingual
Matters.
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Slide 9
Characteristics of Weak Semantics
 Appear disorganized/hesitant/using
circumlocutions, repetitions, disjointed phrases
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Slide 10
Your student may have semantic weaknesses IF:
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Has a limited vocabulary
Overuses certain words (e.g., you know, cool, dumb)
Difficulty understanding or using synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms
Not using context to differentiate meaning (die vs. dye)
Overuses one meaning of a multiple meaning words
Not understanding analogies
Has trouble interpreting figurative language
Confuses “Wh” questions (e.g., when asked “When they eat lunch”, responding, “In the
lunchroom”)
Has trouble understanding complex sentences because they do not understand the
meaning of clausal connectors (e.g., since, not, if)
Experiences difficulty with abstractions (democracy)
Struggles with time relationships (the day before yesterday)
Substitutes inaccurate words (e.g., lemon for orange)
Offers limited information in verbal report
Exhibits word-finding problems: rambling, nonspecific words
Appears disorganized/hesitant using circumlocutions, repetitions, disjointed phrases
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Slide 11
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(Richard, 2001)
Figurative Lang
Multiple Meaning
Words
Definitions
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Synonyms
Attributes
Differences
Similarities
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Antonyms
Categorization
Associations
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Functions
Labeling
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Slide 12
Assessments
“You have to know where you are if you
want to draw a map to where it is you want
to go.”
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Luckner, John, Ed.D and Bowen, Sandy, Ph.D.
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Slide 13
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“The development of semantics involves two
main activities:
 a constant expansion of vocabulary
 a reorganization of the semantic networks
between words that constitute the semantic
structure of language”
Cutajar, Maureen; The development of semantic knowledge in children
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Slide 14
Semantic Language Assessments
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Slide 15
Guidelines for Assessments
 Multiple tests
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 Out of range testing
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 Intentionally breaking standardization
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Slide 16
Tests Normed on D/HH
 Test of Relational Concepts
 Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test
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 Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language
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-Pre-sentence level
-Simple sentence level
-Complex sentence level
Test of Syntactic Abilities
MacArthur Communication Development Inventory
Rhode Island Test of Language Structures
Maryland Syntax Evaluation Instrument
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Slide 17
Guidelines for Therapy
 Use results from assessments to determine the level
of development
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 Begin at the earliest level at which difficulty was
encountered, regardless of whether or not higher
level skills are intact
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 Begin at the first level of difficulty, and solidify that
language level before progressing to the next level
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Slide 18
Guidelines for Therapy Cont’d
 Impose levels of language complexity on your goals
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Slide 19
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CA: 8-11
Assessment
Standard
Score
Percentile
PPVT-4
76
5th
Age
Equivalency
6-3
EO-WPVT-3
97
42nd
8-4
EVT-2
81
10th
6-6
Associations
102
56th
8-1
Categorization
83
13th
5-7
The Language
Processing Test-3
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Similarities
79
9th
5-4
Differences
86
18th
6-4
Multiple Meanings
<69
<2nd
<5-9
Attributes
DNT
DNT
DNT
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Slide 20
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CA: 14-9
Standard
Score
Percentile
PPVT-4
Assessment
65
1st
Age
Equivalency
8-0
EVT-2
71
3rd
7-10
EO-WPVT-4
79
8th
10-2
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The Elementary Word Test2
Associations
8-9
Antonyms
9-11
Synonyms
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7-7
Definitions
7-11
Semantic Absurdities
9-10
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Slide 21
LABELING
 Concepts
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 Categories
 Thematic units
 Homonyms
 Bug-a-Boo words
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 Abbreviations
 Pronunciation rules
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Slide 22
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FUNCTIONS
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Slide 23
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ASSOCIATIONS
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Slide 24
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ASSOCIATIONS
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Mars
Microscope
Earth
Saturn
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Slide 25
CATEGORIZATION
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Slide 26
ANTONYMS
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Slide 27
SIMILARITIES/DIFFERENCES
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Slide 28
ATTRIBUTES
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 What does it do?
 What category does it belong to?
 What does it go with?
 What are it’s parts?
 Where would you find it?
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 What is the shape, color, size, texture?
 What is it made from?
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Slide 29
Descripto Bingo: Susan Boegler and Debbie Abruzzini
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Slide 30
SYNONYMS
JUMP
HOP
LEAP
SPRING
BOUND
VAULT
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Slide 31
DEFINITIONS
Kale (label)
You eat kale (function)
It’s like lettuce (association)
It’s a vegetable (category)
It’s green like spinach and lettuce (similarity)
It’s more stiff/bitter (that means the opposite of
sweet) than spinach or lettuce (difference)
It’s grown in a garden or bought from the grocery
store (location)
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Slide 32
MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS
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Slide 33
Many Meanings: Suzanne Dedrick and James Lattyak
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Slide 34
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
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 Simile
 Metaphor
 Personification
 Onomatopoeia
 Alliteration
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 Hyperbole
 Idioms
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 Clichés
 Analogies
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Slide 35
Vocabulary Acquisition
 Needs to be taught explicitly
 Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 vocabulary
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 30-40x vs. 25x
 Sandwiching/Chaining
 Visual Supports
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Slide 36
A little humor…
What did one autumn leaf say to another?
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Why did the teacher wear sunglasses?
Where did the music teacher leave her keys?
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Slide 37
What does she want to take away from today’s
presentation?
 Intelligible speech doesn’t mean semantic skills are
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developed to age equivalency level
 Administer assessments
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 Analyze results
 Begin at earliest semantic level where difficulty is
encountered
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