Despite significant advances in the fields of education and speech pathology, many harmful myths pertaining to multilingualism continue to persist. One particularly infuriating and patently incorrect recommendation to parents is the advice to stop speaking the birth language with their bilingual children with language disorders. Continue reading On the Disadvantages of Parents Ceasing to Speak the Birth Language with Bilingual Language Impaired Children
Search Results for: bilingualism autism
Links
Organizations:
ASHA
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 145,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists, speech-language pathologists and speech, language, and hearing scientists.
The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) The mission: To strengthen the support systems in the lives of children with apraxia, so that each child has their best opportunity to develop speech
Selective Mutism nation’s premier resource for SM information, providing a network of families and treating professionals across the world who uniquely understand the struggles of SM
The Stuttering Foundation The Stuttering Foundation provides free online resources, services and support to those who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering
The Cleft Palate Foundation The mission of CPF is to enhance the quality of life for individuals affected by cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial birth defects.
Down Syndrome Education Online Comprehensive information about Down syndrome, including articles, books and scientific papers (Speech and Language Issues)
The Autism Society The Autism Society, the nation s leading grassroots autism organization, exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism.
The International Dyslexia Foundation
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is an international organization that concerns itself with the complex issues of dyslexia.
Websites:
Genetics in the Practice of Speech Language Pathology
Professionals:
Speech Language Pathologists:
Nicole Kollenda MS CCC-SLP (offices on the Upper East Side and Mineola)
Psychotherapists:
Lydia Shifrin, Bilingual School Psychologist & Licensed Social Worker
Psychotherapist since 1971, first in the former Soviet Union, and than for over twenty years in the US, as a bilingual/bicultural professional.
Psychologists:
The Center for Cognitive-Developmental Assessment and Remediation (BGCenter)
under the leadership of eminent psychologist, Dr. Boris Gindis, the center is composed of independent professionals, specializing with services to the internationally adopted children, who work at the center as well as offsite.
App Giveaway: Are you Sleeping?
Today Thanks to the generosity of Lavelle Carlson of SpeechPathologyApps.com I am giving away multiple copies of their newest app “Are You Sleeping”.
Tips Corner: Creating Opportunities for Spontaneous and Functional Communication
In today’s guest post, Natalie Romanchukevich advises readers on how to create opportunities to expand children’s spontaneous communication skills.
Helping young children build speech- language skills is an exciting job that both caregivers and educators try to do every second of the day. We spend so much time giving our children directions to follow, asking them a ton of questions, and modeling words and phrases to shape them into eloquent communicators.
What I find we do NOT do enough, sometimes, is hold back on our never ending “models” of what or how to say things, questions, and directions, instead of allowing our children initiate and engage with us. Greenspan refers to these initiations as opening circles of communication (Weirder & Greenspan “Engaging Autism”, 2006).
Speech- language development can be thought of as having three interacting and equally important domains- Form ,Content, and Use (Lahey, 1988).
Form refers to the grammatical correctness of our words and sentences (eat vs. eat+ ing).
Content is what the we are essentially communicating- the meaning of our words and sentences.
Use (also known as pragmatics) refers to the function of our words or for what purpose we are using them.
The communicative functions that slowly emerge and characterize communication over the course of language acquisition in vary in typically developing young children. Children communicate to greet others, comment on objects/actions, request desired objects, request assistance, protest, deny (a statement), ask questions, regulate others (e.g. “blow!”, “open!”), entertain, and narrate events.
In order for children to be able to express these functions, aside from the intent to communicate, there must also be opportunities to express ideas, wants, needs. For example, why would Timmy request for an object (nonverbally or verbally) if the caregiver hands everything to the child at the slightest sign of a tantrum. Why ask a “where?” question if every toy or beloved object is comfortably in sight? Why ask for help if the caregiver readily assists the child with all activities. The educators describe it as assuming the child’s needs.
Of course we do it out of love and care for the child, and, let’s be honest, sometimes, to save time. However, it is important with both typical and delayed children to be mindful of what (form, content, use) we model, when (timing is crucial in teaching) we model it, how (facial expression, tone of voice, etc) we model it, and why (is it developmentally important to teach it now?) we model it at this very moment.
Just as it is important for kids to comprehend concepts, follow directions, and understand the different wh- questions, it is also paramount that your child is able to initiate communication. After all, communication is the ability to express ideas, thoughts, and wants, not just understand those expressed by others. Answering questions and following commands is not initiating. Language that is elicited by us- is not spontaneous.
To use language spontaneously, effortlessly and creatively, children need opportunities to practice the skill, to experience taking the lead. In order for our children to get there, we must first offer models of how to initiate communication and do so appropriately. We can then create opportunities for the child to speak up.
The most basic strategies you can use to encourage spontaneous initiations (whether nonverbal or verbal) may seem seem initially as counterintuitive. I mean what is the point to introducing attractive new toys or displaying a yummy snack and then putting it away? Yet it is exactly that action which may very much encourage your child to run after you with gestures or words. Even then, you may still choose to play “dumb” and be “unsure” as to what it is your child wants. Does s/he want that bag with new toy or snack “opened?” and “out?”
If the child is nonverbal, his use of gestures to regulate your actions to get the desired item out and open may be the child’s initial step toward sound imitation. If you are working on getting the child to request help (not just objects), here is your opportunity to model “help” if the child can’t open the item independently. On a side note, I often hear educators model “help me please!” when the child is clearly at a single word level. This is not a developmental way of teaching. Yes, it is nice to hear a full sentence but your child may not be ready for it.
While playing with your child and actively commenting on your joint play, you may find it productive to suddenly become quiet and cease all attempts to ask questions. This often works beautifully in my therapy sessions; usually, after I have engaged the child into some sort of cooperative and enjoyable play! But it takes a conscious effort and self-control on the part of the adult, since we are so used to engaging in this adult- directed (telling the child what to do as opposed to letting him/her lead and you follow) approach to teaching.
However, once you are able to contain your speech and actions (I promise you it is possible), you may be surprised to hear some immediate or delayed imitations of words/ phrases as well as spontaneous meaningful language. The language produced, to me, is an indication that the child wants more of the experience- more language enriched play. Use this opportunity to expand on what s/he is already saying.
Here, timing is really important as you want to imitate back everything your child is doing. This is another way to communicate with your child. Build on your child’s language to further describe the objects or people in play without using long sentences. So, allowing nothing to happen for a few minutes at a time may just be the push to help your child come out with some form of communication.
In addition, stopping a novel activity or toy exploration at the very height of your child’s excitement also works well with many children. You don’t have to be confrontational about it, “if you don’t imitate my word/ phrase I just won’t give it back to you”. make sure to create these “obstructions”, as Greenspan refers to them, in a friendly, playful and positive manner. Obstructions or fabricated “problems” are also a big part of social-cognitive and constructivist theories of language learning.
The idea behind these “obstructions” is that the children are forced to problem solve and use resources (language being one of them!) so they can get what they want. Allowing your child to problem solve is critical to overall cognitive development that affects and shapes speech and language. Presenting your child with developmentally appropriate activities that involve thinking and figuring out of how to get X is an invaluable strategy that I always use with all of my children.
In sum, stop access to items that are already loved, tape up containers, close boxes and jars with favorite snack and toys, give your child all but ONE important item that is needed to complete an activity (glue, scissors), give your child the “wrong” item, or offer the “wrong” solution to the problem. All of these “problems” will push the kid to think and figure out what to do next. This, in turn, facilitates spontaneous language use.
Letting go of control and just allowing for things to spill, break, or simply not follow the predictable comfortable routine, too, elicits a ton of speech- language and fun communication. These are the most teachable moments as our children experience all the new words and concepts first hand. Perhaps, this is why many children learn “dirty” or “wet” attributes before they learn their colors. These concepts are more easily learned because they are experiential and bring about relevant words to describe these personally relevant and emotional experiences. Cleaning up and taking turns arranging things back in place is super educational too as our children need to learn responsibility and helping others.
Moreover, exposing children to objects that are completely novel and foreign (but safe!) may help elicit an attempt to ask a question “what this?” because the child wants to know. The motivation is there. Now s/he needs language to get the answer from you. Some children may use a word with a rising intonation, which too is a question form, just not grammatically mature one. For example, “Hat?” is as much of a question as “Is that a hat?!”. If all your child is capable of verbalizing is “wow”, then you can go ahead and model “what IS that?” question a few times. Of course, you want to pair it up with an exaggerated expression of surprise and excitement in your voice.
To sum up, do not be afraid to experiment, get “messy”, stay silent, entice, intrigue and just wait for a few minutes to see what your child will do. Yes, we want to teach our children to attend, sit down for a structured activity, and identify objects, shapes, colors, and actions; but these adult- directed activities do not allow for self- expression or spontaneous language use. You also want to follow your child’s natural interests and inclinations as this is frequently a way into their world. If you show interest in your friend’s ideas and you let him/her speak, will they not want to bond with you even more? Will they not want to communicate with you?
Creative and talented teachers are those who can use unconventional materials presented in unexpected ways while targeting all the skills that must be learned! Learning to manipulate the environment to get the most out of your child’s skills can be difficult but indescribably rewarding.
References:
- Lahey, M. (1988). Language disorders and Language Development.
- Greenspan, S. & Weider, S. (2006). Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime approach to help children related, communicate, and think.
- Wetherby, A. & Prizant, B. (1990). Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. ChicagoIL: Applied Symblix.
Natalie Romanchukevich has a MS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Long Island University (LIU) as well as Bilingual (Russian/English) Certification, which allows her to practice speech- language pathology in both Russian and English. Following graduation, Natalie has been working with both monolingual and bilingual 0- 5 population in New York City, and has been an active advocate for preschoolers with disabilities in her present setting. Natalie’s clinical interests and experience have been focused on early childhood speech- language delays and disorders including speech disorders (e.g., Articulation, Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Auditory Processing Disorders, Specific Language Impairment (SLI), as well as Feeding Disorders. Presently she is working on developing her private practice in Brooklyn, NY.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you accept insurance reimbursement?
Unfortunately we do not. We are an out of network insurance provider.
How do I submit for out of network speech therapy reimbursement?
You will be provided with an invoice to submit to your insurance company. It will contain the necessary information including: diagnosis and treatment codes, session times, fees paid, description of services provided, as well as pertinent practice information (tax id, license number, etc). We will also provide you with assessment and therapy progress reports to submit to your insurance company along with the invoice.
What are your assessment fees?
Our assessments are varied and highly individualized. Assessment fees are based on our hourly rates and are dependent on a number of factors (e.g., face to face time spent with the client, report writing time, etc). Prior to assessment parents are asked to fill out detailed intake and referral forms for their child in order to determine which testing instruments need to be administered.
Do you conduct in home assessments and treatment?
Unfortunately due to time constraints all services are provided on-site only.
What are your hours of operation?
We try to accommodate all our busy customers by offering weekday afternoon and evening, as well as weekend hours.
How do I initiate assessment and/or therapy?
Please call us for a free consultation at the number listed on our website. Once we determine that our services are right for your child, you will receive a password to download the appropriate forms and releases.
How long do your assessments typically last?
Comprehensive assessments for younger children (infants, toddlers, preschoolers and early school age children) typically last between 2-3 hours and are performed during 1 visit. Comprehensive assessments for older school age children may last between 4-5 hours and are usually broken into 2 sessions over a period of several days. All assessments are highly individualized and are dependent on the client’s unique needs (e.g., is assessment needed to qualify the child for in district school therapy services, are parents seeking an independent evaluation to be used in a court case, etc)
What can I expect as a result of my child’s speech language assessment?
Two weeks subsequent to the last assessment date you will receive a comprehensive speech language report detailing your child’s performance on administered formal and informal testing. It will contain performance scores (if applicable), detailed descriptive summary of performance strengths and weaknesses, impressions, recommendations, referral for additional professional consultations (if needed), treatment goals and objectives as well as suggested remediation methods, techniques, and strategies.
If you perform the assessment, but we are unable to come to you for treatment, what options are available to us?
We offer comprehensive assessments and reassessments for out of state and out of county clients. Our subsequent recommendations within the body of the report are very detailed, supported by the latest evidenced based research, and are very easy to follow. Out of state comprehensive re/assessments are often requested by parents due to the absence of qualified and highly trained professionals in their specific geographic area. Such assessments are especially relevant for a select group of older internationally adopted OR functionally bilingual Russian speaking children with complex diagnoses/disabilities (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Mental Retardation, Genetic Disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, etc), who attain limited success in therapeutic setting despite years and years of therapeutic intervention provision.
Other times we are asked to perform assessments with children who fail to qualify for intervention services within their state school system, due to limited assessment practices (therapist may administer select subtests from a general language test but does not assess the child’s social pragmatic skills, auditory processing skills, executive function, or critical thinking abilities), despite the child presenting with a number of profound linguistic, critical thinking, and social pragmatic deficits.
We perform the necessary testing based on presenting symptomology and then we’ll provide you with a comprehensive report detailing the subsequent requirements for treatment/referrals (if needed), which other therapists can then implement in the child’s home state/county.
What if another therapist conducted the assessment do I still have to repeat the evaluation process?
In most circumstances testing will only need to be repeated if it’s significantly outdated. Typically if the assessment was done within the past year, and the results are still accurately representative of the child’s present performance, therapy may be initiated immediately. However, there may be a number of instances when the clinician may suggest a reassessment. Below are some examples:
· Testing report is outdated/not accurately representative of child’s present performance
· Testing instruments used were outdated/no longer relevant to the child’s present needs
· Testing was not comprehensive enough (child is scoring within normal limits on a specific test but still presents with significant deficits in other areas)
In such instances a partial/full reassessment may be recommended in the context of initial therapy sessions, in order to establish a baseline for intervention provision.
What is the average therapy frequency and duration?
Average therapy frequency is 1 time per week for a duration of 1 hour. Select clients receive higher therapy frequency and lower therapy duration; still others come in on biweekly or monthly basis to maintain skill level/abilities.
What type of service delivery do you provide?
Vast majority of sessions are provided on individual basis. Group sessions are subject to availability. Peer tutoring/coaching is often implemented when working on social language skills.
How long will my child attend speech therapy?
Therapy duration is dependent on a number of factors:
· Type and level of impairment (clients with significant disabilities such as mental retardation or autism spectrum disorders receive ongoing support and treatment vs. clients with articulation disorders, who are in therapy for a short number of weeks/months)
· Presence of maintaining factors (e.g., psychiatric diagnosis, other structural/functional deficits)
· Existence of additional support services (is the child receiving school based therapy, resource room, reading recovery, etc)
· Parental involvement (supervision of homework, reinforcement of current skills)
· Client motivation
How do you determine when the child is ready to be discharged from therapy services?
Client progress is charted on an ongoing basis. Frequent reassessments of deficit areas are administered during the course of treatment.
Additional Links:
Please see the following FAQ links from American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for further information:
Speech and Language Disorders in the School Setting: http://www.asha.org/
Why Are My Child’s Test Scores Dropping?
“I just don’t understand,” says a parent bewilderingly, “she’s receiving so many different therapies and tutoring every week, but her scores on educational, speech-language, and psychological testing just keep dropping!”
I hear a variation of this comment far too frequently in both my private practice as well as outpatient school in hospital setting, from parents looking for an explanation regarding the decline of their children’s standardized test scores in both cognitive (IQ) and linguistic domains. That is why today I wanted to take a moment to write this blog post to explain a few reasons behind this phenomenon.
Children with language impairments represent a highly diverse group, which exists along a continuum. Some children’s deficits may be mild while others far more severe. Some children may receive very little intervention services and thrive academically, while others can receive inordinate amount of interventions and still very limitedly benefit from them. To put it in very simplistic terms, the above is due to two significant influences – the interaction between the child’s (1) genetic makeup and (2) environmental factors.
There is a reason why language disorders are considered developmental. Firstly, these difficulties are apparent from a young age when the child’s language just begins to develop. Secondly, the trajectory of the child’s language deficits also develops along with the child and can progress/lag based on the child’s genetic predisposition, resiliency, parental input, as well as schooling and academically based interventions.
Let us discuss some of the reasons why standardized testing results may decline for select students who are receiving a variety of support services and interventions.
Ineffective Interventions due to Misdiagnosis
Sometimes, lack of appropriate/relevant intervention provision may be responsible for it. Let’s take an example of a misdiagnosis of alcohol related deficits as Autism, which I have frequently encountered in my private practice, when performing second opinion testing and consultations. Unfortunately, the above is not uncommon. Many children with alcohol-related impairments may present with significant social emotional dysregulation coupled with significant externalizing behavior manifestations. As a result, without a thorough differential diagnosis they may be frequently diagnosed with ASD and then provided with ABA therapy services for years with little to no benefit.
Ineffective Interventions due to Lack of Comprehensive Testing
Let us examine another example of a student with average intelligence but poor reading performance. The student may do well in school up to certain grade but then may begin to flounder academically. Because only the student’s reading abilities ‘seem’ to be adversely impacted, no comprehensive language and literacy evaluations are performed. The student may receive undifferentiated extra reading support in school while his scores may continue to drop.
Once the situation ‘gets bad enough’, the student’s language and literacy abilities may be comprehensively assessed. In a vast majority of situations these type of assessments yield the following results:
- The student’s oral language expression as well as higher order language abilities are adversely affected and require targeted language intervention
- The undifferentiated reading intervention provided to the student was NOT targeting actual areas of weaknesses
As can be seen from above examples, targeted intervention is hugely important and, in a number of cases, may be responsible for the student’s declining performance. However, that is not always the case.
What if it was definitively confirmed that the student was indeed diagnosed appropriately and was receiving quality services but still continued to decline academically. What then?
Well, we know that many children with genetic disorders (Down Syndrome, Fragile X, etc.) as well as intellectual disabilities (ID) can make incredibly impressive gains in a variety of developmental areas (e.g., gross/fine motor skills, speech/language, socio-emotional, ADL, etc.) but their gains will not be on par with peers without these diagnoses.
The situation becomes much more complicated when children without ID (or with mild intellectual deficits) and varying degrees of language impairment, receive effective therapies, work very hard in therapy, yet continue to be perpetually behind their peers when it comes to making academic gains. This occurs because of a phenomenon known as Cumulative Cognitive Deficit (CCD).
The Effect of Cumulative Cognitive Deficit (CCD) on Academic Performance
According to Gindis (2005) CCD “refers to a downward trend in the measured intelligence and/or scholastic achievement of culturally/socially disadvantaged children relative to age-appropriate societal norms and expectations” (p. 304). Gindis further elucidates by quoting Satler (1992): “The theory behind cumulative deficit is that children who are deprived of enriching cognitive experiences during their early years are less able to profit from environmental situations because of a mismatch between their cognitive schemata and the requirements of the new (or advanced) learning situation” (pp. 575-576).
So who are the children potentially at risk for CCD?
One such group are internationally (and domestically) adopted as well as foster care children. A number of studies show that due to the early life hardships associated with prenatal trauma (e.g., maternal substance abuse, lack of adequate prenatal care, etc.) as well as postnatal stress (e.g., adverse effect of institutionalization), many of these children have much poorer social and academic outcomes despite being adopted by well-to-do, educated parents who continue to provide them with exceptional care in all aspects of their academic and social development.
Another group, are children with diagnosed/suspected psychiatric impairments and concomitant overt/hidden language deficits. Depending on the degree and persistence of the psychiatric impairment, in addition to having intermittent access to classroom academics and therapy interventions, the quality of their therapy may be affected by the course of their illness. Combined with sporadic nature of interventions this may result in them falling further and further behind their peers with respect to social and academic outcomes.
A third group (as mentioned previously) are children with genetic syndromes, neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., Autism) and intellectual disabilities. Here, it is very important to explicitly state that children with diagnosed or suspected alcohol related deficits (FASD) are particularly at risk due to the lack of consensus/training regarding FAS detection/diagnosis. Consequently, these children may evidence a steady ‘decline’ on standardized testing despite exhibiting steady functional gains in therapy.
Brief Standardized Testing Score Tutorial:
When we look at norm-referenced testing results, score interpretation can be quite daunting. For the sake of simplicity, I’d like to restrict this discussion to two types of scores: raw scores and standard scores.
The raw score is the number of items the child answered correctly on a test or a subtest. However, raw scores need to be interpreted to be meaningful. For example, a 9 year old student can attain a raw score of 12 on a subtest of a particular test (e.g., Listening Comprehension Test-2 or LCT-2). Without more information, the raw score has no meaning. If the test consisted of 15 questions, a raw score of 12 would be an average score. Alternatively, if the subtest had 36 questions, a raw score of 12 would be significantly below-average (e.g., Test of Problem Solving-3 or TOPS-3).
Consequently, the raw score needs to be converted to a standard score. Standard scores compare the student’s performance on a test to the performance of other students his/her age. Many standardized language assessments have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Thus, scores between 85 and 115 are considered to be in the average range of functioning.
Now lets discuss testing performance variation across time. Let’s say an 8.6 year old student took the above mentioned LCT-2 and attained poor standard scores on all subtests. That student qualifies for services and receives them for a period of one year. At that time the LCT-2 is re-administered once again and much to the parents surprise the student’s standard scores appear to be even lower than when he had taken the test as an eight year old (illustration below).
Results of The Listening Comprehension Test -2 (LCT-2): Age: 8:4
Subtests | Raw Score | Standard Score | Percentile Rank | Description |
Main Idea | 5 | 67 | 2 | Severely Impaired |
Details | 2 | 63 | 1 | Severely Impaired |
Reasoning | 2 | 69 | 2 | Severely Impaired |
Vocabulary | 0 | Below Norms | Below Norms | Profoundly Impaired |
Understanding Messages | 0 | <61 | <1 | Profoundly Impaired |
Total Test Score | 9 | <63 | 1 | Profoundly Impaired |
(Mean = 100, Standard Deviation = +/-15)
Results of The Listening Comprehension Test -2 (LCT-2): Age: 9.6
Subtests | Raw Score | Standard Score | Percentile Rank | Description |
Main Idea | 6 | 60 | 0 | Severely Impaired |
Details | 5 | 66 | 1 | Severely Impaired |
Reasoning | 3 | 62 | 1 | Severely Impaired |
Vocabulary | 4 | 74 | 4 | Moderately Impaired |
Understanding Messages | 2 | 54 | 0 | Profoundly Impaired |
Total Test Score | 20 | <64 | 1 | Profoundly Impaired |
(Mean = 100, Standard Deviation = +/-15)
However, if one looks at the raw score column on the far left, one can see that the student as a 9 year old actually answered more questions than as an 8 year old and his total raw test score went up by 11 points.
The above is a perfect illustration of CCD in action. The student was able to answer more questions on the test but because academic, linguistic, and cognitive demands continue to steadily increase with age, this quantitative improvement in performance (increase in total number of questions answered) did not result in qualitative improvement in performance (increase in standard scores).
In the first part of this series I have introduced the concept of Cumulative Cognitive Deficit and its effect on academic performance. Stay tuned for part II of this series which describes what parents and professionals can do to improve functional performance of students with Cumulative Cognitive Deficit.
References:
- Bowers, L., Huisingh, R., & LoGiudice, C. (2006). The Listening Comprehension Test-2 (LCT-2). East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems, Inc.
- Bowers, L., Huisingh, R., & LoGiudice, C. (2005). The Test of Problem Solving 3-Elementary (TOPS-3). East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems.
- Gindis, B. (2005). Cognitive, language, and educational issues of children adopted from overseas orphanages. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 4 (3): 290-315.
- Sattler, J. M. (1992). Assessment of Children. Revised and updated 3rd edition. San Diego: Jerome M. Sattler.
Assessing Social Pragmatic Abilities in Children with Language Difficulties
You’ve received a referral to assess the language abilities of a school aged child with suspected language difficulties. The child has not been assessed before so you know you’ll need a comprehensive language test to look at the child’s ability to recall sentences, follow directions, name words, as well as perform a number of other tasks showcasing the child’s abilities in the areas of content and form (Bloom & Lahey, 1978).
But how about the area of language use? Will you be assessing the child’s pragmatic and social cognitive abilities as well during your language assessment? After all most comprehensive standardized assessments, “typically focus on semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology, as these are the performance areas in which specific skill development can be most objectively measured” (Hill & Coufal, 2005, p 35). Continue reading Assessing Social Pragmatic Abilities in Children with Language Difficulties
IGetItApps Giveaway: I see-quence Social Skills Stories, My Shedules at School and at Home
Thanks to the wonderful generosity of Amy from IGetItApps I am able to bring you the following Mega Giveaway:
3 copies of I see-quence Social Skills Stories
3 copies of I see-quence My schedules at School
3 copies of I see-quence My schedules at Home
So enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below and don’t forget to comment on which app you would like to receive if you win! Continue reading IGetItApps Giveaway: I see-quence Social Skills Stories, My Shedules at School and at Home
New Product Giveaway: Social Pragmatic Deficits Checklist for Preschool Children
When it comes to assessment of social pragmatic abilities, the majority of SLP’s often worry about their school age students. Yet social-emotional disturbances and behavioral abnormalities in preschool children (<5 years of age) are more common than you think.
Egger & Angold (2006) found that “despite the relative lack of research on preschool psychopathology compared with studies of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in older children, the current evidence now shows quite convincingly that the rates of the common child psychiatric disorders and the patterns of comorbidity among them in preschoolers are similar to those seen in later childhood. (p. 313)” Continue reading New Product Giveaway: Social Pragmatic Deficits Checklist for Preschool Children
Birthday Giveaway Day Six: Eliciting Language In Pre-verbal Children with ASD
Today it is truly my pleasure to bring you a giveaway from Maria Del Duca of Communication Station Blog entitled: “Eliciting Language In Pre-verbal Children with ASD: A Review of Behavioral and Naturalistic Therapy Techniques“.
This is a wonderful 64 page presentation which reviews the research supporting the current behavioral and naturalistic therapy techniques for pre-verbal children with ASD and explains how they are used to elicit verbal communication. It’s great for any educator who needs a detailed and highly comprehensive introductory crash course on the multitude of therapy techniques used with nonverbal children ASD.
Intended audiences:
- Graduate SLP students
- Clinical Fellows
- New SLP clinicians
- Mid Career Switch Clinicians
- Ancillary educational and health professionals
- Parents of children with ASD interested in learning more regarding research based therapy techniques
Select techniques discussed in this presentation:
- Applied Behavioral Analysis
- Discrete Trial Training
- Verbal Behavior Analysis
- Rapid Motor Imitation Antecedent
- Milieu Communication Training
- Pivotal Response Training
- Total Communication
- Picture Exchange Communication System
- And much much more
I remember when I was just starting out in the field and worked with non-verbal children with ASD, I spent inordinate amount of time looking for and reading much of the research articles listed in Maria’s presentation to learn more re: these approaches. Have I had this material it would have saved me a huge amount of time and effort. The way its written is logical, informative and clear. I like how the limitations are included with each technique’s review, which is a bonus since to read about each technique’s limitations one typically needs to locate even MORE articles, thereby spending even more time on this endeavor.
You can find this wonderful product in Maria’s online store 30% off for the next two days (October 7 and 8) by clicking HERE or you can enter my one day giveaway for a chance to win.