Pine
All children need to communicate regardless of their cognitive level. True or false? (Kelly)
In this type of assessment, the amount of support is manipulated to reflect the level needed for a client to achieve a certain goal. Test-teach-retest. (Bill)
What is... dynamic assessment
Instruction should be aligned with the state standards in core math and language arts curriculum. An example may include reviewing sight words, major phonics concepts, and using tiered vocabulary to expand upon their current abilities. This level of instruction falls under which tier in the RTI model? (Aspen)
Tier 1
When we consider eligibility and level of supports and services for children in the advanced language stage, it's essential to remember exactly how we are defining a "language disorder." What is the naturalistic perspective in terms of language disorders? (Maddie H)
Naturalistic perspective is a way to measure the degree to which a person's language is "disordered" by evaluating their deviation from the norm. In other words, we can use standardized assessments to see where the person's abilities compare to same-aged peers. ASHA's definition of a language disorder assumes this perspective.The language disorder is considered to involve all aspects of language including form, content, and use rather than one or two.
Working closely with families and other disciplines (e.g, psychologists, occupational therapists, etc.) by implementing individualized behavioral methods, exposure-based practice, systematic desensitization, and stimulus fading strategies are evidence-based approaches in working with which complex anxiety disorder that affects pragmatic language? (Emma)
What is... selective mutism
When working with older children in the prelinguistic stage, what are some evidence-based approaches to help children transition from pre-intentional to communicative behavior? (Michaela)
What is... Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (PMT)
An SLP's role in working with children in the ___________ language stage might include providing resources about housing, establishing a source of income, developing relationships, finding activities to participate in, or even learning to navigate public transportation. (Katie)
Advanced language stage
How can students in the advanced language stage be involved in the assessment process? Why is student involvement important? (Emily CB)
Students in the advanced language stage can be encouraged to self-refer to a speech language pathologist. They likely know what they are struggling with, and the SLP can encourage can create an environment in the school where it is okay to seek out the SLP to get help and work on more advanced language skills.
Pretend you've decided to use the Communication Matrix with an older child in the prelinguistic language stage, and you are describing this assessment to the parent. How will you explain to the parent what this assessment is for, how it's administered/completed, and what we can learn from it? (Emily W)
The communication matrix is a free tool that can be used to organize an individual's communication status, progress, strengths, and unique needs in a tier model. A "Communication Matrix Questions and Answer Options" form can be filled out by a caregiver/parent to determine the status of their child's communication. This tool can be used for anyone functioning at the early stages of communication or those who use forms of communication other than speaking or writing. Finally, this tool can help a SLP determine exactly how an individual is communicating now and come up with realistic goals for the future. Additionally, it can be used over time to recheck or follow up on an individual's communication status and clearly see the progression of his/her communication skills.
Instruction may include pre-teaching a concept to small groups consisting of around three-five students before class such as a reading/writing group. An example of Tier II instruction may include push-in services and supporting the teacher by pre-teaching certain language concepts as it relates to the CCSS. This level of instruction falls under which tier in the RTI model? (Aspen)
Tier 2
When transcribing a language sample, a complex sentence including coordination conjunctions (e.g., and, but, so) is one T-Unit. True or false? (Lauren)
False. A coordinating conjunction within a complex sentence begins a new T-unit. However! If you are choosing to analyze a language sample through utterances, rather than T-units, then a complex sentence compiles one utterance and not two.
Describe some evidence-based ways to support older children in the prelinguistic language stage who present with maladaptive behaviors, as a way to support more functional and symbolic communication. (Sydney)
These children are probably very frustrated with their difficulty to communicate and might have behavior problems/tantrums/maladaptive behaviors. It would be important to use positive feedback, teach functional language to communicate their wants and needs, and reinforce good behavior (ignoring maladaptive ones). Determine how they can best communicate, whether that is with speech or other means of communication, and teach them how to use that in a functional way.
How does auditory processing disorder (APD) impact reading development in children? (Julia)
Auditory processing disorder impacts reading development because it affects how the child's brain processes sounds. This might mean they have difficulty noticing subtle differences between words and sounds, especially words with slight differences such as "pat" and "bat." It could also impact the child's ability to recognize sounds while reading. All of this suggests that we may suspect phonological awareness delays in early literacy development.
One-on-one special education services to help students with academic skill acquisition accompanied by an IEP. These are very individualized to the student's current strengths and areas of improvement but rely heavily on communication and collaboration with members of the IEP team. This level of instruction falls under which tier of the RTI model? (Aspen)
Tier 3
Three ways SLPs can support children with visual impairments on their caseloads. (Paris)
1) Collaborating with the OT, Special Education and any other team members
2) Educate and train parents on ways to support their children and be involved in treatment
3) Incorporate a multi-sensory approach to increase the child's understanding and development of language form, content, and use
When developing communication goals for older students with severe disabilities, perhaps in the prelinguistic language stage, should the focus be developmental, functional (more aimed towards facilitating independence), or both? Why? (Lindsay)
Communication goals should be functional. Thinking back to the WHO ICF Model, the primary goal of working on communication skills with severely impaired students is to maximize the degree of independence and interaction they are able to achieve. Therefore, our focus should be on functionally effective communication, in any modality.
Name the legally required addendum to an IEP that sets functional goals for students (16-21 years of age) beyond high school, (Beth) and describe the SLP's role in creating this.
What is... an Individualized Transition Plan (ITP).
The SLP helps the student set functional goals for what they want beyond high school, help the student develop appropriate social skills and interpersonal communication abilities, help develop self-advocacy skills, inform them about services.
What is the difference between accent and dialect? (Anna)
An accent is a difference in speech rules and patterns that differ solely based on pronunciation and phonological variations. A dialect is a particular form of a language that is characteristic of a specific region or social group. Dialects can vary regarding vocabulary, grammar, and phonology. Therefore, a Mandarin speaker who is unable to produce a /v/ sound would be a dialectal difference as there is no /v/ sound in their phonetic inventory.
How might feeding and oral motor development play into the work we do as SLPs working with children in the prelinguistic language stage? (Abby B)
Feeding difficulties will often coexist with prelinguistic language due to neuromotor involvement. Feeding can be though of as a social interaction as well which plays into prelinguistic language.
Using a symbol system (e.g., PECS, speech, photographs, sign, etc.) is a helpful tool to support children in the prelinguistic language stage even if they are not yet using other unconventional communication methods (e.g., eye contact, smiling, turning head away, etc.). True or false? (Abigail M)
False. Using a symbol system with a child who has no unconventional communicative behaviors will not be helpful, as they do not yet understand the idea of "symbols" or "codes" as it relates to requesting, refusing, etc. A child needs to learn many other language skills before they're expecting to use any abstract/concrete symbol system. Using milieu teaching or parent responsiveness training will help a child learn prelinguistic language skills like pointing at desired objects, making choices or communicating preferences using eye contact, etc. This is an important step in therapy before expecting a child to produce speech, or to use other symbolic communication.
Describe evidence-based ways to teach metalinguistic awareness skills to students in the advanced language learners stage. (Hannah)
Checklists, organizers, think aloud protocols. These will likely start with higher levels of cueing and support but are meant to eventually help students analyze their own language and independently. It helps when you choose topics that the student is interested in and will directly apply to function academic situations
Once we receive results with the Communication Matrix, we should shape or therapy plan by expecting children to demonstrate every single skills using every single communicative behavior in each level before proceeding to the next level. True or false? (Maddie L.)
False. The Communication Matrix can help us determine how our therapy should be individualized based on the family's priorities, the child's most advanced communicative behavior, and which skills will support the child in the most functional way.
What is positive behavior support, and how can SLPs utilize this approach when working with children who attempt to communicate using maladaptive behaviors? (Belle)
A positive behavior support emphasizes the compliance of instruction to increase functional skills. An example of this is to encourage the child to engage in positive behavior by focusing on the behavior that we would like to see (e.g., signing "all done") rather than focusing on the negative behavior that is seen (e.g., tantrums.)
SLPs can use the Communication Matrix to determine current language abilities for children in the advanced language stage. True or false? (Aidin)
False!!!!!!!
What are the four reasons children communicate? (Think of how the Communication Matrix is organized.) (Makenna)
Refuse, obtain, engage, provide