Eliciting Language in the Classroom. Presented by: Dionne Ramey, SBCUSD SLP Amanda Drake, SBCUSD Special Ed. Program Specialist

Transcription

1 Eliciting Language in the Classroom Presented by: Dionne Ramey, SBCUSD SLP Amanda Drake, SBCUSD Special Ed. Program Specialist

2 Classroom Language: What we anticipate Students are expected to arrive with 95% of the required language skills (vocabulary, sentence comprehension). The remaining 5% is academic, classroom, or school language that teachers anticipate needing to teach (line up, write your name in the corner, put it in your cubby, turn in your homework/assignment, etc.).

3 Classroom Language: Our harsh reality Student language abilities are vastly disparate regardless of primary language. Many students will arrive with 5% of the required skills and need to be taught the remaining 95%. This is not necessarily only English Learners. This is not a speech and language disorder. This is a gap in the student s learning that needs to be addressed in the classroom.

4 Classroom Language: Once we have accepted our reality What s next? How do we encourage language and communication development? How do we increase language production and/or functional communication from all students?

5 Everyone Communicates (regardless of whether or not spoken language is present) Crying Eye contact Sounds Words Pointing Falling asleep Screaming Silence Communication boards Picture exchange system Voice output systems Gestures/signing Hair-pulling Yawning

6 Communication Purposes (using spoken language or any other means) Expressing Wants and Needs Once desired action or object is achieved, communication ends. Social Interactions including Social Etiquette Social vocabulary is difficult to provide, but vital for social acceptance. Greetings, Conclusions, manners, etc. Exchanging Information Starts as joint attention then develops into more complex interchanges with content or topic specific vocabulary.

7 If we only have to think about encouraging our students to use language and/or communicate for three different purposes, why is it so HARD??? What can do to make it easier?

8 What s already in your teacher toolbox? Name sticks Wait time Pair share Join attention activities Show and tell Author s corner And the list goes on

9 So what can we add to make our toolbox look like Home Depot?

10 Requiring COMMUNICATION and accepting what can be produced Children must be required to produce some form of communication Automatically meeting known needs does not support communication and/or language development BUT Know your students and accept what can be produced and provide support for what is expected to be produced

11 Expansion Taking what the child has already produced and providing an expanded version [child] fire truck [adult] That s a big, red fire truck. It has a ladder and a siren. OR Understanding what the child is attempting to communicate and facilitating a more functional or independent means to communicate For example, transitioning a child who points to items and attempts to vocalize the name of items, to using picture cards to communicate (while continuously modeling appropriate verbal communication)

12 Modeling Providing a model of the expected speech production along with pitch emphasis [child] He eating [adult] He is eating. OR Providing a model of more appropriate and functional ways to communicate a message using a combination a verbal and picture communication model

13 A combination approach Expansion and modeling [child] He going. [adult] He is going outside. [child] pointing to the door that leads outside [adult] modeling I want to go outside.

14 Their turn Once an expansion, a model or a combination approach has been provided to the child it is their turn. We need to ask them to imitate the production or provide their own, approximated production of the adult utterance or modeled use of picture communication.

15 An old friend? Enemy? Frenemy? Remember Bloom s? (a quick review) A framework for higher order thinking Higher order thinking requires higher order questioning Higher order questioning requires higher order language in response

16 That means Eliciting more and better language and communication is a matter of moving, or maybe pushing, students through the levels of not just questioning but response.

17 Think about YOUR students who are struggling to use language or communicate effectively What are some characteristics of their communication?

18 Common characteristics of struggling communicators Rarely initiate interactions Lack of response to requested communicative exchange Gestural responses (head nods) to yes/no questions main form of communicating May use challenging behaviors to communicate

19 Strategies to Promote Language/Communication Engage (get at their level, eye contact) Establish attention Proximity to child Be in their line of vision Watch for student to orient to you (attention shift) Use visuals (present visual first) Use meaningful gestures Exaggerate movements to attract attention Hold gestures (point long enough to mutual referent) Less may be better! Match student s verbal output? Expand by one

20 Strategies to Promote Language/Communication Wait for responses Count to 5, 10 after a command/question Stay engaged Increase opportunities for initiation Be consistent with labels (why?) Modify the environment to create active participation, communication Make sure the student has access to communication at ALL TIMES!

21 Addressing Communication Challenges AND Creating a Communication Environment Requires changes in the Activities Environment Communication Partner (And that means YOU!) Activities Environment Partner

22 Your Environment Are there any environmental changes you could make to increase communication? Activity-based environmental changes Material location, amount, type Communication-based environmental changes Picture symbols, communication boards, device placement

23 YOU are part of the environment When you use a prompt hierarchy you can: Provide consistency across partners because of framework Give students processing time Be individualized Provide only as much prompting as is needed

24 Prompt Hierarchy (Senner, 2010; YAACK, 1999) Give the child time to respond or the opportunity to initiate communication. Use your body language to indicate to the child that something is expected (e.g.. expectant facial expression, questioning hand motion with a shrug, etc.). Use an open ended question that tells the child that something is expected but nothing too specific (e.g. Now what? What should we do next?). If there is still no response, you can try to direct the child more specifically (e.g. Tell me what you want? You need to ask me.). You can point to the symbol or leave/tap your finger there for several seconds to get the child started with his message. If there is still no response, give them part of the expected response (e.g. You went to the.). If the child still does not respond tell the child what to say (e.g. The bear is sad.) Pause and wait for the child to imitate or respond in some way on his device. Provide hand-over-hand assistance to help the child form the message using their device.

25 Descriptive Feedback Use after the student has produced a communicative response (at any point within the hierarchy). Descriptive feedback is specific to the student s communication Oh, you asked for more juice, here s your juice. You want paint. Here s some blue paint. You asked to be all done. We need to do just one more, then we re all done. You looked at the cheese, here s some cheese for your sandwich.

26 Descriptive Feedback Serves Three Functions Acknowledges Immediately acknowledges that the partner heard the student s communication attempt Confirms Confirms that the message sent by the student is the same as the message understood by the partner. Models Can be used to model an expanded version of the communication message.

27 The most language learning will occur when your response is related to the student s focus of interest or to what he has communicated.

28 Personalizing Vocabulary When determining the vocabulary for the language/communication intervention system/systems your student will be utilizing you need to take into consideration: Age: As we age/mature our vocabulary choices change. Vocabulary needs to match what same age peers are saying. Example: yucky, gross, disgusting, inappropriate Communication Environment: Vocabulary changes depending on the environment. Example: talking with your buddies, answering questions in class, speaking with the principal Communication ability is about the level of support the communicator needs to be a successful. Attention to a child s sophistication of language and/or symbols systems, level of literacy and expected complexity of communicative messages is crucial.

29 Vocabulary Considerations Essential vocabulary: Those words and concepts most frequently used and those which will be most applicable across the curriculum (in AAC terms Core ) Specialized vocabulary: Those words and concepts which are less frequently used and are subject specific (in AAC terms Fringe )

30 Activity 1 You have just completed a lesson on fairytales, folktales or fables There is a student in your class with unique communication/language needs (i.e. selective mute, student with autism, Ukrainian speaker, etc.) Design an activity, including a variety of response modalities, which allow the student to optimally participate and demonstrate knowledge

31 Eliciting Language and Communication Opportunities Where do I go from here? Some Possibilities Identify one specific student (do not select your most challenging student!). Critically analyze the activities for student communication opportunities (minimum of 3). Set up your environment to maximize language and communication (one activity a day). Post prompt hierarchy & start to use!

32 Activity 2 Discuss what opportunities already exist in your classroom and what opportunities you can create in the future to encourage higher levels of language and communication for students of all ability levels.

33 Q & A What questions do you still have regarding eliciting language and communication in the classroom for all learners/communicators?