|
|
|
Read With Me! NEW RESOURCE!
A great resource for early reading materials!!!
|
Making Connections to Make a Difference – Strategies for School-Aged Intervention that Works
Shari Robertson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Presented in Memory of: •Friend, Mentor, Role Model •Leader in the field of school-aged and adolescent intervention •Her influence will be solely missed •LET US MAINTAIN HER LEGACY!
Focus your efforts on what works! The Efficient, Effective Professional •Effectiveness –Doing the right thing in a way that works. –Ex: Clients of effective SLPs meet therapy goals.. •Efficiency –Doing something in a fashion that minimizes time spent and maximizes the amount of work accomplished. –Ex: Using efficient methods assists clients in learning new skills quickly. Evidence-Based Practice •The use of treatments that are known to result in positive outcomes. •Now expected in both health care and educational settings. •Justifies our professional existence •Assists SLPs in being effective and efficient. Language is a complex phenomenon
^Language does not develop in isolation. –Involves a network of casual factors, corollary conditions, and diverse outcomes. ^Language disorders are a life-long disability. –Must consider not only the present problem, but also problems that may arise as child matures. –-However, language problems can be managed in a way that maximizes learning for LLD students.
Functional Outcomes •Clinical targets that impact the lives of clients in a meaningful way. •For school aged children this means treatment that links outcomes to the regular education curriculum
Strategies that Support Functional Outcomes SCAFFOLDING v Reducing the amount of stress and undue effort a student uses to complete a curricular task. vRequires analyzing language demands of the curriculum and creating optimal task conditions to assist students in learning the necessary material vExamples include: •reducing the amount of material student must process •presenting material in smaller units •allowing extra time for completion.
MEDIATION •Assists students in using meta-cognitive skills to assess their own learning. •Can be used with children in early grades through high school. •Goal is to help children monitor their own learning experiences.
IMPORTANT! •These strategies are designed to: –Help students become more independent learners –Assist them in learning new or improved skills –reduce the gap between their language skills and the demands of the classroom
•They are NOT intended to: –Merely keep them current with assignments or test preparation (tutoring) –However, this may be a by-product of the use of mediation and scaffolding
Making Connections
Suggested Goals for the School-Aged Child Based on empirical research evidence Designed to support Functional Outcomes
#1 Build Oral Language and Metalinguistic Skills
General Language Problems that affect Literacy/Academic Achievement
Metalinguistic Skills Ability to make conscious judgements about one’s language –Phonological Awareness •Phonemic Awareness •Rhyming •Syllabification –Double Meaning Words –Figurative Language –Editing
Sample Phonological Awareness Tasks (not to be confused with Phonemic Awareness) o Look at this sentence. Can you circle the first word in the sentence? The last word? How many words are in the sentence? o How many syllables in this sentence? Clap once for each syllable you hear. o What words can you think of that rhyme with hat? o What would sun be without the “s”? o What would reckless be without the first syllable?
Figurative Language •Double meaning words •Idioms •Similies/Metaphors •Slang •Puns •Ambiguity (Why Women Smell Better) •(Humor) More Ideas •Have students write down words/phrases they have heard other students say and bring to class for discussion (maybe start a notebook). Role play use in therapy/class. •Advertisements from newspapers and magazines are a good source of figurative language. Have students bring in examples – discuss and post or keep in a notebook. •Provide students with lists of homophones (words that sound alike) and have students try to develop their own puns, riddles. etc. –My favorite vegetable can’t be beat/beet. –Eight ate the turkey dinner. •Start a “word wall” list of ambiguous sentences. –“Why women smell better.” – comment to a new mother: “I didn’t know you had it in you!” •Post humorous signs and pictures supplied by clinician and students. Editing •Students who learn to edit their own, and each other’s work increase metalinguistic awareness and confidence in their written abilities. •Step #1 – Clinician provides samples of written work with intentional errors –Syntax, morphological markings, word use, conjunction choice, spelling, punctuation, etc. •Step #2 – Students create written work with intentional errors and exchange with one another (helps understand that errors are okay – that’s what editing is about) •Step #3 –Students evaluate and exchange specifically assigned work (ideally classroom work) Peer to Peer Conference •I like the part when you tell about_______ •Tell me more about__________________ •I like how you used the word___________ •What other lead sentences could you try? •What other end sentences did you try? •I could tell you must have felt_________ •Out of all you wrote, what was your favorite part? Why? More ways to support meta-linguistic skills •Try word games, vanity plates, mystery phrases, etc to help students think about how we use language as a written code.
Goal #2 Develop Pragmatic and Meta-Pragmatic Skills Metapragmatic Skills
Awareness of the language and nonverbal communication used to convey the rules for communicating with others. Sample metapragmatic tasks o How do you know when it is time for recess? o When is it okay to talk out loud in class? o When is it alright to ask the teacher a question? o What do you say to someone you would like to play with?
Pragmatic and Metapragmatic Skills •Conversational (Discourse) Skills –Presupposition –Topic Initiation –Topic Maintenance –Conversational Repairs •Social etiquette •Code Switching •Politeness Pragmatic and Metapragmatic Activites •Role playing involving: –Politeness –Tact –Assertiveness •Barrier Games •Books that explore pragmatic themes
Goal #3 Increasing skills in the cognitive and meta-cognitive domain. Cognitive and Metacognitive Skills •Problem solving •Critical thinking •Memory strategies •Script knowledge •Prediction •Comprehension Monitoring
Sample Metacognitive tasks •How do you know if you understand what the teacher is saying? •How do you know if you understand the directions for a project? •What would you do if you didn’t understand the directions someone gave you to a party?
Increasing Cognitive and Metacognitive skills using Narrative and Expository text •As children progress through school, the demand for using and comprehending written language increasing significantly. •To support functional outcomes, SLPs must incorporate practice with written language related to classroom demands into the intervention protocols of school-aged and adolescent students. •Two kinds of written language –Narrative (“story”) –Expository (“information”) Consider: •Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco (1992) •Story of three children who inadvertently discover one neighbor’s secret fears, another’s family tradition, and another’s joyful love of music while they are trying to purchase an Easter bonnet
•Bridges to Cross by Philemon Sturges (1998) •Fact-packed picture and word tour of 14 bridges, describing how and why they were built throughout the world. Both: •Are published by Penguin Putnam Books •Are 32 pages long •Have full color illustrations on each page •Are fourth grade level books BUT •In a head to head comparison, the narrative has 8.6 words per sentence and no passive sentences. •The expository text has 10.8 words and 20% passive sentences. •The narrative has a 95% reading ease score (based on complexity) and the expository text has only a 68% reading ease score Clearly, we need to teach students with LLD to comprehend BOTH kinds of text efficiently and effectively!
Using Scaffolding to Support Comprehension of Narratives •Task: Student is required to produce a book report. •Possible Solution: Provide a series of increasingly complex forms to guide the student through the process (rather than just using a free-form format. (Handout Page 6) •Benefit: As student becomes more adept, s/he can move to more complicated tasks – learning the sequence rather than always producing an inferior product or requiring a great deal of assistance.
Title:_______________________ Author:______________________ Characters:___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Three Things that Happened: 1._______________________ 2._______________________ 3._______________________ Retell the story with pictures:
Using Mediation with Narratives and Expository Texts •Research shows that children with more extensive vocabularies do better in comprehension (e.g. Dole, Sloan, & Trathen, 1995) •However, merely looking up words in a dictionary does not transfer work knowledge effectively to reading comprehension tasks. •Using cognitive and metacognitive skills to activate the child’s knowledge systems increases the probability of comprehension and retention of expository and narrative text. Predict-O-Gram (Narrative Text) What do I already know? (self- inventory for Expository Text)
Additional Ideas •Brainstorm word that might be used in a text looking only at pictures and title. –Compare lists between groups/individuals –Identify words that would be most interesting to learn about (compare again) –Identify words that would NOT be in the text. •Look for examples of expository and narrative text within a single work.
General Principles for Addressing Functional Outcomes School-Aged and Adolescent Students
•Establish relevancy for every goal and activity. •Use examples appropriate to students’ age and experience level. •Invite students to answer bridging questions –“When else might you use this skill/strategy.” –“What might happen if you didn’t use this skill/strategy?” –“How will this skill/strategy help you in school?” •Be prepared for silence first few times you do this activity!
“Think about Thinking
Talk about Thinking
Talk about Talking”
Summary! Working together to enhance language, learning, and literacy
•Utilize methods that are evidence-based and provide for functional outcomes. •Assess the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student in regards to the major domains related to language, learning, and literacy.
•Establish modified and sometimes more specific objectives to keep students with language disorders connected to the lesson and processing actively. •Document growth in both language and related skills areas targeted for the student. •Emphasis process over product (Resist urge to be a tutor) •Tap into meta-skills whenever possible. |
Send mail to readwmec@readwme.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
