Northern Metropolitan Region Language Support Program Day 1 Tuesday 3 rd May 2011 A teaching and learning program designed to support students with language

Northern Metropolitan RegionLanguage Support Program

Day 1Tuesday 3rd May 2011

A teaching and learning program designed to support students with

language difficulties in the classroom.

Northern Metropolitan Region:

Charmaine Tu (Speech & Language Pathologist)

LANGUAGE SUPPORT PROGRAMProfessional Learning Guide

Developed by Dr John Munro

Melbourne University

Based on ……..

Principles of N.M.R2. The quality of teaching matters.

3. The best professional learning takes place in the classroom.

4. Standards for teaching practice matter.5. Collaboration matters

6. Curriculum standards matter.7. Accountability matters.

8. Reliable data informs the best judgements about school improvement.

Language Support ProgramPurpose:Develop the capacity of schools and

teachers to provide appropriate programs and learning experiences that will improve the oral language skills of children and young people.

• increase learning opportunities for students who have language difficulties

Program Aims:

• bridge the gap between regular language teaching and the provision of specialised speech pathology services

• provide systematic and explicit language support in a classroom context

• to build on and link with current, recognised, best practice (Early Years/Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy, Reading Recovery, VELS, English Continuum,PoLT, e5)

Principles underpinning LSP

• Building awareness of oral language to support literacy

• Awareness that texts are written for a range of purposes

• Word meaning and vocabulary knowledge

• Orthographic and morphemic knowledge

• Reading aloud to achieve fluency and phrasing

Principles underpinning LSP

• Literal, critical, inferential and creative comprehension outcomes

• Recognising and using the forms, linguistic structures and features of written texts

• Using metacognitive and self-management strategies

Classroom Language Program

Specialised Speech Pathology

LANGUAGE SUPPORT PROGRAM

Why have a Language Support Program?

• know how to learn new vocabulary

• believe they can learn language successfully

Most students…

• can integrate aspects of language use at once.

In each classroom there are students who do not spontaneously acquire

language skills.

• 2.7 million Australians have a communication disability which may range from mild to severe (1 in 7)

• 577,000 school-aged children have difficulties with language

Statistics

•build on teacher understanding of language development and difficulties

•develop a framework for understanding oral language

•utilise a more systematic process for identifying language difficulties in the classroom

•assist teachers to better cater for students with language difficulties within their classroom practices.

The LSP Professional Learning Guide

aims to:

Aim of sessions• An understanding of the development of

oral language and its linguistic structures and features.

• Knowledge of language disorders and difficulties.

• Knowledge and skills to identify and profile students with language difficulties.

• Classroom teaching strategies that directly address the identified difficulties.

• Advice for implementing a Language Support Program

How much do we know about Language Development?

The inability to acquire skills involved in the reception, processing, or expression of language to the extent that one is unable to participate fully, without special assistance, in the social and educational life of the school. (Ron Brynes, Speech Pathologist, 1984)

Definition of a Language Definition of a Language Disorder:Disorder:

A Language Disorder cannot be accounted for by:

What is a Language Disorder? Defined by exclusion:

•Intellectual Disability•Hearing Impairment•Neurological Damage•Emotional Problems•Cultural Factors•Non-English Speaking Background

However, students classified under these headings may have language difficulties that can be catered for by this program.

What is a Language Disorder?

Receptive Language: The understanding of language when it is conveyed by another including the understanding of concepts, grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure.

Expressive Language: The use of language to convey a message, including the use of grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure.

What is a Language Disorder? Students can have difficulty in one or more areas oflanguage:

Pragmatics: Understanding the rules of communication and conversation, as well as the different functions of communication.

Morphology: Understanding the appropriate use of grammatical structures ( eg house-houses)

Semantics: Understanding the words we use to describe things in the world around us

Syntax: Understanding the rules for putting words together in sentences

Phonology: Understanding the rules of how speech sounds go together

Severity of Language Disorders

SEVERITY RATING DEVIATION FROM THE MEAN

COMPOSITE STANDARD SCORE

RANGE NORMAL Within –1 SD and

above 86 and above

MILD -1 to –1.5 SD 78 to 85 MODERATE -1.5 to –2 SD 71 to 77

SEVERE - 2 SD and below 70 and below

“Normal” range (68%)

Bell Curve

Ability Level

Low High

Pro

portio

n o

f Pop

ula

tion

Moderately low range (14%)

Language Disability

(2%)

Do students grow out of Language Disorder?

• NO.• The implications/signs change as

students move through adolescence, with ever increasing academic and social language demands.

• The gap between these students and their peers widens.

• It persists into their adult lives.

Study in 1995 by Hart & Risley

• By the age of 3;- a child from a professional family was

hearing an average of 2153 words an hour- a child from a welfare benefit family was

hearing 616 words an hour

Difference of 3 ½ more words an hour !!

How do we currently identify a Language Disorder?

Students not diagnosed in kindergarten or primary school may come to our attention as:

•performing well below average on Prep or Year 7 literacy testing

•a behaviour problem and/or

•having a learning difficulty

Assesses and provides assistance/therapy in some or all of the following areas:– Receptive Language Skills– Expressive Language Skills– Phonological Awareness– Fluency– Voice– Articulation– Eating/Swallowing– Augmentative/Alternative

Communication

A Speech Pathologist……

Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005)

Study of 30 male juvenile offenders (13-19 years) completing community based

orders.

52% of the young offenders were found tohave a previously undiagnosed languagedisorder.

Oral language disorder carries a more thantwo fold increased risk in violent offending.


Performance on a range of oral languageprocessing and production skills was poorerthan that of a demographically similarcomparison group, particularly in:

• speed and accuracy of comprehension

• ability to understand abstract language e.g. metaphors, figurative language

• narrative recounts


Several critical aspects of languagedevelopment are refined during adolescence,including:• turn-taking and conversational repair• comprehension and use of irony and

metaphor• ability to ‘code-switch’ ie. Adjust

communicative style to the demands of the context


Various research shows delayed languagedevelopment as a risk factor for developmentof:• violent antisocial behaviour in adolescence• substance abuse and affective disorder in

early adulthood• psychiatric disorder in young people


Challenging behaviours can serve ascommunicative functions in students with

language learning disabilities, and these candiminish after more socially appropriateforms of communication are acquired

(Windsor,1995).


We need to look closely at students displaying both learning

and conduct problems and be careful not to overlook possible underlying language disorder in our efforts to manage behaviour.

Snow & Sanger Research2010

Youth offenders are:• more likely to have a learning disability• 3 times more likely to display language

problems than non-offending peers• more likely to disengage early from the

education system

Children identified in the early years with a language disorder at higher risk of social exclusion and bullying.


Language impairment in childhood increases the risk of a range of mental health problems and anti-social behaviour.

Young male offender: risk of death before 21 years of age is 9.2 times higher than peersYoung female offender: risk of death before 21 years of age is 41. 3 times higher.


Therefore, promotion of strong oral language competence is imperative to try and reduce the occurence of antisocial behaviour later.

Early language competence is a

public health issue.

It provides ‘psychosocial’ protection toyoung people with respect to the

development of social skills, literacy and

overall academic achievement.

Failure to address deficiencies in oral language

learning

Lack of academic success

Disengagement

Behaviour problems

Receptive Language Disorder

Drawing Activity

Expressive Language Disorder

VocabularyActivity

Characteristics of Language Difficulties

ORAL LANGUAGE

• Slow processing time

• Difficulty following instructions

• Limited understanding of complex sentences

• Poor sequencing skills

• Poor organisational skills

• Tend to tune out


AUDITORY MEMORY

• Difficulty remembering spoken instructions

• Poor memory for new information

• Often ask for repetitions / reluctant to ask for repetitions


DIFFICULTY PROCESSING QUESTIONS

• Difficulty answering questions

• Difficulty with “who”, “where”, “when”, “why” and “how” questions

• Difficulty with abstract questions

• Slow to respond to questions

Characteristics of Language Difficulties:

VOCABULARY

• Difficulty finding words

• Limited variety in vocabulary

• Poor understanding of double meaning

• Difficulty in describing

• Difficulty in getting to the point

• Poor understanding of abstract concepts


PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

• Difficulty in identifying sounds in words

• Unable to break down spoken words into syllable or sound sequences

• Difficulty with rhyming

• Difficulty discriminating between speech sounds

• Unaware they are pronouncing speech sounds incorrectly


SENTENCE FORMATION

• Give inappropriately short answers

• Limited use of conjunctions and complex phrases

• Poor use of grammatical structures

• Produce disordered sentences


WRITING

• Ideas are repetitive, disorganised and uninteresting

• Poor introductions, no conclusions

• Ideas not expressed in logical order

• Often short stories with little description


SOCIAL LANGUAGE

• Difficulty following the topic

• Difficulty initiating and taking turns in conversations

• Difficulty understanding nonverbal cues

• Use inappropriate language with regard to context

•build on teacher understanding of oral language development and difficulties




The LSP Professional Learning Program

Aims to:

To address the needs of the student with language difficulties in a systematic way….

a language framework comprising….

IDEASIDEAS

CONVENTIONSCONVENTIONS

PURPOSESPURPOSES

ABILITY to LEARNABILITY to LEARN

A Framework for Understanding Oral

Language Ideas… Messages… Meanings… Vocabulary... Morphology… Semantics

Conventions… Rules… Grammar … Phonology…Syntax … Prosody

Purpose... Functions of language… Pragmatics

Ability to learn… knowing how to learn.. Metalinguistics…Metacognition

A Framework for Understanding Oral Language

11. deasdeas

words sentences discourses topic

and their individual and combined meanings

2. onventions2. onventionsPhonological Rules

•combining sound patterns into words

Grammatical Rules

• combining words into sentences

Genre Rules

•combining sentences into spoken or written “text” (discourse)


3. urposes3. urposes


Manage & Direct Language• how conversations are started, maintained & ended

Listen and Speak “between the lines” • how intended meaning is communicated & understood

Adjust to Context and Audience • selecting the type and amount of information

Use language for different goals• using language and intonation to request, agree,

confirm, protest & comment etc.

bility to earnbility to earn bility to earnbility to earn


Ability to perceive oral language• hearing, auditory discrimination, short term auditory memory

Opportunity to learn language

• experiences

Ways of learning• ability to symbolise, categorise, link ideas, sequence, transfer knowledge






Aims to:

IDENTIFICATI0NLSP Oral Language Observational Profile

IDENTIFICATION

The purpose of screening is to:

• identify students’ oral language abilities and difficulties

• facilitate systematic targeted teaching

• monitor in explicit ways student learning progress

IDENTIFICATION

IDENTIFICATION

How does your school currently identify

students with language difficulties?

IDENTIFICATION

In secondary schools, students with language

disorders may be initially identified because

of associated difficulties with:

• Literacy

• Learning

• Behaviour

• Male• Easily distracted, short concentration span• Doesn’t ask questions• Hands in work consistently late or not at all• Negative attitude to schooling• Class clown• Disorganised• Doesn’t understand jokes & humour• Says the wrong thing at the wrong time in

the wrong tone of voice

Do you recognise this student?






Aims to:

The Teaching Framework and Resources reflect:

• the ICPAL model

• small group and whole class activities

• expressive and receptive modes

• indicators of progress in the Speaking and Listening domain of the English Continuum

• strategies that enhance access to the mainstream curriculum

We need to remember the influence of oral language

across all VELS areas:

The Teaching Framework and Resources

Eg: Domain – Physical, Personal & Social Learning

Standard – Civic and Citizenship Level 5: …identify significant developments in the governance and achievement of political rights in Australia.

…explain key features of Australian Government

… describe the purposes of laws and the processes of creating and changing them.

• be explicit and concise - ‘less is more’• allow time for processing• discuss “big picture” i.e. the purpose

of tasks or lessons • pre-teach vocabulary • emphasize keywords/ideas • support spoken information visually • use direct language • explain the process involved in

completing a task• request feedback from students

General LSP Teaching Tips:

• A Language Disorder is a complex set of ‘symptoms’ and affects learning across the curriculum – including social language and personal interactions

• It is not something able to be ‘fixed’ with a burst of therapy or 1 or 2 strategies

• It is something that requires modification in ALL learning areas

General LSP Teaching Tips:

Year 7 English class?• The meanings of specific instructional

vocabulary such as “describe / define / argue” are explicitly pre-taught

• Key vocabulary and concepts related to the classroom theme are pre-taught

• Story plots or abstract concepts (such as ‘freedom’) are explored and represented visually

• The various essay genres are explicitly taught

• Assignments are set out clearly with the process taught systematically i.e. using checklists, criteria based assessment

What might the LSP look like in a…

Comparison of genre terminology

Year 9 Woodwork class?

• Create a word bank of woodwork specific words• Pre-teach vocabulary for particular jobs i.e.

plane, taper etc. • Write names of tools next to illustrations or real

tools • Show real model of what the class is working

towards (big picture / purpose)• Give students a visual flow chart to follow• Demonstrate techniques / use of tools• Breakdown sequences or processes into smaller

steps• Ask students to repeat in their own words what

they have to do i.e. paraphrase

What is going well?What are the questions?What can we improve?What are the issues and ideas?

What is going well?What are the questions?What can we improve?What are the issues and ideas?

Reflection

PREPARATION FOR DAY 2• Select a unit of work or an activity to bring to the next session.

• Schedule a simulation activity for a future staff or team meetingorProvide feedback to staff on the Snow research

Documents

Northern Metropolitan Region Language Support Program Day 1 Tuesday 3 rd May 2011 A teaching and learning program designed to support students with language