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All Areas Speech Pathology Speech development and expressive and receptive language skills in students

© Jane Beale Speech Pathologist Mobile: 0404 838 712 Email: [email protected] 1

By Jane Beale

SPEECH PATHOLOGIST B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology) M.S.P.A.

© Jane Beale April 2017

Speech Pathology in Schools - SLSOs

Speech Development Changing Habits

Receptive Language Expressive Language

Working in the OKAY ZONE



Articulation Guide for Speech Sound Development

Age Stage

2.0 – 2.5 years

Approximately 50 % of words are clear (ie ½ of words)

• h, m, n, b, p and d sounds being used well

• VOWEL SOUNDS are correct

• Spoken English contains > 20 vowel sounds: short a-u, oo

long a-u, ar, air, er, ear, ire, ow, or, oy, ewer, our, /ə/ schwa

3.0 – 3.5 years

Approximately 75 % of words are clear (ie ¾ of words)

• t, y, w, f and s sounds now being used well

4.0 – 4.5 years

Approximately 90 % of words are clear

• k, c, g, sh, ch, j, l and z now being used well

• Consonant clusters (two sounds together) at start and ends of words

are now being used well, including:

st sp sk sm sw bl gl fl nt and nd ** Consonant clusters are harder to produce than single

sounds – pronouncing “pay” is easier than “play”

• It is within normal development if r, v and th are still unclear (later

developing sounds)

5.0 to 5.5 years

95+ % of words are clear

• ‘v’ now being used well

• ‘s’ may still be made as a lisp (tongue through teeth, like a ‘th’

sound)

• All consonant clusters are being pronounced correctly

• ‘r’ may still be ‘w’ in a cluster (twee for tree)

6.0 to 8.0 years

100% of words are clear

• ‘th’ and ‘r’ now being used well in all word positions and in clusters

• ‘s’ no longer being lisped

• ‘th’ may still be an ‘f’ if parents use and ‘f’ -> this is almost an

accepted variation/accent in some areas



Imitation does not mean that the student has learnt the new skill. It just means that they can copy the skill!

Try this S à D exercise below:

To learn a speech sounds, students need to be prompted to say the correct sounds on their own. When they use their own memories plus clues and prompts from you, they are on their way to learning and remembering how to say the speech sounds and words correctly, ALL THE TIME.



HIGH USAGE WORDS TO IMPROVE SPEECH CLARITY

Student’s Name: Focus sound: Circle word position: Initial medial final Can this student easily copy the word correctly? YES NO NB: only use this strategy if you answered YES If the student cannot easily copy the sound correctly, work on listening skills and making the sound on its own. Refer to a speech pathologist for assistance if the student does not make progress. a) High Usage Words for this sound that are relevant for this student

•

•

•

•

•

b) On the back of this sheet, write down some ideas for quick activities using the above high usage words. Try to include simple actions and activities that can be used quickly and easily by the teacher and SLSO. Best results are gained when multiple people practice throughout the day to reinforce new habits for the above sound.

Remember to look for ways to prompt the student to say the sound WITHOUT imitating

you (that is – have the student say the correct sound by thinking how to do it on his or her own).



Typical Receptive Language Skills in Kindergarten Children

Skill Typical Skills for 5 – 6 year olds

Receptive Vocabulary

• Receptive vocabulary of approximately 10,000 to 13,000 words • Understands relationships between words that are related

E.g. hot and warm have similar meaning • Easily learns and remembers new vocabulary items that are used

incidentally in the classroom environment • Asks teacher to explain words that are not known • Can identify if words are “real” or “nonsense/made up”

Following Directions

• Follows 3 and 4 part instructions

E.g. “Get your hat and shoes, then sit down.” “Get your hat and shoes, then sit down and start reading.”

• Remembers sequence/order of instructions E.g. “First, get the square, then stick the circle on top”

• Pays attention and listens to speaker, in order to follow instructions in a group setting

Concepts • Easily understands basic concepts (in, on, under, big, little) • Knows harder position words and phrases E.g. between, beside, below, at the top, closest to • Knows many opposites,

E.g. long/short, empty/full, high/low, many/few, more/less • Starting to understand concepts of time E.g. before, after, soon, tomorrow, next week • May understand harder concepts such as alike, except, instead

Comprehension of a range

of sentence types

• Understands the meaning of whole sentences:

E.g. Negation - Give me one that is not red. Subordinate - She had a drink after she ate the food. Passive - She was being watched by the cat.

Auditory Memory Skills

Working Memory Skills

(Manipulation of information

in short term memory)

• Remembers 4 numbers forwards (says in same order) • Remembers 2 numbers backwards (says in reverse order) • Able to remember basic information told in a short story (story length

up to seven sentences) and answer a range of questions: E.g. “Where was the girl going?” “Why couldn’t she find her bag at the school?”

Understands a range of

question types

• Understands where, what, when, who, how and why questions and

gives appropriate answers to show understanding • Able to respond to questions that require prediction, reasoning or

problem solving E.g. “What would happen if you went outside on a rainy day and you forgot to take your umbrella?” “Why can’t the boy with the broken leg ride his bike?”



Please refer to your colour poster showing the five key steps to assisting

children to understand and speak well!

1. Slow Slow, clear sentences

2. Talk Do lots of talking and deliberately teach new words each day, including modeling correct grammar

3. Loud Emphasise key word or concepts that

you are trying to teach

4. Repeat Learning needs lots of repetition – usually more than adults realise is necessary (it’s hard to break a habit)

5. Fun It must be fun for the adults and the

children. Everyone is more motivated to learn when they are laughing and having a good time!

SLOW • Do you think you are a fast or slow speaker?

• Slowing down has been proven by research to make it easier for children to understand.

• Think about how clear a Play School Presenter sounds!

• Give instructions to students using SLOW speech. See if this helps the child to understand and

follow your instructions.

TALK

• Think about what school was like for you when you started - when you got home, what did you like

to do? (play outside, build cubbies, play with neighbours).

• Think about changes in society now - children play alone, watch DVDs, play on devices, less eating

meals around table with whole family, may have DVD instead of a story at bed time

• Overall, some children now have less talking on an everyday basis

• What are the benefits of doing lots of talking with students? (learn new words, understand what

longer sentences mean)

• Remember, don’t let devices replace conversation – people need to talk!



LOUD

• Use short phrases when teaching a new word or concept and make the new word LOUD.

• When teaching words, it is very helpful to make the key word stand out by emphasising the word

with a loud voice.

• Think about when you already do this - e.g. Telling children “please be QUIET” or “wash your HANDS”.

• A loud voice on the key word makes the child more likely to listen and pay attention to that word.

REPEAT

• How many times do we need to hear a new word before we learn it?

• Young children (1 – 3 years of age) can learn a new word after only 1 or 2 exposures. However, by

the time a child is school aged, they may need to hear a word up to 12 times before they learn

and remember the word.

• Repeating words slowly and clearly is one of the best ways to help students improve their language

skills. Songs, nursery rhymes and chants are a great way of hearing and saying words over and over

again.

• Make up your own rhymes and chants to help students remember words and phrases.

FUN

• Even if you feel frustrated about slow progress, remember the child needs working on speech and

language skills to be FUN. In fact, for the child to learn well, it shouldn’t feel like work at all. Instead,

good learning will occur when the student is enjoying the activity and feeling confident about their

own abilities. Then the child will be more willing to listen and repeat the new words lots of times,

which is what is needed.

• When helping the child, make it fun for you too! It’s hard to have endless patience to work on

language skills if you are bored with the tasks, so choose games and activities that you both enjoy

and look forward to doing together.

• If you find it hard to get the child to try or you don’t know how to make it fun for a particular child,

talk to a speech pathologist. Sometimes, a few sessions with a speech pathologist that you get to

observe might make all the difference and you can learn some new ideas and skills too!



LISTENING GAMES TO HELP RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Simon says

o Simon says clap your hands

o Clap your hands (mustn’t clap this time)

• “If” games…

o “If you are a boy, clap your hands…”

o “If you have black shoes, clap your hands…”

• “If you haven’t” games… (much harder)

o If you haven’t got red hair, turn around…

o If you haven’t got black shoes, jump three times

o If you haven’t finished your lunch, put your hand up…

• I spy with clues (good for attributes)

o I spy with my little eye, something that is:

§ red, big and under the cupboard

o I spy with my little eye, something that has:

§ Four legs, a tail and barks

• Following Directions - as a guide aim for:

• 1 direction at 3 years

• 2 directions at 4 years

• 3 directions at 5 years

• 4 directions at school entry point

**Teach the child to squeeze one finger for each item as they rehearse the instruction:

o When I say go…. Clap your hands

o When I say go…. Jump, then clap your hands

o When I say go… Clap, then jump, then close your eyes

o When I say go…. Walk to the door, then knock on the door, then jump three times,

then crawl back to me

• Obstacle courses

o Give 1, 2, 3 or 4 instructions to follow

o Rehearse the instructions together

o “Can you run to the tree, then run to the swing, then crawl under the bar, then hop

back to me….GO!



Typical Expressive Language Skills in Kindergarten Children

Skill Typical Abilities at Kindergarten Age

Expressive Vocabulary

• Expressive vocabulary of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 words

• Uses a broad range of words across many vocabulary categories

Speaking in Sentences

• Uses grammatically correct sentences of up to 10 words in length

• Uses conjunctions to join ideas and increase sentence complexity

Uses a range of word structures

(oral grammar)

• Uses regular and irregular plurals correctly

E.g. “one foot -> two feet”

“one watch -> two watches”

• Uses possessive nouns and pronouns correctly

E.g. “It’s Simon’s bag.”

“The bag is Simon’s.”

“The bag is his.”

• Uses a range of verbs tenses correctly

E.g. “I am running fast.”

“I ran fast.”

“I will run fast.”

• Uses regular and irregular verbs correctly

E.g. “I jump –> I jumped”

“he catches –> he caught”

• Includes auxillary verbs in sentences

E.g. “She is running.”

“The boys have seen their friend.”

“My friend’s coming over.”

• Uses comparatives and superlatives

• E.g. big, bigger, biggest

Bad, worse, worst (may be inconsistent)

Uses spoken language for a

range of purposes

• Uses spoken language for a range of complex purposes,

including making predictions and solving problems.

Gives oral recounts

• Gives oral recounts such as telling news

• Able to talk about past events, using past tense verbs

Stays on topic

• Makes relevant comments and contributions to group discussions

• Answers basic and complex questions with appropriate answers

• Able to initiate and maintain topics in a conversation



Correcting Children’s Spoken Grammar Skills Why are so many children starting school with poor oral grammar skills?

• Less correction happening from adults

• Children hearing incorrect grammar in the speech of older children and adults

• Socially acceptable examples of incorrect grammar being seen by children

E.g. shortened/changed words in text messages; spelling/grammar errors on signage Common grammar errors that are heard (and copied) by children in the community

• I seen it

• I done it

• I come yesterday

• I’ve already wrote it

• I’ve already gave it

• Are youse coming?

• I done nothing wrong

• I don’t want nobody to tell me

• I don’t know nothing about it

Development grammatical errors in children are due to:

Ø Applying grammar rules to words that have irregular forms:

o Applying ‘s’ to all words to be plurals e.g. tooths o Applying ‘ed’ to all words to be past tense e.g. goed

Ø Complex range of pronouns and possessive pronouns e.g. She is It is for her It’s hers

Ø Complex range of verb tenses and auxiliary verbs, e.g. I am, you are, he is I was, your were, he was I wrote, she had written How can adults help children with oral grammar skills? • Correct errors in a supportive way – agree with the child that it doesn’t make sense!

• Aim to have correct spoken grammar heard A LOT more than incorrect grammar

• Have correct spoken grammar as a key focus area for whole class

• Listen carefully for grammar errors and be ready to model correct grammar

• Recognise that grammar errors usually persist until corrected

• Use rhymes, chants and carrier phrases to practice grammar daily IMPORTANT!

Try to avoid using incorrect grammar in your own speech to correct a child, otherwise you will provide a further

model of incorrect grammar for the child to hear!

E.g. if the Child says: “I catched the ball” - DO NOT SAY – “It’s not catched!” Instead, say: “We say caught. Caught the ball. Can you say caught?”

I know that’s weird but that’s just what we say.

You caught the ball. Caught. Caught the ball or caught the bus.

Using the above method, the child has been exposed to FIVE CORRECT models of the word caught for the ONE INCORRECT word that they said (“catched”). This method helps the child to learn the correct form of the word and to remember next time!

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