The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation. Pragmatics, the language of conversation, is a large component of language that unfortunately, many individuals have difficulties with. Beginning at a young age, teachers and other adults can generally sense a problem with a child’s socialization s... ... middle of paper ... ...of Spoken Language (CASL) Publication Summary Form. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonassessments.com/NR/rdonlyres/E56A4DA9-DF5C-4760-8FA2-220065C369AE/4310/caslinternet1.pdf Kuder, S.J. (2008). Teaching Students with Language and Communication Disabilities (3rd edition). Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon. Oral and Written Language Scales, Second Edition (OWLS-II), Western Psychological Services. Retrieved from http://portal.wpspublish.com/portal/page?_pageid=53,279547&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Phonemic Awareness and Rapid Naming. Retrieved from http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productview.aspx?id=1615 Young, E.C., Diehl, J.J., Morris, D., Hyman, S.L., Bennetto, L. (2005). The Use of Two Language Tests to Identify Pragmatic Language Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 36(1), 62-72.
The topic for today’s reading was, Interpreting the Language Assessment. In one of the assigned readings, Interpreting the Behavioral Language Assessment, emphasized that the purpose of the behavioral assessment is to provide the tester with enough information to design an individualized language intervention program for a specific child. Therefore, to establish an effective intervention program for particular child the tester must identify the most appropriate starting point for initial training. The tester should review each skill in relation to the entire set of skills identified in the assessment. It is usually best to focus on the development of a few key language areas at one time, even though the child may have weaknesses in several of the areas reviewed by the assessment. Also, it is important that the tester not simply pick the areas with the lowest scores and recommend training begin in those areas, because is very important to ensure that the instructor is able to observe the learner acquiring skills relatively short period of time, in order to maintain his motivation to continue conducting language training activities. Only a few areas are selected for the initial intervention, and the focus of the intervention will be continuously changed as the student acquires new skills. Finally, the language intervention program develops the child’s skills such that he could score at least a five on each of the areas of the assessment. This score of five in a specific area may indicate that a particular skill area may not require as intensive intervention as those skills with a lower score. Furthermore, for the second reading, The Benefits of Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Children with Autism, stated t...
I also volunteer, assisting students with various developmental and learning disabilities complete their educational tasks (e.g. homework and test preparations). In the past, I’ve worked as a teacher’s aide in the Buffalo, NY public school system and as an undergraduate assistant in the Buffalo State Speech-language and Hearing Clinic. I plan to become a school-based SLP preferably in the Washington, D.C. area. I have great interest in working in the public-school system because I believe that it will allow me to reach and assist a large array of children with a wide variety of unique needs. I am particularly passionate about assisting children that come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds because I come from one myself. I also believe that children are often misdiagnosed with language or speech impairments because they use a vernacular that is different from mainstream English or because they fail standardized tests that are not culturally appropriate for them. Correspondingly, a child’s language or speech impairment can be overlooked because they use a vernacular that differs from mainstream English. As a school-based SLP, I will strive to ensure that all children receive the appropriate services they require, warranting that they become proficient communicators and will be able to use their skills to enhance their lives and contribute to society. Nothing will give me more gratification than to help children make greater use of their communicative
Dillon, Naomi. “LANGUAGE TEST. (cover story).” American School Board Journal 192.8 (2005): 10. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Feb. 2001.
Bryant, D. P., Smith, D. D., & Bryant, B. R. (2008). Teaching Students with Special Needs in
EDUC 253, Introduction to Learning Disabilities, is a 3-credit course designed to give education majors a deeper look at learning disabilities and teaching students with learning disabilities. The course delves into the basics of learning disabilities, including federal, state, and local definitions. Other legal issues, including the continuum of special education services, will also be discussed, along with IEP logistics. Special topics such as early childhood and adolescence; related disabilities like autism and ADHD; and social, emotional, and behavioral complications that are often concurrent with learning disabilities will also be covered. Finally, theoretical perspectives on learning and teaching and their applications in the classroom
The purposes of assessing special education students are to determine their progress in achieving annual goals and short-term objectives. Assessment also provides diagnostic information for instructional decision making decisions. In recent years, formal and standardized tests have been criticized for their inability to integrate assessment and teaching. Teachers know that the students are learning; however, they do not know the extent of learning. Standardized tests typically measure a small amount of grade-level skills. Also, standardized tests stress factual information; thereby, forcing teachers to teach to the test. For example, they evaluate writing skills by asking grammar questions rather than having the students write a story. Since standardized tests, do not measure an individual student’s knowledge, the impact on students with exceptional needs can be harmful. This dissatisfaction has forced educators to look at different forms of assessment in order to provide information about student learning and achievement.
..., K., Milczarski, E., & Raby, C. (2011). The Assessment of English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities: Issues, Concerns, and Implications. Education, 131(4), 732-739.
Students with learning disabilities can learn; each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Educators must continue to focus on the strengths of each student and building on them, creating a stronger student and person. Identifying the weakness is at the core of getting a student help with their learning disability, but after this initial identification and placement, the focus should shift to the strengths and adjusting the student’s schoolwork to reflect these strengths. For instance, if a student is weak in reading but has wonderful group interaction skills and is good with his or her hands, the students' reading tasks should then be shifted to reflect these st...
Build on learners' prior knowledge; (4.) Provide constant review; (5.) Simplify language; (6.) Build other skills while developing English. The use of standardized testing to identify and assess the progress of English language learners with special needs is problematic. Normally designed for native English speakers, many assessment instruments do not reliably assess speakers of other languages because they ignore differences among linguistic and cultural groups (Schwarz & Burt, 1995). Assessment of English language learners with special needs should...
Reiff, H. B.; Ginsberg, R.; and Gerber, P. J. "New Perspectives on Teaching from Successful Adults with Learning Disabilities." Remedial and Special Education 16, no. 1 (January 1995): 29-37. (EJ 497 555)
The classroom is a diverse place where learners from all different genres of life meet. Included in these learners are those that display learning disabilities. According to the British Columbia School Superintendent’s Association, ‘learning disabilities refer to a number of conditions that might affect the acquisition, organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or nonverbal information. These disorders affect learning in individuals who otherwise demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and/or reasoning’. They also posit that ‘learning disabilities result from impairments in one or more processes related to perceiving, thinking, remembering or learning. These include, but are not limited to language processing,
Children diagnosed with a Developmental Language Disorder at a young age benefit from early intervention. The earlier a child is able to receive treatment, the more effective the treatment will be. This article explains how most children diagnosed with autism earlier than 3 years of age retain that diagnosis when they turn 3. This diagnosis is critical because it can influence how the child receives early intervention. The goal of this study is to determine how accurately a child could be diagnosed with autism and retain that diagnosis 1 year later. The study also seeks to determine characteristics that children with autism demonstrate under the age of 3.
Rapin, I. & Dunn, M. (2003). Update on the language disorders of individuals on the autistic spectrum. Brain And Development, 25 (3), pp. 166--172.
Communication is very crucial in life, especially in education. Whether it be delivering a message or receiving information, without the ability to communicate learning can be extremely difficult. Students with speech and language disorders may have “trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say” (Turkington, p10, 2003) Each of these problems can create major setbacks in the classroom. Articulation, expression and reception are all essential components for communication. If a student has an issue with articulation, they most likely then have difficulty speaking clearly and at a normal rate (Turkington, 2003). When they produce words, they may omit, substitute, or even distort sounds, hindering their ability to talk. Students who lack in ways of expression have problems explaining what they are thinking and feeling because they do not understand certain parts of language. As with all types of learning disabilities, the severity can range. Two extreme cases of expression disorders are dysphasia and aphasia, in which there is partial to no communication at all (Greene, 435, 2002). Individuals can also have a receptive disorder, in which they do not fully comprehend and understand information that is being given to them. They can experience problems making sense of things. “Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning” (National Institutes of Health, 1993, p1). Whether children have difficulty articulating speech, expressing words, receiving information, or a combination of the three, there is no doubt that the tasks given to them in school cause frustration. These children experience anxiety when...
If you are among the 2.9 million Americans with a Learning Disability (LD), you realize that LD has no cure; instead, you manage it in a series of patterns and behaviors (LDA 1). I was fortunate; my last moments in a Special Needs classroom were as a fifth grader leaving State College. However, I remember clearly Mrs. Weiss and Ms. White and their impact upon me. Years later upon my return from the Army, I found among my old things the posters, alphabet book, and little stories that had made me so proud and received such encouragement from my teachers and parents.