Introduction to Language Intervention

This set of flashcards covers key concepts and vocabulary from the lecture on language intervention, focusing on methods, goals, and processes involved in effective communication intervention strategies.

Purposes of Intervention

1. Change or eliminate the underlying problem. 2. Change the disorder. 3. Teach compensatory strategies. 4. Change the child’s environment.

Facilitation

Accelerates the rate of language learning.

Maintenance

Preserves a behavior that would otherwise decrease or disappear.

Induction

Causes the language milestone to be achieved.

Intended Objectives

Products or goals planned by the clinician in intervention.

Processes

Methods used to achieve objectives in the intervention plan.

Contexts

The environments in which the intervention takes place.

Long-term Goal

Result of culmination of several short-term goals.

Short-term Goal

Gains in specific aspects of language; success moves child closer to achieving long-term goal.

Goal Statement Elements

Who? What? How well? / How often? With what level of support? Under what condition?

Child-Centered Approaches

Technique involving less control from the clinician, focusing on naturalistic settings.

Indirect Language Stimulation

Involves facilitative play without prompts or extrinsic reinforcement.

Self-talk

Describing one's own actions while parallel playing with a child.

Reinforcement

Increases the frequency of a target response.

Feedback

Information given to the client about accuracy and/or a model for better production.

Generalization

The process of ensuring that learned skills transfer to different environments or situations.

Hybrid Intervention

Targets specific goals with clinician control over materials and activities.

Focused Stimulation

Creating context to tempt the child to produce target forms.

Script Therapy

Using familiar routines to embed language training into familiar contexts.

Semantic Intervention

Strategies to enhance understanding and use of vocabulary.

Vocabulary Size

The range and number of words a child can comprehend and produce.

Pre-symbolic Children

Children who do not use conventional signs, words, or pictures for communication.

Evaluating Intervention Outcomes

Assessing if goals were achieved, and if changes were the result of intervention efforts.

Clinician-Directed Approach

A method where the clinician has control over the intervention process.

Naturalness in Intervention

The extent to which activities in intervention resemble real-life situations.

Auditory Impairment

• delay vocabulary development

• difficulty with phonology

• challenges from auditory processing

• delays in literacy skills

Acquired Language Disorders

• loss of previously acquired language

• word finding difficulty

• discourse and narrative problems

• comprehension difficulties

Neuromotor Impairments

• speech production/articulation problems

• reduced intelligibility

• lack of expressive language output

• pragmatic challenges

Cleft Lip and Palate (Structural Disorders)

• articulation errors

• resonance issues

• reduced intelligibility

• pragmatic issues (children don’t want to talk)

Pragmatic Disorders

• conversational skills

• inappropriate use of language

• narrative and discourse difficulties

• repetition

Literacy Disorders

• trouble with decoding language

• trouble with expressive language

• weak phonological processing

• grammatical difficulties