Language Disorders Exam 2

Language Sampling

• critical element of assessment

• allows the SLP to see how children use language in naturalistic interactions

• important alongside standardized tests

Factors of Language Sampling (Miller)

Nature of Interaction

Setting

Materials

Sample Size

Method of Recording

Nature of Interaction

who is interacting with the child and how are they interacting (e.g., play, interview)

• idealistic language sample = collect variety of samples w/ diff partners

• spontaneous conversation

  • allow child to initiate topics

Setting

setting affects the sample

• outside therapy room is preferred (Ex. Home and Class)

Materials

materials may affect sample

• new toys are more exciting than toys they know

• materials = age-appropriate and of interest to the child

• relate item to language (get them to talk)

Sample Size

the number of utterances obtained or the period of time in which the language sample is collected

• collect at LEAST 50-100 utterances

Method of Recording

recording of the language sample also affects sample (RECCOMMENDED!!!)

• can’t remember everything

• HIPPA = no phone!

• video recording only necessary if interested in nonlinguistic information (Ex. gesture use or eye contact)

Positive Interactions

1) Parallel play/talk

2) Interactive Conversation

3) Follow Child’s Lead

4) Limit questions

5) Give child options in play

6) Use utterances that are a little longer than what child says

7) Be comfy w/ pauses

8) Have materials that motivate the child

9) be comfy being silly and having fun

Parallel Play

imitate their vocalizations and verbalizations

describe what a child is doing or seeing

• (e.g., "You're building a tall tower")

older child = talk about what you are doing as you play

• (e.g., “I’m making a tower with my blocks. It’s a tall tower. The tower fell down.”)

Interactive Conversation

Want more than yes/no answers

Ask interactive questions/play games

older children = play in role-playing activities

• (e.g., Let’s play school. You’ll be the teacher and I’ll be the student.”)

Follow Child’s Lead

respond to all questions and topics

• unless they are overly obsessive

Limit Use of Questions

1 question every 4 speaking turns

• too many questions can reduce length of the child’s utterances

• makes them disinterested

Give child options in play

allows children to feel in control

• helps w/ shy kids or those who don’t like structure

Use utterances that are a little longer than what child says

expand utterance to help them learn

• Ex. “Doggie eat,” expand it to “The doggie is eating.”

Be comfy w/ pauses

allows the child the opportunity to initiate

• be able to both initiate and respond to be effective communicators

• pause continues for several seconds = use parallel talk to keep conversation going

Have materials that motivate the child

find out what child enjoys

• give them the opportunity to change activities if they get bored, and have a variety of materials available

• role-playing toys and manipulatives (pens, markers, snacks)

be comfy being silly and having fun

child will enjoy it more! more interactive

Guidelines for Transcription

• transcribe the language sample as soon as possible after recording

• Transcribe the language sample orthographically

  • (You only need to transcribe the sample phonetically if you are concerned with the child’s articulation or phonology)

• Use Miller’s format to transcribe the sample

Miller’s Format for Transcription

writing each child and adult utterance on a separate line, with one speaker’s utterance indented to help differentiate between the speakers

Marks:

• ( )

• [ ]

• / /

• xxx

• …

• C

• A

( )

Questionable transcription

[ ]

Gloss or contextual notes (Ex. [playing with dolls])

/ /

Phonetic transcription

xxx

Unintelligible utterance

…

Pause

C

Child

A

Adult

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

Total morphemes ÷ Total utterances

• Ex) 100 utterances and 320 morphemes

  • MLU = 320 ÷ 100 = 3.2

Rules for Segmenting Utterances

• A sentence = utterance.

• A command = utterance

• Run on sentences with "and" should contain no more than one joining clause. Sentences with more than one "and" should be divided into additional utterance.

  • Ex) I love mommy and I love daddy and I love my dog

    • C1. I love mommy and I love daddy

    • C2. and I love my dog

• Other complex and compound sentences are one utterance.

• Pauses, inhalations, and falling intonation = end of an utterance

  • “choo-choo” = one word (child wouldn't say “choo” by itself)

  • “easy-peasy” = one word

  • “um” does NOT equal an utterance (“um, my mom.” = 2 words)

Quantitative Measures in Language Sample Analysis

• Error Analysis

• Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

• Mean Length of Response (MLR)

Error Analysis

• Review the transcribed language sample

• Tally grammatical forms/functions used incorrectly

• Tally forms/functions missing when expected

• Count an error only if it violates the rules of the child’s dialect

If a child says “goed” instead of “went” for the past tense of “go,” they cannot…

inflect the word (typical of early stages)

Length Measures (MLU and MLR)

• better than age for measuring syntactic development

• Should not be used alone to diagnose language delay

  • Utterances can be long but still contain errors

• Good for:

  • Tracking change in expressive language

  • Guiding assessment focus

MLU (Mean Length of Utterance)

• Average number of morphemes per utterance

• Count free + bound morphemes, then average

MLR (Mean Length of Response)

• Average number of words per utterance

• Count words, then average

Brown’s Stages (based on MLU)

Stage I: 1.75

Stage II: 2.25

Stage III: 2.75

Stage IV: 3.5

Stage V: 4.0

Calculating MLU

Start with the second page of the transcription (building rapport)

• Use only fully transcribed utterances

  • Exclude utterances with blanks

  • Include portions in parentheses (doubtful transcriptions)

• Count each free and bound morpheme as one

• Include exact repetitions

  • Stuttering: count once in most complete form

  • Emphasis (e.g., no, no, no!): count each occurrence

• Do not count fillers (mm, oh)

  • Do count no, yeah, hi, like

• Count the following as one word/morpheme:

  • Compound words (birthday, pocketbook)

  • Proper names (Disneyland, Mr. Brown = 1 word/2 morphemes)

  • Ritualized reduplications (choo-choo, night-night, peek-a-boo)

• Irregular past tense (saw, did): count as one

  • Overgeneralizations (goed, comed): count as two

• Diminutives (doggie, mommy): count as one

• Auxiliaries (is, have, will, can, must, would): separate morphemes

• Reduced forms (gonna, wanna, hafta): count as one

• Inflections (-s, -ed, -ing): count as separate morphemes

• Contractions:

  • can’t, don’t: count as one

  • All others (he’s, aren’t): count as two

Add total morphemes ÷ total utterances (≥ 50)

Calculating MLR

• Count words only, not morphemes

  • Do not count bound morphemes or inflections (-s, -ed, -ing)

• All other rules are the same as MLU

• Total words ÷ total utterances (≥ 50)

Count Words and Morphemes and Find MLR and MLU:

1) I like to go to the zoo

2) My dad eats two sandwiches

3) She is going to Sally’s house

4) He walked to town

5) My doggie love see saw

1) 7 words, 7 morphemes

2) 5 words, 7 morphemes

3) 6 words, 8 morphemes

4) 4 words, 5 morphemes

5) 4 words, 4 morphemes

6) Total = 26 words, 31 morphemes

6) MLR (mean length of response): 26 (total # of words)/5 (total number of utterances) = 5.2

7) MLU (Mean Length of Utterance): 31 (total # of morphemes)/5 (total # of utterances) = 6.2

Sampling Considerations 

High rate of imitation
Frequent self-repetitions

High proportion of question answering (either Y/N or Wh)

Frequent routines (counting, alphabet, commercials, songs, listing, etc.,)

MLU Chart

Chart

Calculating MLU for School-Age Children

Use T-Units and C-Units

T-Unit

• A T-unit = one main clause plus all dependent clauses and nonclausal phrases attached to it

• Example (1 T-unit):

  • I went to the library that is across town because it had the book I needed for school.

• Clauses beginning with and, but, or start a new T-unit

• Example (2 T-units):

  • I went to the library

  • but I didn’t get a book because none of them looked interesting

• Coordinated clauses are separate T-units unless there is co-referential subject deletion

  • 1 T-unit: He goes and loses it.

  • 2 T-units: He goes and he loses it.

• Co-referential subject deletion reflects more advanced syntax, so it remains one unit

C-Unit

• A C-unit is similar to a T-unit but allows single words or phrases

• Used when responses are appropriate to the examiner’s question

• Example:

  • Adult: Who went with you?

  • Child: Juan

How Many T-Units in the Following Utterance: I went for a walk but then I had to run home after it started raining.

2 T-Units

• “but” breaks the T-Units

How Many T-Units in the Following Utterance: She couldn't decide if she wanted pizza or if she wanted hamburgers for dinner when her mom asked but she decided on hamburgers because she had pizza the night before.

3 T-Units

• “or” and “but” break the T-Units

Analysis for Utterances

Miller’s analysis

Analysis for Sentences

T and C Units Analysis

How Many Utterances?

I went to the movies and I went to the mall and I bought a shirt and I bought some shoes and I ate popcorn and I got a stomach ache and I went home and went to bed

C1: I went to the movies and I went to the mall

C2: and I bought a shirt

C3: and I bought some shoes

C4: and I ate popcorn

C5: and I got a stomach ache

C6: and I went home and went to bed **NO I SUBJECT BEFORE WENT = keep it in same utterance

Brown’s 14 Morphemes

According to Brown, a morpheme is considered acquired when it’s realized in ___ of its obligatory contexts.

90%

Obligatory Context

Obligatory context (oc) is a place in the sentence that requires a morpheme in order to make the sentence grammatically correct according to the rules of that child’s dialect

• Ex) Where did you send it?

  • “I sent it to ____.”

• Ex) Did you send it?

  • “Yes.”

• Ex) Target morpheme: plural –s

  • Sentence: Two dog ___

  • This is an obligatory context for plural –s

    • Correct: Two dogs

    • Incorrect: Two dog

GOAL Selection Based on Assigning Structural Stage

Assigning Structural Stage helps determine:

• Which Brown’s morphemes are mastered

• Which forms/functions to target in therapy

Multiple goals are often possible for children with language impairment

GOAL Prioritization

• Highest priority

• High priority

• Lower priority

Targets used sometimes suggest the child is ready to learn them

• Example: Present progressive –ing

  • Used inconsistently → high priority goal

Highest Priority

Forms/functions used 10–50% of the time in obligatory contexts

High Priority

Forms/functions used 1–10% of the time and understood

Lower Priority

Forms/functions used 50–90% of the time or ot used at all and not understood

Type-Token Ratio (TTR)

a measure of vocabulary diversity

the ratio for children between 3 and 8 is typically .45 (or 45%). If a child’s TTR is less than ____, their vocabulary is not adequately diverse

.45

Calculating TTR 

1. Tally the number of types of words (each time a word is used for the first time).

2. Tally the tokens for each word (the subsequent time each word is used.)

3. Divide the number of different words by the total number of words to get the TTR. 

TTR Example:

C1: I love mommy

C2: I love daddy

C3: She love me

“I” - 2

“love” = 3

“mommy” = 1

“daddy” = 1

“she” = 1

“me” = 1

6 New Words/9 Total Words = 67%

Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS)

found by assigning scores to diff. grammatical forms that demonstrate the most significant developmental progression in a child's language that could be considered clinically useful

Take # of points divided by # of utterances

Grammatical Forms in DSS

• Indefinite pronouns – refer to non-specific people or things (someone, anything, nobody).

• Personal pronouns – refer to specific people or things (I, you, he, she, they).

• Main verbs – show the main action or state of being in a sentence. They carry the core meaning.

• Secondary (helping/auxiliary) verbs – help the main verb by adding tense, mood, or voice (is, have, will, can).

• Negatives – words that show denial or absence (not, never, no).

• Conjunctions – words that connect words, phrases, or clauses (and, but, because).

• Interrogatives – words used to ask questions.

• Wh-questions – questions that start with who, what, where, when, why, or how to get specific information.

Ex)

1. I will eat lunch here

2. l am eating a cookie

3. What you eating?

4. You like eating apples

5. Nobody says that

6. Do you want to eat some cookies

1. Indef. Pronoun:1(I) + main verbs: 4(will eat) + sentence point: 1 = 6

2. Indef. Pronoun: 1(I) + Main Verb: 3 (am=auxiliary, not copula) + Sentence Point: 1 = 5

3. Wh-Q’s: 1 (What) + Personal pronouns: 1 (you) + sentence point: 0 (not a real sentence, missing “are”) = 2

4. Personal Pronouns: 1 (you) + Main Verbs: 1 (like) + Secondary Verbs: 6 (Eating) + Sentence point: 1 = 9

5. Indefi. Pronouns: 4 (nobody) + main verbs: 3 (says) + Indef Pronouns: 4, 1 (that) + Sentence Point: 1 = 9

6. Personal Pronouns: 1 (you) + Main verb: 1 (want) + Secondary Verb: 1 (eat) + Negatives: 1 + Interogative Reversals: 3 + Indefinite Pronouns: 3