7. communication and learning disorders

4 diagnostic categories of communication disorders

• speech sound disorder

• language disorder

• childhood-onset fluency disorder (stuttering)

• social (pragmatic) communication disorder

speech sound disorder + common symptom

when the developmental language problem involves articulation or sound production rather than word knowledge

• phonological awareness vs. phonological processing

trouble controlling their rate of speech, or lag behind playmates in learning to articulate certain sounds

when is assessment and intervention warranted for speech sound disorder (2 options)?

• issues persist beyond typical dev range (age 4)

• issues interfere w academic and social activities by age 7

language disorder + symptoms

communication disorder characterized by difficulties in the comprehension or production of spoken or written language

• reduced vocab

• limited sentence structure (ability to put words and word endings tgt to form sentences based on the rules of grammar and morphology

• impairment in discourse

social communication disorder + symptoms + typical age of diagnosis

persistent difficulties in pragmatics involving both expressive and receptive skills

• deficits in using communication for social purposes

• difficulties in changing their communication to match the situation or the listener

• problems following the rules of language

• difficulties understanding what someone is not explicitly saying

4-5 yo

pragmatics

culturally specific practices and skills related to social uses of language, conversational norms, and the use of nonverbal communication, such as eye contact and gestures

foundational skills impaired in speech sound disorder, language disorder, and social (pragmatic) communication disorder

• speech sound disorder: articulation and phonological processing

• language disorder: comprehension and use of language

• social (pragmatic) communication disorder: use of language in social contexts

genetic and brain-related causes of language disorder

genetics

• positive family history of some type of learning disability

• temporal processing deficits

brain

• circular feedback loop in left temporal lobe

• problems in connections btwn brain areas

• less brain activity in left temporal region

does parental speech and language stimulation cause language disorder?

no. but it does affect the pace and range of language development

phonemes

basic sounds that make up language

perceptual maps

formed to represent similarities among sounds and help the infant learn to discriminate among different phonemes

phonology

ability to learn and store phonemes as well as the rules for combining the sounds into meaningful units or words

phonological awareness

recognizing the relationship btwn sounds and letters, detecting rhyme and alliteration, and awareness that sounds can be manipulated within syllables in words

treatment based on 3 principles

• promote the child’s language competencies

• adjust the env in ways that accommodate the child’s needs

• therapy to equip them w knowledge and skills to reduce behavioral and emotional symptoms

specific learning disorder

specific problems in learning and using academic skills as defined by the DSM-IV-TR

learning disability

learning problems that occur in the absence of other obvious conditions

• not visible and often undetected in young children

unexpected discrepancy

ppl w learning disabilities have intact intellectual processes in most areas but are relatively weaker in others, so they have an unexpected discrepancy btwn measured ability and actual performance

relationship btwn learning disorder and learning disabilities

all learning disorders are learning disabilities bc it impacts academic performance and may require special education services.

BUT not all learning disabilities are learning disorders. even a student without a formal DSM diagnosis can be classified as having a learning disability

5 characteristics of SLD

• main diagnostic feature of SLD is difficulties learning keystone academic skills: reading, writing, spelling, or math

• learning difficulties: specific, not due to intellectual developmental disorder, and not due to global developmental delay

• ***achievement test scores are at least 1.5 SDs below average for their age and sex

• performance difficulties interfere w academic achievement or daily living

• must persist for more than six months despite efforts to improve

core deficit of SLD in reading

problems in decoding -- breaking a word into parts rapidly enough to read the whole word -- coupled w difficulty reading single small words

nonverbal learning disability (NLD)

associated w deficits related to right-hemisphere brain functioning, which are characteristic of children who perform considerably worse at math than reading

“twice exceptional” children

children and adolescents who qualify as both gifted and learning disabled

SLD w impairment in reading most common underlying feature + 4 errors

inability to distinguish or separate sounds in spoken words

• reversals (b/d, p/q)

• transpositions (was/saw, scared/sacred)

• inversions (m/w, u/n)

• omissions (says place for palace, section for selection)

response to intervention models (RTI)

• consists of tiered instruction

  • children who have reading difficulties are provided w small-group, intensive instruction

  • those who need additional intervention may receive one-on-one special education

• seeks to provide each child w the appropriate lvl of instruction required for their indiv needs

most educators today favor direct instruction for children w learning disorders. what is that?

a straightforward approach to teaching based on the premise that to improve a skill, the instructional activities must approximate those of the skill being taught

faultless instruction

behavioral method that places a strong emphasis on the behavior of the teacher in terms of explicit correction, reinforcement, and practice opportunities

• basically, each concept should be so clearly presented that only one interpretation is possible

what do cognitive-behavioral interventions emphasize?

self-control by using strategies such as self-monitoring, self-assessment, self-recording, self-management of reinforcement, and so on

• children taught to ask themselves several questions as they progress, to make themselves more aware of the material

computer-assisted learning

provide more academic engagement and achievement than traditional pencil-and-paper methods