W7 language intervention

possible intervention options

• monitor the child if skills are age-appropriate

• classroom adjustments

• small group intervention

• 1:1 intervention

factors to guide the purpose of intervention

• age of the child

• previous support received

• underlying cause of difficulties

• goals of the child, family and teacher

• data from the assessment process

what are the four types of purpose of intervention and examples

1. eliminate the underlying problem e.g. phonological delays/disorders, articulation delays/disorders, fluency voice

2. change/modify the condition: utilizing the child’s strengths to better use the skills they don’t have e.g. DLD, LD, Dyslexia, Literacy delays/disorders

3. teach compensatory strategies e.g. DLD, LD, Dyslexia, Literacy delays/disorders

4. Environmental modifications e.g. ASD, APD, DLD

4 principles of intervention

• use curriculum-based instruction

• integrate oral and written language

• go Meta!

• Preventing academic failure

what does it mean to use curriculum-based instruction

• incorporating the curriculum into your intervention

• collaborate with teacher

• meaningful and functional activities

steps for applying a curriculum approach

1. define curriculum areas of concern

2. determine meaningful curriculum activities

3. identify facilitating/constraining conditions for the activity

4. define oral/written language demands of the activity (skills, actions, target behaviours needed)

5. develop language skills to meet curriculum demands by targeting target behaviours

6. ensure generalization of skills

how to integrate oral and written language into intervention and examples

• most important principle

• reciprocal relationship between oral and written language

• basic oral approaches

• literacy socialization

• metalinguistic and phonological awareness

• narrative activities

what is Go Meta

• intervention should focus on “meta” activities

• “meta skills” include talking about talking and thinking about thinking

• e.g. teach about the rules before practising activities

1. SLP demonstrates through model and practice

2. SLP & client discuss language forms/functions and explicitly state rules and principles

3. foster independent functioning and improve learning abilities

4 strategies for Go Meta

1. I do - demonstration of strategy by educator/therapist

2. We do - student imitates

3. Yall do - student takes more control, educator facilitates & guides

4. You do - students use on their own

what is principle 4: to prevent academic failure

• plan activities for students based on the first 3 principles to avoid further difficulties

• preventative model rather than reactive model

intervention at tier 1

• whole class/school level

• supporting the classroom teacher

• inclusive education

• address external or enviornmental factors

what may SLP support at Tier 1 include?

• collaborative consultation with teacher

• formula model: SLP and teacher plan lessons weekly teaching different groups of students

• communication enhancement: SLP demonstrates lessons for the whole class

• curriculum-based

intervention at tier 2

• small group intervention is provided

• grouping aligns goals

• consider each student’s strengths and weaknesses

who is providing the intervention for Tier 1 support

• primary the teacher with input from the SLP

who is providing Tier 2 or 3 intervention

• direct intervention by the SLP

• develop the program and planning

what is intervention by proxy

• Tier 2 or 3

• developed by SLP but implemented by someone else (teacher aide)

• regular monitoring and review by the SLP

• may require more time from the SLP than direct service

which intervention is best 1:1 support outside of classroom environment

speech sound intervention

fluency

considerations for goal setting for school-aged clients

• the child’s strengths and weaknesses based on assessment results

• developmental milestones

• achieving functional outcomes

• identify most concerning areas

• frequency of behaviour in everyday activities

• collaborative with child, parents, teacher

other considerations for goal setting

• child-related factors

• family and parent-related aspects

• school and community health considerations

  • e.g. participation in programs

• available intervention models

• MTSS

outcome measures for intervention

• to track progress

• pre- and post-treatment testing: administering the same assessment at beginning and end of your intervention and comparing the child’s performance qualitatively and quantitatively

• changes in academic/educational performance

• use of treatment and non-treatment of control tasks

• changes in MTSS tiered level of support

• treatment maintenance (assessing after the intervention stops)

how can you assess academic performance

• talk with the child, parents, teacher about any specific changes occurred

• compare pre/post classroom work samples

• conduct pre/post observations of the child in the classroom

what are key considerations when planning intervention

• child factors

• development & curriculum factors

• contextual factors

• service delivery factors

• intervention design

child factors

• age and developmental stage

• interests/strengths

• motivators

• cognition

• attention span and need for breaks

• behaviour/regulation supports

• preferred response to feedback noted

• learning style matched

• sensory needs

developmental & curriculum factors

• typical developmental expectations

• child’s profile mapped against norms

• curriculum language/literacy demands

• key classroom tasks

• social communication expectations

contextual factors

• classroom supports & teacher flexibility

• family involvement level

• cultural and linguistic background

service delivery factors

• session frequency, length and format

• goals realistic within available service time

• collaboration plan with teachers, parents and others

• progress measures

intervention design

• sessions are engaging & purposeful (teaching rather than assessment

• scaffolding built-in

• strategies for generalisation

• activities adaptable for “off days” or curriculum changes

• step up/step down strategies

what must you consider in oral language interventions

• target both receptive and expressive language skills

different areas of intervention (form, content and use)

• morphology

• syntax

• phonology

• vocabulary

• pragmatic and social skills

• narrative

why do we focus on morphology (what is a morpheme?)

• morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a word

• for children to have proficient skills in reading and writing, they need morphological knowledge

• helps children understand unfamiliar words, infer meaning and improve reading/spelling skills

what might you teach in morphology for school aged children

• focus on later-developing morphemes (irregular third person, irregular past tense, contractible copula)

what assessment results may indicate a need to focus on morphology in oral language and written language

• oral language: any errors in morphology identified at the word or sentence level

• written language: incorrect use o f morphemes in writing or incorrect reading of morphemes

what must you consider when selecting targets and intervention goals

• assessment results

• impact on the child’s communication

• child’s needs within the classroom and curriculum

• collaborate with the classroom teacher

components of morphological intervention

• identify the root word in a longer word

• find/change the affix and discuss how it modifies the word’s meaning

• use word sorts to help recognize word families based on morphology/orthography

• provide explicit instruction on syllable types to recognize orthographical patterns

• word manipulation through blending/segmenting morphemes

why would you focus on syntax in intervention

• syntax development progresses gradually during the year

• development of more complex structures

• advanced syntax is crucial for supporting classroom and literate language

what are the two aspects to focus on in syntax

• grammar

• complex sentences

what assessment results may indicate a need for syntax focus for intervention from oral and written language

• oral language: errors in grammar or sentence structure

• written language: errors in morphology with reading or writing

step up and step down considerations for support/prompts provided with increasing conjunction complexity

sentence stems/picture cues → sentence starter → visual cue/prompt as needed → classroom or conversational context using conjunctions

what must we consider when choosing grammatical targets

• base targets on assessment data

• select grammatical forms the child uses correctly occasionally (emerging forms)

• functional and relate to classroom needs

intervention components for grammar

• explicit teaching of the grammatical rule

• frequent and intensive exposure to the target forms

how to choose targets for syntax and complex sentences

• use assessment data and normative information

• identifying conjunctions the child struggles with

• start with earlier developing sentence types

• consult with classroom teacher

key components of intervention

• repetition

• explicit instruction

• meta-awareness

why is vocabular important for school aged children

• vocabular forms the foundation of language

• essential for academic success

• supports creating complex sentences, telling detailed stories and writing essays

• vocabulary knowledge increases exponentially over the school aged years

what must you incorporate into vocabulary intervention

• evidence-based and functionally meaningful approaches for classroom outcomes

• explicitly teach the meaning of targeted words

• provide multiple exposures to the target word and meaning

• incorporate principles of intervention

• include focus on morphology and etymology

step up and step down when working on vocabulary

• supportive cues: pointing, visual aids, sentence stems vs independent recall

• quantity: fewer vs more items

• complexity: boarder categories/simple sentences vs finer distinctions/longer sentences

• contextual demands: structured therapy vs real-life classroom

what targets should vocabulary intervention goals have

• categorisation

• synonyms/antonyms

• word definitions

• associations

what are the three different tiers of vocabulary

Tier I: words in everyday speech, do not require direct instruction

Tier II: high-frequency words for mature language users, found across a variety of language domains, best words to target for intervention

Tier III: low-frequency words limited to a specific domain

robust vocabulary instruction

• focus on tier 2 words using frequent and varied encounters with target words and engaging activities to understand word meanings

key steps for vocabulary instruction

1. introduce words: provide student-friendly explanations, make word meanings explicit and clear

2. follow-up activities: short, engaging tasks

3. reinforcement and application: reviewing and revising words, encourage encountering words at home in real word contexts

example of robust vocabulary for learners in early primary

• words introduced in a story context

• word meaning is explained in a child friendly way

• child is asked to repeat the word

• examples in other contexts are provided

• child then interacts with the examples and provides their own

examples of robust vocabular for learners in upper primary

• words introduced with student friendly explanations and describing how the words are used in the story

• follow up activities

follow-up activities for robust vocabulary instruction

• example/non-example

• word associations

• generating situations, contexts and examples

• word relationships

• writing

• returning to the story context

• ready, set, go

robust vocabulary instruction for adolescent learners

• words introduced through a set text

• facets of word meaning are discussed

• students record the words in their word journals with examples

• students write sentences for each word

• discussion of words

• semantic relationships among words

when should we do explicit teaching of the word

during the reading - allows you to give the students the meaning of the word in the context of the story

after reading is when you elaborate and introduce the follow-up activity

how many words should be introduced at a time

very child-specific

focus on deep learning of words rather than introducing too many

can you ask students to define the word themselves

• avoid asking other children to define the word first in case the definition is incorrect

• children especially with language difficulties often remember the first thing they hear

what is language comprehension

building the child’s understanding

why is following directions important?

• directions are part of most of the tasks children participate in the classroom

what are the different tasks involved in following directions

1. hear the direction

2. understand the vocabulary in the direction

3. understand the grammar and syntactic elements in the direction

4. remember the direction

5. execute the direction

example goal for following directions

[Child] will follow 2-step directions related to taught adjectives (e.g. striped, spotted), while engaging in play with the clinician, in 80% of opportunities

what is the usual population of language use difficulties

• common in children with issues in form and content

• frequently observed in children with ASD

what should intervention for social language skills address

• pragmatics: social use of language

• syntax and semantics: underlying language structure and meaning

what are different intervention methods for pragmatics

• social stories: teach appropriate social behaviour and responses

• role play: practice real-world communication scenarios

• Talkabout

social stories

• explain social situations in simple terms and provide positive behavioural support for children, commonly used in ASD

• neuro-affirming

why is it important to focus on narratives

• bridge oral and written language skills

• require both linguistic and social-

what are different focus of intervention for narratives

• cohesion: connecting ideas

• narrative planning/structure

• story grammar: understanding components like setting, characters, plot

what other language aspects can narratives target?

• comprehension

• vocabulary

• microstructure

example goal for narratives

By the end of 12 weeks, given prompts [child] will produce oral or written stories containing at least once complete episode (initiating event, internal response, plan, attempt, consequence) in 4 out of 5 opportunities during structured tasks

what does narrative scaffolding let us do

• extra support may be needed for students with language difficulties

• tailor tasks to match the child’s narrative stage of development

key considerations for narrative goals

• evaluate the task complexity

• collaborate with the classroom teacher to understand task requirements

• select a text aligned with the child’s narrative development level

when do they start learning phonological awareness and what are the things you could test for

• start developing phonological awareness at age 3-5 before school, consolidating knowledge during first year of school

• syllable segmentation, rhyme generation

elements of phonological awareness instruction

• developmental sequence

• target areas of difficulty

• explicit instruction

• engaging activities

• classroom expectations

example goal for phonological awareness

within 6 weeks, [child] will correctly identify the initial phoneme in CVC and CVCV words with 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive sessions

how to work on phonological and phonemic awareness

• focus exclusively on oral activities

• should be explicitly taught in QLD schools

• collaborate with school teams to understand their phonological awareness approach

difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness

• phonological awareness: umbrella term for all PA skills

• phonemic awareness is later developing; at the individual sound level, starting from onset-rime segmentation; critical for literacy success

what is the hierarchy of complexity for PA

• words to syllables

• rhyme

• alliteration

• onset-rime segmentation (“c-at”)

• segment initial & final sounds

• sound blending into words

• segment words into sounds

• delete/manipulate phonemes

what are step up/step down considerations for phonological awareness

1. think about the phonotactic

2. once the child has achieved 100% in a session on that phonotactic structure, stay on the same PA task but increase the phonotactic complexity of the word you are using

3. remember PA won’t help literacy, so we want to move to print asap

4. once the child can complete the skill across different levels of phonotactic complexity, you can move up to the next PA skill in the hierarchy

phonotactic structure complexity hierarchy

• V

• CV

• VC

• CVC

• CVCV

• CCVC

• CVCC

• CCVCC

• Multisyllabic (no clusters)

• Multisyllabic with clusters

what are some intervention approaches for PA

• sound boxes: colours representing sounds

what is a clinical tip with application to literacy when working on PA

• transition systematically to reading and spelling tasks as early as possible

• explore connection between phonemic awareness and phonics

what are key considerations when working with adolescents

• consider life-stage changes, priorities, previous interventions, motivation, and behaviour - peer attitudes and acceptance drives motivation

• engage in mutual planning with the student on their goals and priorities

• focus on compensatory strategies if previous targeted interventions targeted elimination or modification

• use the Go Meta! Principle to promote independent functioning and self-regulated learning

• important to integrate oral and written language during intervention

• select age-appropriate therapy materials that meet the student’s needs within the curriculum