Northern Metropolitan Region

1. Northern Metropolitan Region Language Support Program Day 1 Tuesday 3rd May 2011 A teaching and learning program designed to support students with language difficulties in the classroom. Northern Metropolitan Region: Charmaine Tu (Speech & Language Pathologist)

2. Based on …….. Professional Learning Guide LANGUAGE SUPPORT PROGRAM Developed by Dr John Munro Melbourne University

3. Principles of N.M.R 2. The quality of teaching matters. 3. The best professional learning takes place in the classroom. 4. Standards for teaching practice matter. 5. Collaboration matters 6. Curriculum standards matter. 7. Accountability matters. 8. Reliable data informs the best judgements about school improvement.

4. Language Support Program Purpose: Develop the capacity of schools and teachers to provide appropriate programs and learning experiences that will improve the oral language skills of children and young people.

5. Program Aims: • increase learning opportunities for students who have language difficulties • bridge the gap between regular language teaching and the provision of specialised speech pathology services • provide systematic and explicit language support in a classroom context • to build on and link with current, recognised, best practice (Early Years/Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy, Reading Recovery, VELS, English Continuum,PoLT, e5)

6. Principles underpinning LSP • Building awareness of oral language to support literacy • Awareness that texts are written for a range of purposes • Word meaning and vocabulary knowledge • Orthographic and morphemic knowledge • Reading aloud to achieve fluency and phrasing

7. Principles underpinning LSP • Literal, critical, inferential and creative comprehension outcomes • Recognising and using the forms, linguistic structures and features of written texts • Using metacognitive and self-management strategies

8. Classroom Language Program Specialised Speech Pathology LANGUAGE SUPPORT PROGRAM

9. Most students… Why have a Language Support Program? • know how to learn new vocabulary • believe they can learn language successfully • can integrate aspects of language use at once. In each classroom there are students who do not spontaneously acquire language skills.

10. Statistics • 2.7 million Australians have a communication disability which may range from mild to severe (1 in 7) • 577,000 school-aged children have difficulties with language

11. The LSP Professional Learning Guide aims to: • build on teacher understanding of language development and difficulties • develop a framework for understanding oral language • utilise a more systematic process for identifying language difficulties in the classroom • assist teachers to better cater for students with language difficulties within their classroom practices.

12. Aim of sessions • An understanding of the development of oral language and its linguistic structures and features. • Knowledge of language disorders and difficulties. • Knowledge and skills to identify and profile students with language difficulties. • Classroom teaching strategies that directly address the identified difficulties. • Advice for implementing a Language Support Program

13. How much do we know about Language Development?

14. Definition of a Language Disorder: The inability to acquire skills involved in the reception, processing, or expression of language to the extent that one is unable to participate fully, without special assistance, in the social and educational life of the school. (Ron Brynes, Speech Pathologist, 1984)

15. What is a Language Disorder?Defined by exclusion: A Language Disorder cannot be accounted for by: • Intellectual Disability • Hearing Impairment • Neurological Damage • Emotional Problems • Cultural Factors • Non-English Speaking Background • However, students classified under these headings may have language difficulties that can be catered for by this program.

16. What is a Language Disorder? Receptive Language: The understanding of language when it is conveyed by another including the understanding of concepts, grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure. Expressive Language: The use of language to convey a message, including the use of grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure.

17. What is a Language Disorder? Students can have difficulty in one or more areas of language: Phonology: Understanding the rules of how speech sounds go together Syntax:Understanding the rules for putting words together in sentences Semantics:Understanding the words we use to describe things in the world around us Morphology: Understanding the appropriate use of grammatical structures ( eg house-houses) Pragmatics:Understanding the rules of communication and conversation, as well as the different functions of communication.

18. Severity of Language Disorders

19. Bell Curve Moderately low range (14%) Language Disability (2%) “Normal” range (68%) Proportion of Population Low Ability Level High

20. Do students grow out of Language Disorder? • NO. • The implications/signs change as students move through adolescence, with ever increasing academic and social language demands. • The gap between these students and their peers widens. • It persists into their adult lives.

21. Study in 1995 by Hart & Risley • By the age of 3; • a child from a professional family was hearing an average of 2153 words an hour • a child from a welfare benefit family was hearing 616 words an hour Difference of 3 ½ more words an hour !!

22. How do we currently identify a Language Disorder? • Students not diagnosed in kindergarten or primary school may come to our attention as: • performing well below average on Prep or Year 7 literacy testing • a behaviour problem and/or • having a learning difficulty

23. A Speech Pathologist…… Assesses and provides assistance/therapy in some or all of the following areas: • Receptive Language Skills • Expressive Language Skills • Phonological Awareness • Fluency • Voice • Articulation • Eating/Swallowing • Augmentative/Alternative Communication

24. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) Study of 30 male juvenile offenders (13-19 years) completing community based orders. 52% of the young offenders were found to have a previously undiagnosed language disorder. Oral language disorder carries a more than two fold increased risk in violent offending.

25. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) Performance on a range of oral language processing and production skills was poorer than that of a demographically similar comparison group, particularly in: • speed and accuracy of comprehension • ability to understand abstract language e.g. metaphors, figurative language • narrative recounts

26. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) Several critical aspects of language development are refined during adolescence, including: • turn-taking and conversational repair • comprehension and use of irony and metaphor • ability to ‘code-switch’ ie. Adjust communicative style to the demands of the context

27. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) Various research shows delayed language development as a risk factor for development of: • violent antisocial behaviour in adolescence • substance abuse and affective disorder in early adulthood • psychiatric disorder in young people

28. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) Challenging behaviours can serve as communicative functions in students with language learning disabilities, and these can diminish after more socially appropriate forms of communication are acquired (Windsor,1995).

29. Snow & Powell Research (2004-2005) We need to look closely at students displaying both learning and conduct problems and be careful not to overlook possible underlying language disorder in our efforts to manage behaviour.

30. Snow & Sanger Research2010 Youth offenders are: • more likely to have a learning disability • 3 times more likely to display language problems than non-offending peers • more likely to disengage early from the education system Children identified in the early years with a language disorder at higher risk of social exclusion and bullying.

31. Snow & Sanger Research2010 Language impairment in childhood increases the risk of a range of mental health problems and anti-social behaviour. Young male offender: risk of death before 21 years of age is 9.2 times higher than peers Young female offender: risk of death before 21 years of age is 41. 3 times higher.

32. Snow & Sanger Research2010 Therefore, promotion of strong oral language competence is imperative to try and reduce the occurence of antisocial behaviour later.

33. Early language competence is a public health issue. It provides ‘psychosocial’ protection to young people with respect to the development of social skills, literacy and overall academic achievement.

34. Failure to address deficiencies in oral language learning Lack of academic success Disengagement Behaviour problems

35. Receptive Language Disorder Drawing Activity

36. Expressive Language Disorder VocabularyActivity

37. Characteristics of Language Difficulties ORAL LANGUAGE • Slow processing time • Difficulty following instructions • Limited understanding of complex sentences • Poor sequencing skills • Poor organisational skills • Tend to tune out

38. Characteristics of Language Difficulties AUDITORY MEMORY • Difficulty remembering spoken instructions • Poor memory for new information • Often ask for repetitions / reluctant to ask for repetitions

40. Characteristics of Language Difficulties DIFFICULTY PROCESSING QUESTIONS • Difficulty answering questions • Difficulty with “who”, “where”, “when”, “why” and “how” questions • Difficulty with abstract questions • Slow to respond to questions

41. Characteristics of Language Difficulties: VOCABULARY • Difficulty finding words • Limited variety in vocabulary • Poor understanding of double meaning • Difficulty in describing • Difficulty in getting to the point • Poor understanding of abstract concepts

42. Characteristics of Language Difficulties PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS • Difficulty in identifying sounds in words • Unable to break down spoken words into syllable or sound sequences • Difficulty with rhyming • Difficulty discriminating between speech sounds • Unaware they are pronouncing speech sounds incorrectly

43. Characteristics of Language Difficulties SENTENCE FORMATION • Give inappropriately short answers • Limited use of conjunctions and complex phrases • Poor use of grammatical structures • Produce disordered sentences

44. Characteristics of Language Difficulties WRITING • Ideas are repetitive, disorganised and uninteresting • Poor introductions, no conclusions • Ideas not expressed in logical order • Often short stories with little description

45. Characteristics of Language Difficulties SOCIAL LANGUAGE • Difficulty following the topic • Difficulty initiating and taking turns in conversations • Difficulty understanding nonverbal cues • Use inappropriate language with regard to context

46. The LSP Professional Learning Program Aims to: • build on teacher understanding of oral language development and difficulties • develop a framework for understanding oral language • utilise a more systematic process for identifying language difficulties in the classroom • assist teachers to better cater for students with language difficulties within their classroom practices.

47. IDEAS CONVENTIONS PURPOSES ABILITY to LEARN To address the needs of the student with language difficulties in a systematic way…. a language framework comprising….

48. A Framework for Understanding Oral Language Ideas… Messages… Meanings… Vocabulary... Morphology… Semantics I Conventions… Rules… Grammar … Phonology…Syntax … Prosody C P Purpose... Functions of language… Pragmatics AL Ability to learn… knowing how to learn.. Metalinguistics…Metacognition

49. A Framework for Understanding Oral Language 1. deas I and their individual and combined meanings words sentences discourses topic

50. A Framework for Understanding Oral Language 2. onventions C • Phonological Rules • combining sound patterns into words • Grammatical Rules • combining words into sentences • Genre Rules • combining sentences into spoken or written “text” (discourse)