WHAT ARE SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES?
· learning difficulties
· hearing impairment
· physical difficulties e.g. cerebral palsy
· structural abnormalities e.g. cleft palate
· autistic spectrum difficulties
· limited language experience
Children whose speech and language skills are at a developmentally earlier stage than would be expected, but are following normal patterns of development are often described as having a Speech and Language Delay. In the case of learning difficulties, a child’s communication skills may be at an earlier stage than their age but in line with other areas of development.
If a child’s speech and language skills are developing in an unusual way they are often described as having a Speech and Language Disorder. Some aspects may appear age appropriate, and others may be behind or not following normal patterns of development.
A child who has a language disorder but demonstrates normal development in other areas of learning is described as having a Specific Language Impairment. There is no known single cause of specific language impairment but studies suggest that there may be a genetic predisposition in some families. This is a life-long difficulty that is managed by helping the child to develop strategies to optimise their use of language for communication and learning.
Areas of speech and language difficulty:
- Receptive language /comprehension – difficulty understanding the spoken word
- Expressive language- difficulty learning and using vocabulary, using grammar or putting words into a sentence
- Speech – the child may not use, or make errors with certain sounds which affects their intelligibility
- Fluency – difficulty producing smooth fluent speech
- Voice – the presence of a persistent hoarse or husky voice
- Auditory memory – difficulty remembering and processing spoken language
- Pragmatics – social use of language i.e. the way we use language to interact with other people
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Get information from a speech and language therapist about the child’s particular difficulties.Ensure that all key people understand the nature and implications of the child’s difficulties and as far as possible are aware of the specific strategies that help the child to communicate at home and access the school curriculum.
Provide visual clues (e.g. picture, written words signing) to support the child’s understanding and to provide them with alternative ways of expressing themselves.
Be aware that the child is likely to need careful monitoring and specific help across all areas of the curriculum but particularly with literacy and numeracy.
Strategies to help expressive difficulties
- Accept any answer e.g. sign, gesture,
vocalization, word or picture
- Always praise any attempt to use language even if
it is just single words
- Reduce the number of questions you ask the child.
Comment on things to provide a model of appropriate language
- Use yes/no questions or forced alternatives e.g.
‘Is it a cat or a dog?’ or closed questions i.e. that require a single
word answer
- Allow extra time for the child to respond
- Don’t correct mistakes, model back the correct
production e.g. when a child say ‘tat’ say ‘yes, there is a cat’
- When a child is unable to pronounce a word or a
letter sound, ask them to demonstrate their knowledge by asking them to
point to the target rather that say it e.g. ‘find me a ‘p’ or find me a
picture that begins with a ‘t’ etc.
- Use the child’s name before giving instructions
in order to gain their attention before speaking
- Speak slowly but with your usual intonation
- Keep instructions short and try not to use
complicated sentences e.g. ’walk back to class’ is better than ‘I don’t
want to see anybody running’
- Give the child time to process what you have said
- If the child does not respond, repeat the
instruction and wait. If there is still no response try rephrasing it e.g.
‘play out now’ instead of ‘ It is time to go out now and play’
- Use gestures and pictures to support the language
you are using
- Avoid sarcasm
- Be aware that a child with language difficulties
will find non-literal language difficult
- Allow the child to observe others in activities
before they take a turn so that they have opportunities to fully
understand what is expected
- Keep checking that the child has understood and
knows what to do
Useful websites; www.ican.org.uk including Talking point and Parent point
www.afasic.org.uk
Useful publications: Supporting Children with Speech and Language Difficulties by David Fulton ISBN 1-84312-225-1
A
parent’s view on speech & language difficulties
In response to this we gave him conversation practice both at home and at the international school, as the school recognised the issues and were very co-operative. He was also given rules of conversation which he learned quickly, although their application is still an ongoing process! The school worked through the “Social Use of Language Programme” (SULP) twice and this helped considerably. These measures have made a positive difference and helped him through school and he is now in higher education – and still learning. In some ways the recognition of the problem and his own recognised need to do something about it have made him more sensitive to others than some without special educational needs. We are believers in supportive partnerships between the school & professionals on the one hand and parents on the other. Our own experience has shown what can be done with determination all round.
(Names withheld to maintain the privacy of the family concerned)
Other speech & language references
Childhood Speech, Language and Listening
problems; Patricia McAleer Hamaguchi; John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0 471
387533
How to Identify and Support Children with
Speech & Language Difficulties; Jane Speake; LDA publishers*; ISBN 1 85503
3615
* We have consistently recommended this
series from LDA as they have books that cover all the main special educational
needs. They also supply a range of other resources – it is worth checking their
website at www.ldalearning.com
Websites www.afasic.org.uk
www.speechville.com
(Canada )
www.comeunity.com
(USA )
www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/sed/makaton (Australia , but
also explains the Makaton system of training children with serious
communication difficulties to use sign language)
www.shas.org.sg
(Singapore )
General special needs
advice
One Family’s experience of Dyspraxia
He was to be the youngest child in the whole school, but we were dissuaded from holding him back because he was already much taller than most of the other pupils. He is also very bright, so we were hesitant to insist that he wait another year before starting. The school was sympathetic about the issues Calvin faced with writing and playing physical games. He was sent to a special class twice a week to work on his fine motor skills, but we were warned by the OT and the school that his handwriting was unlikely to catch up with that of the other children. The school expected that he would have to use a keyboard full time by the age of ten.
The school was enormous, with five classes in each year. Calvin was quite isolated: he couldn't join in well with the playground games and found the stairs between classrooms exhausting to climb. He began to wet himself, whether from stress or as a side effect of his dyspraxia - dyspraxic children often find potty training hard.
After a year we transferred him to a Montessori school. The atmosphere was much more forgiving, but there were no special classes and his handwriting did not improve. For him, Montessori was not a good method, as he learns by hearing or reading, not by using his hands. He would concentrate so hard on making his hands move the manipulatives correctly, that he did not have any mental attention left to understand what the manipulative was intended to teach him.
After a year, we reduced his time at the Montessori school to 2 1/2 days a week. During this time he could enjoy the social interaction and the variety of lessons on offer. During the other 2 1/2 days, I taught him at home, concentrating on writing and maths. He was still attending occupational therapy twice a week so we were very busy. More and more, we started to resent the commute to school, when the time spent at home was so much more productive and enjoyable.
The following year, we moved away and decided to home school full time. This has been an enormous success: Calvin can move ahead in those topics where he is talented, and get extra help where he needs it. I can design lessons which work on his weak areas without overwhelming him with impossible demands. Although we moved away from our occupational therapist, Calvin now has a lot more time for general fitness. He runs, does push ups, sit ups and pull ups every day; once a week he plays tennis; twice a week he practises Tae kwon do. He is so much more at ease in his body - partly, I am sure, due to simple maturity, but his increased exercise regime has probably helped. He has made friends within the home schooling community, which is much more accepting of his talents and difficulties than was his original international school.
Calvin is now nine. His handwriting is legible - though not beautiful - and he writes fluently. He is still working on speed but will now happily produce fifteen page reports. Last year, his fine motor skills had come on so far that he was ready to start learning to write in Chinese. He found that he could do it well, and even enjoyed it. This is such a contrast to the tears we both shed when he was learning to write English. I am left wondering if we could have avoided a lot of anguish by home schooling him from the first and not expecting him to write English until he was more physically mature. From the evidence of his Chinese writing, he would have caught up very fast.
Our experience of dealing with dyspraxia in international schools was not terrible. There was a lot of understanding and good will. We did not find a good fit, however, until we were forced to consider home schooling. It was the best decision we ever made.
Laura – November 2006 (*given name changed & family name withheld to maintain privacy)
Educare December 2006
This article is kindly offered by Educare, a newsletter
covering major TCK issues published by EUROTCK.
Educare is published 4 times a year (Jan, March, June, Sept)
and covers a wide range of third culture issues from preparation of
children for cross-cultural living to re-entry to the passport
country, boarding to home schooling and much more.