 | School-based speech-language pathologists address oral language
disorders when they are deemed to have a negative influence on the
student's academic performance.
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| Oral language is complex; one model for understanding its components
and how they interact with one another is outlined below.
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| As literacy skills emerge, oral and written language are closely
intertwined. Therapy to address oral language delays and disorders
is often conducted in conjunction with reading and writing activities,
as the interaction between the two forms of communication is
well-documented. For example, increased awareness and
understanding of how sounds and letters relate to one another can have
reciprocal effects on a child's articulation skills. As children
develop awareness of print and begin to read and write, much of their
new vocabulary is acquired through reading. Written language is
more complex than spoken language, so that children who read more
develop more sophisticated language skills in all domains.
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| Early language development is discussed on the
speech-language development page of
this site, where links to websites that provide developmental norms can
also be found. |
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Oral Language and Its
Components
| Oral language reflects two dimensions: language knowledge
(the structure of language), and language use (the processing of
language). T
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| Within the language structure dimension, there are four
categories: |
Lexical/Semantics - the knowledge of the meaning of and ability to
use
single words and word combinations
Syntax - the knowledge of and ability to understand and use the
acceptable sequence, combination, and function of words in a
sentence
Supralinguistics - the ability to analyze language at a level not
ordinarily
required when dealing with only word meaning and order. This
includes understanding of nonliteral language, gathering meaning
from context, inferring meaning when the information needed is
not "right there," and recognizing ambiguity in sentences.
Pragmatics - the ability to recognize and use appropriate and
functional
language
| Within the language processing dimension, there are three
categories: |
Auditory comprehension, or receptive language - involves the
construction of meaning by the listener
Oral expression, or expressive language - includes the
ability to
formulate and verbalize an oral message
Retrieval - includes the ability to recover a word and its
corresponding
meaning from memory, in the presence of good comprehension
of the word they are attempting to find, in order to use it in oral
communication. A
word-finding referral checklist, adapted
from the Word-Finding Intervention Program, Diane J.
German, PhD, 1993, can be found here. References:
Carrow-Woolfolk, E. (1999). Comprehensive assessment of spoken
language: Examiner's manual. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance
Service, Inc. German, D. (2004).
http://wordfinding.com/definition&characteristics.html
Nicolisi, L; Harryman, E.; & Kresheck, J. (1989). Terminology of
communication
disorders: Speech-language-hearing. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
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The websites listed below provide valuable information
regarding oral language development and ideas for fostering strong oral
language skills. Also check out a number of sites for your children
to use that support language development in fun, engaging ways at the "Cool Websites for Kids"
link at the bottom of each
page. Click on "Language Games."
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AGS Speech & Language
Discussion Center
http://www.speechandlanguage.com/forum/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
A great place to connect with fellow SLPs and keep up on the issues of the
day |
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Beek's Speech-Language Therapy Services
http://members.aol.com/speechlts/relatedsites.htm
Links to related web sites as well as professional speech and hearing
organizations
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Can We Talk?
http://www.tayloredmktg.com/dyspraxia/
A brochure and handout resource for SLPs, parents, and friends of children
with speech delays, specializing in free, quickly read, and easily
understood materials |
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Creative Communicating
http://www.creativecommunicating.com
A site dedicated to sharing, publishing and distributing materials that
focus on building early language, communication and emergent literacy skills
for young children with disabilities |
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Preschool
Fingerplays, Action Poems, Nursery Rhymes, and Songs
http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/preschool-rhymes.htm
Preschoolers develop memory, articulation, phonological awareness, and language skills as
they sing and recite the songs and poems in this collection |
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Speech Delay.Com
http://www.speechdelay.com
Created to help parents, caregivers, teachers, friends,
therapists, and relatives of children with speech-language delays
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Structural Analysis of a Language Sample
http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/minisample.htm
Information regarding analyzing a language sample and using MLUm to
analyze language complexity
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Therapy Ideas
http://home.comcast.net/~speechguide/sample.html
Therapy ideas and links relating to apraxia, articulation, AAC, autism,
fluency, language, pragmatics, and voice |
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Word Finding Difficulties
www.wordfinding.com
Provides information about word finding for professionals, parents, and
learners with word finding difficulties; includes definition,
characteristics, assessment, intervention, and course work |
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