Transcript Document
Specific Language Impairment
in the Regular Classroom
BY: KATIE LOVELADY
Specific Language Impairment
Official definition of Specific Language Impairment
provided by the American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association
Specific Language Disorder (SLI) is a language
disorder not caused by any other known underlying
neurological, cognitive, emotional or sensory
disorder, such as Down Syndrome, Autism or
Hearing Impairment. Also referred to as: speech
delay, language delay, developmental language
disorder, persistent language impairment
What is Specific Language Impairment (SLI)?
Type of speech, language, and communication
disorder
Main area of difficulty is talking and
understanding language
Most common childhood learning disability
More common in males than females
How do we know which child has SLI?
About SLI
The real problem with distinguishing children who
have SLI from other normal learning children is that
SLI children are usually as able and healthy as other
children with the exception of enormous difficulty
talking and understanding language.
Children with SLI all have very individual cases.
Some cases are very mild and short-lived, while others are
severe and persistent.
Most children with SLI are labeled as students with “behavior
problems” or students who “do not try.”
Children with SLI may show the following signs:
Have difficulty saying what they want to, even
though they have ideas
Talk in sentences, but be difficult to understand
Find it difficult to understand words and long
instructions
Develop behavior problems
Show difficulty learning to read and spell
Statistics show…
Studies have shown that in students of 5 years old,
SLI affects about 2 children in every classroom
(about 7%).
It is more common in girls than boys.
What is Your Part?
It is often difficult to
remember that students with
SLI are as their classmates.
As professional educators, it
our responsibility to act as
advocates for children with
SLI, doing everything in our
power to make their learning
experiences meaningful.
Be Proactive in Your Classroom
Provide a variety of visual support systems to help
with understanding
Timetables on the wall, targets shown on the whiteboard,
picture cards and wordbooks
Present your information in a variety of ways
Include the use of real objects, practical activities, pictures,
and videos
Be Proactive in Your Classroom
Lesson plans that include explicit opportunities to
build speaking and listening skills for all children
Incorporate therapy goals for individual students
Present directions and instructions in a variety of
ways and allow time for students to process them
Have a Speech Language Pathologist speak to the
classroom staff
Explain SLI and what it means for a child in your school
Make Adjustments When Necessary
A part of being proactive when teaching in
classrooms with children with SLI is the ability to
make adjustments when the needs arise.
Areas where adjustments can be made are as follows:
Planning
Teaching
Assessment
Environment
Resources
Adjustments in Planning
Plan with others
speech language pathologists, AVTs, special education staff,
year level teams and subject area teams to incorporate the
priorities for the student
Consider the IEP as a way of prioritizing adjustments
needed to access the curriculum
Example: communication goal
student to ask for help from peers as well as the teacher
Make instruction and activities multimodal
use as much visual and kinesthetic as possible
Adjustments in Planning
Directly teach routines and structures of the school
and classroom.
Plan access to rewarding activities during the day.
Adjustments in Teaching
Use teamwork for task completion
Provide a range of responsibilities within the student team
Example: recorder, designer, store person, encourager,
researcher, explainer and speaker
Provide an outline of what is to be learned
focus on key concepts
Teach use of organizers
color coding, pictorial labels, visual timetables and sequences,
now/later charts.
Adjustments in Teaching
Reduce the amount and complexity of materials
where appropriate
break into small, achievable steps.
Increase the opportunities to practice new skills and
concepts
teaching younger child, demonstrating to other adults,
practicing on the computer with a peer
Use available human resources
adults & peers
Provide additional modelling and concrete examples.
Adjustments in Teaching
Do not assume understanding of spoken
instructions.
Teach the use of diaries and checklists to support
sequencing and completing tasks.
Orient student to topic before commencing
instruction.
Teach the vocabulary of instruction
draw, underline, circle, analyze, brainstorm, classify, compare
Adjustments in Assessment
Collect annotated work samples over time.
Use pictures to support text
diagrams, flow charts, and timelines
Use alternative communication system to
demonstrate student learning
Clearly identify assessment goals before beginning a
unit of work
Allow students some capacity to negotiate some
aspects of criterion-based assessments
Adjustments in Environment
Reduce distractions
auditory, physical, movement
Provide space to enable flexible learning areas
focus activity, quiet and listening areas
Provide pictorial rule reminder charts, and book and
storage labels
Provide space for students to work quietly with an
adult volunteer or aide
Adjustments in Resources
Provide a range of source materials at various levels
readers, magazines, posters
Use computers to provide additional practice of
concepts and skills
Create resources with symbol/visual support
using specialized software or digital photos
Use Assistive Technology
text to speech, word prediction, visual organizers etc.
References
http://www.ican.org.uk/en/what_is_the_issue/abo
ut%20sli/sli%20and%20schools.aspx
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/s
choolsFAQ/#types
http://www.ican.org.uk/en/What_is_the_issue/Abo
ut%20SLI.aspx