Summary Supporting Developmental Language Disorders in the Classroom - YouTube (Youtube) www.youtube.com
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Speaker 0 Children typically learn to talk quite quickly and naturally. However, some children struggle to learn language even though they show normal development in other areas. We call this a developmental language disorder. Developmental language disorders are characterized by difficulty learning language, understanding language, and using language. In other words, children with developmental language disorders typically use simple words and sentences.
Speaker 0 Miss grammatical markers, and have trouble understanding long and complex sentences. In the classroom, language development is a key part of children's intellectual social and emotional growth. Much of classroom teaching and learning is conducted using oral or written language. Teachers talk about science, concepts, work through math problems verbally and give instructions, assessments and feedback in verbal or written format. For students, language forms the basis for understanding, organizing and thinking about new academic material.
Speaker 0 Let's imagine agreed 4 classroom. 1 student in the class, Justin seems to be struggling in science class. He doesn't follow directions for activities for and he seems to have difficulty answering questions on tests. He doesn't usually contribute to class discussions and sometimes it seems like he's just not paying attention. At first glance, this may sound like a child who's having difficulty in science, But what if we dig deeper and think about his underlying language skills.
Speaker 0 For example, Justin uses simple vocabulary. In science class, this might mean that he has trouble using the vocabulary he needs to talk about and learn about science concepts. We call this vocabulary academic language. Academic language is a particular challenge in science for a number of reasons. Many words that students are familiar with in their everyday life, such as the word energy, take on a more specific meaning when they're used in a sign context.
Speaker 0 Many vocabulary terms in science are also metaphors. For example, when we talk about a scientific field were not referring to a literal field. Science instruction require requires learning of many new vocabulary words along with new concept, Justin has difficulty learning these vocabulary terms and does not have the academic language needed to support his learning in other academic subjects such just science. Similarly, he communicates in short simple sentences. This makes it difficult for Justin to communicate about complex scientific concepts.
Speaker 0 It also means that Justin struggles to demonstrate his learning when he's required to do so in a written or spoken format, Justin also has trouble understanding long complex sentences. In the classroom, the sentences that are used to describe scientific concepts are often complex. When explaining hands on activities in science class, his teacher often gives written or spoken instructions that include many steps Justin's comprehension difficulties make it challenging for Justin to learn new science concepts and follow drips for activities when material is presented in this format. In most curriculum, goals related to oral language options reading and writing are included. For example, the Ontario grade 1 to 8 curriculum includes goals focused on understanding written in oral language, using written an oral language to communicate clearly fluently and in a variety of contexts and reflecting on strength areas of improvement and strategies for listening, communicating, reading and writing.
Speaker 0 A large focus in early school age years is on language and reading during which students receive explicit teaching for these skills. We know that for children with developmental language disorders. Early identification and intervention is important to ensuring that they are still able to access their classroom curriculum in other academic areas such as science. In justin's case, his difficulties went on unnoticed and he's now struggling to make progress academically. As a teacher, there are number of strategies you could use in your classroom to support students who have weaker language skills.
Speaker 0 Let's again imagine that we are in a grade 4 classroom and we are starting our science unit on habitats and communities, with the class. Here are some strategies the teacher could use to integrate language support during their science lessons with Since children with developmental language disorders have difficulty with academic language, you can support them by introducing and... Highlighting academic language relevant to habitats and communities. For example, if you're having a class discussion to introduce the concept of habitats, highlight keywords such as population, community, environment, food chain, and adaptation. Write these words down when you use them and post them in the classroom.
Speaker 0 It is helpful to pair these with pictures or reminders about their meaning. Have students keep a log of the keywords and ask them to draw picture or a doodle as a reminder to themselves about what the word means. Encourage students to use the word sentences throughout the unit and model this yourself by using and highlighting these words frequently. Similarly, emphasize and restate key points relevant to the unit. Let's say you're working on establishing a definition of a habitat as a class, and you start off with a class discussion about what the students think a habitat is.
Speaker 0 At the end of the discussion, summarize the key points of the definition that the class has discussed. After that, maybe you'll have your class habitats by exploring out, side or looking at pictures. Gather information from students about what they think different habitats have in common. Then restate the key points of the definition that the class has come up with. Continue emphasizing and rest key points and new points as you continue working through the units.
Speaker 0 Providing options for multi modal learning such as visual cues and concrete materials will also support language weaknesses in the classroom. This could mean accompanying oral instructions with written words, pictures, diagrams and videos to help support learning. Also, hands on activities like exploring habitats, outdoors, or creating a habitat in the classroom will allow all children to participate in and benefit from the class material regardless of their language abilities You can also give your students opportunities to signal that they have not understood something. Nurture environment in which students feel comfortable asking questions for clarification. It may be useful to develop a gesture to use with your students, for them to indicate nonverbal verbally that they didn't understand something and need it to be repeated.
Speaker 0 Keep checking in with your students throughout to monitor their learning during the unit and ensure they're progressing as expected. Allow your students to demonstrate learning in many ways whether it means physically showing it in a hands on activity, drawing it or representing it in a mind map, writing about it, talking about it, or combining multiple assessment methods. If you need a student with a developmental language disorder to talk or write about their knowledge and ideas or provide as much scaffolding as is required to support the child in completing the task. For example, if a child seems to be having particular difficulty demonstrating their understanding of a habitat in writing. You could support them during this task by having somebody scribe for them by helping the student organize their ideas verbally, or through a graphic organizer before writing them down or by allowing them to supplement their written work with drawings to demonstrate their understanding.
Speaker 0 Finally, if your student is already working with a speech language pathologist, this is a great opportunity for multi... A disciplinary collaboration. Your students S p may be able to integrate academic goals into the language goals they are working on, the For example, they may be able to integrate vocabulary related to habitats and communities into their therapy sessions. Or they could simply include a habitat theme in their work on grammar so that the student can practice producing longer and more complex sentences related to the class material during their therapy sessions. By integrating language support into science teaching Teachers can help support students with developmental language disorders in other academic subjects and ensure their language weaknesses, do not prevent them from accessing the class curriculum.
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