Essential Skills for Struggling Learners

A Framework for Student Support Teams

Erik von Hahn, Sheldon H. Horowitz, Caroline Linse

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781681252551
• eBook ISBN: 9781681253503
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

To provide the right supports for struggling students in grades pre-K to 12, your school team needs a thorough understanding of the skills that contribute to learning—and a systematic way to help students with a wide range of learning difficulties. This innovative planning guide is your key to identifying and prioritizing the essential skills that students with and without learning difficulties need to succeed.

This book presents 11 key domains of learning—divided into neurological, developmental, and educational domains—and gives your team a complete, collaborative plan for pinpointing where students need help and adapting your supports to meet those needs. For each of the 11 domains, the authors offer a logical framework that consists of critical skill sets and skills your students need for learning success. Every domain gets a dedicated chapter that helps you:

• Understand why the domain is essential to learning in both special and general education
• Learn about the research and resources used to develop the framework for that domain
• Take a deep dive and master key terms and definitions
• Discover how the skills associated with each domain develop in typical learners
• Find students who are struggling by making good observations, and by identifying missing or underdeveloped skills
• Identify your students' strengths so you can help them build and expand on their skills
• Clearly communicate your observations to all team members
• Build better intervention plans and IEPs using the specific educational objectives, teaching strategies, and accommodations suggested in each chapter

PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Each chapter offers an in-depth Case Study example, a Skills Observation Sheet for notetaking during student observations, and a Skills Framework for use as a quick reference on skills when making observations and developing IEPs. Two practical appendices walk school professionals and team leaders through the collaborative process of putting the frameworks in the book into practice.

Support students in 11 domains of learning:

• Vision Skills
• Hearing Skills
• Motor Skills
• Formal Language Skills
• Pragmatic Language Skills
• Social Skills
• Executive Skills
• Affect and Self-Regulation Skills
• Reading Skills
• Writing Skills
• Math Skills

II

Developmental Frameworks

4

Formal Language Skills

INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL DEFINITIONS

Language is a critical part of learning at school. It underlies and influences almost all aspects of the school day, including a student’s classroom participation and reading and writing skills. Although the topic of language generally includes all types of communication, this chapter is dedicated to the narrower definition of language as it occurs in the aural-oral context. Later chapters of this book revisit language skills in relation to reading and writing and the role of language in print.

Speech pathologists often divide language into the following three aspects: Form, content, and function or use (ASHA, 1993). The form of language refers to the components of language, such as sounds, words, and grammatical markers, or the structures of language such as word order in sentences. Components and structures give language its form. The form of language is the subject of this chapter. Here, the term formal language does not refer to the type of language used in formal settings, such as when writing an essay for publication or when delivering a presentation to colleagues. The terms content and use are defined later in this chapter and in the next chapter.

HOW THIS FRAMEWORK WAS CONSTRUCTED

The Formal Language Skills Framework is based on divisions of language forms that are commonly agreed upon by linguists. Although some of the details differ among linguists (e.g., Crystal, 1997; Strazny, 2005; Thompson, 2003), there is agreement that language can be divided into the following components:

1.Sounds (phonetics and phonology)

2.Grammar (morphology and syntax)

3.Meaning (content)

The focus of this chapter is on the forms of language. Although language content and language use are equally important, they are not addressed in the Formal Language Skills Framework. The content of language refers to the meaning of the forms, such as the ideas or concepts that a speaker conveys through language. The use and the function of language (the terms can be used interchangeably) are not listed here. They both refer to how a speaker chooses the right language forms to convey the intended meaning successfully in a given context. For example, the form and content of language may have to be simplified when speaking with children, when speaking with nonnative speakers of English, or when speaking to an audience having limited familiarity with a given topic. Chapter 5, Pragmatic Language Skills, addresses the issue of language use. Successful use of language requires choosing the right language forms and content to meet the needs of the listener.

Language Functions and Language Skills

The Formal Language Skills Framework uses the term skills very explicitly. Recall the distinction between biologically determined functions (as consistent with World Health Organization terminology, presented in Chapter 1) and skills (the expansion, through nurture, of biologically endowed functions into a broad range of skills). Humans are biologically programmed to listen to language and to speak. As discussed in Chapter 2, the capacity to discriminate among all the different sounds available for language (phonemic awareness) is a biologically endowed skill that is present from birth and develops during infancy. Humans are also biologically programmed to produce sounds and speechlike noises when, as infants, they coo and babble. Both phonemic awareness and the capacity to produce speechlike sounds are biologically endowed language functions. However, they are enhanced and refined through exposure to language and become integrated into a more complex set of language skills. For example, over the first years of life, infants and toddlers expand their awareness of the phonemes of their heritage language and then learn to reproduce those sounds in their speech and use the sounds as words. There is strong evidence that language skills depend on environmental exposure to language and that a proportion of students who do not have strong language skills were not exposed to a rich language environment (Hoff, 2006). For all students and perhaps especially for students with language impairment, it is important to provide a language-rich environment and explicit instruction in language (Golinkoff, Hoff, Rowe, Tamis-Lemonda, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2018).

HOW CAN THIS FRAMEWORK HELP ME?

This chapter, which opens the section dedicated to developmental frameworks, highlights the importance of language in education. Language is everywhere. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing all require language skills. In fact, most of classroom learning occurs through language (Bloom, 2003). Difficulties in comprehension and production of language can affect students’ success in reading, writing, and math (Grizzle & Simms, 2009; Harrison, McLeod, Berthelsen, & Walker, 2009).

This chapter is designed to deepen school professionals’ understanding of and appreciation for language and its forms. The framework is designed to help identify successful language performance in the classroom by showing the practitioner what to look for. The terms presented here will help the practitioner describe a student’s language performance during naturalistic or qualitative observations. They can also help in discussing observations made during a standardized measure as administered by the speech pathologist and create links to language objectives for the student’s educational program. The framework also allows for a deeper understanding of reading and writing skills, as will be discussed in those chapters.

As is true for all the skills discussed in this book, the Formal Language Skills Framework can help practitioners identify the student’s strengths (the skills that the student has already developed) to then determine which skills the student needs to develop further. The terms presented in this chapter can help school team members discuss a student’s formal language skills with colleagues, with the student, and with the student’s family. By making good observations, practitioners can fulfill their legal obligation to provide a written description of the student’s classroom performance as part of a formal evaluation under disability rights law (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA]) and special education law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]). If the student is found eligible for services, practitioners can use the terms presented in this chapter to discuss with colleagues which educational goals and objectives to include in the student’s IEP and how to measure the student’s progress. A comprehensive discussion of the student’s formal language skills can help everyone on the team understand the student’s needs and allows all team members to participate in helping the student to improve language skills. By making repeated observations of a student’s language performance over time, all practitioners can measure progress in the student’s formal language skills and assess responsiveness to the teaching and intervention plan.

FORMAL LANGUAGE SKILLS FRAMEWORK: TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

The framework presented in this section provides a detailed breakdown of the language skills, expanding on the terms and concepts introduced earlier in the chapter. The framework is intended to provide a deep understanding of language to help school professionals discuss a student’s language skills more knowledgeably with colleagues, the student’s family, and the student. Knowledge of these terms and definitions can also help guide proactive thinking about appropriate educational objectives to improve the student’s language performance and to measure progress more successfully.

The Formal Language Skills Framework consists of the following skill sets and skills:

1.Sounds

a.Phonemes and phonological awareness

b.Articulation

2.Words

a.Vocabulary

b.Semantics

3.Sentences

a.Morphology

b.Syntax

4.Paragraphs: Narrative and discourse

a.Heaps

b.Sequences

c.Linking devices

d.Number of elements

e.Tailoring the narrative to the needs of the audience

Each of the skills sets and corresponding skills listed in the framework above is defined and explained further in the sections that follow. The Formal Language Skills Framework is also summarized and presented in Appendix 4.1 for quick reference.

Sounds

Language consists of sounds. Early in life, children begin to learn language by discriminating between noises and speech sounds. In the first year of life, infants listen preferentially to speech sounds, and they learn to discriminate between those sounds and to produce the sounds. The sounds of a language are referred to as phonemes. The capacity to discriminate between different phonemes is referred to as phonemic awareness or phonological awareness. In English, there are 45 phonemes. Each of the vowels and consonants used in speaking English is a phoneme. Sound combinations, such as /ch/ or /th/, are also phonemes. Each letter and many letter combinations of the alphabet represent one or more phonemes (Crystal, 1997).

Phonological awareness is the capacity to hear and discriminate among all the phonemes in a language. It is a biologically endowed skill. Children and youth need phonological awareness to produce sounds in speech (speech sounds). Speech-sound production is the process of producing phonemes by the lips, tongue, cheeks, and vocal apparatus. Articulation refers to how well or how poorly a student produces speech sounds.

Production of speech sounds begins in infancy and first shows up as babbling. Babbling emerges without any exposure to language and is a neurologically based function. Consisting of consonant–vowel sounds, such as “ba-ba” or “da-da,” babbling emerges regardless of whether an infant is exposed to language; it also emerges in hearing-impaired infants who may not be able to hear spoken language. Jargon refers to the production of speechlike sounds and emerges in the second half of the first year of life. In contrast to babbling, jargon emerges only when an infant hears language on a consistent basis. It is not as repetitive as babbling, consists of a larger number of consonants and vowels, and includes changes in intonation (a rising and falling of the voice). It does not consist of true words and sounds very much like speech. True speech-sound production is evident once an infant or toddler speaks her or his first words.

Most speech sounds emerge during the toddler years. Articulation of speech sounds is largely mastered by the time a child reaches the age of 4 years. Although some articulation errors can persist after the age of 4 years in typically developing children, their speech is 100% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener. Prior to age 4 years, children’s speech is not always as intelligible (Simms, 2016). Mastery of both phonological awareness and speech-sound production are critical pre-reading skills. Both phonological awareness and speech-sound production allow students to hear, discriminate, and produce the sounds of English as they apply to letters and letter combinations. When students have established their phonological awareness and have mastered speech-sound production, they can be understood successfully and can participate with greater confidence at school. They can later learn about how speech sounds are related to letters and letter combinations in print. See Chapter 9.

Words and Vocabulary

Effective communication requires a word bank, lexicon, or vocabulary (Gagne, 2005). These terms all refer to the number of words that a person can understand and/or use. Vocabulary can be both receptive and expressive. A person’s receptive vocabulary refers to the number of words that the person understands. Expressive vocabulary refers to the number of words that a person can use when communicating. A person’s receptive vocabulary is typically larger than their expressive vocabulary. This pattern remains true over the life span. For example, toddlers learn the meaning of words before they learn to speak those words. As children and youth age, they are exposed to more new words, understand the meaning of those words, and subsequently learn how to use the words in their communications. A comprehensive lexicon or word bank is needed for them to understand and communicate ideas successfully when speaking and later, for reading and writing.

Vocabulary development is highly variable. It depends upon exposure and the demands of the environment. However, some patterns do exist. Typically developing children learn about and master common words and common concepts before they master more complex words or concepts. For example, children learn to use nouns and verbs before they learn about adjectives or adverbs. Children also tend to learn about commonly experienced nouns and verbs before less common ones. Early in life, children learn about categories of words, such as animals or clothing. Only later do children learn about words that describe language. Children and youth first master general words about language, such as word root, opposite (antonyms), or simile. With advancing age, students’ vocabulary continues to develop as they master new concepts, such as learning the vocabulary for specific fields of study such as science or math. When students have a solid word bank, they can perform more successfully in school. They can understand more complex ideas, expressed by a peer or by a teacher. They can also express more complex ideas in their conversations with others and in their written work.

Sentences: Morphemes and Syntax (Morpho-syntax)

Morphemes and syntax are the two terms that are i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• A Note on the Chapter Appendices
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section I: Neurological Frameworks
• Section II: Developmental Frameworks
• Section III: Educational Frameworks
• Appendix A: Implementing the Frameworks: Suggestions for Professionals
• Appendix B: Implementing the Frameworks: Suggestions for Team Leaders
• Index