Before a child can begin speech/language therapy, an evaluation must be conducted. Formal and informal assessments are both very valuable when determining appropriate intervention. Formal assessments are typically done in standardized test form. Informal assessments involve collecting data in a more one-to-one fashion via interviews, observations, and/or language samples. Language samples provide a great deal of information related to a child’s language abilities and conversational skills and often contain a number of spoken utterances using various topics. During this discussion you will develop a profile of a child’s bilingual language development. This discussion is intended to show evidence that the student has achieved or is working on the following learning objectives:
Identify common measures of word use from a spontaneous language sample.
Identify difficulties in the development of morphology and syntax in late talkers and children with learning language learning disability (LLD) and specific language impairment (SLI).
Describe clinical applications of morphological and syntactic development.
Directions
Full Answer Section
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- His grammatical skills show some delays, particularly in English.
- Informal Assessment:
- Language Samples:
- Language samples are collected during play-based interactions in both languages.
- Observations are made of his conversational skills, including turn-taking, topic maintenance, and narrative abilities.
- Observations:
- Mateo exhibits code-switching, sometimes using words or phrases from one language within a sentence in the other.
- He occasionally struggles with verb conjugation and pronoun usage in both languages.
- He has some difficulty with complex sentence structures.
- Parent Interview:
- Parents report that Mateo understands most everyday conversations in both languages.
- They have noticed that he sometimes avoids using longer sentences or complex words.
Analysis of Language Samples:
- Measures of Word Use:
- Total Number of Words (TNW): The total number of words used in the sample.
- Number of Different Words (NDW): The number of unique words used.
- Type-Token Ratio (TTR): NDW/TNW, indicating lexical diversity.
- Mean Length of Utterance (MLU): The average length of utterances, measured in morphemes or words.
- Analysis of the use of specific word classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives).
- Morphology and Syntax:
- Mateo's language samples reveal difficulties with:
- Morphological markers: He may omit or misuse grammatical morphemes, such as plural -s, past tense -ed, and possessive 's, in both languages.
- Syntactic structures: He may produce shorter, simpler sentences and struggle with complex sentence structures, such as embedded clauses and passive voice.
- Code-switching: frequent code switching can sometime be a sign of language delay, or language difference. It must be analyzed in context.
- Late Talkers, LLD, and SLI:
- Mateo's difficulties with morphology and syntax are consistent with those seen in late talkers, children with LLD, and children with SLI.
- However, in a bilingual child, it is crucial to consider the influence of two languages and the potential for typical bilingual language development.
- It is very important to consider the amount of exposure to each language, and the quality of that exposure.
- A child that has less exposure to one of their two languages, will naturally have a lower level of skill in that language.
Clinical Applications of Morphological and Syntactic Development:
- Assessment and Diagnosis:
- Language samples and formal assessments help identify specific areas of difficulty in morphology and syntax.
- This information is crucial for determining whether a child has a language disorder or is experiencing typical bilingual language development.
- Intervention Planning:
- Targeted interventions can address specific morphological and syntactic errors.
- For example, therapy can focus on teaching verb conjugation, pronoun usage, and complex sentence structures.
- For a bilingual child, it must be determined if the therapy will be done in one, or both languages.
- Monitoring Progress:
- Regular language samples can track a child's progress over time.
- This helps evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and make adjustments as needed.
- Parent Education:
- Parents can be educated about the importance of providing rich language input in both languages.
- Strategies can be provided to support their child's language development at home.
- Parents can be educated about the differences between language delay, and language difference in bilingual children.
- Cultural Considerations:
- It is very important to consider the cultural background of the child, and their family.
- Language use varies from culture to culture, and this must be considered during assessment, and therapy.
By carefully analyzing language samples and considering the child's bilingual background, clinicians can develop effective interventions to support their language development.
Sample Answer
Okay, let's build a profile of a child's bilingual language development and discuss the clinical applications of morphological and syntactic development.
Bilingual Child Profile: Mateo (Hypothetical Case)
- Background:
- Mateo is a 5-year-old child.
- He lives in a household where Spanish is primarily spoken, but he attends an English-speaking preschool.
- He has been exposed to both languages since birth.
- His parents have expressed concerns about his language development, noting that he sometimes mixes languages and struggles to form complete sentences in both Spanish and English.
- Assessment:
- Formal Assessment:
- A standardized language test is administered in both Spanish and English to assess his vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension.
- Results indicate that Mateo's vocabulary is slightly below age level in both languages.