language disorder: a framework of Essential skills
On the previous page, we learned that language impairment is mostly due to a failure to master phonological awareness, articulation, and vocabulary. These three skills set the stage for successful development of language. However, there are other skills in addition to these three that need to be developed for a child to have full mastery of language. the framework below provides an outline of all of the skills needed for successful understanding and use of language.
language skills framework
Phonological awareness
Vocabulary / Semantics
Morphology and Syntax
Narrative
Children master language by mastering the skills listed above. The skills listed in the above framework unfold mostly in the order as written. but, like most aspects of child development, skills do not unfold in a linear manner. instead, they unfold in a zig-zag fashion, or an overlapping waves fashion. Let’s look at these skills more closely:
Phonological awareness.
Children have to differentiate environmental sounds from human sounds; have to differentiate human sounds made by carers speaking the child’s heritage language, from teh sounds produced when peopel speak in non-familiar language; and have to master a few words or phrases.
Vocabulary/ semantics.
The words or phrases that the young language-learner masters help set the stage for meaning (semantics). Spoken words have meaning and power. Words allow humans to communicate with each other. but, in order to remain connected with important carers, and in order to get one’s needs met, children have to learn to use the right word for the right situation. Not using the right word will not necessarily get you what you want or need. Children expand their understanding of words when they can talk about objects, actions, and people, even when these latter are not visible. Words can be matched to what’s visible (people, objects, actions) and can also be matched to representations of people, actions, and people (e.g. when speaking about a photo, when speaking about paintings or fine line drawings)
Words represent objects, actions, and people, even when those objects, actions, and people are not visible. words can be matched to objects, photos, and drawings of people. This connection- from sounds to meaning to communication- serves as the foundation for language
Sentences and morpho-syntax.
Language does not evolve successfully until the learner truly masters phonological awareness and articulation. by fully grasping the sounds of their heritge language and by mastering production of those sonds, they can expand their vocabulary. they can differentiate words from each other within the word stream, and can start to use morphemes to produce grammatically correct sentences. Morphemes and syntax are the skills that underlie sentence-level language competence.
Once children have mastered some words and phrases, have learned about categories, and have learned about combining words, they can progress to speaking in sentences. Sentence-level language flows naturally from the skills listed above. There are two skills to master here:
Phonological awareness and Articulation: Breaking words and phrases up into their component sounds
Morphemes and Syntax: Combining words and parts of words (morphemes) to create many new combinations of words and generate many more meanings. The use of morphemes, defined below, allows the language learner to create far more meaning than is possible with combining previously memorized words and phrases alone.
Phonological awareness.
As children master more and more words and phrases, they also learn that words and phrases are made up of component sounds. When they first started talking, the young language learner might say “Da-Ee-uh” or “Da-ee-up” for Daddy Up. With time, they learn to hear and pronounce the component sounds: “D” “a” “d” “ee” “ah” “p”. This development is critical, because phonological awareness leads to clear articulation- it allows the speaker to be understood by the listener.
Phonological awareness is also needed to progress to full sentences. Children need to identify the beginning sounds of words, the ending founds of words, and also the middle sounds of words. If they cannot master this phonological skill, they will struggle to know where one word ends and the next word starts in the word stream. When they can separate each of the words within a sentence, they can progress to producing their own sentences and they can develop their understanding of morphemes.
So, phonological awareness and articulation are important for the language learner to be understood by others. But secure phonological awareness is also the first step towards speaking in full sentences and using morphemes
Morphemes.
Morphemes are small words or parts of words that have little or no meaning on their own, but have a big impact on the words that they modify. Morphemes change the meaning of words in the sentence. Take a look at how the word ‘table’ changes in meaning, depending upon the morpheme that’s associated with it:
The table
A table
My table
Another table
The young learner has to be able to hear the morpheme (‘the,” “a,””my” and “another”) as separate from other words. Using ‘chunks’ of language in the form of phrases no longer works that well. Once children start to insert morphemes into their communication, they are learning to use prior words and phrases in new and more complex ways.
Morphemes can consist of a single letter, a two- or three- letter word, or longer words. As an example, the letter “s” is a morpheme when it’s added to a word and when it signals more than one table (“tables” is not the same thing as “table”). When we add apostrophe s (‘s), we can signal possession (Robert’s table). Here are some of the common morphemes that change the meaning of words (nouns and verbs) that they are standing next to:
in
on
a
the
under
over
-ing
-s (plural)
-’s (possessive)
-ed (past tense)
-un (opposite)
-dis
The only way to master morphemes is to be able to distinguish the morpheme from the word (noun or verb) that’s next to it. this is a phonological skill. When children start to master morphemes, they are also learning to distinguish the individual sounds (begining, end, middle sounds) of the words and phrases that they are using. A child is using morphemes when they learn that they can say: “Want go Home” and “no want go home.” the word “no”, when added at the right place in the sentence, changes the meaning of the sentence. In order to understand the full range of morphemes, children and youth have to be able to
Differentiate the beginning sound, ending sound, and middle sounds of words
Differentiate the ending sound of one word, and the beginning of the next word within a phrase or sentence
Differentiate the noun or verb from the morpheme that is standing next to it.
Be able to produce all of those sounds in their speech (articulation)
That’s a lot of sound awareness!
Syntax.
In addition to learning about morphemes, children have to master rules of syntax. Syntax refers to word order. Meaning is not only modified using morphemes. Meaning also depends upon word order or syntax.
A simple example of changing word order is when a child breaks down the phrase “I want go home” and says: “I no want go home.” The word “no” is the morpheme, but it’s location is critical. The word “no” has to be placed in front of “want” (or potentially in front of ‘go home’) in order to make a meaningful sentence. It can’t be placed elsewhere in the sentence.
Children recognize correct and incorrect word order very quickly. They know that you can’t say “No I want go home”, for example. The morpheme has to be attached to the word “want” or to the words “go home” in order to function as intended. The word ‘no’ can’t be added at the end or at the beginning, for example. A better example is when children learn about the position of words and the prepositions associated with words— the positions and prepositions are critical for meaning. The following sentences illustrate this point:
Juan gives the ball to Madeline
Madeline gives the ball to Juan
Very often, the subject goes first, the verb goes second and the object goes last. “Juan gives the ball to Madeline” is a classic example. If the word order is changed, the meaning also changes. “Madeline gives the ball to Juan” does not mean the same thing. Notice the three morphemes: “s,” “the,” and “to,” which are critical to meaning here, in addition to word order. If you say: “Juan gives some balls to Madeline” you have also changed the meaning of the sentences. The morphemes “s,” and “some” change the meaning of the sentence entirely
Sentences and grammar
The rules of morphemes and syntax are often referred to as ‘grammar.’
Summary:
Children with Developmental Language disorder struggle with one or both of the following:
Single words and phrases. Children master a many words and phrases by the time they are three years old. By the age of three years, they are also producing some sentences.
Modifiers (morphemes) and word order (syntax). Together, Morphology and Syntax make up what we call “grammar.” Children master the full complexity of grammar by the time they are six years old and have started grade one.
Narrative and Discourse.
Not discussed on the first page, Narrative is the next level of language learning and can become fully expressed when the child has mastered sentence-level language. in narrative, the skill is to string together sentences into a logical order to convey meaning that cannot be conveyed at teh sentence level alone.
LEARNING AND TEACHING
Curricular goals and objectives for phonological awareness and vocabulary:
Learning is easiest when the child starts out by learning familiar nouns and verbs, such as the nouns and verbs of the home and classroom life. The usefulness of the words to the student should dictate what words to teach. The teacher working with the student may need to create a vocabulary list specific to the child, and not rely on a standardized list of words or phrases designed for use by more advanced learners. Start with words that are short and familiar. Then work towards phrases that are familiar. Then, work on phrases that are longer and can be combined with each other.
One very useful skill for children at this level of language is to learn that a picture or a photo of an object can be used to replace the experience of actually seeing the object, and can replace having to speak. Children can learn to use familiar words and link those words to photos (of familiar people, familiar objects, familiar activities). If articulation is challenging, then teaching the child to point at or touch a choice of objects or photos (or fine line drawings) can be used to augment their language learning experience.
To summarize, children at the word and phrases stage of learning, the learner has to master:
Single word approximations and single words (Baw/ Bottle; Mi/ Milk)
Phrases that act as a single unit (I want; Go Outside; Daddy Up)
Words and phrases are useful across settings—The same words and phrases can be used in different settings and situations
Words and phrases can be combined in novel ways. I want/ I no want. Daddy go/ Daddy no go. I want milk, juice, go outside (and, I no want—-)
Words and phrases are useful to identify categories of meaning (the word ‘ball’ refers to all balls, not just the ball that the child has at home)
Pictures can be used to improve communication, especially for children and youth who struggle to produce speech sounds
practice tips for the language learner
When you understand the components of language, it’s not hard to figure out how to speak with the student and how to build ‘next steps’ so that the child’s language skills can improve. here is a simple hierarchy that you can use when speaking with students who are still mastering the essential skills of language:
Speak in a complete sentence
Speak in a complete sentence that is only one clause in length
Speak in phrases, and emphasize the key words
Speak in single words
Speak in single words and use picture/visual supports
Using the above ‘staged’ manner teaches the child to listen to language that might be above their level today- and then focus on simplified language so that they understand what you said to them initially. By using a systematic approach such as this,