Victoria Joffe Department of Language and Communication Science City University

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Joffe, V.L. ESRC Festival of Social Science, City University, London, Saturday 15 th March, 2008.

Victoria JoffeDepartment of Language and Communication Science

City University

What is a developmental language

disorder?



Do you know anyone who has a developmental speech, language or communication disorder – a student, a neighbour, a son, daughter, niece or grandchild, a friend….?



And if so, what do these children look like?



Let’s go back a little to early development….

And ask, what is language?



Most children typically acquire and develop language effortlessly without any formal instruction

Before they can add up 2 + 2 children are combining sentences, making statements, asking questions, and using linguistic rules appropriately

A child of around 3-4 years produces conversation at a similar level to that of an adult

The mystery of language mastery



What is language?

Rule governed organised system using a set of arbitrary symbols which are combined to form words

The symbols can take the form of sounds (speech), written symbols (text), hand movements (sign language) or raised dots (Braille)

These words can be combined to form an infinite set of utterances to convey meaning

The most important purpose of language is communication



Languages have four main components:

syntax and morphology (rules) - grammar

phonology (form) – sounds

semantics - meaning

pragmatics - use



Comprehension and Expression

We also make a distinction between the comprehension (understanding) and expression (production) of language.

Children usually understand words and sentences before they produce them. If you observe a young infant of around 6 months of age, you might not observe any expressive language (besides babbling), but the child may appear to understand a lot; for example,

‘Do you want some juice?’



THE COMMUNICATION CHAIN:

Input

Processing

Output



INPUT OUTPUT

PROCESSING



Any difficulty along the communication chain, input, representation, output, can impact on learning It can impact adversely on the understanding of all subjects across the National Curriculum, as well as on participation in the classroom and general school behaviour

A speech, language and communication difficulty will also affect a child’s behaviour, and social and emotional functioning



So what are speech, language and communication impairments?

Despite the ease of language acquisition for most children, some experience significant difficulties in acquiring and developing speech, language and communication.

Language disorder occurs when a person has difficulties in using and/or understanding language.

The term language disorder covers difficulties with phonology, syntax, semantics and/or pragmatics.



Children with language disorder can have problems with the sounds of the language.

They may fail to discriminate correctly between speech sounds (for e.g. /t/ versus /s/), and mispronounce sounds (for e.g. /tat for /cat/).

Children make the following speech errors:

Substitution Omission Distortion Addition



Problems can be seen in grammar, with difficulties with past tense, for example,

‘caught’ ‘catched’

We also may see problems in putting words together to form sentences

‘The boy hits the ball’ ‘Boy hit ball’

They may also experience difficulties in using conjunctions like ‘but’, ‘if’, ‘however’.



Problems in semantics manifest in word finding difficulties - struggling to find the target word and overusing general words like ‘thing’ and ‘stuff’ and ‘uhm’ and ‘er’

Students with semantic difficulties show a reduced vocabulary and their understanding of words is very literal and limited to specific items. For e.g. the word ‘sweet’ will be used for a snack from the newsagent, but won’t be extended to the chocolate mousse dessert.

There will also be less understanding of this word in a more figurative sense, i.e. the sweet-natured man.



I am fullof beans!



Help, help, I havea mole growing out of face!



Problems with pragmatics involve the way children use language.

Pragmatic difficulties can be seen when students use language inappropriately, for e.g. using the same language when talking to their peers and head teacher.

Pragmatics also includes the use and interpretation of appropriate non-verbal language (facial expression and body language) to communicate effectively.



All these difficulties can involve the understanding (reception) and expression of language

Children with language problems may also have difficulties with:

attention

concentration

organisation

listening

memory



Punishment given to secondary school-aged children for the following misdemeanours:

coming in late for class leaving equipment at home, for e.g. a ruler in maths class not paying attention in class getting lost on the way to the classroom not finishing work on time being disruptive in the classroom

Bad behaviour or possibly understandable as part of the presenting picture of the language impairment??



The Problem of Terminology

We have many different terms and labels to refer to such children. These include:

Developmental disorders of language Developmental dysphasia Specific language impairment Language delay Language disorder Language learning disability Specific Learning Difficulties General Learning Difficulties

and more……..



'It is generally the case that the less well we understand a condition, the more varied and inconsistent is the terminology that we use to refer to it.'

(Bishop, 1997, p.21)

It is important to remember that children with language disorder are a heterogeneous group and present with

different strengths and areas of need – they will not all look the same

The prevalence of language impairment is estimated at around 7-10%



Some linguistic examples from students with language impairment…



‘The girl, her father had holded telephone number. And her dad want to give the girl with her friends for her phone her.

She want to go another. Then when her dad said to her goodbye, she got bicycle. And that girl doing bicycle go into school.

Then the girl want to play with her. Donna, 15 years



Sentences produced by students with LI on a common language test used in the UK, the CELF4.

‘Would you like to play football unless I can finish my homework before I go and play’ (LS- 12;5 years)

‘In order to finish your work, you can get a house point’ (JD – 12.1 years)



Responses given by students with LI to an idiomatic understanding task:

Can you tell me in your own words what this saying means:

to see red: ‘bleeding’ (CG – 11;8 years )

to be in the red: ‘to be in trouble’ (NG – 11; 7 years)

to be in the black: ‘to be in even more trouble’ (NG)

to be in the black: ‘to be in the dark’ (ZS – 11; 11 years)

to feel blue: ,nice and calm’ (SF – 11; 7 years)



Definitions: Can you tell me in your own words what these words mean:

Employer: ‘someone who, saying to other people what to do’ (HY – 11; 10 years)

Occupation: ‘if you are bored, you can occupation yourself’ (CG – 11; 8 years)

conservation: ‘conversation’ (NG – 11; 7 years)

conservation: ‘conversation between two important people’ (LS – 12;5 years)



Language problems can be pervasive and persist into adolescence and adulthood

So what happens to adults with developmental language impairments?



Speech, language and communication impairments impact on ALL aspects of the

education curriculum AND

the individual’s overall development: academic, physical, social,

psychological, emotional, vocational



Do you know anyone who has a developmental speech, language or communication disorder – a student, a neighbour, a son, daughter, niece or grandchild, a friend….?

And So……



For further details, please contact:

Victoria JoffeDepartment of Language and Communication ScienceCity UniversityNorthampton SquareLondonEC1V [email protected]

THANKS!

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Victoria Joffe Department of Language and Communication Science City University