Language Disorders:from Infancy through Adolescence:

Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Communicating

Rhea Paul, PhD, CCC-SLPProfessor, Yale Child Study Center

New Haven, Connecticut

Courtenay F. Norbury, PhD

Senior Research Fellow Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London London,England

pages 530-540

sample format for an individualized education program(p.531)

form for planning curriculum lessons and units(p.534)

language development in adolescence

what do we mean by advanced language development?in general,we mean the language normally learned when children are in the adolescent years,form 12 through early adulthood, when they attend middle and high shcool.

adolescent who are functioning at advanced language levels have not only mastered the basic skills of the developing language period but also achieved some of the goal.they can produce and understand true narratives and some complex sentences,make some inferences,carry on marginally adequate conversations,engage in some metalinguistic discussion,and so on.

during the period of advanced language:

advanced adverbial conjuncts(similary,moreover,consequently,in contrast,rather,nonetheless)

adverbs of likehood(definitely,possible)and magnitude(extremely,considerably)

precise and technical terms related to curricular content(abscissa,bacteria,pollination, fascism)

verbs with presuppositional(regret),metalinguistic(predict,infer,imply),and metacognitive(hypothesize,observe) components

words with multiple meaning(strike the ball,strike at the factory,run for office,run the office)

word with mulitple fuctions(hard stone,hard water,hard feelings)

school also plays a role in the normal adolescent's language development,new forms of discourse,such as class lectures and expository texts,are introduced in the curriculum,and students need to learn to process and produce them,sencondary school requires students to produce more extended written forms of communication that they did at the elementary grades,students are required to produce not only stories,but expository and persuasive texts,the understanding of these texts undergoes a predictable sequence of development during the secondary school years,these written forms require a great deal of metacognitive and metalinguistic activity.

adolescents with language learning disorder

curriculum demands at advanced language levels

deal with multiple teachers,with varied teaching styles and modes of communication,and follow classroom rules for each

use already automatized skills (e.g.,reading fluency)and increasing base of knowledge to gain information from material written at middle and high school reading level

be able to retrieve prior knowledge of several different procedures(e.g.,writing a business letter,recalling technical names for parts of a business machine written about in letter,using writing conventions such as spelling,capitalizaton,punctuation) simultaneously in order to complete classroom assignments

be able to increase the amount of work produced(e.g.,write longer reports,more frequent written assignments),necessitating quicker,more efficient production,use of organizational strategies and problem solving skills for scheduling tasks,etc.

be able to use working memory to reason,process large chunks of material,follow multiple instructions

be able to deal with the stress of using more focused and sustained attention for increasing periods of time

use self-and comprehension-monitoring and metacognition to determine priority and saliency of classroom meterial

work independently with little help from the teacher

master increasingly  decontextualized,abstract,symbolic material to participate in discussions and assignments about curricular material

complete homework and other assignments independent

gain information from lectures,films,and student reports'

take notes independently

demonstrate knowledge by studying and recalling information for texts with various formats(essay,multiple choice,ture/false)

express oneself in writing in various formats(essay,descriptions,narratives,and explanations)

use logical and critical thinking to evaluation information presented

evaluating children with a history of language delay as they make the transition from primary to secondary school,in order to provide the levels of support they need to complete their education

older student with language learning disorder are at risk for low-esteem and shyness,despite a desire to make friends and fit in.

student-centered assessment

assessing advanced language(p.541)

answering questions about my reading

asking questions when i don't understand

editing my writing

engaging in extended discussions of curricular topics with teacher and peers

finding main ideas in textbooks

finding time to finish all my work

finishing assignments

following directions

interest in sclool work

organizing my thoughts

participating in class discussion

participating in group assignments

penmanship

reviewing and studying for tests

spelling and punctuation

taking notes

taking tests

understanding teacher's lectures

understanding what i read

using a dictionary or other reference books

vocabulary

writing papers

screening,case finding,and establishing eligibility with standardized tests in the advanced language stage