Child Language Disability - Essay Example

Child Language Disability This child was diagnosed with ADSD as well as ANSD. ADSD is known to affect the brain’s ability to process auditory signals and in this case, it has resulted in fluctuating hearing levels with and without the processor. ANSD on the other hand, is known to affect speech perception and the child’s ability to make sense of auditory signal. The tests carried out so far on this child include: The MAIS (Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale) on which she scored 33 / 44. It uses a structured parent interview format whereby parents are asked a few questions about the auditory behaviour of their child, in their routine daily activities. The questions are divided into various categories with an aim to understand the child's attachment to sensory aid used by them as well as auditory directions; their ability to recognize and comprehend speech etc. These questions are then valued on the basis of the frequency with which the child demonstrates a certain behaviour (Niparko, 2009). This test revealed that the child able to appropriately use the auditory input in quiet listening situations however, the background noise seemed to disturb her making it more difficult for her to interpret auditory input. Problems faced by the child and recommended solutions This child also faces difficulty in the area of hearing, language and social skills Such difficulties are commonly faced by individuals with hearing impairments. According to Marschark (2007) deafness leads to serious consequences on literacy, educational achievement as well as the socio-emotional development of children. This child was enrolled in a school for children with hearing impairment. She has undergone two cochlear implants, twice. Children with cochlear implant may face minor difficulties in developing abilities to listen or speak properly. However, they are more apt in learning through visual aids. The learning style of every child varies. Hence even after the implants if the child displays greater competence in learning through visual aids rather than auditory aids, and prefers to learn and speak through sign language rather than learn to speak in English, then they should be encouraged to do so (Christiansen, Leigh, 2002). Since this child has difficulty in language development and social skills, she may need special attention from the teachers, which includes individual speech and language assistance beyond the general classroom sessions. Auditory training can also be given separately where the focus is mostly on language reception and speech production of the child. Such activities will help in improving the child's listening skills (Clark, 2003). The language skills of this child are largely affected due to her hearing impairment and auditory neuropathy. Although she has made significant progress in language acquisition, and displays eagerness to learn and communicate through spoken language, the level of skill displayed is delayed in comparison to her chronological age. She communicates using both spoken as well as sign language. With regard to social skills, it is often observed that those interacting with a child with hearing impairment, often tend to ask more questions and demand short answers or replies. They often tend to correct the speech of the child continuously during conversations and / or request imitation. Actions such as these, hampers the basic essence of the conversation and discourages the child from engaging in any further dialog and in turn may also affect their psychological and cognitive skills. The absence of effective communication acts as a major obstacle in the child’s quest to engage in active social interaction thereby leading to inadequate development of social skills (Niparko, 2009). The social skills of children with hearing impairment can be improved through group activities which involve interaction with peers such as role play, music, drama, dance, sports and the likes. However care must be taken to ensure that the child is not the only one with a hearing disability, else he / she may end up with more psychological or developmental issues such as loss of self esteem or self-confidence (Edwards, Crocker, 2008). Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder This child suffers from auditory neuropathy, a condition which prevents the child from interpreting sounds leading to generation of an inconsistent response to auditory inputs. This child faces difficulty in interpreting auditory signals with or without a processor intermittently. Her ability of interpreting auditory inputs is greatly affected in environment with poor acoustic conditions or where there is a lot of background noise. The language learning, speaking and listening skills of children diagnosed with ANSD and / or those who have received cochlear implants can be improved through providing them speech-sound training or through directed perpetual training. There exists strong scientific evidence which suggest that the use of visual inputs while training can help significantly in improving the auditory perception of individuals with auditory neuropathy. Visual aids which can be used to develop and enhance language learning include speech-like lip movements. Such an activity is known to modify auditory cortex activity. Furthermore, several researchers have claimed through studies, that physiologic changes in auditory cortex occur during lip reading, even in the absence of auditory stimulation (Sininger, Starr, 2001). Contributory factors for achievement till date: The key factors which have contributed to this child’s achievement include: This child despite being diagnosed with ANSD and undergoing a failed cochlear implant managed to acquire a good score in the MAIS testing. This success could be attributed to the fact that she is enrolled in a school which is adequately resourced to meet the special needs of children with hearing impairment. A slight improvement in the child’s hearing is reported in the previous audiograms, and she no longer needs to wear hearing aids on the non- implanted side. This is a significant achievement on the part of the child, which can be attributed to the support she receives from the school staff. She receives full time communication support from a signer as well as support from the teachers. She is assisted by the communicator whenever she fails to interpret the instructions of her teacher. Her speaking skills are also reported to have improved significantly. This child uses both sign language as well as spoken language for communication. She communicates in sign language with her peers with hearing disability and in spoken language with her parents / family. This is a significant achievement for an individual who had only been communicating in sign language up to the age of three and a half years. This improvement can largely be attributed to the implantation owing to which her liking and interest towards interpreting auditory signals have increased contributing greatly towards her increased ability to speak while communicating. Her parents have also played a major role in developing her spoken language skills as they insist on communicating through verbal means and rarely use sign language while interacting with her. She has a good IQ as compared to that of her peers in the same age group; good non verbal skills and high level problem solving skills. Her visual skills are also highly developed and she is highly motivated to learn. Also, the teachers have observed that the child is very enthusiastic and lively in demeanour and has a zest for learning. This can be attributed to her good relationship with her parents and family. Family Support The success of any individual, regardless of their physical condition or disability, is largely influenced by their immediate surroundings, i.e. parents and family. A child first begins learning in his / her family prior to joining school, and the experiences gained during the pre-school period contributes greatly in shaping their personality. The attitudes of their parents play a major role in the overall development of the child and go a long way in the degree of success they enjoy in the mainstream society (Mogard-Bevan, 1993). The parents of this child are actively involved in her development and contribute a great deal in ensuring that she receives maximum possible benefits in terms of instruction and guidance as well as facilities which in turn will help her in acquiring proper language skills. This can be verified by the fact that her speaking skills have improved significantly and can converse effectively albeit a few minor mistakes or mispronunciations. Regardless of the minor speaking errors, her speech is intelligible and can be easily understood by the listener. Implications on the child’s current level of language competence This child seems to be lacking in verbal communication and tends to mispronounce certain words. She also has difficulty in appropriately interpreting auditory signals due to ANSD. For these reasons she needs a special education program that can help her overcome her shortcomings and contribute to her overall development fit for the mainstream society. The educational program must include policies and strategies which satisfy the following broad objectives: 1. To optimise her use of audition within each teaching and learning environment. 2. To develop her expressive and receptive English language skills and verbal skills towards a level commensurate with her ability 3. To develop her social interaction with her ability 4. To maintain a positive self image through an appropriate peer group and access to positive role model. 5. To enable full access to the national curriculum. To develop her literacy and numerical skills towards a level commensurate with her ability and 6. To develop her attention and listening skills. These objectives can be achieved by enrolling her in an educative environment which has talented and experienced staff who will help her making the best use of her abilities and resources at her disposal such as radio aid / or alternative augmentative communication aids for her development. In order to improve her auditory skills, training can be provided in an acoustic environment where the background noise is reduced to the minimum. Qualified teachers and staff can help her in developing her receptive and expressive language and extend her vocabulary in the process. Case 2: Profile of the child Age 10 years Type of impairment Bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment, Associated speech and language difficulties Diagnosed At 2 years and 9 months Profile and tests used to identify strengths in their current functioning STRASS Grammatical – used with Deaf children, duration: 20 minutes This test is used to evaluate the child's knowledge about the grammatical structures. It is a standardised procedure which uses a range of auxiliary verbs, pronouns and prepositions and tests the use of clause, phrases, as well as word level use in LARSP stages 1 - 4. Problems faced by the child and recommended solutions This child has profound bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment as well as associated developmental speech and language difficulties. Bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment is known to severely affect the development of language and speech; academic performance as well as overall social development in children. The same can be cured and the difficulties posed by it can be overcome, if detected in early stages. Early identification and intervention can help the parents in taking well-informed and timely decisions about Audiological management which will in turn help in maximising the child's hearing abilities; encourage oral language development and speech production (Roush, 2001). There is scientific evidence which supports the fact that children with hearing impairments lack grammatical acquisition skills. Although their language development skills may appear to be normal and at par with other normal children in the same age group, children with hearing disabilities often face difficulties in comprehending sentences which show a different word order from the typical subject-verb-object structure commonly found in the English language (Cantell, Baker, 2007). Regular support from speech and language therapist can help such children in overcoming such language related difficulties and help them in verbal acquisition as well. Contributory factors for achievement till date: This child is quite cheerful and cooperative, and has a good sense of humour. His verbal skills are appropriate to his age and social skills are good as well. This achievement can be attributed to the fact that the child has been given appropriate learning environment such as provision of speech and language therapists who have regularly supported him in developing his language skills. Difficulties in language development and social skills are quite common in children with hearing disability. However with the right kind of training and medical aids such as – cochlear implants or use of hearing aids, these difficulties can be overcome to a significant extent (Martin, et al, 2007). This child uses hearing aid and radio aid successfully in the classroom. This has helped significantly in gaining language skills, however there is still scope for improvement. Implications on the child’s current level of language competence This child requires special education in the following areas: Special training in language development Strategies which help in consolidation of his core academic skills Courses which help in overcoming his delayed expressive and receptive language development Special training which help him in development of skills of social interaction with peers. Similarities and differences in the process of language acquisition between hearing and deaf children The process of language acquisition is a normal learning exercise which a child begins to learn in his / her own family through a very natural course by observing the gestures and interactions between members of their family. For a hearing child this process may be somewhat easier but for a child with a hearing disability the process requires a little bit of effort on the part of the parents and does not come naturally to them. For deaf children, language learning is a task, a challenge which begins as soon as they enter early intervention, while for hearing children it comes naturally to them by merely observing the communication between adults around them. They do not need any such special training or intervention unlike the deaf children (Morgan, Woll, 2002). A majority of deaf children have hearing parents, who have very little or no knowledge about sign language. Since the language acquisition process heavily relies on the type of input received by the learner, a deaf child will face difficulties in learning or comprehending the language especially when their parents cannot communicate with them in sign language. Also, it may happen that the hearing parents may choose to use verbal communication rather than sign language as a means of communicating with their child. The choice of language used by the parents also greatly affects the language acquisition among deaf children. There is no such problem for children with normal hearing. Furthermore, studies related to spoken language acquisition by hearing children have revealed that the description of type of input such as monolingual, bilingual or multilingual is relatively easier as compared to description of type of input for deaf children. This is because in case of hearing children the languages used in the type of input can be clearly identified. While in case of deaf children, the input is usually a sign language or a spoken language but the individual variation differs greatly making it more complicated for them (Baker, Woll, 2008). The manner and type of exposure to language also determines the level of language skill acquired by the child for instance, deaf children who have had an early access and exposure to language, display same level of language skills as the hearing children who were exposed to language at the same time as them. The language learning skills are relatively faster in hearing children as compared to those with a hearing impairment. This is because the children with hearing impairment mostly rely on visual cues which are difficult to interpret and requires proper training through schools or experts. While no such special training is required for hearing children. However, the language acquisition skills of deaf children with hearing parents and hearing children with deaf parents, might be similar to a certain extent. Appendices: CHILD 2 Assessment of Comprehension and Expression 6-11 Sentence comprehension 1. The helicopter flew above clouds incorrect score 0 2. Sam says ‘Today is Monday. What day is it tomorrow? a. Tuesday correct scored 1 3. He put the milk below the eggs incorrect score 0 4. Neeta says ‘Today is Monday. What day was it yesterday?’ Sunday correct scored 1 5. Neeta’s dad normally comes home at 6 o’clock. Today he is going to come home early. What time will he come home? correct scored 1 6. Who has the least hair? Incorrect scored 0 7. Let me tell you something about Neeta. She is always last to get ready for games incorrect scored 0 8. Let me tell you something about Sam. He never argues about going to bed incorrect scored 1 9. He rode his bike towards the beach incorrect scored 1 10. The builder arrived between 10 and 12 o’clock. incorrect scored 1 11. The other children had gone off and left Neeta. They wouldn’t let her join in their games at playtime. Neeta felt (answered miserable) scored 1 12. A TV crew was coming to film Sam and his friends at school. They were going to be on the news. The children felt very........ (answered excited scored 1) 13. At the party the magician made Sam disappear. The children were (answered amazed scored 1) 14. Sam felt sure he would be picked for the football team, but his name wasn’t called. He felt... (answered disappointed scored 1) 15. Neeta saw a lot of children starting to queue outside the toy shop she was.... (answered bored scored 0) 16. She gave the cat the food scored 1 17. She gave her baby food scored 1 18. My teacher don’t wear skirts scored 1 19. The bus behind the car is blue scored 1 20. the dog was splashed by the girl scored 0 21. the car in front of the bus is blue scored 1 22. my teacher don’t have long hair scored 1 23. the cat was scratched by the dog scored 0 24. I threw the penguin a fish scored 0 25. The cat that scratched the fox is fat scored 1 26. I bought my cat a mouse scored 0 27. The crocodile that bit the lion is small scored 0 The following items are paired. The child must answer both correctly to score a point 28. Who does Yasmin usually visit at the weekend? granny i. Who is Jim’s usual game after school?tennis scored 1 29. what has my cat got in his mouth? Answered worms i. which animal is in danger now?squirrels scored 0 30. Which one have I already eaten? answered fish scored 0 i. Which one have I missed? answered cinema 31. Who still lives in a houseboat? answered Jim scored 0 i. Who still works in a cafe? answered Chris Total raw score: 17/31 Standard score: 6 Confidence band:4-8% Percentile rank: 9 Inferential Comprehension (1C) CHILD 2 1. Why was dog barking? Burgular went in house scored 1 2. Why is the policeman there? Find burgular, find them because of robbery scored 2 3. Why did the burgular break in at the back of the house? Window was big to climb in and no one can see him Scored 1 4. Why do you think the burgular took the watch? Watch was nice Scored 1 5. What clues will the police find about who broke in? Footprints, handprints Scored 1 6. How does the family feel now? Sad, worried, get a gun and horrid and terrible, frightened he come back scored 2 7. Why would someone steal something? Money ... sell things.. they need money scored 2 8. What will the family so now because of the burgulary?lock door, enw window metal one scored 2 9. Should all theft be treated in the same way? Shocked his head- unsure of the word ‘treat’ scored 0 Total raw score: 12/14 Standard score: 17 Confidence band: 14-20% Percentile rank: 9 Naming score 1. Guitar 1 2. Saw 1 3. Volcano 1 4. Pineapple 1 5. Rhinoceros 1 6. Whale 1 7. Axe 0 8. Pyramid 1 9. Dentist 1 10. Needle says pin 1 11. Barrel 1 12. Flute clarinet 0 13. Pepper 1 14. Scanner tools 0 15. Judge prime minister 0 16. Flask cup 0 17. Lobster crab 0 18. Cherry 1 19. Factory building 0 20. Fraction maths 0 21. Equator Europ 0 22. Microscope binoculars 0 23. Armadilio 0 24. Strthoscope doctor 0 25. Syringe needle 0 Total raw score: 12/25 Standard score: 12 Confidence band: 10-14% Percentile rank: 75 Syntactic Formulation – picture shown child says what they see Past plus auxiliary scored What do you think has happened? She’s brought an ice cream 1 What do you think has just happened?they’ve broken the window 1 Post-modifying clause The girl who’a holding the flowers is thin 0 The women who’s wearing a red scarf is a nurse and the comen who’s wearing the yellow scarf is a dentist 1 Subordination This is a tiger 0 This is a police car. This isn’t a police care because it hasn’t got a light 1 Co-ordination What did Kim do after school? She did her homework and ate her tea 2 What did Sam do when he got to school? He took his coat off and hung it up 2 Post-modyfying phrase What’s the car next to? 2 Whos the dog next to? 2 Reported speech plus catenative verb Now you tell me about this. 2 Now you tell me about this one 2 Conditionals Now you tell me about this. 2 Now you tell me about this one 2 Total raw score: 22/33 Standard score: 13 Confidence band: 11-15% Percentile rank: 84 Semantic Devlopment Stimulus response score response type Laughter face 0 a Frighten terrify 1 a Wish hope 1 s Listen hear 1 s Say speak 1 t Meadow junction 0 a Mend repair 1 s Trust believe 1 s Brave fearless 0 s Maze question 1 t Error mistake 1 s Tame gentle 1 s Answer request 0 s Fair rare 0 p/v Cunning sneaky 1 s Monsoon racoon 0 p/v Reveal prove 0 t Allow confirm 1 t Vacant full 1 a Surpass exceed 1 s S=12 T=3 A=3 p/v=2 Total score: 13/20 standard score = 15 percentile: 95 Extension subtests and non-literal comprehension scored 12/15 Standard score 15 Percentile 95 References Baker, A., Woll, B., 2008. Sign language acquisition, John Benjamins Publication, Pp. 10 - 13 Cantell, D. P., Baker, L., 2007. Developmental speech and language disorders, Guilford Press, Pp. 89 - 92 Christiansen, J. B., Leigh, I., 2002. Cochlear implants in children: Ethics and choices, Gallaudet University Press, Pp. 11 - 20 Clark, G., 2003. Cochlear implants: Fundamentals and applications, Springer Publication, Pp. 694 - 698 Edwards, L., Crocker, S., 2008. Psychological processes in deaf children with complex needs: An evidence-based practical guide, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Pp. 81 - 83 Marschark, M., 2007. Raising and educating a deaf child. New York: Oxford University Press. Martin, A., Volkmar, F. R., Lewis, M., 2007. Lewis's child and adolescent psychiatry: A comprehensive textbook, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Publication, Pp. 421 - 425 Mogard-Bevan, K., 1993. Child language disability: Hearing impairment, Multilingual Matters Publication, Pp. 50 - 52 Morgan, G., Woll, B., 2002. Directions n sign langauge acquisition, John Benjamins Publication, Pp. 2 - 5 Niparko, J. K., 2009. Cochlear implants, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publication, Pp. 197 – 200 Roush, J., 2001. Screening for hearing loss and otitis media in children, CENGAGE Learning Publication, Pp. 18 - 20 Sininger, Y., Starr, A., 2001. Auditory neuropathy: A new perspective on hearing disorders, CENGAGE Learning Publication, Pp. 6 - 10 Appendices Read More