JAASEP Winter 2014 Part 10 of 15
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Recent studies (e.g., Dockrell & Lindsay, 2001; McArthur, Hogben, Edwards, Heath & Mengler, 2000; Paul, 2007) at the beginning of the new millennium have indicated that the co-occurrence of Specific Language Impairment (SLI for short) and learning difficulties as well as social problems is as high as 60%. The term Specific Language Impairment is a very controversial term and is still being debated among the professionals such as speech language therapists, psychologists and researchers. The considerable controversy regarding the term most appropriate to define SLI with alternative terms is changing over time to reflect changes in how the language disorder has been conceptualized (Paul, 2007). Recently, two broad categories of children with language difficulties have been identified: (1) the first group consists of those with primary language difficulties; and (2) the second group consists of those with secondary language difficulties (Tomblin, Zhang, Buckwalter & O’Brien, 2003).
Let me briefly describe the two categories. In the first category, children with primary language difficulties are found to be developmentally typical, yet they manifest a delayed development in language comprehension and/or production with an unknown etiology (Dockrell, Lindsay, Connelly, and Mackie, 2007; van Weerdenburg, Verhoeven & van Balkom, 2006).
Abstract
The aim of this short paper is three fold: Firstly, it is to define Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and to identify the various symptoms of the disorder so as to establish a better understanding of these children through interaction with them, their parents, and other allied professionals, and how to go about designing an appropriate lesson to work with such children. Secondly, it introduces SLI within the Triple-D framework which encompasses Diagnostics (which includes screening, assessment and evaluation), Dialogics (collaborative consultation and counseling) and Didactics (design of an intervention program and implementation of the program). It also touches briefly on the current application of the Triple-D framework in the early intervention program for preschool children with SLI carried out by early childhood educators in Singapore. Thirdly, this paper will illustrate with an example how to design an action lesson plan incorporating simple strategies to be used with such children.