Ch1languagetheoryandlanguagedevelopment 140113173809 Phpapp02

Chapter 1
Language Theory and

Language Development
Language Disorders in Children
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.
Introduction
 You can learn to be a clinical decision maker!
 Let’s think about four possible children you might be working with
 A fourth grade student is having difficulty comprehending his
reading especially in science and geography. He is very social

and gets along well with his peers.
 A sixth grade student who has been diagnosed with a learning
disability does not appear to understand when other students are

using sarcasm; he takes their statements literally. This situation
is causing problems at school.
 A two-year-old has 50+ words but almost all of the words are
nouns. He is not combining words into two-word combinations.

 An eighth grade student is getting poor grades in writing
composition. His teacher says his writing is “immature” and that

he does not write with enough complexity.
Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Joan N. Kaderavek 1-2 All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Overview Questions
 What are the differences between a language disorder, a language

difference, and a language delay?
 What are the three levels of communication described within the
speech chain?
 What are six different theories influencing language development as
described in this chapter?
 What are five different communication subdomains?
 What is the most important communication characteristic
associated with each subdomain?
 How do practitioners use information regarding the subdomains to
guide clinical interventions?

Definitions
 Language is a complex and dynamic system of conventional symbols
used for thought and language.
 Speech is the articulation and the rate of speech sounds and quality of
an individual’s voice.
 Communication, includes symbolic and nonsymbolic information (i.e.,
facial expressions, body language, gestures, etc.).
 A language disorder…
may be evident in the process of hearing, language, speech, or in
a combination of all three processes.
is impaired comprehension and/or use of spoken, written,
and/or other symbol systems.
can represent a deficit in receptive language, expressive
language, or a combined expressive-receptive deficit.

Background Information
 Children with speech and language disorders make up 1.79% of
the total school population.
 Late Talker
 Language difference
 Descriptive-developmental framework

The Speech Chain Model
See Figure 1.1 on page 5
 Level 1- the acoustic level of communicative function

 Level 2 - the internal physical/motor system required for
communication
 Level 3 - the linguistic component of communication
*The linguistic component is the focus of this book.

Theories of Language
Development
 Behaviorism
 Cognitive
 Nativist
 Neurobiological Research and Neural Maturation
 Social Interaction Theory
 Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
 Information-Processing
 Systems/Ecological Approach

Behaviorism Theory
 Learning occurs when an environmental stimulus triggers a

response or behavior
 Increasing the frequency of positive behaviors and decreasing

or altering negative behaviors
 B.F. Skinner

Cognitive Theory
 Jean Piaget
 Sequence of progressively more sophisticated cognitive skills,

from primitive thinking to advanced cognitive ability.
 Proposes specific cognitive achievements are fundamental to

linguistic development.
 Linkages exist between children’s motor ability, play behavior,

and language development.

Nativist Theory
 Noam Chomsky

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
 Innate ability to learn language, a biological brain
mechanism
 children need only minimal language exposure to prime
the LAD.
 Deemphasizes contribution of child’s environment
 Biological base for language learning
 Helps explain innate human ability to develop sophisticated
language systems.
 Extends and clarifies the children’s language-learning ability
and drive to communicate.

Neurobiological Research and
Neural Maturation
 An accumulating body of science
 Relationship between language and brain development in
young children.
 Brain development facilitates language performance AND

child’s learning changes the brain
 The brain becomes less capable of reorganizing and adapting

to new environmental input at people age.
 Brain plasticity decreases with age.
 Highlights the need for very early intervention for children with
developmental delays and sensory impairment.
Social Interaction Theory
 Based on principle that communication interaction plays a

central role in children’s acquisition of language.
 Children’s language development is strongly tied to:

 Children’s appreciation of others’ communicative intentions
 Sensitivity to joint visual attention

Desire to imitate others’ behaviors and speech.
 Important concepts:
 Infant-directed talk (motherese)
 Coordinating attention (pointing)
 Parent-child communication routines (scripts)

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Theory
 Cognitive development is socially mediated
 A child’s interactions with others influence his or her
cognitive understandings.
 Initially a child and a more capable partner solve problems

together, but eventually the child internalizes the process and is
able to carry out the function independently.
 Language plays a critical role in shaping learning and thought.

 Private speech plays a role in cognitive development
 Private speech occurs when children speak aloud as they
are engaged in play.

Information-Processing
Theories (Connectionism)
 An individual’s cognitive ability to process information is
completed by a large number of very simple processing
elements similar to computer software.
 For example:
 Phonological processing connections are a likely cause of
reading disability prompts practitioners to focus on building

linkages between letter names and letter sounds in
intervention programs for struggling readers.
 Cognitive-processing components--attention, memory, and

transfer of information--affect the communication skills of
individuals with intellectual disability.

Systems/Ecological Approach
 An individual’s family, community, and culture shape his or her

functioning throughout the life span.
 Human behavior and development must be viewed as occurring

within complex systems.
 Functional or life-skill goals linking aspects of language use,

form, and function and is particularly useful for older students or
adults with cognitive impairments.

The Domains of Language
 See Figure 1.5 on page 24
 Form
 Syntax
 Morphology
 Phonology
 Content
 Sematics
 Use
 Pragmatics

The Components of Language
 Morphology
 The structure of words and the construction of word forms.
 Syntax
 The order and combination of words to form sentences
 Relationships among the elements within a sentence.
 Phonology
 The sound system of a language
 Rules that govern the sound combinations.
 Semantics
 The system that governs the meanings of words and
sentences.
 Pragmatics
 The system that combines the above language components in
functional and socially appropriate communication.

The Five Communication
Subdomains
1. Early Pragmatics
2. Vocabulary
3. Early Word Combinations
4. Morphosyntax
5. Discourse

Subdomain 1:
Early Pragmatic Skills
 Prelinguistic communication
 Joint visual attention (JVA) - between 10 and 12 months
 One of the first interactive communication acts
 Early Development
 8 and 15 months - Request objects or activities, refusal,
comments
 16 and 23 months - Requesting information, answering
questions, acknowledging a response.

 Early Discourse Skills – begins in preschool and continues

Initiating a conversation

Taking turns during a conversational exchange

Maintaining ongoing topic

Conversational topic switching

Making conversational repairs
 Code switching
Clinical Implications for
Communication Subdomain 1
 Underlie all later communication
 First aspect of communication that is considered
during observational process
 If the practitioner identifies a weakness in the
individual’s ability in early pragmatic functions;
Communication Subdomain 1 becomes the focus
of intervention.

Subdomain 2:
Vocabulary Development
 Vocabulary development
 Begins towards the end of the first year of life and
continues to develop throughout one’s life.
 First words typically produced between 10 and 16 months.
 By two years, children typically produce 200-500 words and
understand many more words than they produce
 Semantics deficits are characteristic of many language
disorders including:
– developmental delay
– autism spectrum disorder
– hearing impairment
–
specific language impairment.
 At early stages in vocabulary development, practitioners
consider whether children’s word usage reflects a variety of
semantic categories.
 The interventionist may train caregivers to facilitate a variety of
semantic forms.
 Successful vocabulary interventions should
 integrate new word meaning with familiar words,
 provide repeated, meaningful, and contextual opportunities
to learn new words,
 provide explicit and implicit learning opportunities,
 aim for fluent and automatic understanding and use of new
words, and
 teach students to be more independent word learners.

Subdomain 3:
Multiple Word Combinations
 Once an individual produces approximately 50 individual words,
word combinations begin to emerge.
 At this early word combination level, children are not governed

by adult syntax rules and do not use morphological forms.
 Children create combinations of words by:

 naming objects or people of interest
 stating the actions objects or people perform
 describing the object’s or person’s characteristics
 describing who owns or possesses the object.

 Once a child is able to demonstrate early pragmatic skills and
has more than 50 single words practitioners engage children in
early play activities to facilitate multiple word combinations.
 A child’s parents and/or caretakers are trained to facilitate

semantic combinations.
 For older individuals with significant communication

impairments, practitioners may incorporate an alternative
communication approach (AAC).

Subdomain 4:
Morphosyntax Development
 Children’s utterances begin to demonstrate characteristics of
syntax and morphological development (i.e., language form).
 Occurs between 24 and 36 months for children developing

typically.
 Examples:
 present progressive ing verb
 plural s
 By age 5, children’s sentences evidence complex syntax

including the use of embedded phrases and clauses.

 Once an individual demonstrates the ability to use foundational
pragmatic functions and produces multiword combinations using
a variety of semantic categories practitioners typically evaluate
a speaker’s use of morphosyntax using the framework
developed by Brown (1973).
 Used in language analysis
 Demonstrated in students’ ability to read difficult texts and write

at the level required for school success.

SUBDOMAIN 5:
Advanced Pragmatic &
Discourse Development
 Between the ages of 3 and 7 children’s developing
pragmatic/discourse skills include the ability to use language to:
 reason and to reflect on past experiences
 predict events, express empathy
 maintain status and interactions with peers
 use and understand sarcasm and politeness forms
 code switch in order
 Students also have to learn to modify discourse styles for

different situations. Some forms of discourse are called
narratives.
 Narrative forms

 Skilled practitioners track children’s abilities to use vocabulary,
produce sentences, and use advanced language within
sophisticated discourse genres.
 Observe student:
 in the classroom
 with peers
 producing narratives
 Discourse analysis
 Focus on intervention for students in peer-groups, etc.

Think Like a Clinician!
Use what you’ve learned in Chapter 1 to identify the
Subdomain of each student described below:
1. A sixth grade student who has been diagnosed with a
learning disability does not appear to understand when other
students are using sarcasm; he takes their statements
literally. This situation is causing problems at school.
2. A two-year-old has 50+ words but almost all of the words are
nouns. He is not combining words into two-word
combinations.
3. An eighth grade student is getting poor grades in writing
composition. His teacher says his writing is “immature” and
that he does not write with enough complexity.
4. An eighth grade student is getting poor grades in writing
composition. His teacher says his writing is “immature” and
that he does not write with enough complexity.

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Chapter 1

Language Theory and

Language Disorders in Children

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

reading especially in science and geography. He is very social

disability does not appear to understand when other students are

nouns. He is not combining words into two-word combinations.

composition. His teacher says his writing is “immature” and that

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 What are the differences between a language disorder, a language

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Level 1- the acoustic level of communicative function

*The linguistic component is the focus of this book.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Learning occurs when an environmental stimulus triggers a

 Increasing the frequency of positive behaviors and decreasing

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Sequence of progressively more sophisticated cognitive skills,

 Proposes specific cognitive achievements are fundamental to

 Linkages exist between children’s motor ability, play behavior,

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Brain development facilitates language performance AND

 The brain becomes less capable of reorganizing and adapting

 Based on principle that communication interaction plays a

 Children’s language development is strongly tied to:

 Sensitivity to joint visual attention

 Coordinating attention (pointing)

 Parent-child communication routines (scripts)

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Initially a child and a more capable partner solve problems

 Language plays a critical role in shaping learning and thought.

 Private speech occurs when children speak aloud as they

are engaged in play.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

reading disability prompts practitioners to focus on building

 Cognitive-processing components--attention, memory, and

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 An individual’s family, community, and culture shape his or her

 Human behavior and development must be viewed as occurring

 Functional or life-skill goals linking aspects of language use,

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Relationships among the elements within a sentence.

 Rules that govern the sound combinations.

functional and socially appropriate communication.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 One of the first interactive communication acts

 8 and 15 months - Request objects or activities, refusal,

questions, acknowledging a response.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 At this early word combination level, children are not governed

 Children create combinations of words by:

 stating the actions objects or people perform

 describing the object’s or person’s characteristics

 describing who owns or possesses the object.

Language Disorders in Children, 1e © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

 A child’s parents and/or caretakers are trained to facilitate