Outline of Content

Introduction

Assessment Task #1 (Complete prior to starting the module content)

  • Name at least three factors that can influence a child’s language development in the early years, Birth to Three.
  • What are three strategies that an educator could implement with a student whose primary language isn’t English?
  • Explain your experiences in teaching reading (programs used, age of students, etc.)
  • Explain what types of augmentative or assistive devices you are familiar with that can be used for the communication needs of a child with a language or physical disability.

Unit 1: Language Acquisition

  • To provide background information on the beginnings of speech/language pathology services in the schools.
  • To identify the components of language as a basis for understanding communication.
  • To identify the sequence of normal language development from infants to adolescents.

Sections

  1. History of Speech/Language Pathology in the Schools
  2. Components of Language
  3. Normal Language Development

Assessment Task #2: Identifying and Accommodating a Language Development Delay or Disorder

Unit 2: Communication Deficits

  • Compare and contrast a communication difference with a communication deficit in students with limited English and those with dialects.
  • Understand the nature of learning a second language and its effects on academic learning.
  • Define and describe the difference between a speech and language disorder.
  • List the speech/language characteristics of the disability categories listed under IDEA and the State of Florida Department of Education.

Sections

  1. Distinguishing a Language Difference vs. Deficit
  2. Communication Disorder Characteristics

Assessment Task #3: Learning English as a Second Language

Unit 3: Communication Interventions

  • Describe the different contexts of language in the classroom and their continuums of complexity.
  • Describe characteristics of instructional language that support comprehension.
  • Identify accommodations and modifications that support academic performance for students with communication challenges.
  • Identify effective interventions for students with communication challenges.

Sections

  1. Describing Communication Context
  2. Classroom Presentation
  3. Focus on Interventions

Assessment Task #4: Cooperative Lesson

Unit 4: Language and Literacy

  • Identify the terminology and concepts of literacy development.
  • Identify the sequence of typical reading development.
  • Identify the early phases of word recognition within the decoding process.
  • Identify the processes and skills that effective readers use for word recognition.
  • Identify the characteristics of reading difficulties.
  • Identify the characteristics and purposes of various reading programs.
  • Identify and select prevention and intervention methods for addressing reading difficulties.
  • Identify explicit and systematic instructional methods for promoting the development of phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics skills, reading fluency, increasing vocabulary acquisition, and reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Sections

  1. The Link between Language and Reading
  2. Reading Instruction

Assessment Task #5: Supporting Text Comprehension and Choosing a Graphic Organizer
Assessment Task #6: Stages of Reading

Unit 5: Assistive Technology-Augmentative/Alternative Communication

  • To provide information on Assistive Technology history, terms, laws, equipment, and resources.
  • To review the Assistive Technology evaluation process from pre-referral to funding.
  • To identify the basics of Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
  • To explore a variety of low- to high-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices.
  • To provide ideas for incorporating Assistive Technology into a variety of settings.

Sections

  1. Overview of Assistive Technology
  2. The Assistive Technology Process
  3. The Goal of AAC: Interactive Communication
  4. Adaptations Across the Curriculum

Assessment Task #7: AAC Device Exploration and Functional Application

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