Communication Disorders- Speech/Language

a. Definition: Communication Disorders- (Speech/Language)

The term Communication Disorders encompasses a wide variety of problems in language, speech, and hearing. Speech and language impairments including articulation problems, voice disorders, fluency problems (such as stuttering), aphasia (difficulty in using words, usually as a result of brain injury), and delays in speech and or language. Speech and language delays may be due to many factors, including environmental factors or hearing loss.

Hearing impairments include partial hearing and deafness. Deafness may be defined as a loss sufficient to make auditory communication difficult or impossible without amplification. There are four types of hearing loss. Conductive hearing losses are caused by caused by diseases or obstructions in the outer or middle ear and can usually be helped with a hearing aid. Sensorineural losses result from damage to the sensory hair cells of the inner ear or the nerves that supply it and may not respond to the use of a hearing aid. Mixed hearing losses are those in which the problem occurs both in the outer or middle ear and in the inner ear. A central hearing loss results from damage to nerves or brain.

Spoken language problems are referred to by a number of labels, including language delay, language disability, or a specific type of language disability. In general, experts distinguish between those people who seem to be slow in developing spoken language (language delay) and those who seem to have difficulty achieving a milestone of spoken language (language disorders). Language disorders include stuttering; articulation disorders, such as substituting one sound for another (tandy for candy), omitting a sound (canny for candy), or distorting a sound (shlip for sip); and voice disorders, such as inappropriate pitch, volume, or quality. Causes can be related to hearing, nerve/muscle disorders, head injury, viral diseases, mental retardation, drug abuse, or cleft lip or palate. (www.rmlearning.com)

b. Implications of teaching in each are of disability and modifications of teaching approaches-

As a regular education teacher I will make sure to do these things when teaching students with Communication Disorders. I will maintain contact with students during lessons and class time. I will allow students to tape lectures. Provide and interpreter (signed English or American Sign Language) to those who enquire another form of communication. Encourage and assist in facilitation of participation in activities and discussions. As a regular education teacher I will do as follows to help the students to learn in the best way possible. Allow more time for the students to complete activities. Place the students within reasonable distances from the instructor to meet their needs. Anticipate areas of difficulty in access and involve the students in doing the same. Together, work out alternate procedures while trying not to disengage the student from the activity. For students who cannot use the computer because of other physical limitations in their hands or arms, explore avenues for obtaining adaptive access software, (includingUnicorn keyboards), special switches, Power Pads, eye controlled input systems, touch screens, footmice, and other special equipment. (www.as.wvu.edu) If appropriate, provide assistance, but also provide reinforcement when the student shows the ability to do something unaided. Use a peer-buddy system when appropriate. Lastly, I will consider alternate activities/exercises that be utilized with less difficulty for the student, but has the same similar learning objectives. If working in group I will as a regular education teacher implement these strategies. I will encourage classmates to accept the students with communicative problems. Providing an atmosphere conductive to easy and good interactive communication should be established and maintained in the classroom. Encourage and assist in the facilitation of participation in activities and discussions. Allow more time for the students to complete activities. When testing I will as a regular education teacher implement the following strategies. I will allow more time for the students with communication impairments to complete tests in their optimal mode of communication. Design tests that are appropriate for the student’s disorder (written, drawn, or oral.) Writers could be provided for the test taking if the individual requires such assistance. Last I will check to be sure that test instructions are completely understood by the child and provide any additional assistance that may be needed. I feel as a regular education teacher if I implement all these strategies in my classroom my students will be successful in learning. These strategies will not work for every student but I will have to teach and learn how to benefit all different kinds of students. What works with one student may not work for another. These will be my starting blocks and I will modify and change them throughout my years of teaching.

c. Technology:

The NoHands Mouse™ is a foot operated mouse that consists of two separate pedals. One pedal operates the pointer, while the other is used for button clicking. By default, a heel-click engages the right mouse button, while a toe-click engages the left mouse button.
SPATS-HI (SPATS for hearing-impaired persons), was developed as a system for teaching hearing-aid and cochlear-implant users to more accurately identify the speech sounds heard through those assistive devices
SPATS-ESL is made available to independent ESL schools and to university units, such as Engineering or Business Programs with large numbers of international students in need of improving their ability to converse in English. SPATS-ESL is designed for students with basic knowledge of written English as evidenced by paper and pencil TOEFL scores at or above 500. SPATS-ESL is not designed to teach English grammar, vocabulary, or idioms. It is designed to teach International Students with a basic knowledge of English to be able to accurately perceive naturally spoken English sentences and to be able to identify the basic sounds of spoken English accurately
Personal frequency modulation (FM) systems are like miniature radio stations operating on special frequencies assigned by the Federal Communications Commission. The personal FM system consists of a transmitter microphone used by the speaker and a receiver used by you, the listener. The receiver transmits the sound to your hearing aid either through direct audio input or through a looped cord Computerized speech recognition which allows a computer to change a spoken message into a word processed document worn around your neck.
Sound field systems, that assists listening for all children in the class. Using FM technology, the teacher speaks into a microphone transmitter. The teacher's voice is projected through speakers mounted around the classroom. This arrangement assists in overcoming the problems of distance, background noise, and poor room acoustics that affect listening for all children.
Keyboard filters include typing aids such as word prediction utilities and add-on spelling checkers. These products reduce the required number of keystrokes. Certain keyboard filters enable users to quickly access the letters they need and to avoid inadvertently selecting keys they don't want.
Speech recognition systems, also called voice recognition programs, allow people to give commands and enter data using their voices rather than a mouse or keyboard.
Screen review utilities make on-screen information available as synthesized speech and pairs the speech with a visual representation of a word, for example, highlighting a word as it is spoken. Screen review utilities convert the text that appears on screen into a computer voice. This helps some people with language difficulties and impairments by giving them information visually and aurally at the same time.
Touch screens are devices placed on the computer monitor (or built into it) that allow direct selection or activation of the computer by touching the screen.
Speech synthesizers (often referred to as text-to-speech (TTS) systems) receive information going to the screen in the form of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, and then "speak" it out loud.

d. References:

www.as.wvu.edu
Assistive Technology- http://www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/language.aspx
Communication Disorders- www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/comm.html
Handheld Speech Devices- www.GusInc.
Hixon, T. J., Shribers, L. D., & Saxman, J. H. (Eds.). (1980). Introduction to Communication Disorders. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
King, R. R. & Sommers, R. K. (1986). Talking Tots: Normal and Impaired Communication Development of Preschool Children. Danville, IL: Interstate Printers and Publishers.
Luterman, D. (1987). Deafness in the Family. Boston: Little, Brown.
Miller, A. L. (1980). Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, and Your Child. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
Moores, D. F. (1987). Educating the Deaf: Psychology, Principles, and Practices (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
National Information Center on Deafness, & National Association of the Deaf. (1987). Deafness: A Fact Sheet. Washington, DC: Author.
Ogden, P., & Lipsett, A. (1982). The Silent Garden: Understanding the Hearing Impaired Child. New York: St. Martin's.
Oyer, H. J., Crowe, B., & Haas, W. H. (1987). Speech, Language, and Hearing Disorders: A Guide for the Teacher. Boston: Little, Brown.
Schwartz, S. (Ed.). (1987). Choices in Deafness: A Parent's Guide. Rockville, MD: Woodbine House.
Van Hattum, R. J. (Ed.). (1980). Communication Disorders. AN Introduction. New York: Macmillan.
Watson, CS, Miller, JD, Kewley-Port, D, Humes, LE, and Wightman, FL (2008) “Training listeners to identify the sounds of speech: I. A review of past studies” The Hearing Journal 61(9), 26-31