Before a child can begin speech/language therapy, an evaluation must be conducted. Formal and informal assessments are both very valuable when determining appropriate intervention. Formal assessments are typically done in standardized test form. Informal assessments involve collecting data in a more one-to-one fashion via interviews, observations, and/or language samples. Language samples provide a great deal of information related to a childâs language abilities and conversational skills and often contain a number of spoken utterances using various topics. During this discussion you will develop a profile of a childâs bilingual language development. This discussion is intended to show evidence that the student has achieved or is working on the following learning objectives:
Identify common measures of word use from a spontaneous language sample.
Identify difficulties in the development of morphology and syntax in late talkers and children with learning language learning disability (LLD) and specific language impairment (SLI).
Describe clinical applications of morphological and syntactic development.
Sample Answer
Okay, let’s build a profile of a bilingual child’s language development, focusing on how we can use language samples and address the learning objectives.
Child Profile: Sofia, Age 5, Bilingual (Spanish/English)
- Background:
- Sofia lives in a household where Spanish is the primary language spoken.
- She attends an English-speaking kindergarten.
- She has been exposed to both languages since birth.
- Her parents have expressed concerns about her “mixing” languages and perceived delays in her English vocabulary.
Language Sample Collection:
- Setting:
- We would collect language samples in both Spanish and English, in naturalistic settings (e.g., play, storytelling, conversation).
- We’d aim for at least 50-100 utterances in each language.
Full Answer Section
- Methods:
- Play-based interactions with toys and games.
- Story retelling or picture description tasks.
- Casual conversation with the child and her parents.
- Audio and video recordings will be made for later transcription and analysis.
Analysis of Language Samples:
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Common Measures of Word Use:
- Vocabulary Diversity:
- We’d calculate the number of different words (NDW) used in each language.
- This would reveal her lexical richness and variety.
- We would also calculate the total number of words (TNW) used.
- Code-Switching:
- We’d analyze the frequency and patterns of code-switching (mixing languages).
- This is a normal phenomenon in bilingual development, but we’d assess if it’s age-appropriate and functional.
- We would note if the code switching occurs within sentences, or between sentences.
- Lexical Errors:
- We’d identify any instances of word-finding difficulties, semantic errors (e.g., using the wrong word), or phonological errors.
- We would note if errors are present in one, or both languages.
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Difficulties in Morphology and Syntax:
- Morphology:
- We’d analyze her use of grammatical morphemes (e.g., plural -s, past tense -ed, verb conjugations).
- In English, we’d watch for errors with:
- Regular and irregular past tense verbs.
- Third-person singular -s.
- Possessive -s.
- Copula and auxiliary verbs (e.g., “is,” “are,” “was”).
- In Spanish, we’d examine:
- Gender and number agreement.
- Verb conjugations.
- Use of articles.
- Bilingual children may show some delays in acquiring complex morphology, especially in their weaker language.
- Syntax:
- We’d analyze her sentence structure, including:
- Sentence length and complexity.
- Use of different sentence types (e.g., declarative, interrogative, imperative).
- Word order.
- Use of embedded clauses.
- Children with LLD or SLI may exhibit:
- Shorter, less complex sentences.
- Omission of grammatical elements.
- Difficulty with word order.
- Over reliance on simple sentence structure.
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Clinical Applications:
- Diagnosis:
- Language samples help differentiate typical bilingual development from language disorders.
- They provide valuable information for diagnosing LLD or SLI in bilingual children.
- Intervention Planning:
- Language sample analysis informs the selection of appropriate therapy targets.
- For example, if Sofia shows difficulties with English verb conjugations, therapy would focus on those specific forms.
- If code switching is excessive, or hindering communication, therapy can address this.
- Progress Monitoring:
- Repeat language samples can track a child’s progress over time.
- This allows therapists to adjust intervention strategies as needed.
- Parent Education:
- Language samples can be used to educate parents about their child’s language development.
- We can provide strategies for supporting language growth at home in both languages.
- Cultural Considerations:
- It is very important to consider the cultural norms of both languages, when evaluating the child.
- Some things that are considered errors in one language, are normal in another.
- It is also very important to consider the dialect of both languages, as dialectical differences are not errors.
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