Early intervention, at its core, is “services provided to infants and toddlers who are at risk for, or showing signs of developmental delays” (Coleman, 1993). The intervention is individualized for each child and family and their specific needs. Thus, when the service providers work with the families, they can “create optimal environments for language learning” (Moeller, et. al., 2013). Research shows that language of routines and joint attention are two successful evidence based practices families and interventionist can use with children who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Joint attention relates to “the eliciting and directing of another person’s attention to an object for mutual engagement with the object,” (Tasker, Nowakowski, & Schmidt, 2010) while language of routines emphases the idea that “when a child is familiar with routines, the interventionist can focus on scaffolding new and more complex learning” and language (Vygotsky as cited in Jennings, Hanline & Woods, 2012). By utilizing both methods of interventions in a child’s natural environment, their language will flourish. First, to successfully engage in joint attention, one must meet the needs of their child by gaining their attention in a multimodal way. Engaging frequently in joint attention will, therefore, help the child transition out of the egocentric stage to engage in frequent language interactions with others. Research shows that “hearing children with hearing parents and d/Deaf parents with d/Deaf
Early identification of speech, language or communication delay is important for a child or young persons’ well-being. All practitioners have a responsibility to identify children’s needs and intervene with appropriate support as early as possible, to help children achieve the goals of ‘Every Child Matters’ and progress towards the Early Learning Goals. The importance of early language and communication skills for children’s later achievements is now well documented and the need to provide support for children at this early stage is so that they can achieve their full potential. This means recognising a child’s difficulty quickly:
For my field experience, I had the opportunity to observe a four-year-old pre-kindergarten classroom on November 5th and 12th at Bushwick United Head Start program. The school is located at 136 Stanhope street, Brooklyn, N.Y. Majority of the families the school serve are Hispanics, and as a result, the student body entails mostly ELL students. There are approximately 130 students enrolled in the program, and out of that 130, about 10% speaks English. The school uses an additive model of English Language to support both the student’s home language and foster and support English language acquisition. The classrooms are staffed with teachers who speak the children’s home language, who can apply some use of the home-language within the classroom and providing hands-on experiences for students. Additionally, to support students with disability, the school also partnered with United Community Services (UCS), a program that offers speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy to students. The school uses the evidence-based Creative Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum is aligned with Head Start Performance Standards, NAEYC guidelines and the NY State Prekindergarten Common Core Standards.
Development focuses on information processing, conceptual resources, language learning, and other brain development and psychology. A significant amount of research has focused on cognitive development and the deaf community because it is considered the domain for language development. In 1987, Abraham Zwiebel conducted research with three groups of deaf children—a) children from all deaf families that used manual communication, b) deaf children of hearing parents that used partial manual communication, and c) deaf children of hearing parents that used aural/oral communication-- and a group of hearing children. He studied cognitive development using three measures—teacher evaluations, the Draw-a-Person test, and the Snijders-Oomen Non-Verbal Test. The research concluded that manual environment factors are responsible for the higher cognitive development of deaf children of deaf parents (Zwiebel, 1987). Zwiebel’s research holds merit today because of his use of grouping and differentiating within the deaf community along communication
There are several therapies that have been developed throughout the years to help children with the disorder. The Applied behavioral analysis (ABA); the educational therapy, which focus on educational and cognitive skills; the medical and related interventions, and the Allied health therapy, that focus on language development, it includes: “speech/language, occupational, and physical therapists, including auditory and sensory integration, music therapy, and language therapies (e.g., Picture Exchange Communication System [PECS])” (Agency for Healthcare research and quality, 2014). However, the main idea of this research paper is to focus on the music therapy approach, which can serve as an important tool to develop basic verbal and nonverbal communication in
Speech, language and communication difficulties can have a profound and lasting effect on children’s lives and development. These can affect their ability to communicate and interact with others. The impact of these difficulties will vary depending on the severity of the problems, the support they receive, the demands of the child’s environment
How can an Early Years Setting Support the Needs of Children with Speech Language and Communication Needs
According to statistics, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2016) show that more than 90% of DHH children are born to hearing families, but sadly many of these children lack full language acquisition
Three practices that support the language development of all children is that of “communicating and Sharing” (Lally, 2006, p.32) in which a caregiver is observant of the infant and follows the infant's cues in that “Babies show us from the beginning that soothing words and lullabies can calm them.” (Lally, 2006, p.32) thus forming a bond of communicating what the infant's emotions are and sharing them in their reaction to a caregiver.
Additionally, more than one third of children with minimal hearing loss fail at least one grade and exhibit social and/or emotional problems by the fourth grade. Such difficulties can often persist throughout the lifetime of an individual with a hearing impairment. The United States Department of Health states that the future of the child with hearing loss depends on early identification of hearing loss and its appropriate management. Landmark studies showed that with early identification and intervention prior to six months of age, children are able to achieve near age appropriate language skills (Baroch, 2003). Children with hearing loss born in hospitals that implemented UNHS were 2.6 times more likely than children with hearing loss born in non-screening hospitals of having language development within the normal range of development (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2003). Yoshinaga-Itano, Sedey, Coulter, & Mehl (1998) showed that children who were identified with hearing loss and received intervention services before the age of 6 months had significantly better receptive and expressive language scores than children identified after the age of 6 months. Early identified children with intervention have language development similar to their nonverbal cognitive development
A child’s speech and language development are highly effective from a young age of 5 and under (Dobie & Van Hemel, 2004). With early intervention, it is seen to be the most effective with children who receive it at a young age. There is not really any one type of intervention or services for people and families of the hearing impaired. However, it is reported that the earlies a deaf person receives treatment and services, the more potential they have to improve their speech, language, social development, and educational achievement. “Research strongly indicates that children with a hearing loss must receive early intervention as soon as possible if they are to learn the language skills necessary for reading and other academic subjects” (Hardman, Drew, & Egan,
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2014) autism spectrum disorder is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Two of these challenges are decreased joint attention and decreased communication (Schertz & Odom, 2007; Coolican, Smith, & Bryson, 2010; Lord, et.al., 2000; Siller, & Sigman, 2002; Rocha, Schreibman, & Stahmer, 2007). Joint attention is defined as visually coordinating attention with a partner to an external focus, showing social engagement and an awareness of the partner’s mutual interest for the purpose of ‘‘commenting’’ rather than ‘‘requesting’’(Schertz & Odom, 2007). The CDC (2014) estimates that about 1 in 68 children has
Children with communication disorders are usually identified with poor phonological awareness. The authors Schuele and Boudreau reveal that with effective instruction, intervention, and various models, phonological awareness can be enriched. The data reveals that intervention can be entrenched within other language goals or it may be an explicit intervention individually or within small
The purpose of interventions in language includes altering or reducing a problem, refining the disorder through particular behaviors, or educate the individual with strategies to help compensate their deficits. It is imperative that the child is taught behaviors that are specific to their impairments because they are important for improving their communication. According to Paul and Norbury (2012), facilitation quickens learning or growth, without altering the final results of what the child could typically learn without the help of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). This assists children in being successful in targets of language versus if the child was to meet the
As a second year Early Childhood Studies student, I was excited to be placed at a toddler classroom in a center that is our school’s lab school for my field placement. Diverse backgrounds are evident in the center due to the urban and multi-cultural location of the setting. Working in the field alongside the professionals, educators, staff, families, and children at the center has given me great insight in regards to the importance of building partnerships with the families and making connections to the child’s behaviors in the classroom. It is crucial to foster an environment that is language rich, that is able to promote children’s communicative, verbal and non-verbal language. More significantly, incorporating the
And once they feel confident, they may use these strategies to interact with their peer in a small group setting and than transit to real situation. Additionally, Barkere’s study showed the strong relationship between language, attention and behavioral problem. It pointed out that, language plays an important role in regulation of attention, and sustained attention are related to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Thus, to alleviate or prevent the behavior problem in children with SPHL, SLP should also focus on their sustained attention at the same time to improving their regulatory skills. Last but not least, it is important to encourage typically developing children the inclusion of all children in the classroom. SLP may use stories or plays to educate the peers about hearing loss and how can this impacts one’s ability to communicate. Structural program is needed to help both groups know the difference and eliminate the discrimination and exclusion.