LANGUAGE STIMULATION and

INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES
There is not a
cookbook but..
there are strategies!
Purpose of Intervention
1. To eliminate the underlying problem

2. To change the disorder

3. To teach compensatory strategies

4. To inuence the context in which the child must func>on

How Can Intervention Change
Language Behavior (Olswang and Bain, 1991)

1. Facilitate rate of growth or learning is accelerated and
bring language to a higher level of awareness

2. Maintenance preserve behavior that would otherwise

decrease or disappear.

3. Induc>on determines whether some endpoint will be

reached
 REQURIEMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTING
INTERVENATION (TECHNIQUES,
REDIRECTS, AND STRATEGIES)
Knowledge of language development
Knowledge of language goals
Knowledge of what language you want to scaffold during an
interaction
Knowledge of what language the child needs to
communicate
Knowledge of the context in which the language will be used
and how to interface language, context, and goals
Selection and use of a techniques that will elicit the language
form
Attention to the childs response and analysis of the
language used
 MODELS OF LANGUAGE
INTERVENTION Paul, 2006

Continuum of Naturalness

Clinician Directed:
Least natural
Child-Centered:
Most natural
Hybrid Approach:
Midway between least and most natural
CLINICIAN DIRECTED MODEL
Paul, 2006

Clinician specifies
materials to be used
how the child will use the materials
type and frequency of reinforcement
the form of the responses that will be accepted as
correct
the order of the activities
Types of Clinician directed models
Drill
Drill play
Child-Centered Approaches
Paul, 2006

Approach
Clinician arranges an activity that incorporate
opportunities to use targets
Child responses occur within the naturalness of
the play environment
Follow the childs lead (what the child is doing
and talking about)
Wait (pause) ----- respond
Focused language stimulation techniques

Types of Activities: Play, Floortime

HYBRID APPROACHES
Paul, 2006

Targets one or a small set of language goals

Clinician maintains control of selecting activities in a
way that tempts the child to participate
Clinician uses linguistic techniques to not just
respond but to also model and highlight forms for
the child

Types of Hybrid Models: Focused Stimulation,

Vertical Structuring, Script, Milieu Teaching
 Language
Stimulation
Techniques are needed to focus childrens attention on linguistic
form, content and use

LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Indirect Language Stimulation
McCauley & Fey (2006)

Goal: improve communication

Focus can be content, form, or function of language; all
within context
Contingent feedback: Targets embedded in
naturalistic, meaningful contexts (comment on what
the child did or said)
Child has opportunities to produce language target
(not obligatory) balance in letting the child lead
and take a turn
Imitation requests are not used though attempts are made
to elicit spontaneous productions
Extension of the childs topic
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Focused Language Stimulation
Weismer and Robertson (2006)

Goal: Focus on specic forms of language

Repeated exposures to linguistic targets
Uses mul>ple models and variety of feedback
Target: based on language sample
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
McCauley & Fey (2006)

Contexts:
Home
Play groups
Center based groups
Individual Therapy
Targets:
Based on normal development (Overall development of language)
Based on childs needs
Basic requirements:
Facilitator
Child
Social Context with opportunities for joint attention to linguistic targets
Multiple opportunities for exposure
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
McCauley & Fey (2006)

Input
Multiple repetitions
Unambiguous context (highlighting what typically developing
children acquire through incidental learning)
Types of focused stimulation
No responses needed from the child
Acknowledgment of spontaneous productions
Prompted responses
Direct request to produce target
Manipulation of environment to increase likelihood of production
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Expansion
Duchan, 1995; Bunce & Watkins, 1995

Expansion: The adult recasts the child's utterance into

adult syntactic form, filling in the missing features.
Errors in the childs utterances are corrected

Child: Mommy sock?

Adult: Is that mommy's sock?
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Expansion Plus
Duchan, 1995

Expansion plus: Information is added to the child's comment

Child: Mommy sock?

Adult: Is that mommy's sock? Yes, it's too big for you.
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Intent Contingency
Duchan, 1995
Intent contingency: The content of what the child says is
related to what the adult takes to be the intent behind the
child's utterance.

Child: Mommy sock?

Adult: Do you want to wear it?
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Scaffolding/Modeling
Duchan, 1995

Verbal scaffolding or Modeling: The adult provides a model of

what to say before the child has said it. (Kirchner, 1991):

Adult: This must be your mommy's sock.

Child: Mommy sock.
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Questions Bunce & Watkins, 1995
Open-ended Questions: Questions that have
a variety of different answers
What do you think will happen?
What should we do next?
Tell me about this
Whats happening?
Avoid test questions: What color is this? What is
this? How many do you have? Whats this
called?
Difficulty level: (1) yes/no? (2) choice? (3) open-
ended
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE
Eventcasting
Bunce & Watkins, 1995

Eventcasting (Use this on a limited basis)

Provide an ongoing description of an activity
Can be used to support oral problem solving

I wonder if the block will fit. I wonder what we should do.

Maybe if I turn it around it will fitOh look, it fits.
Language Stimulation Technique
Recast
Camarata & Nelson (2006)
Recast: A response to an immature or incorrect child
utterance that provides additional linguistic form/content
(keep the childs meaning)
Grammatical
Phonological
Semantic
Example
C: He push car
Recast: He is pushing the car
Key Components:
Child initiation
Partner response
Language in recast that is developmentally appropriate
Language StimulationTechnique
Recast Camarata & Nelson (2006)
What do you think this quote means and
how does it direct your intervention?
when the clinician responds
positively to the childs initiation, the
childs attention and motivation and
emotional regulation are likely to be
high as the clinician is engaging and
the topic of interaction is presumably of
interest to the child. p. 253
Language Stimulation Technique
Recast Camarata & Nelson (2006)
Nature of recasts targets
Narrow recasts
Target specific recasts
High frequency of specific targets
Broad recasts
No narrowing of targets to a specific set of structures
Variation in recasts
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE:
Redirect
Hadley & Schuele, 1995

Model, Explicit Redirect, Hint

Different type of redirect meets childrens differing linguistic
and interactional abilities

Goal of intervention in social contexts is child-child

interaction.
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE:
Redirect
Hadley & Schuele, 1995

Model: tells the child to initiate to his peer

and provides an utterance to be repeated
verbatim
The strongest prompt
Use models: in difficult communicative situations,
unfamiliar situations, when child needs a linguistic
model if new forms are emerging
Child says to the adult: I got apples.
Adult Hey, tell Sam he can have an apple. Say, Sam,
do you want an apple?
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE:
Redirect Hadley & Schuele, 1995
Explicit redirect: Suggestion to initiate to a peer but the
adult does not provide the child with a specific utterance
to repeat:
Child takes the redirect and formulates his/her own utterance.
Assumes child has the linguistic ability to take the adults
suggestion
Child (to adult): My car is stuck.
Adult: Youre car is stuck in the garage: Ask Andy to
help you.
Child: Andy, pull my car. Its stuck.
LANGUAGE STIMULATION TECHNIQUE:
Redirect Hadley & Schuele, 1995
Hints: Adult makes an indirect comment and the
child infers what s/he needs to do.
Hints are most effective for children with the language and
social abilities that enable them to interact.

Child: I spilled my crackers

Adult: Mary has a broom.
Child: Mary, will you sweep my crackers?
ELICITATION
Techniques
LANGUAGE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
Elicitation Duchan, 1995
Sabotage Techniques: The adult creates a problem or
makes a mistake to block a goal of the child, thereby
creating a context in which the child needs to communicate
if he wants to overcome the difficulty and proceed with the
activity.

Communicative temptation: Give child box that he cannot

open to elicit a request (Wetherby & Prutting, 1984)

Contrived misunderstanding: Act confused or ask about

something the child just said (Gallagher & Darnton, 1978;
Weiner & Ostrowski, 1979)

Contrived confusion: Look puzzled (Duchan & Weitzner Lin,

1987)
LANGUAGE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
Elicitation Duchan, 1995
Problems in the event sequence: Flat tire on the way
to the grocery store, hole in a shopping bag, cashier
drops a package (Constable, 1983; Culatta, 1994)

Making false assertions: Make inaccurate

statements to encourage the child to correct them-
Oh look the dog is jumping on the roof (have a
person jump on the roof) (Fey, 1986, p. 175)
Language Intervention Strategies
Elicitation Cleave & Fey, 1997
Forced Choice Questions
Ask a choice question or make a choice comment
Hmm.. You can cook the dinner or put the baby to
bed.
Provides a model
Contingent Queries
Requests for elaboration; good for compound and
complex sentences
Ex. C I want that., A Why do you want that book?, C-
That good book, A You want that book because it is
good.
Language Intervention Strategies
Elicitation Cleave & Fey, 1997
Violate Routine
Omit a step, etc.
Withholding object (hide or misplace object)
Put an object out of reach, Dont have an object
that the child needs for his/her turn
Violate Object Function Use
Use scissors to cut food
Activity
Develop an interven>on contexts.
Select 2 Language Interven>on Strategies and describe how you would
use them in that context.
What language might you be suppor>ng?

LTO 2: Client will demonstrate improved gramma>cal morphemes in
order to meet age appropriate syntac>c skills with 80% accuracy.
STO A: Client will answer using plural s when nouns with verbal
prompts with 80% accuracy.
STO B: Client will use progressive -ing when using verbs with verbal
prompts with 80% accuracy.
STO C: Client will use past, present and future verb tenses in speaking
given verbal promp>ng with 80% accuracy.
(Erin Gaul, Janine Visalli, Claire Mulligan )
Paul
Table 9-8: Summary of Focused Stimulation Procedures
p. 403
Table 9-5: Language Elicitation Techniques p. 400
Table 9-9: Strategies for Activity-Based Language
Intervention p. 412
10 Principles of Grammar Facilitation for Children
with SLI
Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003

Specific Language Impairment

Compared to their age-level peers, children
with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
may have deficits in any or all domains of
languageThese problems exist in the
absence of mental retardation or frank
neurological, sensory or psychosocial
factors. p. 3
http://harcourtassessment.com/cgi-bin/
MsmGo.exe?
grab_id=0&page_id=2337&query=mabel
%20rice&hiword=RICES%20mabel%20rice
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Principles 1-4: Goal Setting
From: Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003

The basic goal of all grammatical interventions should be

to help the child to achieve greater facility in the
comprehension and use of syntax and morphology in the
service of conversation, narration, exposition, and other
textual genres.
Grammatical form should rarely, if ever, be the only
aspect of language and communication targeted.
Select intermediate goals in an effort to stimulate the
childs language acquisition processes rather than a
specific language form
The specific goals of grammatical intervention should be
based on the childs functional readiness to use the
form.
Principles 5-7: Intervention Activities
From: Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003

Manipulate the social, physical, and linguistic

context to create more frequent opportunities for
grammatical targets. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Exploit different textual genres and the written
modality to develop appropriate contexts for specific
intervention targets WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Manipulate the discourse so that targeted features
are rendered more salient. WHAT WOULD YOU
DO?
Principles 8-10: Intervention Activities
From: Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003

Systematically contrast forms used by the child with

more mature forms from adult grammar using
sentence recasts WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Avoid telegraphic speech, always presenting
grammatical models in well formed sentences
**See next slide**
Use elicited imitation to make target forms more
salient and to give the child practice with
phonological patterns that are difficult to access or
produce (Or use redirects, JP) WHAT WOULD YOU
DO?
Avoid Telegraphic Utterances
From: Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003

Comprehension of children with SLI may exceed

their production
Children developing typically and children with
language impairments are sensitive to grammatical
morphemes before they produce them
Sparseness or irregularity of grammatical
morphology is associated with slower acquisition
and mastery.
***Grammatical functors are used by children as
cues to the grammatical class of words that the child
does not yet know.
Syntax Stories
Cleave & Fey, (1997)

Stories written with specific syntactic goals in mind.

Use focused stimulation techniques when sharing
stories.
Save stories and modify based on individual childrens
needs.
Share with families to read at home.
Example: Appendix
Syntax Story
Identify a syntactic target
Write a short syntax story
Identify the type of focused language stimulation
technique in the story.
Cyclical Strategy
Cleave & Fey, (1997)

Week One: One syntactic structure is worked on.

Week Two: Second syntactic structure targeted
Week Three: Third syntactic structure targeted
Week Four: Fourth syntactic structure targeted.
Cyclical Strategy
Cleave & Fey, (1997)

Continue to target new strategies each week whether or

not previous target is acquired.
As targets are acquired they are either dropped from the
cycle or combined with other targets
Ex. Targets is and will may start as different targets and
then be combined into one target.
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY LEARNING
FROM STORY BOOK READING
Senechal (1997); Hargrave & Senechal (2000); De Temple & Snow (2003).

Selects book to be read.

Each book will be read at least three times.
Select a set of target words from the book.
Ask what- or where-questions right after they read the
target word.
If the child/children do not answer the question correctly
then say, Can you tell me the word I used when I was
reading the book. (Senechal, 1997, p. 130)
If the child/children still do not respond then provide the
target word.
Use non-immediate talk (DeTemple & Snow, 2003)
making connections between the words and the child/
childrens experiences
Storybooks and Vocabulary Instruction
Justice, Meier, & Walpole

Elaborated words
Explicitly defined by adult readers at the
point that they occur in the storybook
Reader stopped reading; gave a definition
of the word; then used the word in a
supportive context (a sentence where the
meaning of the word could be easily
understood from the context)
Non-elaborated words
Only exposure is through reading the text
Principles of Vocabulary Intervention
Applied to Play Contexts
Create play centers or identify play centers in a preschool classroom
Identify a set of words that are important to the play.
Adapted Justice, Meier & Walpole; DeTemple & Snow
Use the word in the context of play
Provide the child/children with a definition of the word
Encourage the child/children to use the word as they
talk and play.
Encourage the child/children to talk about and use the
word when playing
Use non-immediate talk making connections between
the words and the child/childrens experiences (Play
to life)
ADAPTATIONS
TEN TYPES OF ADAPTATIONS
Cross & Dixon, 1996

Environment Adapt the flow of the room, seating, and

positioning options. Adapt materials to meet individual needs.
Input Adapt the way materials and information are presented,
including the way you use language.
Difficulty Adapt the skill level or the rules of how the child
approaches the activity
Level of Support - Vary the amount of personal assistance.
Participation Adapt the extent to which the child is actively
involved.
Size: Amount of information in activity.
TEN TYPES OF ADAPTATIONS
Cross & Dixon, 1996

Time Adapt the time allotted and allowed for learning or task
completion.
Alternative Teaching Opportunities Use other opportunities
throughout the day to teach the child concepts and/or skills
presented in planned learning activities.
Output Adapt how the child can respond, including how much
you expect to be accomplished.
Alternative Goals Identify different goals and outcomes for
children within the same learning activity.