Assessing Reading-Related Behaviors in Students with Moderate to Severe Special Needs

1. Monica Gordon Pershey, Ed.D., CCC-SLP Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH mgpershey@att.net, m.pershey@csuohio.edu ASSESSING READING-RELATED BEHAVIORS IN STUDENTS WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE SPECIAL NEEDS Presented at the Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association Annual Convention Columbus, OH March 10, 2006 Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

2. Learner Outcomes 1. Learners will identify the cognitive and linguistic foundations for the emergence of literacy. 2. Learners will identify how the cognitive and linguistic foundations of literacy are assessed in learners with moderate to severe special needs. abcdefghijklmnopq Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

3. Introduction Learners with moderate to severe special needs Are emergent literacy learners Basic principles of emergent literacy Where special needs learners may differ from typical learners due to significant cognitive limitations Developmental assessment strategies Match each developmental assessment with grade level indicators from the Ohio Reading/Language Arts Content Standards Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

4. Introduction No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates that reading/language arts curriculum be based on Scientifically Based Reading Research (SBRR) SBRR prescribes that reading/language arts curriculum include the five essential areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and reading fluency IEPs for students with moderate to severe special needs must address how students will access the general curriculum in these five areas Alternatives to mandated assessments Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

5. NRP Meta-analysis Gains are Seen for Learners who are Taught 5 Essential Areas: Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency (rapid, automatic, effortless decoding of text for both oral and silent reading) Text Comprehension Vocabulary Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

6. Implementation of policy must coincide with theoretical knowledge of language and literacy development in children SBRR can assist policymakers in improving accountability and educational benefit for students SBRR is compatible with pedagogical theory But SBRR itself is not pedagogical theory, it is public policy Implementation of policy must coincide with theoretical knowledge of language and literacy development Emphasis on testing outcomes must not shortchange learner’s needs Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

7. NCLB IEP goals and objectives connect to standards-based curricula IEP services help students become capable of performing on achievement tests SLPs prepare students for mandated testing NCLB doesn’t insure HOW every learner will become proficient Therapy progress is subsumed under school progress Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

8. NCLB and IDEA IEPs aligned with state academic standards and achievement tests IEPs provide for progress in the general curriculum IEP provides supports and strategies that promote access to the instructional environment where the general curriculum is being presented Access the general curriculum through supports, accommodations, and modifications IEP provides for how elements of the general curriculum will be brought to the student by specialists Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

9. NCLB- Mandated Testing for Special Needs Learners Accommodations - Do not change what is to be learned; Do change how content or skills will be learned Examples: Alternate Methods Alternate Materials Alternate Response Modes Modifications - Alter specific content or performance expectations Examples: Change level of complexity of content or skills Change entire curriculum Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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11. NCLB- Mandated Testing for Special Needs Learners 4 Options for Participation in Testing 1 State assessment based on state standards 2 State assessment based on state standards with accommodations and/or modifications 3 Alternate assessment based on state standards – Observations or work samples demonstrate mastery of grade level or content or skills 4 Alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards – Observations or work samples demonstrate mastery of out of grade level content or skills Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

12. NCLB- Mandated Testing for Special Needs Learners Title I mandates progress toward academic standards 9%-12% of students with disabilities will participate in alternative assessments of reading/language arts and mathematics IEPs also address behavioral and developmental goals IDEA, not NCLB, governs progress in development of life skills Alternate assessments will not include measuring functional life skills Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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14. Strategies for Assessing the Emergence of Literacy in Students with Moderate to Severe Special Needs SLP must document deficits in language and literacy and determine how these deficits prevent a student from successfully attaining curriculum objectives SLPs can assess the allied cognitive areas of attention, memory, and executive function – in some cases basic problem-solving using concrete objects – to document emergence of the cognitive and linguistic foundations for literacy Compare each alternative assessment to the Ohio Content Standards for reading/language arts in grades K and 1 Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

15. The Alphabetic Principle Concepts about phonology and written language Linguistic abstractions pertinent to phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics How speech sounds are represented in print, or English orthography The written code is entirely arbitrary and abstract Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

16. The Alphabetic Principle: Phonology and Orthography • WHAT IS A SOUND? • WHAT IS A SPEECH SOUND? • WHAT IS A LETTER? • HOW DOES A LETTER "MAKE A SOUND?“ • WHY DOES THIS LETTER MAKE ONE SOUND SOMETIMES AND ANOTHER SOUND AT OTHER TIMES? • WHAT LETTERS MAKE THE SOUNDS THAT I AM INTERESTED IN? Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

17. The Alphabetic Principle: Phonology and Orthography • HOW CAN I TALK ABOUT WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LETTERS AND SOUNDS? • WHAT IS RHYMING? • WHAT IS MEANT BY BEGINNING SOUND? A MIDDLE SOUND? AN ENDING SOUND? • HOW DO I BLEND SOUNDS TOGETHER TO SAY WORDS? • HOW DO I TAKE WORDS APART TO HEAR THEIR SOUNDS? • WHAT IS A SYLLABLE? HOW DO I FIND THEM IN WORDS? Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

18. The Alphabetic Principle: Semantics • WHAT IS A WORD? • WHAT DOES A WORD LOOK LIKE? • WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A WORD TO HAVE MEANING? • WHAT OTHER WORDS DO WE USE TO DISCUSS WHAT A WORD MEANS? abcdefghijklmnopq Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

19. The Alphabetic Principle: Syntax • WHAT IS A SENTENCE? • WHAT ARE THE PARTS OF A SENTENCE? • HOW DO WORDS LOOK WHEN THEY ARE TOGETHER IN SENTENCES? • HOW DO WORDS CHANGE THEIR MEANINGS IN SENTENCES? • HOW DO WORDS CHANGE? (MORPHOLOGY, MORPHOSYNTAX) Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

20. The Alphabetic Principle: Pragmatics • WHAT DOES PRINT STAND FOR IN OUR WORLD? • WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE PRINT I AM SEEING NOW? • WHEN I READ, WHO IS TALKING TO ME? • WHAT IS THE CONTEXT OF WHAT IS BEING SAID TO ME? • WHAT SIGNALS ARE IN THIS PRINT (SUCH AS PUNCTUATION MARKS)? Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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22. Order of Emergence of the Language Systems Oral LanguageLiteracy Pragmatics Pragmatics +Syntax Phonology Semantics + Syntax Semantics Phonology Syntax Syntax Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

23. Designing Assessments Begin with no assistance and move incrementally through minimal to maximal assistance; Note all assistance given Assessments tell us where to begin interventions Assessments show skills that are in place Large print in a type face that does not use Greek letters (example: g or a, use g and a) or block printed by hand Choose the number of items and trials Audio or video tape assessment interactions Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

24. Assessing the Literacy Pragmatic – The Logographic Stage ofPrint Awareness See “whole print configurations” found in environmental print Recognize stop sign, McDonald’s sign, Coke, Pepsi Not reading words Assess by showing logos, labels, signs, book covers Reproduce logos, etc., in plain type and compare for recognition Ohio Content Standards – Kdg: Recognize and understand words, signs and symbols seen in everyday life. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

25. Assessing the Literacy Pragmatic – The Logoraphic Stage of Print Awareness Explore two of the five essential areas identified by the National Reading Panel: Vocabulary and text comprehension Participating by listening to text read aloud Auditory comprehension of the language of text Learner’s construction of meaning of story or other messages conveyed by text Modeling reading fluency Ohio Content Standards – Kdg: Demonstrate an understanding that print has meaning by explaining that text provides information or tells a story. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

26. Assessing the Literacy Pragmatic – The Logoraphic Stage ofPrint Awareness Consider the logographic learner’s current level of awareness of the nature of literate behavior Is the learner aware that print conveys meaning? Is the learner interested in print – points to text during read aloud; asks “What does this say?”; experiments with writing Routinely exposed to authentic, connected texts abcdefghijklmnopq Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

27. The Alphabetic Stage ofPrint Awareness Awareness that printed text is composed of letters – Interest in single letters and the first letter of words The language system of phonology becomes operative Letters are linguistic abstractions and arbitrary symbols Recognition of some sight words – Not sounding words out – See words as letter groups Cannot be sure whether the learner is recognizing the letters, the words, or the configuration The learner sees letters, either singly or grouped, and has a label for them Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

28. The Alphabetic Stage ofPrint Awareness Assessments: Learners point to letters and say letter names, both in and out of alphabetical order SLP reads letters, asks learner to point to the letters the SLP names Spontaneously write all known letters – upper case, lower case Learner might create letter forms but not know the letter name Write single letters to dictation, both in and out of alphabetical order Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

29. The Alphabetic Stage of Print Awareness Memorization of small units of decontextualized print: Survival words such as "Men," "Walk," "Exit“ Is the learner is recognizing the letters, the words, or The configuration? Say the letters in sight words Find letters in the words as SLP says the letters Scanning: Find known words embedded in text passage Sound-letter correspondences: Learner may say Sounds represented by initial letters in words with better skill Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

30. The Alphabetic Stage of Print Awareness Ohio Content Standards that are met during the Alphabetic stage – Kdg: Read own first and last name. Distinguish and name all upper and lower case letters. Recognize, say, and write the common sounds of letters. Distinguish letters from words by recognizing that words are separated by spaces. Hear and say the separate phonemes in words, such as identifying the initial consonant sound in a word, and blend phonemes to say words. Read one-syllable and often-heard words by sight. Identify and distinguish between letters, words and sentences. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

31. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Pattern Detection Attention to print is purposeful on two levels: (1) Seeking the meaning of the printed message (2) Seeking visual regularities in written stimuli Logos and letters are stored in visual memory; there is perceptual salience and these items can be recognized again and again Pattern detection allows the alphabetic stage to emerge – letters have regularity The learner is developing a heuristic for reading Learning is inductive Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

32. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Assessing Pattern Detection: Degraded stimulus – Show logo/letter in its correct form and in an incorrect form – Ask learner to find where logo/letter looks right/wrong Complex categorical thinking – Foods that are soft and sweet Parts of wholes – The door of the car Cognitive Interactionist: Predictive and concurrent validity for literacy acquisition in preoperational tasks of pattern detection Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

33. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Aspects of cognitive development are revealed by performance on Piagetian tasks of conservation of number and length, seriation (ordering by size), centration (multiplicative classification), and reversibility Piagetian view – Literacy is predicated upon application of cognitive skills that are concurrent supports for literacy Learners in the preoperational stage will not achieve these tasks but may be learning to read and write Learners who master these tasks have attained concrete operations Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

34. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Task 1 – Conservation of number Given a set of red plastic chips and a set of blue plastic chips, the learner will determine if the sets are equal in number or not equal when chips from one set are rearranged spatially. Six blue chips are lined up close together and the six red chips are lined up spread apart. The sets are equal in number. Ask the learner, “Is there the same number of chips in each group?” The learner may count or not. The learner with lesser skills in pattern detection will be deceived by the spatial arrangement and say the red set has more. The learner who has better pattern detection will say both sets are equal in number. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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36. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Task 2 – Conservation of number, centration, and reversibility Given a set of red plastic chips and a larger set of blue plastic chips, the learner will determine if there are more blue chips or more plastic chips. Ten blue chips are placed in a line. Next to them, six red chips are lined up. Ask the learner, “Are there more blue chips or more plastic chips?” The learner with lesser skills in pattern detection will be deceived by spatial arrangement – there are more blue chips. Better pattern detection – there are more plastic chips; can think of multiple classifications (color and material) simultaneously; reversibility of properties. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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38. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Task 3 – Conservation of length and reversibility Given 2 pencils exactly alike in size, shape, and color, learner will compare their lengths when they are held so that their ends are exactly evenly placed and then when they are held with the end of one extending past the end of the other. Only the position of the pencils is changed, not their sizes. When the pencils are held evenly, ask, “Are these pencils the same size?” Move one pencil so that is held parallel but not exactly even with the other. Ask, “Are these pencils the same size?” Lesser skills in pattern detection – deceived by spatial arrangement – one pencil is bigger. Better pattern detection – pencils are the same size. Conserves size although position has changed. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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41. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Task 4 – Reversibility Given a necklace made of a shoelace strung with five large wooden beads tied into a circle and the materials for reproduc­ing the necklace, the learner will reconstruct the pattern of the beads on the lace as they would appear if they were in a straight line. The learner constructs a linear string of beads, not a circular necklace, but preserves the same pattern. The learner with lesser skills in pattern detection will be deceived by the spatial arrangement and have difficulty reproducing the pattern or will say that it is not possible to make the same necklace in a line as is in a circle. The learner who has better pattern detection perceives this reversibility. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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43. Cognitive Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Task 5 – Reversibility Given a cardboard tube into which three small cars are inserted and which is then rotated 180 degrees in a horizontal plane, the child will be asked to predict Which of the cars will emerge from the tube first. The cars should remain lined up inside the tube. The car that was put in last should come out first, followed by the middle car, then the car that was put in first. The learner with lesser skills in pattern detection will have difficulty reversing the order of cars. The learner who has better pattern detection perceives this reversibility. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

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46. Linguistic Foundation for the Logographic and Alphabetic Stages Pattern detection is a requisite skill for phonological awareness instruction Phonological awareness is a form of metalinguistic awareness Learners in alphabetic stage show metalinguistic skill, because talking about letters is talking about language Conscious insight into their own pattern detection: Describe what they are detecting – rhyme, initial sound Oral language is an object for exploration Inventive spelling – Exploring phonological patterns and orthographic patterns Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

47. Phonological Awareness Developmental Sequence Chart (Retherford, 2003) CATEGORY SPECIFIC SKILL EXAMPLE AGE Syllable Awareness Playing with words - Taps once for each word in a sentence 3-5 years Segmenting Syllables Claps once for each part in the word camera (segmentation of compound words proceeds segmentation of noncompound words). 4 years Segmenting Syllables Tells the number of syllables in the word apple. 4-5 years Blending Syllables Tells the word formed when ra-di-o are blended together 4-5 years Deleting Syllables Tells what remains when bow is removed from rainbow. 5 years Manipulating Syllables Tells the new word formed if light from lighthouse is put after back from backpack. 7+ years Rhyme Awareness Spontaneous Production - Recites nursery rhymes; produces rhymes (unintentionally). 3-4 years Identification of Rhyme Responds correctly when asked, “Do cat and bat rhyme?” 4-5 years Rhyme Generation Produces one or more rhymes) when given a word. 5+ years Judgment/Categorization of Rhyme Compares bed, head, leg, read, and peg and identifies which rhymes. 6-7 years Phoneme Awareness Blending Phonemes - Tells the word that is formed by blending m-e. 6 years Segmenting Phonemes Claps out the sounds in the word bug. 6 years Deleting Phonemes Tells what remains if /t/ is removed from beet. 7 years Manipulating Phonemes Tells the new word formed if the /n/ in pen is changed to /t/. 7+ years Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

48. The Orthographic Stage ofPrint Awareness Learning to break words into component parts Learning to assemble parts of words into whole words Look beyond the first letter of a word and deliberately or automatically scan letters, syllables, and word parts Findletter-sound relationships, syllables, word parts, or small words within large words Orthographic readers do not rely on known whole configurations Make use of information about the sound structure of language and the orthographic code Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

49. The Orthographic Stage ofPrint Awareness Learners have gone through a heuristic period of exploration that prepares them for the logorhythms of literacy Exploration, intuition, and inductive learning have led the way for deductive learning about reading, writing, spelling A spelling conscience develops Ohio Content Standards that are met by during the Orthographic stage – Kdg: Show characteristics of early letter name-alphabetic spelling. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA

50. The Orthographic Stage ofPrint Awareness Ohio Content Standards that are met during the Orthographic stage – Grade 1: Read regularly spelled multi-syllable words by sight. Blend phonemes (sounds) of letters and syllables to read unknown words with one or more syllables. Use knowledge of common word families (e.g., -ite or -ate) to sound out unfamiliar words. Segment letter, letter blends and syllable sounds in words. Distinguish and identify the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words. Demonstrate a growing stock of sight words. Read text using fluid and automatic decoding skills. Read accurately high-frequency sight words. Gordon Pershey, M. (2006) OSLHA