Making an Impact on Preschool Language Development

1. Making an Impact on Preschool Language Development Aiken County Public School District

2. Financial Disclosure Our team has no relevant financial or nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

3. Early Learning SLP Team Callie Arbaugh Kiki Bennett, MCD, CCC-SLP Shannon Cotham, MSP, CCC-SLP Brooke Meyers, MCD, CCC-SLP Monica Parsons, MSP, CCC-SLP Madalyn Smith, MA, CCC- SLP

4. “The best way to improve the American workforce in the 21st century is to invest in early childhood education, to ensure that even the most disadvantaged children have the opportunity to succeed alongside their more advantaged peers.” - James Heckman

5. What can we do? • Lack of Identification/Inappropriate Referrals • Misunderstanding the SLP's Roles and Responsibilities • Lack of Specialized Interventions/Consultations: • Phonemic Awareness • Orthographic Knowledge • Oral Language Development • Speech Sound Production

6. What can we do? How can we support/address speech sound production, language development, and literacy in our school district in the most efficacious and efficient way?

7. What We Tried • Weekly consult between SLP and preschool teacher within the general education setting/special education setting • Direct instruction provided by SLP within the general education setting/special education setting • Introduce Phonemic/Orthographic Awareness activities • Introduce books targeting vocabulary and concepts that align with curriculum

8. What We Tried The project focused on providing targeted interventions and IEP services to preschool students in: Preschool Special Education Classrooms  4K Classrooms  Head Start Programs  Private/Community-Based Early Childhood Programs 

9. What We Tried • 6 SLPs • 36 Locations • 10 Elementary Schools • 16 - 4K Classrooms • 17 -  Preschool SPED Classrooms • 4 Head Starts • 22 Private/Community-Based Early Childhood Programs • Time/Frequency  • 30-45 minute push-in lesson weekly

10. Did It Work?

11. Experimental Model • Our projected outcomes were improved receptive/expressive language skills as well as improved literacy-readiness skills • Experimental Group (20 students across various classrooms) - participating 4K classes  • Control Group (20 students across various classrooms) - non-participating 4K classes  • Criteria: • Non-IEP students • DIAL-4 (Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning, Fourth Edition)- scores between the 25th and 50th percentile rank

12. Experimental Model • Measuring outcomes: • SALT (Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts) software- 30 utterance language sample •  MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) and TTR (Type-Token Ratio) will be the focus of the analysis.  • PPVT-4 (The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – 4th Edition) • Analyze teacher reported GOLD data  • Analyze GOLD data for all 4K students across the district

13. SALT • Systematic Analysis of Language Transcription • Software to analyze language samples. • Utilized "Conversational" elicitation scripts for consistency across language samples. • Consistent Transcription – ME. • MLU – Mean Length of Utterance • TTR – Type-Token Ratio – the ratio obtained by dividing the total number of different words occurring in an utterance by the total number of words.  A high TTR indicates a high degree of lexical variation.

15. PPVT-4 • A test of the receptive vocabulary of children and adults. • The measure is an individually administered, norm-referenced, wide-range instrument. • SEM (Standard Error of Measurement) - 3.6

17. GOLD • Assessment administered by the General Education 4K Teacher • Three targets areas -  • Language • Literacy • Math • Measures 38 research-based objectives for development and learning

20. Alignment to the Curriculum

21. Alignment to the Curriculum • "Rubicon Atlas"- Aiken County's Site for Teachers to access grade level curriculum: • State Standards • Essential Questions • Learning Objectives (" I can statements") • Vocabulary • Aligned lessons with the Science/Social Studies units (i.e. school, trees, clothing, buildings, recycling, and balls) • Units:  6-9 Week Intervals

22. Selection of Materials Books aligned with 4K units Target vocabulary from the stories Targeted phonemic awareness activities aligned with vocabulary

23. Planning a Unit

24. Planning a Lesson Lesson Components: Target Book Target Vocabulary Phonemic/Orthographic Awareness Activity Interactive Language Activity Songs/Fingerplays Supplemental Materials

25. Target Books

26. Why have a Target Book? Easily accessible- books are in every classroom for students of all ages!  Rich in language- can be used to target an extensive amount of  therapy and curriculum targets  Flexible- can be used for whole group lessons, as well as later in small group instruction to address speech and language goals  

27. Factors for Choosing a Target Book Based on curriculum, thematic based upon season/holidays Contains age appropriate vocabulary Repetitive structure- lends well to sequencing skills Consider language concept opportunities Great illustrations

28. Reading of Target Book • Cue whole body listening skills • Teach/review basic concepts of print • Read book aloud at a moderately slow rate: CNS of children preschool age to 3rd grade process speech and language at an average rate of 120 wpm. Most adults average between 160-180 wpm.   Think of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” “Fred Rogers spoke at a rate of around 124 words per minute on his television show, which is the perfect rate for the young developing central nervous system.” ~ Dr. Ray H. Hull, PhD

29. Reading a Target Book • Take advantage of embedded language opportunities including: • Identifying/Labeling (Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes) • Attributes (Bear’s New Friend) • Yes/No and ‘WH’ questions  (Old Lady that Swallowed…) • Positional Concepts (If You Take a Mouse to School) • Opposites (The Tiny Seed) • Associations (The Jacket I Wear in the Snow, Froggy Gets Dressed) • Sequencing (The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything) • Making Inferences (Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do) • So Much More!!

30. Read Aloud Video

31. Target Vocabulary

32. Why Have Vocabulary Targets? Close the "Thirty Million Word Gap" Increase MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) Increase TTR (Type-Token Ratio)

33. Factors for Choosing Target Vocabulary • Align with curriculum and story • Nouns • Verbs • Align with targeted phonemes • Tier 3 Vocabulary

34. Phonemic/Orthographic Awareness Activities

35. Why have Phonemic/Orthographic Awareness Activity?  1 of the 5 components of Reading from the National Reading Panel Letter-Sound Correlation – Synergistic effect when taught together Important Pre-literacy skill Increases letter recognition Improves auditory processing Builds vocabulary Introduces phonemic blending and segmenting  Improves encoding and decoding 

36. Choosing Phonemic/Orthographic Awareness Activities • Phonemes paired with motor movements  • Sounds In Motions (SIM) by Frances Santore, M.A. CCC-SLP  • KinderPhonics • Zoo-phonics • Visual Phonics • Sounds Abound • Review previously targeted sounds/letters • Introduce 2 new sounds/letters  • Practice 2 new sounds/letters through songs and videos

38. Insert video of phonemic awareness activity –Stephen 

39. Interactive Language Activities

40. Why Utilize Interactive Language Activities? Keeps students actively engaged Gives kids an opportunity to move Allows for teaching, correction, and clarification 'in the moment' Creates opportunities for fast-mapping  Modeling for general/special education teachers 

41. Factors for Choosing Interactive Language Activities • Target Concepts/Vocabulary  • Age appropriate • Ability level • Scaffolding   • Story driven  • Focused lesson that correlates with planned activities

42. Interactive Language Activities  Types of Interactive Activities • Sorting (Smartboard and manipulatives)  • Sequencing (Smartboard and/or picture cards/Velcro board) • Yes/No Questions (Smartboard) • Other Interactive Smartboards

43. Interactive Language Activity – SortingTheme: Back to School / Friends

44. Interactive Language Activity – ID AttributesTheme: School Supplies

45. Interactive Language Activity – Action IDTheme: School Supplies

46. Interactive Language Activity – Sequencing / Story Retell Theme: Trees

47. Interactive Language Activity Video 

48. Interactive Language Activity – What Happened Questions / Sequencing Theme: Trees

49. Interactive Language Activity Video

50. Songs/Fingerplays Insert pictures-- Shannon