Transcript SLEUTHING YOUR STUDENT’S COMPREHENSION

SLEUTHING YOUR
STUDENT’S
COMPREHENSION
Provincial Integration Support
Program
What do we mean by
Comprehension?
 Understanding others’ communication
 Understanding what is happening
 Interpreting cues and signals in the
environment
 Handling changes and transitions
Specific Comprehension Skills
Direction Following
Object/Picture Identification
Matching
Sorting
Functions
Answering yes-no questions
Why?
Better understanding of student’s
abilities
More appropriate individual educational
plan
CHALLENGES
 Formal assessment tools are not usually
appropriate
 Standardized tests normed on typically
developing children with intact sensory and
motor systems
 Children are also expected to have adequate
fine motor skills so that they can touch, point,
and/or manipulate objects or pictures reliably
 Lack of world knowledge
 Sensory Challenges
 Auditory
 Hearing Loss
 Difficulty filtering background noise from
foreground auditory information
Visual
Cortical Visual Impairment
Physical Challenges
Eye-hand coordination can be difficult
Crossing mid-line can be difficult
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
What forms of communication
does the student understand?
 Gestures
 Cues from the environment
 Speech
 Manual signs
 Signs, logos, pictures
 Printed material
Separate objects or pictures
Enlarge pictures
Use different response methods:
 Yes/No
 Same/different
 Numbers
Use assisted scanning
Some points about Yes/No
responses
Typically developing children don’t
reliably answer yes/no questions before
30 months of age
By about 18 months, they recognize a
yes/no question, but usually respond in
the affirmative because that’s what is
usually expected for the response
 Typically developing children first hear “no” in
terms of prohibiting an action.
 Children with severe disabilities usually hear
the word “no” much less
 There are different types of yes/no questions:
 Acceptance/rejection: in the present
 Confirmation/denial: in the past
 Knowledge testing
Children with severe disabilities are
often asked rhetorical questions, for
which a response is not really expected
Example: Do you want me to stop
feeding you?
Use response methods that the student
can control volitionally:
 Head turning
 Eye movements
 Body movements/gestures
Observe the student :
 with a variety of people
 In a variety of environments
Interview people who know the student
well
What to assess?
Direction Following
Auditory Sequencing
Auditory Memory
Skill
Expected by
Look at the window.
Close your eyes.
End of Kindergarten
Look at the book, then
look at the window
End of grade 1
Look up, then open
your mouth, then look
at the book
End of grade 2
Open your mouth, then End of grade 3
look at the book, then
look up, then look at
the brush
ASSESSING SYMBOL USE FOR
COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
CHECKLIST
COMPREHENSION CHOICE
MAKING DATA COLLECTION
COGNITIVE STEPPING STONES
TREATMENT STRATEGIES
Make sure that student’s physical needs
are met - e.g., wheelchair tray on to
increase stabilization
 Following directions within the students
physical and sensory abilities
 Teach vocabulary and concepts in natural
contexts
 Use Visual Supports
 Ask student to “show” you or to “look at”
something
 Teach yes/no responding
 Ask “What,” “Who,” “Where” questions
 Teaching augmentative or alternative
communication skills is comparable to
foreign language immersion
Model and pause, model and pause,
model and pause ….