Intervention for discourse and pragmatic language disorder Flashcards
What is discourse? (5)
Longer than a single sentence
- Description
- Narration
- Exposition
- Persuasion
- Argumentation
What is the discourse continuum?
Continuum from least formal (eg. oral, some written conversational style writing, notes, lists) to most formal (eg. scientific papers, lectures, sermons)
Types of narratives (5)
- Recounts
- Accounts
- Event casts
- Fictional stories
- Scripts
What are features of narratives?
- Purpose to tell a story
- Familiar schema initially
- Focus on character motivations, intentions, goals
What are features of exposition?
- Purpose to inform or describe
- Unfamiliar schema initially
- Focus on factual information and abstract ideas
Narrative vs expository
- Eg. Horrible Histories
- Takes an expository form and makes stories/narratives of them
- Turns dry/dense material into stories
- Easier to access, remember and can be funny
Even with adolescents, try to find narratives if we can
Narrative development
- Present of plot becomes clearer
- Central organising theme
- 2 main elements: setting + episodes
- Defining characteristics of true narratives - Changes primarily in internal structure/organisation - story grammar
- Story grammar = setting + episode structure
- Most children produce all elements of story grammar by age 9
- Progress through narrative levels to ‘true narratives’
Macrostructure of narratives
- Story production and retell
- Story grammar analysis
- Episode complexity
Microstructure of narratives
- Causal and temporal subordinating conjunctions
- Coordinating conjunctions
- Adverbs
- Verbs
- Elaborated noun phrases
- MLU, TTR, complexity
Common techniques to assist narrative skills
- Direct instruction of story components
- Visual aids, eg. icons representing story components
- Verbal supports, eg. prompting, recasting
- Integrating literature
- Production of narratives, eg. having student tell or retell stories during therapy
- Using wordless books
- Using ‘story train’ handouts
- ‘Character map’ handouts
- High risk children benefit more from narrative therapy
- Low risk children benefit more from vocab therapy
- Macrostructure gains > microstructure gains
What are some examples of expository discourse?
Oral
- Debating
- Public speaking
- Giving instructions
- Explaining and discussing
- Group work
Written
- Reporting
- Persuasive
- Instructions
- Recipes
Common techniques to assist exposition
- Start with oral modality (eg. record on phone) to allow ideas for form and logic to be explained, then move on to written form (eg. essay, report, response)
- Graphic organisers/mind maps
- Planning paragraphs, eg. TEEL
What is pragmatics?
Language use within a social context
- Communicative functions
- Frequency of communication
- Discourse skills
- Flexibility to modify for different contexts
- Ability to convey info coherently
- Non-verbals, proxemics, eye contact, etc
Considering pragmatics with Grice’s maxims
- Quantity: sufficient info, specific vocab redundancy, need for repetition
- Quality: accuracy
- Relevance: topic maintenance, appropriate for situation, speech style
- Manner: linguistic non-fluency, delay, structure, turn taking, non-verbals, intonation
4 main intervention approaches for social skills/pragmatics
- Scripting
- Social stories/comic strip conversations
- Social skill groups
- Direct instruction
- Writing out words/pictures to rehearse a real world scenario
- Flow charts of processes, eg. organising a catch up
- Explicit teaching by telling them how to respond
- Teach whole body listening
- Teach socio-emotional regulation, increasing awareness of ups and downs with labels for emotions, prompting others to check in, rating on a ‘thermometer’, meltdown strategies like deep breathing, counting, removing self
- Social Stories to be read to children about eg. asking to play, sharing toys
- Barrier games, working together, using oral skills only
