Week 1 Theoretical Framework

Question 1

What is behaviorism?

Answer 1

Language is learned through imitation, rewards and practice
Knowledge is “exterior” to the learner and only comes from interactions with environment - learner is a “blank slate”
Learning has happened when a provided stimulus changes a behavior
Positive and negative reinforcement
B.F. Skinner

Question 2

Behaviorism in SLP?

Answer 2

Some aspects are useful in education and in SLP

• Reward systems
• Gradually reducing use of reinforcement and incentives

Question 3

What is nativism?

Answer 3

Language is innate, or “interior” to the learner
Procedure of language learning is innate – “centered in the child and not the child’s environment”
Theory of Universal Grammar (Chomsky, 1965)
Some set of parameters of language is innate; input from a specific language lets a child understand the constraints of that specific language (e.g., word order)
Critical Period Hypothesis - There is a “critical period” during which one must learn language, or they lose the ability/it gets very difficult
Chomsky

Question 4

Nativism in SLP?

Answer 4

Some aspects of Universal Grammar are useful

• A structural system does seem to underlie language
• Biological evidence that certain focal areas of brain are associated with language

Question 5

What is cognitivism?

Answer 5

Language develops in the context of a child’s cognitive development.
Children must understand certain concepts before they can express them withlanguage.

Question 6

Cognitivism in SLP?

Answer 6

Useful aspects of cognitivism for our field:
Aspects of language development correlate with Piaget’s developmental stages
Stages may be useful to describe a child’s ability
Used in development of play-based assessment tools
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
EC – movement-based interventions (EMBRACE Project)

Question 7

What is interactionism?

Answer 7

More focus on language use (social-pragmatics)
Language is learned in supportive social environments
Environmental and linguistic input and child’s internal abilities combine for language to develop- more currently and commonly accepted

Question 8

Interactionism in SLP?

Answer 8

Evidence for interactionist ideas in the literature:
Evidence that communicative turn-taking is critical in language development
Snow (1977) - Use of child-directed speech (motherese) is associated with early speech and language development
Contextualized, naturalistic interventions are more effective

Question 9

What is Usage-Based Theory?

Answer 9

Usage Based Theory (Tomasello, 2003)
Intention Reading
Child notices the intention of the communication partner; later knows his own intention
Pattern Finding
Child recognizes routines, and eventually schema
Role Reversal Imitation

Question 10

What are schemas?

Answer 10

Thought processes that are essentially building blocks of knowledge. Ababy, for example, knows that it must make a sucking motion to eat. That’s a schema.

Question 11

What is assimilation?

Answer 11

How you use your existing schemas to interpret a new situation or object. For example, a child seeing a skunk for the first time might call it a cat.

Question 12

What is accommodation?

Answer 12

What happens when you change a schema, or create a new one, to fit new information you learn. The child accommodates when they understand that not all furry, four-legged creatures are cats.

Question 13

What is equilibrium?

Answer 13

Happens when you’re able to use assimilation to fit in most of the new information you learn. So you’re not constantly adding new schemas.

Question 14

What do speakers do when they produce an utterance?

Answer 14

1. Develop an intention
2. Identify meanings
3. Select syntactic frames
4. Select lexical items
5. Encode message

Question 15

From all these theories – what guides our evaluation of young children as SLPs?

Answer 15

1. Language arises from a combination of innate cognition + environment
2. There is an expected developmental sequence, assuming adequate input and opportunity
3. A supportive and interactive communicative environment yields better communicative outcomes in children
4. Contextualized, naturalistic measures of play, interactions and language use are the most informative
5. Caregivers can provide important information about the child’s social environment andcognitive abilities

Question 16

From all these theories – what guides our intervention with young children as SLPs?

Answer 16

ZPD/Scaffolding
Routines-based learning
Schemas
Contextual, authentic activities
Consideration of different cultures and caregiver input
Child centered approaches