Becky Yates, Ph.D., CCC-SLP University of North Texas

Cristina Chen, M.Ed., RPED, NCED

Irving ISD

Irving ISD found several students who had failed TAKS testing at 3rd grade showed significantly lower Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) scores at the Preschool level.

Directive was given to develop an RTI intervention for pre-K level to support the development of oral language

This RtI was based on the four principles of intervention:

Connect to curriculum Oral and written language Meta based (Meta-cognition, Meta-linguistics and Meta-pragmatics) Preventative

Oral, contextualized ◦ Oral, conversational style

Narratives – primary grades

Literate, decontextualized ◦ Expository - intermediate grades, relies on

linguistic processing; explanations and descriptions, new information ◦ Persuasive or argumentative – last genre to develop;

convince listener of something

Narrative skills have long been considered the bridge between oral language and literate language for monolingual and bilingual children.

The assessment of narrative skills is

recognized as an essential component of assessment of language skills due to its predictability for later school success.

Earliest emerging monologic discourse form First form to require speaker to produce

extended monologue rather than interactive monologue

Has elements of oral and literate language Bridge from oral, face-to-face language of

home to abstract language of school

Facilitates development of oral language skills to close the gap between these students and age peers

Facilitates development of semantic skills

through elaboration and cohesion Facilitates development of the ability to

understand, formulate, organize and apply the rules of syntax and morphology

Narrative skills put a higher demand on a child’s language and requires the child to apply the rules of syntax, morphology and pragmatics when formulating the discourse.

Discourse genre – organized units of language use

Orderly accounts of real or imagined events – what happened (personal, fictional, retell)

Coherent sequences of utterances with a common theme

Characters, actions, complications, resolutions Temporal order Causal relationships Character’s responses, reactions, feelings, thoughts

Folklore – the first histories ◦ Maintain social history and historical knowledge

base of a community ◦ Occurs in all societies, with variation that reflects

the culture of the teller Grimm’s Fairy Tales ◦ How does each story begin? ◦ How does each story end?

Songs. Fingerplays, nursery rhymes ◦ Itsy Bitsy Spider ◦ Jack and Jill

Language of school instruction, especially in the elementary years

Telling events Tattle-telling Lectures What did you do at school today? How do you do something? Learning an activity such as dance, piano, drill

team Conversations Bedtime stories

“Regardless of the relative weight given to story-based thinking by any given culture, stories are universal, and universally important, to the functioning of every culture.” (Miller, Gillam, & Pena, 2001).

The basic structural organization of stories is consistent across cultures and languages

Even when stories are written in multiple

languages they have similar structures, although may vary to reflect cultural values and beliefs.

Munoz et al found narrative skills to be an appropriate tool to measure language development in Latino children

English oral proficiency as well as the ability

to use higher levels of language such as those needed for narratives are critical for literacy development, especially in bilingual children.

Different cultures have different ways of telling stories

Differ in internal organization and focus Differ in degree to which children are expected to tell

stories. In traditional, high-context cultures, only elders or others with high status are expected to be storytellers.

Low context culture (North American culture, classroom language): topic centered, linear progression

High context cultures (more traditional): topic associated, overall theme never stated

May ask child’s parent to evaluate the child’s story

Story Elements ◦ Settings-characters, locations, or habitual

contexts or states, time (who, when, where) ◦ Initiating events- problem, events, changes in

the physical environment, or a characters internal perception of an event ◦ Internal responses - character’s emotions,

goals, desires, intentions, or thoughts leading to a plan sequence ◦ Plan – intended action to resolve problem ◦ Attempt – action of main character ◦ Consequence/reaction

Episode ◦Descriptive Sequence ◦Action Sequence ◦Reactive Sequence ◦Abbreviated Episode ◦Complete Episode ◦Complex Episode

Syntax and morphology Sentence complexity Information – number of details Sentence length – MLU/words Total number of words Total number of different words Cohesion Conjunctive cohesion (and, but, then, finally, therefore, anyway)

Syntax and morphology

Pronouns and their referents Lexical and structural parallelism (repeating a word,

repeating sentence structure) Story Art Appendages – statements that introduce, comment on,

and conclude the story Orientations – provide background information on the

habitual actions and nature of the characters….usually cluster at the beginning of the narrative and invite the listener to care about the characters

Evaluations – verbal and nonverbal elements that contribute to the art of the story and the effective transmittal of listener perspective

Lexical Richness

Pronouns and their referents

Stage 1 – Heap Stories (2 – 3 years of age) ◦ labels and descriptions of events (descriptive sequence)

Stage 2 – Sequence Stories (3 years of age) ◦ label events around a central theme, character, or

setting Stage 3 Primitive Narratives (4 – 4 ½ years of age) ◦ three story grammar elements; central person, object or

event Stage 4 – Chain Narrative (4 ½ - 5 years of age) ◦ four elements; cause-effect and temporal relationships

Stage 5 – True Narrative (5 – 7 years of age) ◦ Five elements; central theme, character, and plot

Pre-K guidelines: ◦ Responds to stories by asking and answering questions ◦ Asks questions and adds information related to the

current topic of conversation or book ◦ Uses descriptive words (My baby sister laughs loudly.”) ◦ Strategy: prompts for more detail, clarification, and

elaboration as the children relate stories or show and tell times

◦ Child uses information learned from books by describing, relating, categorizing, or comparing and contrasting

◦ Actively participate by predicting what might happen next in a story

Pre-K guidelines:

Woodcock Munoz Language Survey-Revised (WMLS-R) administered in August to all incoming Pre-K students.

A typically developing student in every way, other than language.

Students who scored a CALP level of 2 or less in both Spanish and English were considered “at risk”.

After the first 6 weeks, classroom teachers were asked to complete a checklist and make recommendations for students who may benefit from Tier II intervention.

The 20 students selected for the program were administered a pre-test and post-test.

Woodcock Munoz Language Survey

Administrators SLPs SLPAs Parents Classroom Teachers (Bilingual and ESL) Counselors

SLP – provides 15 minute session to small group of 3 to 5 children, 3 times during each week

Classroom teacher – provides 15 minute

sessions for entire class, 2 times a week Classroom teacher sends home weekly family

activity to be completed by students with their parents.

Week Date Theme

Pre-test October 24 Pre-testing

Week 1 October 31 Story parts: beginning, middle, end

Week 2 November 7 Who

Week 3 Week 4

November 14 November 28

When

Week 5 December 5 Where

Week 6 December 12 Review who, when, where, beginning, middle, end

Winter Break Winter Break Winter Break

Week 7 January 9 Review

Week 8 January 17 Problem

Week 9 January 23 Episode/actions

Week 10 January 30 Review

Week Date Theme

Week 11 Week 12

February 6 February 13

Outcome, emotions

Week 13 Week 14

February 20 February 27

Story Retell Group

Week 15 Week 16 Week 17

March 5 March 19 March 26 April 2

Create A Story Group

Week 18 Week 19 Week 20 Week 21

April 9 April 16 April 23 April 30

Create A Story Individual

Post-test

May 7 Post-testing

Itsy Bitsy Spider Brown Bear, Brown Bear Goodnight Moon Three Billy Goats Gruff The Very Hungry Caterpillar If You Give A Mouse A Cookie The Three Little Kittens Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Super Duper Fun Deck Rhyming Cards Word Wall Story Prediction Chart Story Creation Chart Teacher Created Graphics Online Resources

Target vocabulary Materials needed (embed visuals throughout) Script and directions (Provided in Spanish and

English) Data collection sheet Additional activities if time allows Teacher module – family activity (Also in

Spanish and English) Language of Instruction was the language in

which program was implemented.

Predictor of school success Avoids iIlusionary recovery – shows areas of

deficits even when standardized tests do not Shown to be sensitive to both pragmatic and

structural aspects of child’s language abilities Leads to socially and educationally relevant

goals Provides a context for observing advanced

language forms

Predictor of school success

When assessing for an impairment • Diagnosis of language impairment extend beyond

a student’s ability to comprehend and produce specific vocabulary items and sentence patterns (Lahey, 1988, Prutting and Kirchner, 1987).

• In fact, unless clinicians assess student’s oral communication skills beyond the level of the sentences, they may overlook student’s who are “at risk” and not provide appropriate language intervention (Wallach and Butler, 1994; Wallach and Miller, 1988).

Norm-referenced procedures The Renfrew Bus Story Test of Narrative Language SNAP – Strong Narrative Assessment Procedure

Criterion Referenced Procedures Narrative Sample Analysis Narrative Rubric Story Webs PANDA Express Dynamic Assessment

Norm referenced procedures

Pre-test: Materials: ◦ One Frog Too Many by Mercer Meyer ◦ Digital recorder

Instructions: ◦ Tape over title of the book on the cover ◦ The child should sit side-by-side the SLP

Show the child the cover of the book. Turn the pages of the book slowly as child looks at the pictures. Do not comment on the pictures. If the child says something, respond with yes, and remind the child to keep looking at the pictures. After all the pictures have been shown, turn on the recorder and instruct the child. Record the child’s responses. You may encourage the child.

Here is a book. This book tells a story about a boy, (point to picture of boy on cover) a dog, (point to picture of dog) and 2 frogs. (point to the frogs) First, I want you to look at all the pictures. Pay attention to each picture that you see and afterwards you will tell the story, Now, tell me a story about a boy, a dog and 2 frogs. Tell me more. Is that all? Keep telling me the story.

Show the child the cover of theb k

Here is a book.Thi b k ll b

Mean Length of Utterance/words: _______________

Total number of words: ______________

Total number of different words: ___________

Story Component Response

Setting:

• Who:

• Where:

• When:

Problem and Emotion:

Outcome and Emotion:

“Children who receive the most practice with language come from homes in which the adults pay attention to language, value it, and use it as part of their everyday lives” (Wallach & Miller, 1988).

Beginning, Middle and End Story Grammar ◦ Setting – who, when, where ◦ Problem ◦ Action ◦ Consequence ◦ Emotion

Re-tell story Create A story – group and individual

Beginning, Middle and End

Train parts Total Physical Response activity – clap your

hands, tap your knees, touch your head Itsy Bitsy Spider – complete story chart using

pictures Family Activity – what do you do in the

beginning, middle and end of different activities – getting dressed, brushing your teeth

Story Parts

Beginning (Setting: ) (Who) (Where) (when)

Middle (Problem) (Episode)

End (Outcome – Emotion)

PANDA Express RTIStory Chart

Who ◦ Brown Bear, Brown Bear “Who” Do You See? – make

character cards and have children line up in correct order ◦ Expand on vocabulary using color words and other

descriptive words ◦ Who is in your family? Class? ◦ Rhyming activity – “Who is in the rice? The mice are

in the rice. Who is in the chair? The bear is in the chair.” ◦ List “who” words on word wall ◦ Family Activity – Draw who is in your family

◦ Goodnight Moon – look at pictures and talk about clues that tell you it is night time. Contrast to daytime. ◦ When do you ……… ◦ Today is ________, tomorrow is __________,

yesterday was ______________ ◦ Family activity: When do you ___________(go to bed,

get up, eat breakfast) ◦ Write daily schedule of what you do first, next, last,

beginning, middle of day, end of day ◦ Add when words to wall chart

◦ The Three Billy Goats Gruff – describe where characters are

◦ Add where words to word wall ◦ Rhyming activity – “Where are the mice? The mice

are in the rice. Where is the bear? The bear is in the chair.”

◦ Family activity – describe where items are in the

home – bed, refrigerator, bathtub

Create “problems” ◦ Ask child to draw, but don’t give him paper or

markers If You Give A Mouse A Cookie The Hungry Caterpillar What do you do if…………. Family activity - “What do you do if your

hands are dirty?"

Discuss emotion words and how characters felt in regard to the problem

Family activity: draw faces to represent mad, happy, etc.

Combine with problem to determine how to solve a problem

Create several ways to solve a problem Discuss emotions that motivate the solution

to the problem The Three Little Kittens Family activity: Draw a picture of one of the

problems in The Three Little Kittens

What are results of actions How do the characters feel? Discuss feelings,

compare/contrast to how characters felt before problem was solved

Review parts of a story then look at pictures of story and complete “Story Prediction Chart”

Assign a part to each child (beginning, middle and end) and draw a picture of that part of the story

SLP writes down story as child tells. Encourage child to use at least two sentences and add cohesion words as well as story art or sparkle

Have children tell story using pictures as cues or act out story

Make a cover for the story pictures.

Begin with Story Chart and basic information Pictography of beginning, middle and end Edit picture by adding more details SLP write story as told by child Edit by adding more cohesion and story art

(sparkle) Practice telling story Make a title and cover for book

Begin with Story Chart and basic information

Here’s a “Make Your Own Story” Example You Ask the Question Grands Give the

Answers

Who can be in our story? Two cats What are their names? Uma and Clocka

What do they look like? Uma is a kitten and

Clocka is a tiger

You can continue to expand on the description of the cats if you

want. For instance, What color is their fur? How big are they, Where do they live? And so forth.

When did this happen? One day

What was the problem?

The prince and princess were captured by the dragon.

Oh no! What are we going to do?

They need to be rescued.

What can Uma and Clocka do? Go to the castle.

So, Uma and Clocka go to the castle.

Is it daytime or night time? ◦ Night time.

Is it really dark, or is there a full moon? ◦ There’s a full moon.

At about this point, review the story. Uma and

Clocka decide to go to the castle to rescue the prince and princess. There’s a full moon, so they can see the way. They sneak from one tree to the next and finally get to the castle, but it is locked!

What are they going to do? I don’t know.

You may need to provide a solution to the dilemma. Lead the grand through a possible solution, but be ready to switch your thoughts as they jump in and add their own.

“Well, since Uma is a kitten, she is small enough to go under the gate. So, she crawls under the gate and climbs up it and jumps on the latch to open the gate. Now, Clocka is in the castle, too. “What happens next? [Whisper urgently.] Very quietly, they go up the stairs to find the room where the prince and princess are. Uh oh! They see the dragon, but he is snoring. ZZZZZZ. Finally, they find the room, but it is locked, and the key is on the table.”

How can they get the key? General discussion

Review the conclusions after the discussion. Clocka tells Uma to climb on his back and then she can reach the key. So she does and then Clocka walks over to the door with Uma on his back, and Uma puts the key in the lock! They open the door and see the prince and princess.

What happens next? They sneak out of the castle.

So Uma and Clocka tell the prince and princess to

be very quiet and they will sneak out of the castle. And they do.

What happens to the dragon?

The prince and princess send a knight to kill him.

Conclude the story. That is what happened! The prince and princess asked Uma and Clocka to live with them in the castle

18 Students participated in the program Two male students in intervention (10%) were identified, referred and found eligible for special education services as Speech Impaired. Two students did not complete the program. Of the 14 remaining students, 50% achieved age-appropriate language skills in language of instruction. During the 3 months intervention period, universal testing

indicated; ◦ 7 students demonstrated gains in oral language development of 6 months ◦ While an additional 7 students demonstrated a 12 month growth

in language development.

Coleman, M. R., Roth, F/ P., & West, T. (2009). Roadmap to Pre-K RTI: Applying response to intervention in preschool settings. National Center for Learning Disabilities, New York, New York.

Munoz, M. L., Gillam, R. B., Pena, E. D., & Gulley-Faehnle, A.

(2003). Measures of language development in fictional narratives of Latino children. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools. 34, 332 – 342.

Paul, R., Hernandez, R., Taylor, L. & Johnson, K. (1996) Narrative

development in late talkers: Early school age. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. 39, 1295 – 1303.

Paul, R., Looney, S. S., & Dahm, P. S. (1991). Communication and

socialization skills at ages 2 and 4 in “late-talking” young children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. 34, 858 – 865.

Coleman, M. R., Roth, F/

Alvarado, C., Ruef, M., & Schrank, F. (2005). Comprehensive Manual Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey – Revised. Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing. •August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C.E. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabiliies Research and Practice, 20 (1), 50 – 57. •August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing Literacy in Second Language Learners. Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. •Robseberry-McKibbin, C. (2002), Multicultural Students with Special Language Needs: Practical Strategies for Assessment and Intervention. Academic Communication Associates.

Becky Yates, PhD., CCC-SLP Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of

North Texas

Cristina R. Chen, M.Ed., RPED, NCED Bilingual/Special Education Coordinator Irving Independent School District