Associate Professor The University of Texas at Austin Cedar Park, Texas, United States
Abstract: This session will explore the connection between behavior, language, and communication for children with DLD in schools. This presentation will unpack the definitions, research, and clinical needs related to behavior and communication. Participants will have opportunity to view videos and discuss case studies for children in preschool through early adolescence.
Description: School readiness is the extent to which a child is prepared to navigate the demands of formal education (citation), or said differently, the minimum developmental levels necessary for students to access classroom instruction. Theoretically, school readiness is comprised of a student’s language, social-behavioral, and pre academic skills. Research show that a child’s school readiness is directly related to short term (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2004) and long term (Duncan et al., 2007) academic outcomes. For children with developmental language disorders (DLD), their cumulative school readiness skills are important factors for SLPs to consider, given that children with DLD are already at significant risk for short and long term impacts due to their language disability alone. Research by Rimm-Kaufmann and colleagues surveyed over 10,000 kindergarten teachers. Their study showed that 30% - 46% of teachers said that half or more of their class started the school year with difficulty following directions, working independently, and working as a part of a group. As such, addressing school readiness may be a critical component of intervention for children with DLD. Overwhelmingly, research shows strong links between a child’s language abilities and behavior problems. Sigafoos (2000) showed that the weaker a child’s language abilities, the more likely for behavior problems in the classroom. This research showed an exceptionally strong link between receptive language deficits and behavior. Qui and Kaiser investigated the behavior and language abilities of 60 3-and4-year olds in a head start classroom. For children with low language, their behavior problems increased as the structure of the classroom increased. This research suggested that when children were able to attend to the classroom activities, their negative behaviors decreased and language learning increased. This finding has been corroborated by a multitude of researchers (e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007; McClelland et al., 2007; Stipek et al., 2010; Schmitt et al., 2014). Negative behaviors, defined generally as doing something they should not be doing (e.g., running, yelling) or not doing something that has been asked (e.g., completing work, sitting in their chair). Arguably, the presence of negative behaviors is first and foremost communication to another person. Although there may arguably be a multitude of reasons for the behavior, much of the research to date identifies four primary purpses. First, behavior may be serving a communicative function. For children who struggle to communicate in symbolic forms (e.g., words, signs), behavior may serve as a rudimentary form of communication. They bite to protest a toy being taken away; they yell to request continuation of a preferred activity. Second, behavior may be attention seeking. It is well understood that children with DLD struggle to initiate joint attention and maintain joint attention with a communicative partner, especially using language (e.g., Farrant et al., 2011). As such, children with DLD who are beginning to understand and desire joint attention may be attempting to gain the attention of a partner, albeit in maladaptive ways. Third, behavior may be related to sensory needs. Children who are hypo- or hyper-aroused may attempt to get their sensory system into an optimal alertness level using strategies such as climbing, running, banging, or swinging that could be perceived as disruptive in classroom settings. Finally, behavior may be related to self regulation needs. Self regulation is a child’s ability to inhibit dominant impulses, attend to the desired speaker or academic activity, and remember the directions as a particular environment asks of them. Children with poor self regulation may exhibit impulsivity, distractibility, or forgetfulness that show up as “problematic behavior” in academic settings. SLPs are in a particularly advantageous position to be able to identify the communicative purpose of behaviors and coach children with DLD towards functionally equivalent behaviors (i.e., using more sophisticated forms of communication that achieve the same result for the child as the negative behavior). Given the connection between behavior, language, and academic outcomes, it is critical that SLPs be involved with behavioral referrals to fully evaluate to what extent the behavior is related to communication and identify potential language targets to support the child’s communication. In so doing, SLPs are positioned to support children’s language and learning needs in academic settings. In response, this presentation will review the current research linking behavior, language, and communication; review possible purposes of negative behavior, and use case studies to practice identifying functionally equivalent forms of communication so that SLPs leave with knowledge of why behavior matters for SLPs and with specific strategies to support communication with their clients struggling with behavioral needs.
Presentation Format & Methods: Power point Videos and Case studies Interactive lecture
Supporting Research: Reference 1: Schmitt, M.B., Justice, L., O'Connell, A. (2014). Vocabulary gain among children with language disorders: Contributions of children's behavior regulation and emotionally supportive environments. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 23(3), 373-384.
Supporting Research: Reference 2: Qui, C. H., & Kaiser, A. P. (2004). Problem behaviors of low-income children with language delays: An observational study. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 595-609.
Supporting Research: Reference 3: McCabe, P. C. (2005). Social and behavioral correlates of preschoolers with specific language impairment. Psychology in the Schools, 42(4), 373-387.
Supporting Research: Reference 4: Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox (2000). Teacher’s judgments of problems in the transition to kindergarten. ECRQ, 15(2), 147-166.
Supporting Research: Reference 5: Sigafoos, J. (2000). Communication development and aberrant behavior in children with developmental disabilities. Education and training in mental retardation and developmental disabilities, 168-176.
Learning Objectives:
Describe the relation between behavior, language, and communication
Identify 5 possible functions of behavior
Identify a functionally equivalent form for problematic behavior
Generally describe the research connecting behavior to language and learning outcomes
Describe the reasons why behavior does fall within the SLP scope of practice