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And Now on the Value of Wordless Picture Books

Today I am writing on one of my favorite topics: how to use wordless picture books for narrative assessment and treatment purposes in speech language pathology.  I love wordless picture books (or WLPBs as I refer to them) for a good reason and its not just due to their cute illustrations.  WLPBs are so flexible that use can use them for both assessment and treatment of narratives.  I personally prefer the Mercer Meyer  series: ‘A Boy, a dog, a frog and a friend’ for sentimental reasons (they were the first WLPBs I used in grad school) but some of you may want to use a few others which is why I’ll be proving a few links containing lists of select picture books for you to choose from at the end of this post.

So how do I use them and with which age groups?  Well, believe it or not you can start using them pretty early with toddlers and go all the way through upper elementary years. For myself, I found them to be most effective tools for children between 3-9 years of age.  During comprehensive language assessments I use WLPBs in the following way.  First I read a script based on the book. Depending on which WLPBs you use you can actually find select scripts online instead of creating your own.  For example, if you choose to use  the “Frog Series” by Mercer Meyer, the folks  at SALT SOFTWARE already done the job for you and you can find those  scripts HERE in both English and Spanish with audio to boot. 

After I read/play the script, I ask the child to retell the story (a modified version of dynamic narrative assessment if you will) to see what their narrative is like.  I am also looking to see whether the child is utilizing story telling techniques appropriate for his/her age.

For example,  I expect a child between 3-4 years of age to be able to tell a story which contains 3 story grammar components (e.g., —Initiating event, —Attempt or Action, —Consequences), minimally interpret/predict events during story telling, use some pronouns along with references to the characters names as well as discuss the character’s facial expressions, body postures & feelings (utilize early perspective taking) (Hedberg & Westby, 1993 ). By the time the child reaches 7 years of age, I expect him/her to be able to tell a story utilizing 5+ story grammar elements along with a clear ending, which indicates a resolution of the story’s problem, have a well developed plot, characters and a clear sequence of events, as well as keep consistent perspective which focuses around an incident in a story (Hedberg & Westby, 1993 ).

Therefore as children retell their stories based on the book I am keeping an eye on the following elements (as relevant to the child’s age of course):

  • Is the child’s story order adequate or all jumbled up?
  • Is the child using relevant story details or providing the bare minimum before turning the page?
  • How’s the child’s grammar? Are there errors, telegraphic speech or overuse of run-on sentences?
  • Is the child using any temporal (first, then, after that) and cohesive markers (and, so, but, etc)?
  • Is the child’s vocabulary adequate of immature for his/her age?
  • Is there an excessive number of word-retrieval difficulties which interfere with story telling and subsequently its comprehension?
  • Is the child’s story coherent and cohesive?
  • Is the child utilizing any perspective taking vocabulary and inferring the characters, feeling, ideas, beliefs, and thoughts?

Yes all of the above can be gleaned from a one wordless picture book!

If my assessment reveals that the child’s ability to engage in story telling is impaired for his/her age and I initiate treatment and still continue to use WLPBs in therapy.  Depending on the child’s deficits I focus on remediating  either elements of macrostructure (use-story organization and cohesion), microstructure (content + form including grammar syntax and vocabulary) or both.

Here are a few examples of story prompts I use in treatment with WLBPs:

  • —What is happening in this picture?
  • —Why do you think?
  • —What are the characters doing?
  • — Who /what else do you see?
  • —Does it look like anything is missing from this picture?
  • —Let’s make up a sentence with __________ (this word)
  • —Let’s tell the story. You start:
  • —Once upon a time
  • — You can say ____ or you can say ______ (teaching synonyms)
  • —What would be the opposite of _______? (teaching antonyms)
  • — Do you know that _____(this word) has 2 meanings
    • —1st meaning
    • —2nd meaning
Below are the questions I ask that focus on Story Characters and Setting —
  • Who is in this story?
  • —What do they do?
  • —How do they go together?
  • —How do you think s/he feels?
    • —Why?
    • —How do you know?
  • —What do you think s/he thinking?
    • — Why?
  • —What do you think s/he saying?
  • — Where is the story happening?
    • —Is this inside or outside?
      • —How do you know?
  • — Did the characters visit different places in the story?
    • —Which ones?
    • How many?

Here are the questions related to Story Sequencing

  • —What happens at the beginning of the story?
  • —How do we start a story?
  • — What happened second?
  • —What happened next?
  • —What happened after that?
  • —What happened last?
  • —What do we say at the end of a story?
  • —Was there trouble/problem in the story?
    • —What happened?
    • —Who fixed it?
    • —How did s/he fix it?
  • —Was there adventure in the story?
    • If yes how did it start and end?

As the child advances his/her skills I attempt to engage them in more complex book interactions—

  • —Compare and contrast story characters/items
  • —(e.g. objects/people/animals)
  • —Make predictions and inferences about what going to happen in the story
  • —Ask the child to problem solve the situation for the character
    • —What do you think he must do to…?
  • —Ask the child to state his/her likes and dislikes about the story or its characters
  • —Ask the child to tell the story back
    • —Based on Pictures
    • —Without Pictures

Wordless picture books are also terrific for teaching vocabulary of feelings and emotions

  • —Words related to thinking
    • —Know, think, remember, guess
  • —Words related to senses
    • —See, Hear, Watch, Feel
  • —Words related to personal wants
    • — Want, Need, Wish
  • —Words related to emotions and feelings
    • — Happy, Mad, Sad
  • —Words related to emotional behaviors
    • — Crying, Laughing, Frowning

So this is how I use wordless picture books for the purposes of assessment and therapy.  I’d love to know how you use them?

Before I sign off here are a few WDPBs links for you, hope you like them!

 Start having fun with your wordless picture books today!

Helpful Smart Speech Therapy Resources: 

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Language Processing Deficits (LPD) Checklist for School Aged Children

Need a Language Processing Deficits Checklist for School Aged Children

You can find it in my online store HERE

This checklist was created to assist speech-language pathologists (SLPs) with figuring out whether the student presents with language processing deficits which require further follow-up (e.g., screening, comprehensive assessment). The SLP should provide this form to both teacher and caregiver/s to fill out to ensure that the deficit areas are consistent across all settings and people.

Checklist Categories:

  • Listening Skills and Short Term Memory
  • Verbal Expression
  • Emergent Reading/Phonological Awareness
  • General Organizational Abilities
  • Social-Emotional Functioning
  • Behavior
  • Supplemental* Caregiver/Teacher Data Collection Form
  • Select assessments sensitive to Auditory Processing Deficits
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New Product: Speech Language Assessment of Older Internationally Adopted Children

IAToday  I am very excited to introduce to you my brand new product which has been long in the making.  “Speech Language Assessment of Older Internationally Adopted Children”. In the past I have written a number of articles and blog posts as well as done a number of  presentations on related topics. I finally decided that it’s a great time to put it all together and created this 65 slide presentation which succinctly explains how to assess speech language abilities of older Internationally Adopted (IA) Children.

Presentation Summary

—Institutionalization affects every child’s speech-language development. Signs of delay can be obvious or obscure; show immediately or years later. This presentation will review the latest literature regarding the language abilities of post-institutionalized children adopted at older ages. It will discuss language development of older children post-adoption, explain the difference between conversational and cognitive language competencies, offer pre-adoption recommendations, address select pre-assessment preparations as well as to provide recommendations on best assessment practices for these children. Continue reading New Product: Speech Language Assessment of Older Internationally Adopted Children
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Recognizing the Warning Signs of Social Emotional Difficulties in Language Impaired Toddlers and Preschoolers

emd toddlersToday I am exited to tell you about the new product I created in honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month. 

It is a 45 slide presentation created for speech language pathologists to explain the connection between late language development and the risk of social emotional disturbances in young children 18 months- 6 years of age.

Learning Objectives:

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Giveaway: Speech Language Assessment Checklist For A School-Aged Child

Recently I did a giveaway of my preschool speech language assessment checklist on my blog. I had so much fun doing it, that I decided I can’t just stop there, so I am going to do a giveaway of my school aged checklist as well.

For those of you unfamiliar with it – it’s a 12 page guide, which I was created to assist speech language pathologists in the decision making process of how to select assessment instruments and prioritize assessment for school age children.

My goal was to eliminate administration of unnecessary or irrelevant tests and focus on the administration of instruments directly targeting the areas of difficulty that the child presents with.

Checklist Contents: Continue reading Giveaway: Speech Language Assessment Checklist For A School-Aged Child

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SPEECH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Today I am excited to tell you about another product in my assessment referral series: SPEECH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN 

I created this 9 page guide to assist speech language pathologists in the decision making process of how to select assessment instruments and prioritize assessment for preschool children. In doing that you are eliminating the administration of irrelevant tests and focusing on the administration of instruments directly targeting the areas of difficulty that the child presents with. Continue reading SPEECH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

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In case you missed it: The importance of targeted assessments for school aged children

Last week I did a guest post for The Simply Speech Blog. In case you missed it,  below I offer an explanation why targeted speech language assessments are so important, as well as list helpful resources that will aid you in speech language assessment preparation.

In both my hospital based job and in private practice I do a lot of testing. During staff/caregiver interviews I used to get a laundry list of both specific and non-specific problems by the parents and teachers, which did not always accurately reflect the students true deficits.  Experience quickly taught me that administering general comprehensive language testing to every student simply did not work. Oftentimes the administration of such testing revealed one of two things: Continue reading In case you missed it: The importance of targeted assessments for school aged children

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What is practice effect?

Practice effect is the change in performance  resulting from repeated testing.  In other words if a test is given to the child too soon, then his/her performance may  improve due to the practice effect (remembering the test items).

Why do we need to know about practice effect? Its important to know regarding practice effect  because following retesting we need to know whether the child’s performance has actually improved or is the improvement a result of  retesting provided too soon.

When can the same test be readministered to a child? Major testing companies such as Pearson and Pro-ed use a 2 week interval between readminstrations of developmental tests for the purposes of test-retest reliability. Why do they do that? Well if you wait too long they can’t tell “if differences in scores are due to the test being unreliable or due to developmental factors.”

So how long should we wait to readminister the same test to a child?

Review the test-retest reliability in the manual. Based on those results you will see that if you wait more than two weeks (e.g., 3-4 weeks) following original test administration it should eliminate the practice  effect.   For more information regarding the practice effect in speech language testing click here

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Articulation Assessment ToolKt

I have been looking for a good articulation assessment instrument for quite some time so when Sunny Articulation Test app came my way I was very excited to put it into action by using it with some of my clients.  I wanted to see how this “test” app compared with traditional articulation tests such as Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 or Photo Articulation Test-3.

So here we go:

When you log in the first thing you do is set up a client profile. The process is very simple all you have to do is add the name and birthday and the app will calculate child child’s exact age in years and months. To protect client privacy you may only do the first name without the last name. Continue reading Articulation Assessment ToolKt

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New Webinar: Inattention, Hyperactivity and Impulsivity in At-Risk Children: Differential Diagnosis of ADHD in Speech Language Pathology

 Inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the most common presenting behavioral problems in at-risk children. This workshop will describe select speech language causes of hyperactivity and inattentiveness in children beyond the ADHD diagnosis, including traumatic brain injury, auditory processing disorders, severe language disorders, as well as social pragmatic language deficits.It will review case examples to illustrate the importance of differential diagnosis. Implications for assessment as well as the need for relevant referrals will be discussed.

When: Thursday, January 17, 2013, 4-5 p.m. ET

Where: Your computer*

Presenter: Tatyana Elleseff, MA, CCC-SLP

Cost: FREE

Who Should Attend: Anyone interested in discussing behavioral problems in at-risk children.

How: Register Here