Language Processing Problems: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

By Cindy Gaulin

Language Processing Problems: A Guide for Parents and Teachers is an easy-to-read but thorough treatment of a problem which is quite prevalent but often overlooked. Children (and adults) vary in their language processing capacities. Recognizing this variation can be very useful in understanding why certain children are having unexpected difficulties with school or social interactions. Split-second delays in recognizing words, problems remembering what was said, difficulties finding the word needed or organizing a complex sentence can all interfere with communication. For some children these problems are quite significant in spite of perfectly adequate or even exceptional knowledge of words and grammatical rules.

The book explains, in laymans terms, how people use language to communicate, the components of the language processing system and the types of problems that can arise with its use. In particular an attempt is made to discriminate between language processing problems and other disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and Dyslexia. Guidelines are provided for recognizing language processing problems and for deciding how to proceed toward a solution. The book ends with many suggestions which parents, teachers and children can use to address specific and general language processing problems.

A quick pass through the book finds that it begins with several examples of children who have language processing problems. It then provides down-to-earth descriptions of what language processing is and how we use speech to communicate. This is followed by discussions of the difference between language knowledge and language processing and other psycholinguistic topics such as word recognition and working memory. Distinctions are drawn between input and output processing and between auditory and visual language processing. These topics are followed by a chapter about how children learn to process language.

After this introduction to the workings of language processing, problems with language processing are treated in detail. What are the problems? Who has them? And what causes language processing problems? Confusions of terminology are dealt with and then come two chapters which lay out the intrinsic (genetic) and extrinsic (environmental) factors related to language processing problems. In these chapters I compare and integrate information about related problems which can co-occur or be confused with language processing problems.

The next two long chapters help parents and teachers recognize whether a child has a language processing problem and then decide what to do about it. The first of these chapters is divided into sections dealing with preschoolers, school-age children and high school students. The second chapter helps parents and teachers decide whether a speech-language evaluation is needed, what that evaluation should include, and details various possible treatment routes.

There are four chapters which provide suggestions for improving listening and following directions, verbal memory, word retrieval and organization of language output, respectively. In each chapter there are suggestions for external strategies (to be used by parents and teachers) and internal strategies (to be used by the child) as well as descriptions of the kinds of treatment available from speech-language pathologists for these problems.

A short, final summary is followed by a glossary and references.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 24, 2001
• ISBN: 9781462834617

Cindy Gaulin

Cindy Gaulin, M.A. CCC-SLP, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist with almost 20 years experience helping children with communication difficulties. Her creative work with children draws on her broad undergraduate and graduate training in linguistics, anthropology, psychology and communication disorders. She has worked in clinical, research and educational settings, but has focused primarily on evaluation and treatment of speech and language disorders in children. She earned a master’s degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981 and was awarded the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 1982. She currently spends part of each year evaluating and treating children’s communication disorders and part time developing informational materials about language and speech problems for parents and teachers.

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Copyright © 2000 by Cindy Gaulin.

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This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

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GLOSSARY

WORKS CITED

To the children, their parents and teachers who have made this

happen. And with special thanks to Steve, Tom, Charlotte, Susan

and Merrilee.

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INTRODUCTION

Mandy is nine years old. She is an intelligent and artistic little girl who enjoys school. During class discussions she is alert and seems to be bursting with information to share. But when called on she has trouble answering. She fidgets, repeats herself and can’t seem to find the right words. She uses some gestures to help get her point across, but in the end she may just shrug, saying You know what I mean.

Five-year-old Ryan is cheerful and sociable. But since starting kindergarten he has been having a hard time adjusting to school demands. Often he doesn’t know what he is supposed to do. And he gets in trouble because he talks when he should be listening.

At 15, Jay is a hard worker in school but very quiet. He has a few good friends but is not gregarious. He prefers running track to playing on the baseball team. He gets decent grades except in math. He also complains that it is hard to keep up when taking notes in history class.

Since she began talking her parents have always considered Beth to be brilliant. She has a huge vocabulary and at age four she can already read some simple sentences. True, Beth seems to have her head in the clouds, at times, forgetting the names of common objects and sometimes giving very unusual answers to questions. And she does have a temper, often throwing a tantrum in the worst possible situations. Now that she is in preschool she often seems confused and is becoming withdrawn. Her parents and teachers are worried.

What do these children have in common? Each one of them has a language processing problem which is interfering with some aspects of social and/or academic development. To begin to understand the problems these children have we need to take some time to find out more about how we communicate and what can go wrong with the process.

Being able to communicate by speaking is an incredible ability. It lets us tell others what we need and how we feel. With language we can share information and interact with other humans for any purpose we choose. We often take our spoken communication for granted. After all, almost everyone can talk. We are delighted when our infant begins to use words but we are not really surprised. Normal children are expected to learn to speak and understand language.

Because of this expectation, parents are surprised to learn that a good number of children do not develop speech and language as an easy natural process. A broad range of problems can interfere with language development. Among other things they include hearing impairment, delay in overall development and stroke or other neurological damage occurring before, during or just after birth. And surprisingly, there are quite a number of children who seem to have no clear reason for their difficulty. Fortunately, most children with serious problems which could interfere with language development are identified quite early and they can begin to receive appropriate treatment for their problems. Even those children who do not exhibit impairments in infancy are usually identified by two or three years of age because they are not learning to use language as expected. And then they, too, can begin to receive speech and language therapy to address their specific problems.

However, over and above the children who have readily observable speech and language problems, there is still a group of children who have difficulty with language, but whose problems are hidden. The problems are hidden because what parents observe doesn’t seem to be related to the child’s language skills. If your child can talk and understand what you say and knows plenty of words, you generally assume that his language is normal. If he doesn’t always listen or gets confused or has trouble making friends you are concerned, but it is unlikely that you would attribute these problems to language. If the teacher tells you your child has a tremendous vocabulary, why would you imagine that her difficulties with math might be due to language problems?

The reason hidden language problems are usually overlooked is because our impressions of a person’s language skill are often based on the meaning they convey rather than on how their meaning is expressed. Thus, both casual observation and standardized language tests usually assess a child’s knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. The other side of the language coin is the facility we have to use what we know about language to speak and understand effectively in a variety of situations. This facility is called language processing. The efficiency with which we process language varies. And this variable ability depends on factors such as how we feel and what is going on around us. Language processing can, thus, appear inconsistent and problems can be difficult to pin down.

Spoken language is used by people of all ages and language processing problems can occur at any age. While the information contained in this book will be helpful in understanding the language processing impairments of individuals of any age, it is aimed particularly at the language processing problems encountered by children and young people. My interest in the language processing problems of children has been a direct outgrowth of my clinical work as a pediatric speech-language pathologist. It is also based on my own experiences as a child with mild, but annoying, problems processing language.

This book is my response to the frustration I have seen in children and their parents and teachers when language processing difficulties cause communication breakdown, confusion and behavior problems. Frequently, improvement in communication and attitude begins as soon as parents, teachers and children themselves understand the problem and how to attack it. I hope this book answers the questions you may have about language processing in your own child and in the children you know. And I hope it will provide the information you need to make communication more pleasant and effective.

Because my work has been with children I am particularly interested in and sensitive to the process of language learning. For this reason, the book also addresses the intimate connection between language learning and language processing.

In chapters 1 and 2 of the book you will find a brief and nontechnical overview of the communication process and what researchers have discovered about how our brains normally process language. In order to help you understand various language processing problems chapters 3 and 4 describe the components and modes of language processing. And chapter 5 deals with how children learn to process language.

In chapter 6 we begin to explore the kinds of problems people can have with language processing. Chapter 7 helps to sort out some confusions of terminology that have arisen in the areas of language and auditory processing. Chapters 8 and 9 deal with individual and environmental factors that relate to language processing problems and explore the similarities and differences between language processing problems and a number of related disorders. Chapter 10 summarizes the kinds of problems children have with language processing and touches on the complex interaction between the type and severity of the problem and the child’s strengths and weaknesses in other areas.

Chapter 11 provides information to help you recognize the signs of language processing difficulty in your child. This chapter will help you see how apparently unrelated behaviors at home, at school and at play may be attributable to difficulties processing language. In chapter 12 information is provided about getting a professional evaluation of your child’s language processing ability and about various possible treatment plans. Chapter 13 provides general guidelines about what parents and teachers can do to help.

Finally, chapters 14 through 17 give specific ideas about what you can do to make language interactions go more smoothly. There are many suggestions that parents and teachers can try. In addition there are suggestions that will help your child take an active part in improving his or her communicative interactions and school performance. In each of these four chapters there is also information about the kinds of treatment a speech-language pathologist could provide for your child.

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BACKGROUND

What is