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Introduction to Language

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Typical Development of Speech and Language (Heward 2006) ... phonation disorder causes the voice to sound breathy, hoarse, husky, or strained ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Introduction to Language


1
Introduction to Language
2
Overview
  • Typical Language Development
  • Definitions
  • Communication Disorders
  • Biological Theory of Language
  • Cognitive ( Current) Theory of Language
  • Definitions
  • Environmental Theory of Language
  • Skinners Analysis of Verbal Behavior

3
Typical Development of Speech and Language
(Heward 2006)
  • Most children follow a relatively predictable
    sequence in their acquisition of speech and
    language
  • Birth to 6 months Communication by smiling,
    crying, and babbling
  • 7 months to 1 year Babbling becomes
    differentiated
  • 1 to 1.6 years Learns to say several words
  • 1.6 to 2 years Word spurt begins
  • 2 to 3 years Talks in sentences, vocabulary
    grows
  • 3 years on Vocabulary grows
  • Knowledge of normal language development can help
    determine whether a child is developing language
    at a slower-than-normal rate or whether the child
    shows an abnormal pattern of language development

9-3
4
Definitions (Heward 2006)
  • Communication involves encoding, transmitting,
    and decoding messages
  • Communication involves
  • A message
  • A sender who expresses the message
  • A receiver who responds to the message
  • Functions of communication
  • Narrating
  • Explaining/informing
  • Requesting
  • Expressing

5
Definitions (cont.) (Heward 2006)
  • Language is a formalized code that a group of
    people use to communicate
  • The five dimensions of language
  • Phonology-Rules determining how sounds can be
    sequenced
  • Morphology-Rules for the meaning of sounds (e.g.,
    un, pro, con)
  • Syntax-Rules for a languages grammar
  • Semantics- Rules for the meaning of words
  • Pragmatics-Rules for communication (prosody,
    gestures, intonation)
  • Classification system of words nouns, verbs,
    prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc.
  • Speech is the oral production of language
  • Speech sounds are the product of four related
    processes
  • Respiration-Breathing that provides power
  • Phonation-Production of sound by muscle
    contraction
  • Resonation-Sound quality shaped by throat
  • Articulation-Formation of recognizable speech by
    the mouth
  • Mean length of utterances (MLU) - Average length
    of a sample 100 child utterances computed by
    dividing the total number of morphemes in the
    sample by the number of utterances

6
Communication Disorders Defined (Heward 2006)
  • ASHA definition
  • http//www.asha.org/public/speech/development/lang
    uage_speech.htm
  • An impairment in the ability to receive, send,
    process, and comprehend concepts of verbal,
    nonverbal and graphic symbols systems
  • IDEA definition
  • A communication disorder, such as stuttering,
    impaired articulation, a language impairment, or
    a voice impairment that adversely affects a
    childs educational performance

7
Speech Impairments and Language Disorders (Heward
2006)
  • Types of speech impairments
  • Articulation disorders
  • Fluency disorders
  • Voice disorders
  • Language disorders
  • Children who have difficulty understanding
    language have a receptive language disorder
  • Children who have difficulty producing language
    have an expressive language disorder
  • Communication differences are not disorders
  • The way each of us speaks is the result of a
    complex mix of influences

8
Characteristics
  • Speech sound errors
  • Distortions
  • Substitutions
  • Omissions
  • Additions
  • Fluency disorders
  • Stuttering and cluttering are examples of fluency
    disorders
  • Voice disorders
  • A phonation disorder causes the voice to sound
    breathy, hoarse, husky, or strained
  • Resonance disorders are hypernasality or
    hyponasality
  • Language impairments
  • An expressive language impairment interferes with
    production of language
  • A receptive language impairment interferes with
    understanding of language

9
3 Theories of Language (Sundberg, 2007)
  • Linguistic theory can be classified into three
    general, and often overlapping views
  • Biological
  • Cognitive Traditional
  • Environmental

10
Biological Theory of Language (Sundberg, 2007)
  • Language is a function of physiological processes
    and functions
  • Language is innate to humans and has little to do
    with environmental variables, such as
    reinforcement and stimulus control
  • Proponents Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker
  • No current applications of Chomsky or Pinker to
    autism treatment

11
Cognitive Traditional Theory of Language
(Sundberg, 2007)
  • Language is controlled by internal processing
    systems that accept, classify, encode, and store
    verbal information
  • Language has less to do with environmental
    variables, such as reinforcement and stimulus
    control
  • Language is viewed as receptive and expressive,
    and the two are referred to as communicative
    behavior that is controlled by cognitive
    processors
  • Proponents Piaget, traditional speech-language
    pathology
  • Cognitive theory, and its receptive-expressive
    framework dominates the current language
    assessment and intervention programs for children
    with autism

12
  • Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947), prominent
    British mathematician, logician and philosopher
  • Over dinner at Harvard in 1934
  • ....Whitehead... agreed that science might be
    successful in accounting for human behavior
    provided one made an exception of verbal
    behavior. Here, he insisted something else must
    be at work. He brought the discussion to a close
    with a friendly challenge Let me see you, he
    said, account for my behavior as I sit here
    saying No black scorpion is falling upon this
    table. The next morning I drew up the outline
    of the present study. (Skinner, 1957, p. 457).

13
Environmental Theory of Language (Sundberg, 2007)
  • Language is learned behavior that is acquired,
    extended, and maintained like any other behavior
  • Under the control of environmental contingencies
  • Term verbal behavior was first used by Skinner
    in his 1957 book Verbal Behavior
  • Verbal Behaviorwill, I believe, prove to be my
    most important work (Skinner, 1978, p. 122)
  • The analysis of verbal behavior involves the same
    behavioral principles and concepts that make up
    the analysis of nonverbal behavior. No new
    principles of behavior are required.
  • Chapter 1 of Verbal Behavior is entitled A
    Functional Analysis of Verbal Behavior

14
A Functional Analysis of Language Focuses on the
Causes of the Response (Sundberg, 2007)
Discriminative Stimulus (SD)
Response Reinforcement Motivating
Operation (MO) Punishment
Extinction
15
Skinners Environmental Account of
Language(Sundberg, 2007)
  • A common misconception
  • that Skinner rejects the traditional
    classification of language
  • But its not the traditional classification or
    description of the response he found fault with
  • Its the failure to account for the causes or
    functions of the verbs, nouns, sentences, etc.
  • The traditional linguistic classification of
    words, sentences, and phrases as expressive and
    receptive language blends important functional
    distinctions among types of operant behavior, and
    appeals to cognitive explanations for the causes
    of language behavior
  • The unit of analysis Skinner proposed is the
    verbal operant
  • MO/SD Response Consequence

16
Verbal Behavior(Skinner, 1957)
  • Definition of verbal behavior behavior
    reinforced through the mediation of other persons
    (who are trained to do so)
  • Reinforcement is indirect
  • Doesnt mean vocal. Can include speaking,
    writing, typing, signing, crying, pointing,
    clapping
  • Contrast with nonverbal behavior the behavior of
    an individual that has been reinforced through
    the direct manipulation of the environment
  • Doesnt mean nonvocal

17
  • Nonverbal
  • Verbal

MO You want some ice cream
Response Open the freezer door
Reinforcer See yummy Tin Roof
Reinforcer Friend opens door and you see yummy
Tin Roof
MO You want some ice cream
Response Open the freezer door
18
What is unique about language?(Michael, 2004)
19
Why didnt Skinner use terms everyone else
already knew? (Skinner, 1957)
  • Speech
  • Emphasizes vocal behavior
  • Awkward to apply it to other topographies of
    verbal behavior
  • Speaking, writing, signing, finger spelling,
    Braille, Morse code
  • Not all vocal behavior is verbal
  • Vocal verbal behavior behavior of vocal
    organs that also meets the definition of vb
  • Practice!
  • Language
  • Refers to the practices of a community rather
    than the behavior of an individual
  • Verbal behavior
  • Emphasizes the individual speaker
  • Specifies behavior shaped and maintained by
    mediated consequences
  • Has the advantage of being relatively unfamiliar
    in traditional modes of explanation (p. 2)

20
Examples
21
References
  • American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
    (n.d.). What is language? What is speech?
    Retrieved January 12, 2008, from
    http//www.asha.org/public/speech/development/lang
    uage_speech.htm
  • Heward, W. L. (2006). Exceptional Children An
    Introduction to Special Education (8th ed.).
    Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall (ISBN
    0-13-056479-6).
  • Merriam-Webster (2007-2008). Online dictionary
    language. Retrieved January 12, 2008 from
    http//www.m-w.com/dictionary/language
  • Michael, J. (2001). Objective 3, Unit 4
    Verbal behavior. In Verbal Behavior. Class
    conducted at Western Michigan University Behavior
    Analysis Program.
  • Michael, J. (2004, August). B.F. Skinners
    elementary verbal relations. In ABA IV. Class
    conducted at the Pennsylvania State University
    Behavior Analysis Program.
  • Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Acton,
    MA Copley Publishing Group.
  • Skinner, B. F. (1978). Reflections on behaviorism
    and society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall.
  • Sundberg, M.L. (2007, August). B.F. Skinners
    analysis of verbal behavior. In ABA IV. Class
    conducted at the Pennsylvania State University
    Behavior Analysis Program.

22
Due Wed
  • Article Outline (AO) Horner et al. (2005)
  • Green (2001),
  • Ghezzi, Williams Carr Chap 3
  • Luisellie Chaps 1-3
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