ERIC ED371528: Language Sample Analysis: The Wisconsin Guide. Bulletin 92424.

194 Pages·3.9 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 371 528
EC 303 115
AUTHOR
Leadholm, Barbara J.; Miller, Jon F.
TITLE
Language Sample Analysis: The Wisconsin Guide.
Bulletin 92424.
INSTITUTION
Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Instruction,
Madison.
PUB DATE
Jan 94
NOTE
200p.
-
AVAILABLE FROM
Publication Sales, Wisconsin Department of Public
Inztruction, Drawer 179, Milwaukee, WI 53293-0179.
PUB TYPE
Guides
Non-Classroom Use (055) -- Reports
Research/Technical (143)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC08 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Case Studies; Cultural Differences; Dialogs
(Language); Disabilities; *Disability Identification;
Educational Diagnosis; Elementary Se,:ondary
Education; Expressive Language; *Instructional
Development; Intervention; *Language Impairments;
*Language Tests; *Sampling; Student Evaluation
IDENTIFIERS
*Language Sample Analysis; Wisconsin
ABSTRACT
yhis publication discusses the role of Language
Sample Analysis (LSA) in identifying language disorders, providing
detail necessary to initiate a focused intervention pr.,gram, and
providing a method for monitoring progress in language intervention.
Section 1 provides an overview of the LSA process and types of
language disorders, while Section 2 discusses the sampling process in
detail. Section 3 describes the transcription process and coding
conventions; Section 4 describes analytical procedures that cover
various aspects of productive language. A step-by-step review of a
case study is included in Section 5. Section 6 reviews the issues and
concerns in documenting language disorders in linguistically and
culturally diverse populations as well as in children with cognitive,
sensory, or 1:otor deficits. Section 7 explains how language sample
analysis is ap?lied in the evaluation team process. Appendices
contain: (1) the Reference Database, a set of ctiterion-referenced
measures of language performance for children ages 3-13;
(2)
transcript entry conventions for computer and hand analysis
procedures; (3) a list of approximately 50 resources for further
information;
(4) glossary of terms;
(5) information on
cost-effectiveness of LSA;
(6) sample case studies; and (7) materials
on how to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse
children. References accompany most sections. (JDD)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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Language Sample Analysis:
The Wisconsin Guide
Uarbara J. Leadholm
Consultant
Speech and Language Handicapped Programs
Jon F. Miller
Professor, Uthversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Waisman Center on Mental Retardation
and Human Development
400coivirtio
DPI
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Madison, Wisconsin
3
This publication is available from:
Publication Sales
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Drawer 179
Milwaukee, WI 53293-0179
X 800 243-8782
Bulletin No. 92424
Reviewed and Approved for Reprint January 1994
@ 1992 by Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
does not discriminate
on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
age or handicap.
Printed on Recycled Paper
4
Contents of the Guide
Page
Foreword
Acknowledgments
vfi
Introduction
ix
The Need for Language Sample Analysis
1
Purpose
2
Language and the Educational Process
2
What Constitutes a Language Disorder?
3
Recent Discoveries
7
Summary
13
Language Sampling
2
Introduction
16
Conversational Versus Narrative Samples
18
Collecting Samples for Comparison with the RDB
20
Transcription Aids
21
22
11mn script Length
Summary
24
Transcription
3
Introduction
26
The Basic Goals of the Format
26
Standard Transcription Format
29
Transcription Aids
32
Models of the Transcription Process
32
Summary
33
4
Analysis
Introduction
36
G-etting Started
36
Measurements of Developmental Progress
36
Measures of Disordered Performance
39
Other Measures of General Interest
43
The Advantages of Computer-Aided Analysis
46
Resources for Detailed Analyses
49
Interpretation
5
Using the Reference Database
54
Summarizing Assessment Data
56
Putting It All Together
60
Summary
69
6
Applications of LSA for Diverse Populations
Purpose
72
Distinguishing Language and Cultural Differences from Language Disorders
72
Using LSA to Identify and Describe Disordered Language Performance
75
Evaluating Students with Cognitive, Sensory, and Motor Disabilities
76
Summary
78
7
LSA and the M-Team Process
Determining Exceptional Educational Need
84
Intzeasing the Consistency of Identification
89
Final Remarks
89
8
Appendixes
A. Reference Database
92
B. Software Information
126
C. Loban's Analysis of Oral Language
141
D. Resources
149
E. Glossary
154
F. Cost Effectiveness
160
G. Sample Case Studies
161
H. Dialectal and Bilingual Considerations
178
6
iv
Foreword
Wisconsin has long been a leader in the field of education. It is a state committed to
In order to meet that
providing all students a free, appropriate public education.
commitment, we, as educators, must be diligent in our efforts to continually monitor our
methods of evaluation, intervention strategies, and programs developed for students with
identified exceptional educational needs.
This publication (along with follow-up training) has been developed as a result cf that
commitment. For many years, speech and language pathologists and directors of special
education have been requesting more specific guidance to assist them in identifying
students with oral communication disabilities.
It is anticipated that the information presented in this publication about language
sample analysis (LSA) and data collected in Wisconsin over the past nine years will increase
the utilization, consistency, and reliability of language sampling for children in the state
with suspected or identified language production disabilities. It will also provide a detailed
description of language performance from which a specific intervention plan can be
developed. This information is also a great heli; in effectively monitoring the specific
progress of children receiving intervention.
I encourage you to expand your knowledge and use of language sample analysis. The
cost effective technologies described within this publication will provide greater consis-
tency in the identification of children with ex.pressive language disabilities among speech
and language pathologists within Wisconsin school districts.
John T. Benson
State Superintendent
7
Acknowledgments
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction gratefully acknowledges the contribu-
tions of a number of dedicated people who have given their valuable time, talent, and
expertise to the development of this publication. Thanks and appreciation is also due their
local school districts for allowing participation on this task force, despite other pressing
Our thanks go to the following individuals involved in the
district responsibilities.
development of this publication:
Christine Freiberg
Jim Larson
Director of Special Education
Speech/Language Pathologist
Wausau School District
CESA 9
Wausau
Tomahawk
Kathleen Lyngaas
Surita Hall-Smith
Speech/Language Pathologist
Supervisor of Speech/Language
Program Support Teacher
and Hearing Impaired Programs
Madison Metropolitan School District
Green Bay Area School District
Madison
Green Bay
.Pat Johnson
Teri Mills
District Administrator
Elementary Principal
K-12 Curriculum Coordinator
Lodi School District
Johnson Creek School District
Lodi
Johnson Creek
Barbara Rademaker
Carol Schmidt
Speech/Language Disabilities
Speech/Language Pathologist
Program Supervisor
Mosinee School District
Milwaukee Public Schools
Mosinee
Milwaukee
Teresa Goodier
Speech/Language Pathologist
Program Support Teacher
CESA 10
Chippewa Falls
Special recognition and thanks goes to:
Dr. Brent Zimmerman, Business Manager, Mosinee, for his diligence in keeping our
project fiscally sound.
The Speech and Language Pathologists from the Madison Metropolitan School
District and CESA 9, without whose work in LSA this publication would not be
possible.
Department of Public Instruction staff to be thanked are Margaret T. Dwyer, text
editor; Victoria Rettenmund, graphic artist, Dianne Penman, management information
technician; Hazel Fedro, word processing operator, Lisa Isgitt and Jessica Early,
proofreaders.
vii
Introduction
Language sample analysis (LSA) has long been considered as one of the best evaluative
procedures of expressive language performance. Several factors, however, have limited its
general use including a lack of standardized procedures for eliciting language samples,
validated measurement categories, normative data, and relevant interpretation strategies.
Over the past several years, each of these issues has received attention from funded
research projects conducted in Wisconsin's public schools. The results have led to the
development of standardized language sampling procedures, language sample norms, and
interpretation strategies, all of which can be used in the evaluation process for determining
the existence of a handicapping condition in expressive language production..The resulting
data also have direct implications for determining special education program intervention
strategies, and in monitoring student progress.
The goal of this publieation is to share information about Language Sample Analysis
(LSA) and to explain
why it is critical to the appropriate evaluation of students;
who it should benefit;
how it can be accomplished; and
what information it will provide.
The development of this guide was motivated by several issues: the continued statewide
increase in speech and language prevalence rates; requests from speech and language
pathologists (SLPs) to provide guidelines which will assist in the appropriate determination
of a handicapping condition; and a need for statewide norms of expressive language
production. When the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) SLPs first met in
1982 to consider how they could effectively implement LSA in a school environment, they
identified two goals as central to success. The first was the establishment of a standard
methoL 3f collecting, recording, transcribing, and analyzing language samples. The second
was the need for a referenced database of typically developing school-age children that
would lead to consistent interpretation of test results. This group of SLPs met the first goal
when they developed a functional approach to collection, transcription, and analysis of
language samples.
Meeting the second goal was more difficult because it required the collection oflanguage
samples of typically developing children in standard speaking conditions. This project was
undertaken in 1984 by the MMSD and the Language Analysis Laboratory of the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. The result has been the development of the Reference Database
(RDB), a set of criterion referenced measures of language performance for children three to
13 years of age. The Madison sample contained 192 children, three, four, five, six, seven,
nine, 11, and 13 years of age, with 27 to 30 children in each group. Application of the RDB
statewide raised issues regarding the representativeness of the Madison children, particu-
larly rural populations. To evaluate this question, CESA-9 and the Language Analysis Lab
in 1987 collected samples from 90 children from rural north-central Wisconsin, 30 each at
three, five, and seven years of age. Comparison of these samples with the MMSD data
revealed no significant statistical differences between them on developmental measures of
language performance. The RDB, which combines both of these data sets, can be found in
Appendix A. The combined total of students in the RDB is 266.
ix
9
This guide extends the
use of Language Sample Analysis in school settings in three
important ways. First, it provides
a standard methodology for conducting LSA in school
settings; second, it includes a set of data derived
from Wisconsin children to aid speech and
language pathologists' interpretations of language
sample analysis; and third, it catego-
rizes different types of productive language
impairment developed by school-based speech
and language pathologists.
Section 1 provides an overview of the language
sampling analysis process and types of
language disorders while Section 2 discusses
the sampling process in detail. Section 3
describes the transcription process and coding
conventions; Section 4 describes analytical
procedures that cover various aspects of productive
a
language. A step-by-step review of
case study is included in Section 5 to assist in the interpretation
of data provided by the
RDB as well as the development of intervention
plans for the child's Individualized
Education Program (IEP). Section 6 reviews
the issues and concerns in documenting
language disorders in linguistically and
culturally diverse populations
as well as in
children with cognitive,
sensory, or motor deficits.
Finally, Section 7 explains how
language sample analysis applies to the M-team
process.
Appendix A includes the Reference Database.
Transcript entry conventions for
com-
puter and hand analysis procedures make
up Appendixes B and C. Appendix D contains
additional resources for further information
on LSA and related topics. A glossary of terms
used in this guide can be found in Appendix
E. Appendix F contains information
on the
cost-effectiveness of LSA that might be of interest
to administrators. Appendix G has
sample case studies that SLPs
can use to assess different kinds of language problems.
Finally, Appendix H contains material
on how to meet the needs of linguistically and
culturally diverse children (LCD).
A basic level of training in the principles
and assumptions underlying lan-
guage sample analysis is assumed. This guide is meant
to augment existing
knowledge and experience in assessing productive
language using Language
Sample Analysis techniques.
Training materials developed by the Department of
Public Instruction will be provided
following the publication of this document
to help further facilitate the dissemination of this
material and provide the "hands on" training needed
for implementation.
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