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Home | What's New | Articles Archive | Washington Archive | Resources Archive | Positions Archive | Reviews Archive | Links | Conferences | About Us |
Mary Sweig Wilson, Bernard J. Fox, and Jeffrey P. Pascoe
"...I think it is fair to say that more has been learned about language in the last twenty years than in the preceding 2,000 years."
Noam Chomsky, 2002, p. 95
Over the past twenty years, as our knowledge of language grew so did our understanding of how very small children manage to master the intricacies of language. Our increased understanding of how typically developing children acquire language has helped us in the design of improved language intervention programs for those children struggling with language development. The programs in Laureate's Sterling Editions Language Starter Package are based on developments in theory and research over the past twenty years. Six programs are included in the package. Developmentally, the first program in the package is Creature Chorus, which is designed to introduce concepts of cause and effect, turn taking, and use of a touch sensitive screen, mouse, or other interface device. The next programs are First Words, First Verbs, and First Words II Sterling Editions. These programs can be introduced when a student's language functioning level is around nine months of age. They provide direct instruction intervention from the emergence of first words through the establishment of an early core vocabulary or lexicon. Towards the end of the one-word stage, Simple Sentence Structure Sterling Editions can be introduced to help a child establish English Subject-Verb-Object word order. At this point First Categories Sterling Editions that trains six early developing superordinate categories (Animals, Food, Clothing, Body Parts, Furniture, and Vehicles) can also be introduced. In this monograph we describe the theory and research background of these programs as well as the special features that will help you deliver effective language intervention to the students you serve.
In the mid-twentieth century, Noam Chomsky's linguistic proposals triggered a revolution in linguistic theory (Chomsky, 1955; 1957). Suddenly the focus of linguistic inquiry shifted from description to explanation. Chomsky proposed that a grammar of a language account for how sentences are generated, hence the term generative grammar. From its inception, generative grammar has been concerned with not only adult knowledge of language but also how language is acquired. There is no longer any doubt that typically developing children acquire language primarily through exposure rather than direct tutelage. Linguists now accept that all human languages share a common underlying structure. While the lexicon or vocabulary of a language must be learned, structure is based on universal principles. It has been over two decades since Chomsky introduced the Principles and Parameters Theory (PPT Chomsky, 1979; 1981) which has become the dominant linguistic theory. In the PPT, biologically based linguistic universals guide the course of language acquisition. Without an innate capacity, or Universal Grammar (UG), human beings would be unable to acquire and master a language. In linguistic theory, UG consists of a set of universal invariant Principles and a small set of Parameters whose setting vary across languages in binary fashion.
The Parameters account for most of the syntactic variations among human languages (Atkinson, 1992; Baker, 2001; Chomsky, 1981; Crain, 1991; Leonard & Loeb, 1988; Radford, 1990; Radford, 1997; Roeper & Williams, 1987; Wexler 1998). Parameters determine such things as word order in a language and whether question words (e.g. Who, What, How) move to the front of a sentence (they do in English, they don't in Chinese). In terms of word order, English follows a pattern of Subject-Verb-Object. This order is determined by two different parameters. One of them, the Head-Complement Parameter, determines whether the Complement (or Object) of a phrase comes before or after the phrase's Head. For example, in an English Verb Phrase the Verb or Head comes first or before its Complement or object ("hit the ball" Head=Hit, Complement=Ball). In other languages the Head comes last, that is the Verb follows the Complement. The other Parameter that must be set in determining word order in a language is the Subject-Side or Specifier Parameter. Subjects can come either before or after the Verb. In English the Specifier or Subject comes first ("The boy hit the ball" Specifier=Boy); in other languages it comes last.
The acquisition of language competence can be viewed as a matter of "setting" grammatical parameters through exposure to appropriate receptive language input combined with the learning of a lexicon. Understanding Parameters and the receptive language experiences that "trigger" or "set" them can lead to intervention strategies that are more effective because they suggest the specific linguistic experiences that may optimize or correct the process of language acquisition on a fundamental (versus symptomatic) level. The model suggests that the most successful language intervention should emphasize linguistic input that is likely to interact with innate factors that shape language acquisition, and is likely to "set" the grammatical parameters of the child's native language (Atkinson, 1992; Hyams, 1986; Lightfoot, 1991; Roeper & Williams, 1987).
The Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995, 2002) represents the latest effort within the PPT. As its name suggests, the goal of the Minimalist Program is to reduce the complexity of linguistic theory and enhance its explanatory power (Chomsky, 1995; Abraham, Epstein, Thràinsson, & Zwart, 1996; for a recent overview of the Minimalist Program by Noam Chomsky see "An Interview on Minimalism," Chomsky 2002). The Minimalist Program completely eliminates the complex transformational rules of earlier versions of generative grammar in favor of a simpler, more elegant system of describing and explaining syntactic forms.One key feature of the Minimalist Program is its emphasis on the role of the lexicon in grammar. Each representation of a word in the lexicon or "mental word dictionary" consists not only of phonological and semantic properties (sound and meaning), but also syntactic features such as categorial membership (i.e., whether it is a Noun, Verb, Determiner, etc.), inflectional behavior (e.g., how it is marked for number, person, and gender), and it's syntactic Argument Structure (e.g., run requires only one Argument Structure, a subject "The girl runs"; kiss requires two Argument Structures, a subject and an object "The father kisses the baby"; and give requires three arguments "The girl gives the baby a toy."). In other words, the Minimalist Program assumes that a complete lexical entry includes the specific roles a word can play in the structure of language and the appropriate form of that word in a given grammatical context. Unlike in past generative grammar theories, lexical entries can enter the grammatical computational system or sentence forming process already in a fully inflected state (Abraham, Epstein, Thràinsson & Zwart, 1996; Chomsky, 1995; Epstein, Thráinsson & Zwart, 1996). This means for example if the intended sentence referred to the past, a word like "paint" would enter the computational system as "painted" with the -ed ending already affixed.
At Laureate, we have followed the new developments in language science with keen interest. As the concepts regarding the nature of language and its acquisition began to coalesce, we saw exciting implications for improving language intervention content. We have always been guided by the concept that linguistics must form the content bases of language intervention (what to teach) and that psycholinguistic research and instructional technology helps us determine effective training strategies (how to teach). The exciting advances in linguistic theory and language acquisition research have provided the bases for improved language intervention programs.
The PPT, the Minimalist Program, and observations from child language research all stress the importance of appropriate receptive language input. Laureate's Sterling Editions Language Starter Package has five programs covering early vocabulary, categorization, and syntax. First Words, First Verbs, and First Words II focus on early vocabulary acquisition, First Categories trains early superordinate categories (e.g. animal, food, clothing), and Simple Sentence Structure is designed to promote word order parameter setting. All use receptive language training strategies.
Developing an early core lexicon is an important step in the acquisition of language. First Words, First Verbs, and First Words II use illustrations (and, in the case of the two Noun programs, photographs as well) of each word together with the spoken word to promote basic semantic vocabulary development. The paired stimulus presentation strengthens the association between the lexical representation of a word and the perceptual-cognitive properties the word is intended to reference.
The acquisition of word meaning, however, describes only part of what a child is learning in the single-word stage of language development. Contemporary linguistic theory emphasizes that the child must also be learning about the Parameters of the language being acquired - the grammatical options that distinguish one language from another. Further, children are learning a great deal about the inflectional properties of the language they are acquiring. That such grammatical learning occurs during the early single-word stage is evidenced by the rapid progression of syntactic competence: typically, at about 12 months a child will begin to produce isolated words with no evidence of grammatical marking. Within another six months or so, however, the child will begin to produce forms such as Determiner "No" (e.g. "No shoe") and progressive Verb marker -ing (e.g. "running"). There is evidence that by this time a number of crucial parameters have already been set. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff showed that when children as young as sixteen months (still in the one word stage) were presented with televisions showing Big Bird tickling Cookie Monster and vice versa, and then were told, "Oh look! Big Bird is tickling Cookie Monster!" or vice versa, they preferentially attended to the appropriate visual stimulus (Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Fletcher, et al., 1985).
In the earliest stages of language acquisition, children are learning not only vocabulary but also the lexical features associated with the grammar of their language. Within the PPT, the lexicon is divided into content words or Lexical Categories (e.g., Noun, Verb, Adjective) and non-content elements or Functional Categories that serve essentially grammatical functions. The Functional Categories include Determiners (the D-System), Inflections (the I-System), and Complementizers (the C-System).
More recently, Baker (2003) has presented convincing arguments for including Prepositions among the Functional Categories. Like the other members of that group, Prepositions are a closed class of words. While languages freely add Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives to the lexicon, this is not the case with the Functional Categories.
While many of the earliest multi-morpheme utterances may consist of bare Noun and Verb Phrases, Functional Categories are apparent from the time typically developing children enter the two-word stage. As the Functional Categories are acquired, the hierarchical nature of sentences begins to emerge. The process of joining elements to form larger units is called Merge. Nouns Merge with Determiners and become Determiner Phrases. Verbs Merge with Inflectional elements and become Inflectional Phrases. Hence, for example (functional elements in bold):
N |
V |
DP |
XXIP | ||
Ball |
Roll |
comes
to be replaced by |
The
ball is rolling |
||
This developmental step generally does not proceed smoothly for children with language disorders, however. In fact, one certain conclusion that can be drawn from the research is that Functional Categories are especially problematic for children with language disorders (e.g., Bedore & Leonard, 1998; Leonard 1995, 1998; Rice, 1998; Rice, Wexler, & Cleave, 1995; Rice, Wexler, & Hershberger, 1998; Roeper & Seymour, 1994; Wilson & Pascoe, 1999; Wilson, 2000).
Current linguistic theory and research suggests that even early language intervention intended to develop the lexicon should not merely focus on teaching the phonological and semantic features of the lexical categories such as Nouns and Verbs. Rather, intervention should also place considerable emphasis on illustrating the use of the Functional Categories in association with those Nouns and Verbs in various syntactic settings. Without this input, children with language impairments will find it more difficult to establish a rich and complete lexicon and to acquire syntax. Nouns, for example, should be presented in singular and plural forms in conjunction with appropriate Determiners. Verbs should be appropriately inflected and presented in ways that illustrate their morphological variety in an assortment of common syntactic settings
The linguistic theory and research implications for language intervention provided direction as we designed our new Sterling Editions Language Starter Package programs. We have included a number of instructional components to facilitate the acquisition of language from developing a core vocabulary and establishing superordinate categorization abilities to providing training designed to trigger the word order Parameters to their English Subject-Verb-Object settings. In designing the early vocabulary training programs, First Words, First Verbs, and First Words II we enhanced traditional approaches based on current research findings. During instruction and feedback, words in training are always presented in the context of full sentences. The sentences employed are designed to provide systematic receptive language input illustrating functional elements associated with the Lexical Category of the word being trained. In the case of Noun instruction, these include D-System features such as the use of articles (a, the) before and after reference is established, and the proper use of prenominal determiners in singular and plural contexts (This/These). In the case of Verbs, systematic input illustrates the I-System elements associated with Verbs. Verbs are more complex than Nouns, however, so in addition to including examples of I-System elements, we have included systematic receptive input focusing on Argument Structure(s) and Thematic Roles (e.g. Agent, Theme) associated with each Verb. First Verbs includes examples of Verbs with only one Argument Structure also known as Intransitive Verbs (e.g. run, jump), Transitive Verbs with two required arguments (e.g. hit, wash), and finally Ditransitive Verbs with three required arguments (e.g. give, bring). Since the I-System associated with Verbs assigns Nominative Case, instruction also includes the substitution of proper Nouns with third person Nominative Case pronouns (he, she, they, and it). Furthermore, once a student has moved past the basic training levels, each word is associated with a unique reinforcement animation that provides additional examples of the word in full sentences. Nouns are presented in additional sentences that illustrate D-System constructions; i.e., the Noun is Merged with a determiner to form a DP. Included are sentences featuring articles, pronouns, the Genitive (Possessive) 's inflection, and DPs that include one or more Adjectives. In the case of Verbs, these sentences provide receptive language input illustrating the I-System; i.e., several morphological forms of the verb (e.g., past tense, simple present, third person singular, and future modal "will") in complete sentences. All this happens during reinforcement animation, at a point when one would expect the student's attention might be most fully engaged.
In establishing a core lexicon, First Words I and II Sterling Editions are training basic level categories. Categorization is a key language and concept development capacity. In terms of objects, three levels of categorization have been described: basic, superordinate, and subordinate (Rosch et. al 1976). The basic level consists of Nouns representing object groups (e.g. dog, apple, chair). This level then is essentially one of object labeling and is associated with the establishment of an initial noun vocabulary. It is at this level that semantic divisions are applied to abstract categories of objects in the world. The number of members in a basic level semantic category can be infinite. For example, there is no practical limit to the number of different dogs, apples, or chairs in the world. The superordinate level is more general than the basic level and includes heterogeneous items. For example "furniture," is a superordinate category that includes such diverse objects as chairs, tables, and dressers. The subordinate level is the most specific (e.g. Poodles, Boxers, Golden Retrievers). In terms of order of acquisition, basic level categories are acquired first, followed by superordinate categories, and finally subordinate categories (Mervis & Crisafi 1982).
After clients have mastered a core basic category level Noun lexicon, they can be introduced to concepts of superordinate categorization. A broad range of persons with language impairments encounter problems with categorization. First Categories Sterling Edition was designed to address these problems by providing instructionally sound yet captivating intervention. The program tests and trains six superordinate semantic categories (Animals, Food, Body Parts, Clothing, Furniture, and Vehicles) using ten basic level semantic categories (e.g. chair, hat, nose) for each superordinate category. The categories and noun exemplars are based on both child and adult research (Battig & Montague 1969; Carroll & White 1973; Posnansky 1978; Rosch et. al. 1976; Schaeffer, Lewis & Van Decar 1971).
Another program appropriate for use in the late one-word stage and beyond is Simple Sentence Structure Sterling Edition that focuses on training to assist in setting the word order Parameters. For children who have begun working with the Early Vocabulary Development Series Sterling Edition, the exposure to the vast variety of sentences may be sufficient to set the word order Parameters for English, an important last one-word early two-word stage development. While the incidental Parameter setting training provided in the Sterling Editions early vocabulary programs can be expected to have assisted most children in setting the Parameters associated with canonical sentence form in English (Subject-Verb-Object word order), some may still need additional training to trigger these Parameter settings. For these children,we have designed Simple Sentence Structure Sterling Edition. The Principles and Parameters Model suggests that the acquisition of syntactic competence can be viewed as a matter of "setting" grammatical Parameters through exposure to appropriate receptive language input. In the acquisition of canonical word order, two Parameters are key:
Wexler (1994) has proposed that the Complement-Head and Specifier-Head Parameters are the only two Parameters that need to be set in order to establish base word order in any language. In the case of English, these Parameters are set to Complement-Final (Complements follow the Head of a phrase) and Specifier-First (Specifiers precede the Head), yielding the canonical Subject-Verb-Object or SVO word order. In the phrase "hits the ball," the Head of the phrase is "hits" and the Complement (or object) is "ball."
Sentence Structure Sterling Edition was designed to provide what are believed to be salient "triggering" data for setting the Head-Parameter and Specifier-Parameter which determine the Subject-Verb-Object word order of English. The program systematically takes the student through contrasting Verbs, contrasting Complements (Objects), contrasting Specifiers (Subjects), and finally to a set of reversible sentences (e.g. The girl is splashing the boy/The boy is splashing the girl).
Following the progression suggested by current linguistic theory, the next step in the Sterling Editions language intervention progression is the training of specific D, I, and C-System forms in appropriate developmental order. These Sterling Editions are currently under development.
The instructional approach employed in the Sterling Editions language programs is the emphasis on comprehension or receptive language training. Research has shown that language is acquired through listening not speaking. Language input provides the data necessary to trigger Parameter setting. Pinker (1994) stated this succinctly when he wrote,
"It is not surprising that grammar development does not depend on overt practice, because actually saying something aloud, as opposed to listening to what other people say, does not provide the child with information about the language he or she is trying to learn." (Pinker 1994, p. 280)
All the Sterling Editions programs provide salient receptive language input designed to draw attention to the vocabulary, concepts, and forms being trained.
The well-established learning principles of behavioral analysis (Holland and Skinner 1961) provide an additional foundation for instructional design in the Sterling Edition s. Especially important is the approach of explicit instruction employed. Explicit instruction uses carefully controlled instruction and stimulus presentation. Over the past thirty years research has demonstrated that explicit instruction is effective in teaching a variety of language skills (Wilson 1977; Maurice, Green, & Luce 1996; Justice et. al. 2003).Training with Sterling Editions language intervention programs includes several kinds of instructional support. When Pretrial Instruction is included, the target picture is presented and the target is spoken before the student is asked to respond. Cueing to the Correct Response (CCR) is also provided on lower training levels. This consists of an arrow or animated character that appears above the correct response target.
In addition, two kinds of instructional feedback are used in the Sterling Editions. Even after CCR has been faded, it is still provided following an incorrect response or if no response is made. This always occurs in the earliest vocabulary training programs and is gradually faded as the student advances in syntax. The student is then given a second chance to respond. The second kind of feedback is Knowledge of the Correct Response (KCR). In KCR, the learner is always told the correct answer, either as part of the reinforcement sequence following a correct response, or as informational feedback following an incorrect response. In all cases, then, at the end of each trial the learner receives informational feedback indicating the correct response.
In our own research we have found that, in training using only feedback as an instructional component, both KCR and CCR were effective (Wilson & Fox 1983). There have been other demonstrations of the effectiveness of these procedures as well, across a range of computer administered instructional programs (Gilman, 1969; Tait, Hartley & Anderson, 1973; Wilson & Fox, 1981), including Laureate's language development software (e.g., Gale, Crifford & Gillam, 1999; Miller, 1993).
Computer aided instruction has a long history of demonstrated effectiveness. Not until the advent of inexpensive personal computers, however, did individualized computer administered intervention become feasible. The use of computer-based language intervention software offers many advantages to clinicians, educators, parents, and administrators. Software programs can provide the highly structured interactions needed to illustrate the formal aspects of language. Additionally computers provide a cost-efficient delivery system for individualized language intervention. Most importantly, research has shown that language intervention software works. Significantly improved language development and communication skills have been documented when regular use of language intervention software was added to the ongoing curriculum in special education classrooms. Moreover, using language intervention software with non-professional adult assistance, children with special needs in the early stages of language acquisition can make language gains comparable to those seen during individual language therapy with a speech-language pathologist (Gale, Crifford, & Gillam, 1999; Howard, 1986; Schery & O'Connor, 1995; Steiner & Larson, 1991; Wilson & Fox, 1983; 1986). One investigation even demonstrated that three to six year old children with autism were more attentive and motivated when using a computer, and actually learned and retained more vocabulary than they did during one-on-one instruction with a teacher (Moore & Calvert, 2000).
The theory and research behind Laureate's new Sterling Edition programs have provided the bases for the development of innovative software to deliver improved assessment and intervention for students with language delays. One of the scientifically based advancements incorporated into the Sterling Editions language intervention programs is an Optimized Intervention® system.
The Optimized Intervention® system was originally inspired by methodology developed by the Software Technology Branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the Johnson Space Center (Way, 1993). This group had developed software to train space shuttle astronauts that incorporated many useful features. In particular, the software was able to codify the knowledge and skills of professionals to be used to present customized lesson content, evaluate progress during a lesson, and revise the curriculum based on individual patterns of strengths and weaknesses.
In the 1990's, representatives from NASA and a panel of special educators from the Center for Special Education Technology and the Council for Exceptional Children, identified the emerging language problems of children with disabilities as a critical problem in special education that might productively be addressed using NASA's methodology. Subsequently, Laureate Learning Systems was invited to enter into a Technology Transfer Agreement with NASA. Since that time, Laureate has developed and field-tested a long series of language intervention systems designed specifically to guide students through language development curricula while adapting the emphasis and timing of activities in relation to the changing language capabilities of individual children. Critical to this extended endeavor was the support of the National Institutes of Health, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards 1R43 DC02709-01, 2R44 HD35255-02, 1R43 DC02601-01A1, and 2R44 DC02601-02.
The Optimized Intervention® system in Laureate's Sterling Edition software is the culmination of these research and development efforts. The system uses artificial intelligence methodology to select appropriate training material and to adjust instructional support in relation to emerging skills and competencies, resulting in highly individualized and efficient language instruction. The system also features extensive data collection and reporting capabilities, thereby greatly simplifying the process of tracking student progress and generating reports detailing areas of strength and weakness. Each Sterling Edition language intervention program has an Optimized Intervention® uniquely designed to test and train the curricular targets. Words, concepts, and forms are arranged in developmental order for testing and training. All the programs begin by probing in developmental order to ascertain the appropriate place to begin training. Once training begins, Optimized Intervention® determines what material a student needs to work on and how much instructional support the student may require to make progress. As a training session proceeds, the training material and degree of support are adjusted continually based on the student's performance. As powerful as Optimized Intervention® is, it couldn't be easier to use:
Once the student has achieved mastery over the material being trained, Optimized Intervention® continues to probe and introduce new stimuli until the student has achieved mastery over the entire curriculum for that program.
The power of Optimized Intervention® combined with its ease of use means that speech-language pathologists and special educators can prescribe the use of Sterling Edition programs in classrooms and homes thereby increasing the number of individualized language intervention services provided. Optimized Intervention® assures that the curricular content is being delivered in a sound progression and manner. The extensive data collection and reporting capabilities of the programs ensure that the prescribing professional can review in detail a student's performance within and across sessions.
All Sterling Editions programs operate under the Sterling Administration System which provides for extensive data collection and management. The Sterling Administration System Report Writer provides the tools for assessing and documenting student performance. After an educator login, Sterling Edition programs take you to the Sterling Administration System Main Menu. All program settings, student data, and management tools can be accessed quickly from this Main Menu.
Use controls in the "Central Oval" to quickly select or add a student and choose a program (only installed Sterling Edition programs will be listed).
In addition to built-in reports, Sterling Edition programs provide several hundred labeled data items that can be used to customize the built-in reports or to create entirely new custom templates that can be applied across students.
You may also wish to export student data into spreadsheets for graphing and statistical analysis. The Sterling Administration System makes this easy. You first create a report using the Spreadsheet Data report template (under Available Reports). This will generate a report that includes general header information, followed by the data from each session included in the data set. Each session will also include header information, followed by tab-delimited column headings and a row of tab-delimited data for each individual trial.
For example, the following are some of the data reported for each trial in First Verbs Sterling Editions:
By choosing the Spreadsheet Report option you can export the report as a text file using the Export button. This file can then be opened in most professional spreadsheet programs. Data can then be edited to suit the particular needs of the professional performing the analysis. The occupational therapist, for example, might be interested in response latency by side of screen while a speech-language pathologist might want to analyze errors based on particular foils.
Laureate is proud to have begun releasing our next generation of assessment and intervention software under the Sterling Editions banner. Others will join the programs that are currently available. With the Sterling Administration System and Optimized Intervention®, these programs promise to deliver more effective and efficient assessment and intervention while at the same time providing the data that special educators, clinicians, and administrators need for accountability.
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Mary Sweig Wilson, Ph.D. (F-CCC-SLP),
President
Bernard J. Fox, M.S. (CCC-SLP),
Vice President
Jeffrey P. Pascoe, Ph.D., Director of Research
Laureate Learning Systems,
Inc.
Phone:
800 562-6801
110 East Spring Street
Winooski, VT 05404
www.LaureateLearning.com
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