Severe Language Disorder

What is Severe Language Disorder?

Severe Language Disorder (SLD) can also be referred to as Severe Language
Impairment or Severe Language Disability. People with SLD have
difficulty in acquiring skills involved in, processing, understanding or
expressing language to the extent where suffers will be unable to
participate fully in school life; however with inclusive teaching and
classroom setups full participation is possible.
A diagnosis of SLD is made in the absence of hearing loss, brain injury, intellectual
disability, cultural or social factors, and English as a alternate language
(EAL). Children who present with the mentioned factors commonly
experience language difficulties; a true SLD cannot be attributed to any
other cause. (Lewis & Lewis, 2016)
(Department of Education, 2013)

Differences
Severe language disorder can be separated into Receptive and Expressive Language Disorder. However children will be rarely diagnosed with
just one disorder. As language is both expressed and received, children with inefficiency to process heard or written language will
most likely have difficulty speaking and writing coherently.

Children with Severe Language Disorder will exhibit some of

these behaviours:

Limited Vocabulary and conversational skills

Difficulty following verbal instructions or understanding what is
being said to them
Mistakes in grammar
Difficulty learning concepts
Poor attention skills
Difficulty relaying stories
Avoidance behaviours (class clown, quiet, angry, frustrated)
May use short, simple sentences
Poor conversation skills - lack of ability to maintain a topic or
taking turns

A child with Severe Language Disorder will usually exhibit

these issues with Literacy:

Phonetic awareness issues

Rote learning words
Slow reading or low reading fluently
Difficulty to infer from texts to make a meaningful inferences
Difficulty demonstrating their understanding of a text either
verbally or in writing
Difficulty understanding the meaning of words
Difficulty sequencing an event

Supporting a child with Severe Language Disorder

Once you have identified some of the child's interests and strengths, these should be supported and considered in lesson development. The child
will likely have strong nonverbal skills, which will lead them towards using visual and physical aides in their learning. Children will express
themselves well by building and constructing with arts and craft supplies, drawing, using pictures and imagery to express feelings.

Classroom Environment Strategies

Use role play when sharing stories this will help a child to understand
different roles of listener and speaker
Give student a verbal and or visual cue for when it time for them to be
listening for instruction, ensure they are looking at you before instruction begins.
Simplify and chunk verbal instructions, reinforce the instructions with
visual imagery and natural gestures that reflect the instruction. (Alberta Education,
n.d.)
Encourage children to ask for clarification when they have missed part
of an instruction or need further assistance, though the child may not know when
they have missed something (Kid Sense Child Development, 2013)

Individual Strategies

Build social skills, play games, rehearsal strategies to engage long-term memory,
Use multisensory approaches and technology with literacy intervention tools as a
part of the application.
Support the child during transitions from one lesson to another by developing
clear and purposeful routines that can be communicated in multiple ways verbal,
gestures or imagery.
Create an individual learning space for the child; which is quiet, with access to
many visual aids, books and craft supplies that can be used to convey
instructions, by teachers and peers and for the child to utilize when completing
work and communicate with others.
Consider the child's abilities and strengths when assessing work, as they may
require differentiated modes of assessment; assessment will be less stressful for
the student if they are given the opportunity to demonstrate their learning
through arts and crafts or actions.
Use picture cards to assist the child to tell a story or recall an event
o Who, What, Where, When. Explicitly teach meanings for these different
elements of a story, using imagery, text and spoken words. Encourage the child to explain who or what their story is about, what
action occurred, and who or what was involved in the action. Use drawings, pictures or photos to tell the story visually, cartoon style
showing the beginning, middle and end.
(Evely & Ganim, 2014)

Useful Resources
Recommended Classroom resources and Apps

ACMI Story Board Generator: http://generator.acmi.net.au/storyboard

Children can use the software to create a story from their own or found imagery- sequence and share the story with others.
Splingo's Language Universe- ITunes IOS App
Children are able to practice listening and language skills by interacting with the animations to follow the spoken word prompts.
Sequences for Kids - ITunes IOS App
Designed to help children improve their communication and learning skills as well as their ability to relate with other children of the
same age. Teachers can create sequences by adding their own audio and imagery; this may help in introducing new topics or
developing routines.

Teacher Resources

The Victorian Department of Education and Training has an online Teacher support
resource for teacher children who require language support. Extensive videos
showing real teaching examples are available to download.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/Pages/lsp.aspx

Associations/Professionals

Psych4Schools - Offers a wide range of resources for teachers in primary and lower
secondary, in all areas of psychology, many downloads are available for free or by
membership. Good quick tips to help assist a child with Severe Language Disorder
http://www.psych4schools.com.au/excerpt/SLD#_ftn1
Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) use the SPA website to access information on
speech pathologist and how they can assist a child with Severe Language Disorder
SPA has an extensive paper focusing on Students with Severe Language Disorder in Victorian Government Schools completed in
2016. http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/Severe%20Lang%20Disorder%20Brief%20Paper%20-%20Jan%2006.pdf
School Speech Pathologists. A speech pathologists will be able to accurately diagnose a child and work with you and the child's parents to
develop a program to assist the at school and home to fully engage with those around them.