A language-processing deficit is the inability to receive, comprehend, organize, and express language in its appropriate forms in the absence of sensory impairments.
The following is a list of characteristics that may be evident in students with this deficit. Use this as a checklist with regard to students who you think may fit into this category.
-The student’s spoken language shows limited vocabulary, incomplete sentences, improper grammar, and confused or poorly sequenced thoughts.
-The student has word retrieval difficulties.
-The student has difficulty understanding the meaning of some phrases.
-The student does not express feelings or thoughts logically.
-The student says one thing, but writes something else.
-The student substitutes words of similar meaning.
-Peers and others often have difficulty understanding the student.
-The student has difficulty determining the main idea or theme.
-The student has difficulty identifying a sequence in a story.
-When given a general theme, the student has difficulty generating or identifying supporting details.
-The student has difficulty linking and categorizing verbal concepts.
-The student has poor spelling.
-The student’s written work is disorganized and messy.
-The student needs to read a passage or story several times before understanding its meaning.
-The student has difficulty following directions.
-The student’s work shows poor coherence in the structure of sentences, paragraphs and longer passages.
Methods/Strategies:
Note: The strategies listed for auditoryprocessing deficit are appropriate here as well.
• Allow the student ample time to read silently for practice before asking him or her to read orally.
• Model slow, easy speech for the student and do not interrupt or finish his or her sentence.
• Slow down rate of speaking to allow the child to process the information.
• Assign the student to work with a classroom friend who is a good language model.
• Establish a signal to remind the student to slow down and speak in complete sentences.
• Have the student record his or her speech to teach monitoring strategies.
• Emphasize the use of context cues.
• Provide a language-rich environment.
• Place an alphabet strip on the desk for younger children.
• Encourage the student to read a story more than once.
• Monitor reading material to ensure that the level is appropriate.
• Use high-interest books with accompanying taped version for rereading.
• Teach reading strategies that will help locate information in a text.
• Help the student use associate cues when sequencing events.
• Practice sequential activities.
• Have the child retell stories he or she has read.
• Introduce and explain key vocabulary in context.
• Use a multi-sensory approach.
• Provide intervention in phonemic awareness.
Evaluation Strategies:
• Provide oral testing or a scribe.
• Adjust vocabulary usage in testing to suit the language needs of the child.