Communication Event in a Language Sample Analysis

By: Grace Bowen

Language sample analysis has been a great indicator for infant to school-aged children. However, there are a few components of a language sample analysis that deficient. There is not much information on a procedures, measurement, normative data, and interpretations (Leadholm & Miller, 1994).

Procedures

Does an administer of a language sample have procedures on eliciting a good language sample analysis?

In order to elicit a good language sample analysis, the administer should ask open ended questions to the participate in order to attempt to get the most language out of them.
The language sample analysis should revolve around a few picked out activities or games that the administer knows the participant will participate in.
It is equally as important for the language sample to take place in a quiet room with good light and no distractions.
The language sample could be completed at a table in a chair or on the floor. It is completely dependent on what works best for the participate.

Measurement

Is there a way to get valid measurements to score a language sample analysis?

The SUGAR is a great way to follow receiving valid measurements to score a language sample analysis.
Using the SUGAR you can find valid measurements on the mean length of utterance (MLU), words per sentence (WPS), clause per sentence (CPS), total number of words (TNW), total morphemes, and type/token ratio (TTR).
All of these measurements will give you data that will allow you to identify the normative data. This is where you will be able to identify if the patient is in age range abilities or below age range abilities.

Normative data

How can you identify normative data from a language sample?

The normative data can be identified on a chart on the SUGAR website. This will allow you to take your scores from the measurements and plug it in to identify the age range the participant is in.

Interpretation

What are ways to interpreted a language sample correctly?

If available to you, there are many different AI transcription sites to transcribe videos. I would suggest to plug it into one of those sites, get the generated transcription, and listen to the video on your own with the AI transcription to make sure it is accurate.
If not available to you, slowly watch and listen to the video. I would suggest taking frequent pauses to identify what the participant is saying.

References

Leadholm, B. J., & Miller, J. F. (1994). Language sample analysis: The wisconsin guide. Bulletin 92424. In ERIC. Publication

Sales, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Drawer 179, Milwaukee, WI 53293-0179.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED371528

Robert Owens. (2018). Sugar 04 transcribing a language sample. Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWxJKmExzl

Across Utterance and partners

By Alyson Louque

There are different levels of language sample analysis, and looking at just the conversation event in itself is not enough to analysis the whole event in its entirety. Some features that could be looked at are:

Stylistic Variation

This is the style of talking. It can be formal or informal, but this does not change from one utterance to the next one. It changes when partners change in the communication event. Different styles can be seen with role-play or imaginary play, but normally it comes from when the manner of talking to a specific partner in a specific event. Variations requires listening skills to hear the partner and understand the situation that is present at the given time.

Referential Communication

Referential communication refers to the speaker’s ability to select and verbally classify the qualities of the whole conversation that is being said. To have successful delivery of information the speaker must provide the listener with enough information for the listener to have a successful understanding. A part of this is called presuppositional skills. This is a speaker’s assumption about the context and the listener’s knowledge. This is normally established before the age of 10 and sometimes earlier. Children with a language disorder normally have poor referential skills and are less likely to change depending on the listeners and can add unnecessary information.

Cohesive Strategies

Cohesive strategies are how language is held together and how one thing leads to the next and it all makes a full circle. The example in the book gives the idea that a pronoun needs information from a previous sentence to be understood in the sentence that it is in (Owens, 2018). A big part of this is referencing. This is when linguistic device is used in conversation to keep the information being said continuous and flows from old to new information.

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language disorders : a functional approach to assessment and intervention in children. Plural Publishing, Inc.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Components of Social Communication. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/social-communication-disorder/components-of-social-communication/?srsltid=AfmBOoqRngyV3peg4zbVueOgKfwzsjjRa2NfcXamFekPzdfbif_U9mDR

image:https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/family/how-to-teach-children-the-art-of-face-to-face-conversation/a683684752.html

Turn Taking

By Jenny Olson

Owens (2024) states, "Turn taking is an excellent vehicle for evaluating the interactional framework of a listener and a speaker. The unit of analysis is the dyad (both partners) and the interaction between them. The minimum number of turns to complete an exahnge is three. The person who begins the exchange must have a second turn before an interaction has occurred. each speaker acknowledges the preceding utterance, contributes, and indicates that the turn is to be shifted" (p. 244).

Before I entered the speech world, I had no idea that conversation could be a challenge for some. I am beyond shy, but I can still hold a conversation. I have absolutely loved working with students on their goals for conversational turn taking. I have several students that have that goal and they all learn different, have different interests, different friends, etc. and so sometimes it’s a really big push to get 3 conversational turns out of 2 peers. We have a lot of conversation games that help get us started. Games are a great way to introduce turn taking, you can also use social stories. There are so many benefits to turn taking in speech and helps with other goals, such as friends, language, self-advocacy, and more.

Clapp (2023) states, “According to Hanen, participating in conversation can also help children to hear a variety of words, learn to pay attention to someone else, learn how to send a message effectively, practice using words and gestures, learn to ask questions, and gain confidence as a speaker. A study by Romeo et. al in 2018 found that back-and-forth exchanges (conversational turns) boost children’s brain response to language. Reciprocal interactions with caregivers were found to cause children to have more activity in the part of the brain that is in charge of language production and processing, which improved their language skills overall. They also found a connection between participation in an increased amount of conversational turns and higher scores on language tests.”

References:

Clapp, Jane. (2023, March 3). Turn taking - your therapy source. Your Therapy Source. https://www.yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2023/03/03/turn-taking-2/

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders. A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.

if-hpsp-ca-practice-wise-2018-07-19.pdf

Conversational Breakdown and Repair in AAC Users

By Shelby Alexander

When children are communicating, conversational breakdowns can occur if the listener does not understand what the speaker is trying to convey or ask. According to Owens (2024), “Children with language disorders experience a greater number of breakdowns than do age-matched peers with TDL” (p. 247). In addition, Owens (2024) states that, “Young children or children with language disorders often do not attempt to repair communication breakdowns” (p. 249).

According to Zangari (2017), children who use AAC devices may need help understanding that a conversational breakdown has occurred and/or strategies on how to repair them. Communication partners can help children who are trying to communicate but don’t realize that a conversational breakdown even occurred by gently telling them that they were not understood before helping them with repair strategies. Try to find the cause of the communication breakdown, such as speech sound errors, and then try to clarify what the child intended to communicate by asking targeted questions.

Sometimes, children with communication disorders understand the communication breakdown occurred but they don’t remain focused long enough to try to repair it. In this instance, communication partners can model what effective communication looks like, such as corresponding a picture with the idea or object they are trying to convey. Another strategy is to use real-life scenarios, such as trips to the grocery store, as opportunities to practice using AAC effectively. Children who are not yet proficient with AAC use may need a lot of support from their communication partners when it comes to repairing communication breakdowns.

Zangari (2017) recommends a systematic approach for communication partners to help with repairing communication breakdowns. First, if the breakdown is due to lack of intelligibility, ask the child to slow down their speech so that they can be more easily understood. Next, ask the child to elaborate in order to get more information. Then, encourage them to use gestures or draw their communicative intent before using their AAC device.

Alberta Health Services has a useful, downloadable brochure with effective communication strategies for both children using AAC and their communication partners.

References

Alberta Health Services. (n.d.). Helping children with communication disorders to be better understood [Brochure]. https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/hpsp/if-hpsp-ca-practice-wise-2018-07-19.pdf

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language disorders: a functional approach to

assessment and intervention in children. Plural Publishing, Inc.

Zangari, C. (2017, Sept. 18). Praactical AAC. How we do it: using AAC to repair communication breakdowns. https://praacticalaac.org/praactical/how-we-do-it-using-aac-to-repair-communication-breakdowns/

Language Sampling Analysis and AI

Frances Jue

Getting a real-time sample of a child’s functional language use can be a gold mine of data in the assessment process. A language sample analysis (LSA) can potentially provide information that standardized tests are simply not designed to gather, like pragmatic use or conversational repair techniques. As valuable as the language sample is however, the majority of SLPs report that they don’t avail themselves of this method of data collection – and while a variety of reasons exist, time seems to be the biggest reason (Owens, 2024).

The task of doing LSA can be intimidating, for grad students and professionals alike. A variety of LSA tools exist that make the process of collecting a language sample structured and streamlined, such as SALT, SUGAR, and CLAN. These methods are reliable and valid but also require a bit of time, making them a challenge to implement in a school setting, where SLPs typically deal with high caseloads (Owens, 2024).

With the emergence of AI, there is an incredible opportunity to utilize technology to make this type of analysis morea accessible and efficient. One promising AI tool, Batchalign, is an automated pipeline that takes “raw audio and creates full transcription format, complete with utterance- and word-level time alignments and morphosyntactic analysis” (Liu et al., 2022). These features alone are impressive, but even more salient to the typical speech professional is the remarkable reduction in LSA time by 75% (Liu et al., 2022).

Of course, the SLP should not simply rely on AI results, as the technology and programs are new and they should conduct their own analysis to verify results. But with this new technology, the future looks bright for future SLPs needing an efficient and effective way to implement this analysis into their assessment routine.

References

Owens, Robert. (2024). Language disorders: A functional approach to assessment and intervention with children. Plural Publishing, Inc.

Liu, H., MacWhinney, B., Fromm, D., & Lanzi, A. (2023). Automation of Language Sample Analysis. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 66(7), 2421–2433. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-0064

(Miazga, 2024)

Conversations

Mindy Wender

All conversations start somewhere which is called initiation, next there is conversation maintenance and finally there is conversation termination (Owens, 2024).

Initiation is how the conversation starts. The way that a person gains the listener’s attention sets the tone for the conversation. The best way to gain the listener’s attention is to greet them and convey the topic of conversation (Owens, 2024). Examples include, “Where have you been? I did not see you in a while.” Or “You won’t believe what happened to me yesterday!” Children with language disorders may speak to someone without obtaining their attention first. In addition, often they will not initiate conversations frequently and will initiate their conversation with the same phrase. This can lead to social rejection and unsuccessful conversation attempts (Owens, 2024).

Once the conversation starts, it is important for it to be maintained. According to Owens (2024, p 236), “In effective conversations, the participants seem to adhere to four principles: stay on topic, be truthful, be brief, and be relevant.” Children with language disorders may have a hard time integrating the information and responding appropriately. In addition, they may struggle with turn taking and knowing how to ask and answer questions (Owens, 2024). During the conversation maintenance stage, nonverbal language can also be used to signal how the listener is reacting to the information presented. The ability to understand and react appropriately to nonverbal communication is imperative for good topic maintenance (Miazga, 2024).

The last component of conversation is conversation termination. This is when no new information is added so the conversation ends (Owens, 2024). Conversations are often ended with adjacency pairs such as “Bye, see you.” “Have a nice day.” Children with language disorders sometimes end conversations abruptly. Children with LD or TBI may continue a conversation when they have already exhausted the topic (Owens, 2024).

Miazga, D. (2024, September 9). Starting and joining a conversation! Badger State Speechy. https://www.badgerstatespeeechy.com/joining-a-conversation/

Owens, Robert. (2024). Language disorders: A functional approach to assessment and intervention with children. Plural Publishing

Narrative Analysis

By: Karley Clinton
Narrative analysis is a powerful tool within Language Sample Analysis (LSA) that provides insights into a child's language development. By examining both macrostructure and microstructure, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can assess a child's ability to organize and express stories effectively. This analysis is particularly valuable for distinguishing between children with typical language development (TDL) and those with language disorders (Owens, 2024).

Macrostructure Analysis
Macrostructure focuses on the overall organization of narratives. Key elements include centering and chaining, which help in structuring stories coherently. The six developmental stages of story organization offer a framework to evaluate narrative skills at various ages. High-point structures, which highlight the most meaningful events, also play a significant role in differentiating children with TDL from those with language disorders. Furthermore, understanding story grammars—the internal structure comprising seven essential elements—enables SLPs to pinpoint specific areas of difficulty (Owens, 2024).

Microstructure Analysis
In contrast, microstructure delves into the finer details of language use, such as syntactic complexity and vocabulary. It includes quantitative measures like clausal density and syntactic accuracy, which reflect a child's ability to form complex sentences. Cohesive devices—such as conjunctions and reference devices—are crucial for maintaining the flow of narratives. Additionally, tools like SALT and SUGAR can streamline microstructure analysis by automating the transcription and analysis processes (Owens, 2024).

Conclusion
Combining macrostructure and microstructure analysis in LSA allows SLPs to obtain a comprehensive view of a child's language abilities. By identifying strengths and weaknesses across these levels, targeted interventions can be designed to support language development effectively.

References
Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders: A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children (7th ed.). Plural Publishing.
Westerveld, M. F. (2011). Sampling and analysis of children's spontaneous language. ACQuiring Knowledge in Speech, Language and Hearing, 13(1), 10–13. https://www.marleenwesterveld.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Westerveld_ACQ-2011.pdf.

Cohesive Devices in Conversations

Erika Hembree

Cohesive devices are any sentence element sending the listener outside the sentence for a referent. An example is the listener referring to the previous sentence to determine the pronoun referent. Cohesion can be primarily expressed with syntax and vocabulary. Difficulties with cohesion are often demonstrated as omitting necessary information, confusing new and old information, and using unclear references. The five types of cohesive devices are reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical items. Reference is continuously used during conversation to keep information flowing and appoint new and old information. Examples of reference include the child naming an entity while using an indefinite article (a/am). Definite articles (the) may also be used as a reference with the noun. Substitution occurs when one word or element replaces another element to avoid repetition (Cabrejas, 2022). Similar to substitution, ellipsis will occur when a child omits redundant or shared information from their sentence. With ellipsis, the flow of conversation can be affected due to assumptions of shared information or not knowing when information is shared. Example sentences include “Who ate all the cookies?” with a response from the communication partner, “I did [eat all the cookies].”

The fourth type of cohesive device is conjunction, which is used to connect thoughts by joining clauses to express additive, causal, and other relationships. Conjunction words include and, then, so, and therefore. Preschool-aged children typically contain some conjunction words in their vocabulary but usually are not used in the appropriate context to join clauses. An example sentence of conjunctions between a parent and child is: parent: "We had a great time at the aquarium.” child: “and seeing the dolphin show.” Lexical items are usually repetitive or synonymous in that the speaker makes a lexical choice to repeat words or use associated vocabulary to refer to previously mentioned events or entities (Horton-Ikard, 2009). Cohesive devices are a key factor in forming correct sentences containing shared information, allowing the listener to understand the meaning.

References:

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders. A Functional Approach to Assessment and

Intervention in Children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.

Cabrejas, M. M. (2022). Cohesive Devices on the Abstracts of Select Research Articles Presented in the International Academic Forum (AIFOR): A Discourse Analysis. British Journal of Multidisciplinary and Advanced Studies. 3(1), 22-41. https://doi.org/10.37745/bjmas.2022.0017

Horton-Ikard, R. (2009). Cohesive Adequacy in the Narrative Samples of School-Age Children Who Use African American English. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 40, 393-402. https://research.ebsco.com/c/icymqm/viewer/pdf/vyctcihhyj

Social Versus Non-Social Communication

Ellie Hooper

What is it?

Social speech has an intended listener that has an obligation to respond (Owens, 2024). For example, a professor teaching a lecture to a group of students who are expected to have a listener’s response. It may be used conversationally, through turn-taking, or even simple greetings. A strong requirement of social speech is building pragmatic qualities. Non-social speech is not addressed directly to the listener, and there is no obligation for a response (Owens, 2024). This may be used for internal processing, thinking through ideas, or self-reflection. It aids in planning of information, scenarios, and problem solving. Nonsocial speech does not involve pragmatics. Typically developing preschools may produce loads of non-social speech. A reduction of this comes with age where we begin to see an emergence of social speech in school-age children. Young children often have egocentric speech which is a form of nonsocial speech (Owens, 2024). In egocentric speech a child talks through their own ideas or thoughts without the consideration that another person may be listening or understanding.

Why is it important?

Social speech is important to allow children to grow and communicate with others during interactions. This is how relationships are built, and pragmatics take shape (Kruass & Glucksberg, 1977). Social speech is also important to learn how to appropriately adjust language based on the listener and/or wants/needs.

Nonsocial speech is important for children to consider the information and language they need but without the adaptation to a context (Kruass & Glucksberg, 1977). It may help regulate behaviors, solve problems, synthesize information, or plan actions. It aids in cognitive development as well as creativity and imagination.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both types of speech important for language development and cognitive functioning. They may serve different roles but play an important part in building foundational skills. On top of these things, it contributes to personal growth with both self-regulation and pragmatic abilities.

Krauss, R. M., & Glucksberg, S. (1977). Social and nonsocial speech. Scientific American, 236(2), 100-105.

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders. A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.

Joint Attention in Language Sampling

By: Ashley McBride

Joint attention is a very important factor to consider when beginning the language sampling process. In order to get a complete picture of a child's language skills, you have to be sure they are attentive to the conversation. Joint attention occurs when the child is sharing focus to an object or event with another individual. Interactions can show joint attention is incorporated if a child looks in the direction you are pointing, or attends to an object with you. We see that this is typically the foundation to meaningful conversations and comprehension of those conversations. When assessing joint attention while language sampling, the speech therapist should pay close attention to nonverbal communication provided by the child. By watching gestures like pointing, eye gazes, and reciprocal interactions, the speech therapist can determine how attentive the child is to the topic. Nonverbal communication to be receptive to during language sampling consist of limited or no eye contact, not following eye gazing or pointing during conversation, not responding to their name being called, inability to attend to a task for long, limited turn taking skills, and etc. By incorporating joint attention within the language sampling process, it allows the speech therapist to collect a sample that is more natural due to the use of spontaneous speech. Which in return, increases the possibility of gathering meaningful utterances. If a child is showing difficulty with joint attention it may be a sign that social communication skills may be a factor as well as attention deficits. Further evaluation and assessment will be required to determine these factors. Overall, joint attention is one of the key factors to the development of language skills. Research has shown that children who demonstrate joint attention early on, tend to develop strong vocabulary, language skills, and social communication skills.

Levels of Language Sample Analysis Crossword Puzzle

-Rebecca Cottrell

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