Literacy as a Target 1 4/11/2018 Why focus on literacy? WRITING - PDF document

4/11/2018 Literacy: A Target and A Tool in Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Michelle Hite, M.S., CCC-SLP Clinical Instructor University of South Florida mhite@usf.edu Objectives:  Be able to verbalize why literacy might be chosen as a priority target in intervention with individuals with ASD.  Understand the relationship between the symptoms associated with ASD and literacy difficulties observed.  Determine the types of written language skills which are priority targets in intervention.  Describe effective strategies to target language concepts in both oral and written language contexts. Literacy as a Target 1

4/11/2018 Why focus on literacy? WRITING READING COMPREHENSION DECODING WORD RECOGNITION SPELLING “The acquisition of written language skills … is integral to academic success and ultimately determines the higher education and/or vocational opportunities that will be available to an individual.” (Fallon & Katz, 2011, p. 3) The National Commission on Writing (2004): Survey from 64 companies in business sector:  “Writing is also a “gatekeeper”  “Opportunities for salaried employment are limited for employees unable to communicate clearly”  This requires “educators to understand writing as an activity calling for extended preparation across subject matters — from kindergarten through college .” 2

4/11/2018  In addition, “written language has become progressively more important in social contexts such as text messages, e-mail, and social networks” (Fallon & Katz, 2011, p. 3) At Risk Readers  Children with ASD at risk for decreased written language development (Brown, Oram- Cardy, & Johnson, 2013; Jones et al., 2009; Lanter, Watson, Erickson, & Freeman, 2012; Nation, Clarke, Wright, & Williams, 2006)  Children with language impairment in general are at high risk for decreased reading achievement (Catts, Fey, Zhang, Tomblin, 2002; Catts, Adlof, Hogan, & Ellis Weismer, 2005) Figuring out WHAT to Target 3

4/11/2018 Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer (1986) Decoding/ Listening Reading Word Comprehension Comprehension Recognition So what is the PROFILE of Reading Development in children with ASD? Listening Word Comprehension Recognition WHICH PROFILE Good Good ? Good Poor Poor Good Poor Poor Subtypes of Reading Difficulty (Kamhi & Catts, 2005; 2011) THERE IS NOT ONE “PROFILE”! Meta-analysis of reading/ASD by Brown, Cardy, & Johnson (2013) 4

4/11/2018 Profiles of Reading Development in Children with ASD Varied reading profiles with wide range of abilities found among children with ASD (Brown, Oram-Cardy, & Johnson, 2013; Jones, Happe ’, Golden, Marsden, Tregay, Simonoff, et al., 2009; Lindgren, Folstein, Tomblin, & Tager-Flusberg, 2009; Nation, Clarke, Wright, & Williams, 2006; Towgood, Meuwese, Gilbert, Turner & Burgess, 2009) • Possibly the one consistent characteristic is heterogeneity • Many studies show that challenges in reading comprehension more common than challenges in word recognition skills (Ricketts, Jones, Happe, & Charman, 2013) • Reading comprehension mirrors the wide range of oral language abilities (Norbury & Nation, 2011) Deficits in social communication  Study by Lindgren, Folstein, Tomblin, & and social Tager-Flusberg (2009): interaction Compared ASD + Typical structural language; ASD + SLI  Group of Children with ASD + (Structural) Language Deficits = More  Structural language deficits likely to have difficulties (phonology, grammar, with word level reading vocabulary difficulties)? skills in addition to  Pragmatic language deficits comprehension (social use of language)? difficulties Beyond the Simple View of Reading  Recent research suggests that for children with ASD, their reading comprehension involves more than just oral language ability .  Social functioning appears to be a factor (Brown, Oram- Cardy, & Johnson, 2013; White, Hill, Happe ’, & Frith, 2009).  Ricketts, Jones, Happe ’, & Charman (2013)  100 adolescents all with ASD, varying intellectual ability  Reading comprehension scores overall significantly lower than word recognition score (but some that still had trouble with word recognition)  Word recognition and oral language predicted reading comprehension  Measures of social behavior and social cognition predicted reading comprehension after controlling for word recognition and oral language 5

4/11/2018 The Not-Quite-As- Simple View of Reading Decoding Listening Comprehension Reading Comprehension Social Cognitive Skills The Case of Listening/Reading Comprehension: A Closer Look at Range of Complexity “Broad View of Comprehension” (Catts, 2009)  Understanding text is more than just remembering content that is presented  Background, content knowledge is combined with new information in the text  Reader must create an overall coherent representation of text in memory 6

4/11/2018 Bloom’s (Revised) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Cognitive Process Dimension (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Krathwohl, 2002) Higher Order Thinking Skills Lower Order Thinking Skills http://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/dok.aspx Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4  Complex  Some mental  Requires students  Recall of a reasoning, explain, generalize, fact, processing beyond thinking, and recall & connect/ information, planning over synthesize ideas. or  Focus on use of extended time procedure. info, conceptual  Focus on reasoning,  Use level 3 planning, & use of  Focus is on knowledge strategic supporting evidence specific  Use context to thinking to facts, define unfamiliar long term definitions, words problem details Written Language Development in ASD: A Language Paradigm  What are the underlying reasons for the child’s difficulty in reading and writing? - Language underpinnings - Cognitive-linguistic skills, learning style associated with ASD 7

4/11/2018 “ …what is written is language” (p. 226, Catts & Hogan, 2003) “ …speaking about targeting students’ written language(vs. literacy) is much more aligned with our definition of language… ” (p. 105, Apel, 2014) Language and literacy development are reciprocally related (ASHA, 2010; Justice, 2006) Oral Written Language Language 8

4/11/2018 Language Basic Spoken Interpersonal Language communicative skills (BICS) • Social and everyday uses of language Written Typically less complex • Language/ & abstract Academic Level Cognitive Academic Language Language Proficiency (CALP) Zwiers (2008); Cummins (1979) Academic Language (Zwiers, 2008)  Language that is more complex and abstract  Crosses all content areas  Serves three functions:  1) to describe complex concepts clearly,  2) to describe higher-order thinking, (ex. words to compare, analyze, predict, persuade, etc.)  3) to describe abstract concepts We need Higher Order Language to be able to reflect on/express Higher Order Thinking Looking below the surface “Reading Comprehension” 5 Inferencing skills Comprehension of 1 4 complex sentences Comprehension of cause - effect 3 2 Comprehension of Understanding of complex syntactic multiple constructions perspectives 9

4/11/2018 Linguistic Components: Spoken and Written Foundational Linguistic Related Areas of Components Written Language CONTENT • Semantics • Word Recognition • Morphology* • Reading Comprehension • Spelling of morphologically complex words • Vocabulary use in Writing FORM • Phonology • Phonological Awareness • Syntax • Decoding • Morphology* • Encoding • Writing: Sentence construction USE • Pragmatics • Written expression • Reading Comprehension  Given this framework of oral and written language, it is not surprising that Brown, Oram-Cardy, & Johnson (2013) stated : “ Individuals with ASD who also have language deficits may have the most severe reading comprehension weaknesses” (p. 950). Cognitive Learning Styles in individuals with ASD: Impact on Written Language 10

4/11/2018 A . Persistent B. Restricted, deficits in social repetitive A communication patterns of S and social behavior, D interaction interests, or across contexts activities  C. Symptoms must be present in early childhood (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities)  D. Symptoms together limit and impair everyday functioning. Graphic from Zenko & Hite (2013) Executive Function (Perner & Lang, 2000)  “Executive functions are needed to maintain a mentally specified goal and to bring it to fruition against distracting alternatives.”  Involves:  Goal setting ▪ Inhibiting ▪ Pacing  Planning ▪ Shifting  Sequencing ▪ Self – monitoring  Prioritizing ▪ Emotional control  Organizing ▪ Task Completion  Initiating  Inhibiting Diehl & Hite, 2013 Executive Function Challenges and Reading ▪ Some suggest that difficulty with executive functioning highly interactive with development of social perspective issues (Jarrold, Mansergh, & Whiting, 2010) ▪ May focus on the act of decoding and not connect reading with meaning (Meltzer, 2007) ▪ Flexibility in connecting meaning ▪ Comprehension Monitoring ▪ Repair ▪ Organizing and integrating multiple pieces of information 11