Abstract
Linguistic underdevelopment and other developmental delays in children are common and often treatable. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a child can significantly improve learning outcomes through collaboration between parents and teachers, thereby keeping pace with the verbal stages appropriate for their age.
Billy is an illustration of a child with developmental issues, evident in his linguistic delays, while he is highly developed in other areas. The child’s teacher and parents should work together and keep each other updated on Billy’s changing behavior. Parents can communicate more effectively with the child, while the teacher can utilize the SMART framework and other tools to help the student understand the material.
Introduction
Teachers play a crucial role in identifying learners with developmental lags and disabilities at an early stage. To provide further specialized support to these learners, they supply parents and specialists with crucial information. Thus, if a teacher notices that one of their students is lagging in developmental milestones, they should inform the parents and any relevant specialists and tailor their teaching methods accordingly for that child.
Scenario
Billy, a 4-year-8-month-old boy and the youngest of three, loves cars and typically uses one-word sentences; for instance, when asked which center he wanted to visit, he replied “Block!” and, when prompted why, said “Fun!”—a pattern commonly observed in his speech.
Analysis
An example of a child with developmental concerns included in this assignment is Billy. While making significant progress in other areas of development, Billy is lagging linguistically, as he has only used one-word sentences. Commonly, children at his age (4 years and 8 months) can use complex sentences, tell stories, and are overall capable of adult-like language production (Visser-Bochane et al., 2020). Moreover, children are known to be talkative at this age, but Billy does not show this. Hence, Billy is missing a crucial linguistic milestone, as he appears to be unable to construct complex sentences.
Addressing the Problem
Application of the SMART Model
A teacher instructing Billy can use the SMART framework while working with him. It consists of 5 main practices: “Slow down,” “Emphasize,” “Add visuals,” “Repeat instructions,” and “Time to respond” (Barbell, n.d.). “Slow down” involves giving children more time to digest the information by speaking more slowly (Barbell, n.d.). With “Emphasize,” a teacher highlights the most essential words in their instructions so that children with unachieved linguistic milestones can better understand them (Barbell, n.d.).
“Add visuals” emphasizes the incorporation of visual cues, such as pictures or gestures, into explanations, allowing children to associate them with the topic and learn it more effectively (Barbell, n.d.). Repeating instructions 2 or 3 times more than average increases the learning effectiveness of children with missing linguistic milestones. Finally, as children who lag behind linguistically often require more time to respond, “Time to respond” provides them with the extra time they need to formulate their ideas (Barbell, n.d.). Hence, the SMART framework is a powerful tool for teaching children with missed linguistic milestones.
Additional Ways of Communication
Apart from the SMART framework, the teacher can provide them with additional scaffolding to support their learning. As children struggle with oral and written communication, they can be given other means to give their responses. Assisting the youngster in putting their thoughts into a graphic organizer or allowing the child to make drawings to support their ideas are all possible options (Barbell, n.d.).
Professional Collaboration
However, a professional instructor should also cooperate with appropriate specialists. In Billy’s case, cooperating with a speech-language pathologist would be helpful (Barbell, n.d.). For instance, the speech-language pathologist could use new vocabulary during intervention sessions if the teacher is working on a new unit with challenging terminology. Additionally, the speech-language pathologist could offer advice on supporting the child in becoming more socially successful, thereby enhancing classroom activities and interactions.
Collaboration with Parents
Nevertheless, Billy’s missed developmental milestones should be dealt with by teachers and parents. Parent practices include more literacy activities and social interaction with the child (Kapengut & Kimberly, 2020). Literacy activities include games, nursery rhymes, songs, daily discussions, and book readings, all of which support basic linguistic abilities (Kapengut & Kimberly, 2020). Language development is significantly influenced by social behaviors associated with child-directed speech, including pitch, parental speech traits, and attentiveness (Kapengut & Kimberly, 2020). Thus, parents should be encouraged to speak with Billy more.
In terms of communicating with parents, Billy’s teacher has to partner with them to improve Billy’s situation. Studies have shown that two-way communication and partnership are highly effective in addressing challenging situations involving students (Leenders et al., 2019). In these scenarios, teachers specifically address parental concerns, acting unbiased as they learn about the family dynamics and background.
Proactivity and adaptability are essential in preserving trust, demonstrating empathy, maintaining clear and safe boundaries, and prioritizing students’ best interests (Leenders et al., 2019). The communication with the parents should be ongoing and regular, conveying Billy’s progress. Ideally, the parents should be notified immediately of any changes in Billy’s linguistic capacity.
Conclusion
Thus, while Billy’s linguistic capabilities are concerning, there are ways to help him. The teacher can use the SMART framework as another communication method to better understand the curriculum. Moreover, they can seek assistance from a speech-language pathologist to enhance Billy’s speech and learning outcomes. However, the teacher and parents should maintain a collaborative relationship and inform each other of any changes in Billy’s behavior. Billy can quickly overcome his language milestones and achieve better learning outcomes.
References
Barbell, T. (n.d.). Oral language skills and learning disabilities: a review for educators. LD@school.
Kapengut, D., & Kimberly, N. G. (2020). Parental language and learning directed to the young child. Future of Children, 30(2), 71-92.
Leenders, H., de Jong, J., Monfrance, M., & Haelermans, C. (2019): Building strong parent–teacher relationships in primary education: the challenge of two-way communication, Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(4), 519-533.
Visser-Bochane, M. I., Reijneveld, S. A., Krijnen, W. P., van der Schans, C. P., & Luinge, M. R. (2019). Identifying milestones in language development for young children ages 1-6 years. Academic Pediatrics, 20(3), 421-429.