SLEUTHING YOUR STUDENT’S

COMPREHENSION

Provincial Integration Support Program

What do we mean by Comprehension?

Understanding others’ communication

Understanding what is happening

Interpreting cues and signals in the environment

Handling changes and transitions

Specific Comprehension Skills

Direction Following

Object/Picture Identification

Matching

Sorting

Functions

Answering yes-no questions

Why?

Better understanding of student’s abilities

More appropriate individual educational plan

CHALLENGES

Formal assessment tools are not usually appropriate

Standardized tests normed on typically developing children with intact sensory and motor systems

Children are also expected to have adequate fine motor skills so that they can touch, point, and/or manipulate objects or pictures reliably

Lack of world knowledge

Sensory Challenges

Auditory Hearing Loss Difficulty filtering background noise from

foreground auditory information

Visual

Cortical Visual Impairment

Physical Challenges

Eye-hand coordination can be difficult

Crossing mid-line can be difficult

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

What forms of communication does the student understand?

GesturesCues from the environmentSpeechManual signsSigns, logos, picturesPrinted material

Separate objects or picturesEnlarge picturesUse different response methods:

Yes/NoSame/differentNumbers

Use assisted scanning

Some points about Yes/No responses

Typically developing children don’t reliably answer yes/no questions before 30 months of age

By about 18 months, they recognize a yes/no question, but usually respond in the affirmative because that’s what is usually expected for the response

Typically developing children first hear “no” in terms of prohibiting an action.

Children with severe disabilities usually hear the word “no” much less

There are different types of yes/no questions: Acceptance/rejection: in the present Confirmation/denial: in the past Knowledge testing

Children with severe disabilities are often asked rhetorical questions, for which a response is not really expected

Example: Do you want me to stop feeding you?

Use response methods that the student can control volitionally:

Head turningEye movementsBody movements/gestures

Observe the student :with a variety of people In a variety of environments

Interview people who know the student well

What to assess?

Direction Following

Auditory Sequencing

Auditory Memory

Skill Expected by

Look at the window. Close your eyes.

End of Kindergarten

Look at the book, then look at the window

End of grade 1

Look up, then open your mouth, then look at the book

End of grade 2

Open your mouth, then look at the book, then look up, then look at the brush

End of grade 3

ASSESSING SYMBOL USE FOR COMMUNICATION

LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION CHECKLIST

COMPREHENSION CHOICE MAKING DATA COLLECTION

COGNITIVE STEPPING STONES

TREATMENT STRATEGIES

Make sure that student’s physical needs are met - e.g., wheelchair tray on to increase stabilization

Following directions within the students physical and sensory abilities

Teach vocabulary and concepts in natural contextsUse Visual SupportsAsk student to “show” you or to “look at” somethingTeach yes/no respondingAsk “What,” “Who,” “Where” questions

Teaching augmentative or alternative communication skills is comparable to foreign language immersion

Model and pause, model and pause, model and pause ….