1. SLEUTHING YOUR STUDENT’S COMPREHENSION Provincial Integration Support Program

2. What do we mean by Comprehension?  Understanding others’ communication  Understanding what is happening  Interpreting cues and signals in the environment  Handling changes and transitions

3. Specific Comprehension Skills Direction Following Object/Picture Identification Matching Sorting Functions Answering yes-no questions

4. Why?

5. Better understanding of student’s abilities More appropriate individual educational plan

6. CHALLENGES

7.  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

8. Sensory Challenges  Auditory  Hearing Loss  Difficulty filtering background noise from foreground auditory information

9. Visual  Cortical Visual Impairment

10. Physical Challenges Eye-hand coordination can be difficult Crossing mid-line can be difficult

11. ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

12. What forms of communication does the student understand?  Gestures  Cues from the environment  Speech  Manual signs  Signs, logos, pictures  Printed material

13.  Separate objects or pictures  Enlarge pictures  Use different response methods:  Yes/No  Same/different  Numbers  Use assisted scanning

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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?

17.  Use response methods that the student can control volitionally:  Head turning  Eye movements  Body movements/gestures

18. Observe the student :  with a variety of people  In a variety of environments

19. Interview people who know the student well

20. What to assess?  Direction Following  Auditory Sequencing  Auditory Memory

21. 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

22. ASSESSING SYMBOL USE FOR COMMUNICATION

23. LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION CHECKLIST

24. COMPREHENSION CHOICE MAKING DATA COLLECTION

25. COGNITIVE STEPPING STONES

26. TREATMENT STRATEGIES

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

28.  Following directions within the students physical and sensory abilities  Teach vocabulary and concepts in natural contexts  Use Visual Supports  Ask student to “show” you or to “look at” something  Teach yes/no responding  Ask “What,” “Who,” “Where” questions

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

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