Case Study: Developmental Language Disorder Impacting Academic Success
In the interest of safeguarding, this child has been referred to as ‘Stan’ throughout the case study.
Our Speech and Language Therapist, Raika, has been working with Stan following the diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder and struggling with word-finding difficulties. He has been receiving intervention with Chatterbug since February 2021. We have been working within his setting since September 2018.
Background
Stan has been diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder. This impacts how he effectively expresses himself, communicates with others and understands what others are communicating to him. Most commonly, he has been struggling with word-finding difficulties. This means that even though he knows what a word means and what he wants to say, he struggles with retrieving it from his brain!
Naturally, this has started causing problems with Stan in school in particular. As he struggles with understanding spoken language, it can make learning difficult and engagement in class reduces. This can even go on to impact his ability to build social relationships if listeners do not have the patience.
As Stan is currently based in KS2, it won’t be long before he is in secondary school! This is why it is essential for him to receive support so he can continue to have a positive experience both academically and socially in school.
How did Chatterbug help?
To help support Stan’s word-finding difficulties, Raika used a variety of strategies. One of these was to pre-teach vocabulary. This means that when new vocabulary is to be introduced into the classroom, Raika spent time with Stan working on its meaning, breaking down the sound and spelling to familiarise him with the new word. This helps him recognise and understand it when it is used in a classroom setting later!
With pre-teaching, they also used Colourful Semantics. This allowed Stan to break down the story-building process and improves his narrative skills. Colourful Semantics is also a great help in understanding and building vocabulary banks.
To help engage him with the sessions, Raika also used games! The games he loved the most were Snap, Uno, Dobble and Jenga. These allow them to talk about what is happening in the game, but it’s also a fun wind down at the end of a session.
Stan’s progress to date
Stan is now experiencing fewer word-finding difficulties. Instead, when he is now experiencing word find difficulties, he will describe or talk around the word he wants to use. This will either help him retrieve the word or support the listeners understanding.
This has allowed him to be more engaged in the classroom and get support where he needs it!
They will continue working together to find strategies around using and understanding spoken language and having support in place as he moves onward to secondary school.
What has Stan said about their therapy?
By using the strategies he has learnt, Stan can now use the words he actually wants to use! This means he can more accurately express himself, and his needs and helps him maintain the conversation.
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