ADVANCED RESPONDING
a. Definition:
Using responsiveness to teach child specific words, concepts, and ways to talk.
b. Explanation:
Creating a highly positive and responsive environment teaches the young child that his communication is both meaningful and powerful, reinforcing his communicative attempts. By responding with specific words, concepts, and ways to talk, the adult not only reinforces the child’s efforts, but teaches the child new language forms.
Components of “advanced” responsiveness include:
· Using “Words That Teach”/Descriptive Talk
· Repeat
· Recast
· Matching Child’s Communicative Intent
· Functional Communication
· Talk at The Target Level
· Expansions
· Reflective Statements
· Praise That Teaches
c. Rationale:
By responding to all of the child’s communicative attempts, following the lead, and using the specific strategies listed above, the adult gives the child new linguistic input about a topic he is already interested in at a time when he is connected to the adult.
II. What Is Our Approach
a. Language Teaching Principles
Enhanced Milieu Teaching teaches specific language forms and vocabulary within the context of the interaction by employing highly responsive interaction strategies and by providing specific language input using the following strategies:
· Matching The Child’s Communicative Intent
· Functional Communication
· Talk at the Child’s Target Level
· Use specific nouns, verbs, and descriptive words
· Repeat, Recast, Expand
· Praise desired behavior with specific language
b. How does “descriptive talk”/ “advanced responding” relate to other parts of the intervention?
· When responsive strategies are used, conversations are maintained, child interested prolonged, and the child and adult are more connected in conversation. Using specific language during the responsive interaction allows the child to hear and see new language input about a topic he is interested in, at a time when he is connected to the adult in conversation.
· When the child may be “unintelligible”, but the adult matches the child’s communicative intent and uses specific language to do so, the adult “maps” language onto the child’s utterance—giving the child a model for the language he would have used if he “had the words”.
· The adult should keep language input “functional”—using specific language strategies is not helpful if the conversation does not make sense or if the topic is not salient to the child’s experience.
· Expansions, repeats, and recasts immediately connect the child’s utterance to specific language input by the adult while also reinforcing the child’s communicative efforts.
· When the adult uses specific language at the child’s “target level”, he is neither so far ahead in language that the child can’t keep up, nor so far behind that the child does not receive new language input. Instead, the adult is “just ahead” of the language the child is already using, so the child hears many models of the next language that he should be acquiring—language that is in his or her “zpd” or zone of proximal development.
· Specific praise gives the child vocabulary for his actions, and reinforces the desired behavior.
III. Components of “Advanced Responding”
Strategy: Descriptive Talk
a.Definition:
Respond to child communication/attempts using specific nouns, verbs, location words, and descriptive words (as opposed to words that respond but don’t teach, i.e. uhhuh, ok, yeah…). There are several types of descriptive talk: parallel talk, in which the adult describes what the child is thinking, doing, or feeling; self talk, in which the adult describes what he is thinking, doing, or feeling: and event talk, in which the adult talks about anything else that may be going on and that the child is attending to.
b. Subskills:
§ Responsive interaction strategies
§ Closely observing child’s verbal and nonverbal behavior in order to match communicative intent and be able to respond meaningfully.
c. Rationale:
Using descriptive talk in responsive interaction allows the adult to give the child rich language input about the topic the child is interested in at a time when the child is connected to the adult.
d. Examples:
Parallel Talk: (child is stacking blocks) “You build a tower!”
Self Talk: (mother and child are playing with babies) “I feed the baby!”
Event Talk: (child points to sky) “Airplane!”
Examples of responses that do and don’t include quality descriptive talk:
Child Utterances / NON-Descriptive Talk --Words that Answer, But Don’t Teach, and Answers That Do Not Include Specific Information / Descriptive Talk/ Words That TeachThat! / There it is! (no specific noun/verb) / That’s a ball!
A ball! / Wow! (answers, but no language) / Wow, you found a ball!
Momma, look! / Uhhuh.(answers, but no language) / I see the train!
Want it! / Here it is! (no specifics verb/noun) / Here’s the ball!
Did it! / You did it! (no specific verbs/nouns) / You caught the ball!
e. Most important things:
Always begin with responsive interaction strategies
Observing Child
Matching child interest and communicative intent
Keeping conversation fun and functional
f. Materials for Parents:
“Words That Answer but Don’t Teach” Handout
“Words That Teach Handout”
Homework/Practice for “Using Words That Teach”
KIDWORK:Homework for the MTP Parent
Practice Makes Perfect
Goal: To see how much more information I can give my child when I use
specific vocabulary.
Instructions:
1. Read the sentence written in bold print,
2. Rewrite the sentence using specific words.
Examples
A. There ya go.
Here’s your juice!
B. Push it!
Push the button.
Good Luck!
1. Give it here.
2. Oops!
3. I got them.
4. Let’s go!
5. You did it.
g. Performance Criteria:
>80% of parent responses to child will be “responses w/o others”
Strategy: Matching The Child’s Communicative Intent
a. Definition: Respond to what the child says or to what he is communicating. This is always important, but especially important when the child’s utterance is unintelligible. If the child’s utterance is unintelligible, the adult responds by “putting into words” what she believes the child is trying to say or by describing the child’s action; matches child affect and interest.
b. Subskills:
Responsive Interaction Strategies
Observing child’s nonverbal behavior
Sensitivity to nonverbal cues
Listen to child
c. Rationale:
Reinforces child communication attempts; gives language about a topic the child is interested in; continues conversation
d. Examples:
Child: That (points to car).Adult: Car.
Child: x (pushes car).
Adult: Go, car!
Child: squeals
Adult: Fun cars!
Child: cars!!!
Adult: We play cars!
e. Most Important Things:
Keeping conversation functional—making sense!
Matching Child Interest & Affect
f. Materials for Parents
KIDWORK:Homework for the MTP Parent
Practice Makes Perfect
Goal: Matching my child’s communication—responding to what he means to say
Instructions:
1. Read about my child’s communicative “turn”.
2. Write a response that will respond to the meaning of child’s communication.
Examples
A. Child squeals and smiles.
This is fun!
B. Child points to toy box and says something you don’t understand.
You want toys.
C. Child puts the doll in the house, points to the doll, and says something you don’t understand.
Stay there, doll!
Good Luck!
1. Child pushes adults hand.
2. Child is racing the cars on the track and making car sounds
3. Child reaches for the toys in your hand.
4. Child yells “CAR” while reaching for the car.
5. Child pushes the car down the track, looks at you, and says a word you don’t understand.
Strategy: Target Talk
a. Definition: Target talk is talk at the child’s “target level”…within one to two words of the child’s current MLU, and including the specific language targets that have been identified for the individual child.
b. Subskills:
§ Responsive Strategies
§ Closely observe and listen to child
§ Ability to match communicative intent
§ Know each individual child’s language targets and abilities, including phonological development
§ Monitor child’s progress across sessions
c. Rationale
When the majority of the adult’s talk is “target talk”, the child gets to hear many models of the language he or she should be acquiring next. If the adult’s language is too far ahead of the child’s, the child will have difficulty keeping up; if the adult’s language is at the same level or behind that of the child, the child will not receive new language input. If the adult’s language is just ahead of the child’s language, the child will have the opportunity to hear models of the next language skills he should be gaining and spontaneously imitate those new forms.
d. Examples
Child’s Target Level / Potential “Target Types” / Target ExamplesOne word / Nouns
Verbs
Protoverbs
Requesting Words / Car, ball, barn, house
Go, push, roll, run
In, out, off, on, up, down
More, help, Mine, Want
Two word / Agent-action
Action-object
Modifier-noun
2 word requests / Girl rides; baby cries
Catch ball; drive car
Big ball, red car
Want ball; More cars; Help me
Three word / Agent-action object
Agent-action-location
Action-modifier-noun
Agent-preposition-location
Action-preposition-location
3 word requests / The farmer drives the tractor
The girl jumps down!
Blow big bubbles!
Boy in car!
Go down the slide!
I want ____; Want more ____; Help me ____
e. Most Important Things
Responsive Interaction Skills
Matching child interest and communicative Intent
Keeping conversation meaningful
Knowledge of child’s language abilities
Using specific language just ahead of the child’s current abilities
f. Materials for Parents
Language Guide handout
General target handout
Child specific target information
You do a fabulous job of providing your child with a language rich environment. The next step in bringing his language along is focusing on his language targets. We pick targets for our participants based on language that they are already using and the language that they should be acquiring next. We want most of your talk in intervention to be “target talk”(meaning at or just ahead of his target level) so that you can help pull your child to his next level of language. When you do use mostly target talk to describe your activity, your child will get to see many models of the language that he should be using—without the confusion of having to sort through a lot of other language. AND, because you are leaving him lots of airtime by waiting for him to talk, he will have the opportunity to process all of that great specific language! Your child is using some one-word utterances (mostly nouns and “more”). We want to build his vocabulary in order to move him into using two word sentences. His targets are nouns, verbs, protoverbs (in, out, on, off, up, down), and 2 word requests. We chose to give him a target of 2 word requests in addition to his one word targets, because he is using “more” spontaneously. Using “more” and “want” as what we call “pivot grammar”, we can teach him a host of nouns and verbs!Practice Target Worksheets/brainstorming for individual activities
g. Performance Criteria
75 % of adult talk will be at child’s target level {{{At least 75% is my guess for lower kids, maybe less for higher kids; we have never specified a criteria for this—I think it also depends on the child’s level}}
Strategy: Repeat
a. Definition: Repeat child’s intelligible utterance verbatim—when the child’s utterance is understood and ONLY if it makes sense to do so. This is a useful strategy early in training as parent is learning to listen, respond to all of his or her child’s communication, and match the child’s communicative intent; as the parent becomes more skilled in the intervention, expansions and descriptive statements that extend the conversation are better.
b. Subskills:
Responsive Interaction Skills
Closely Observing and Listening to child
c. Rationale: Repeating the child’s utterance lets him know that you were listening and understood his utterance, and reinforces not only his communicative attempt, but his correct use of the words repeated. Repeating the child’s utterance is useful for setting up balanced turn-taking and for helping the parent learn to closely listen to his child’s talk.
d. Examples:
Repeat / Repeat that gets “stuck” / Repeat that reinforces child, then moves on / When not to repeat (when it doesn’t make sense or move the conversation along)Child: Car!
Adult: Car!
Child: Go!
Adult: Go! / Child: Car!
Adult: Car!
Child: Car!
Adult: Car!
Child: Car! / Child: Car!
Adult: Car!
Child: Car!
Adult: Go car!
Child: Go car!
Adult: Go car!
Adult: Cars go fast! / Child: Thank you. (after adult gave child a toy car)
Adult: Thank you (repeats).
Child: Thank you (looking at car).
Adult: Thank you (driving car).
Child: Thank you (driving car).
e. Most Important Things
Closely observing child interest and communicative intent
Keep conversation meaningful/functional
Being able to sense when it is functional to simply repeat the child’s utterance(or how many times to repeat it) and when to extend the conversation (for example, if the child gets “stuck” on a particular word, you should repeat only once or twice, and then move on by saying something related that extends the conversation)
Strategy: Recast
a. Definition: Repeat child’s utterance, correcting child’s articulation
b. Subskills: Observing; Matching Communicative Intent; Positive Interaction Style
c. Rationale: Recasting the utterance reinforces the child’s communicative attempt and correct use of the word/s while giving him a correct model of the word, and he opportunity to practice/spontaneously imitate the word; maintains conversation and gives child corrective feedback without telling her that she is “wrong”.
d. Examples:
Correct Use of Recast / Conversation StopperChild: tar!
Adult: Car!
Child: car!
Adult: stop, car!
Child: [s]top!
Adult: stop!
Child: stop.
Adult: the car stopped!
In this example, the adult reinforced the child’s talking, gave him a correct model of how to say the word, and was able to keep the conversation, the interaction, and the language learning opportunities going. / Child: [s]top.
Adult: You mean stop.
Adult: Say sssstop.
Child: top.
Adult: no, sssstop.
Child: ssss.
Child: picks up another toy and ignores adult
In this example, the adult stopped the conversation in order to work on the sound that was missed, rather than reinforcing the child’s effort to communicate and the meaning behind the word…the child moved on to another activity and the learning opportunity ended.
e. Most Important Things