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Special Education & Communication Disorders

Hux Presentations

Language Deficits Among Students With Behavioral Disorders

Sharon R. Ishii-Jordan, Ph.D.
Creighton University

Karen Hux, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lisa Scott, Ph.D.
Wichita State University

ABSTRACT

This research examined the frequency with which 12 elementary school students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) and no other special education verifications displayed concomitant language disorders.  Extensive standardized and nonstandardized language assessments were performed.  Results revealed that all participants either had language impairments or were at risk for language impairments.  Three of the 12 students received scores on standardized language assessment measures that indicated language impairment; 10 of 12 displayed behaviors consistent with language impairment on one or more measures of conversational discourse, and 10 of 12 displayed behaviors consistent with language impairment on one or more measures of narrative discourse. These results suggest that educators should be alert to the likelihood of students with EBD having concomitant language impairments. Furthermore, these impairments can not be readily identified through the unilateral use of standardized language assessment measures.

PURPOSE

To determine prevalence figures for language impairment among students in programs for emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD)

To determine the types of language problems that exist among EBD students in public school settings

METHODS

Subjects

  • 12 elementary school-age students
  • 3 girls, 9 boys
  •  8.9 years to 12.1 years
  •  all verified with EBD
  •  all normal IQ

Procedures

Administered 2 standardized language tests

Test of Language Development - Intermediate (TOLD-I:2)

Test of Pragmatics of Language (TOPL)

Elicited 2 language samples

Conversational discourse  Analyzed using modified Clinical Discourse Analysis (Damico, 1985):
   a. # utterances
   b. # errors
   c. # utterances with errors
   d. % of utterances with errors
Analyzed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) (1996):
   a. mean length of utterance (MLU)
   b. % of utterances with mazes
   c. maze words as a percent of total words
   d. average words per maze
 
Narrative discourse through story re-telling Analyzed according to Westby (1992):
   a. thematic units (t-units)
   b. # episodes
   c. average # t-units per episode
   d. % of episodes completed


RESULTS
Standardized Measures Analysis
(TOLD-I:2 and TOPL)

Definitions

  • Within normal limits: > -1 SD
  • At risk:  -1.5 SD to -1 SD
  • Language impaired: < -1.5 SD
Tables of TOLD and TOPL results (Must view with Adobe Reader. Follow instructions at this site. The page will either open or download as a file to your computer.)

 Conversational Discourse Analysis

  • Definitions for Conversational Discourse
Measure Within normal limits At risk  Language impaired
MLUa >7.62  4.5 - 7.62  <4.5
average words per mazea  <2.15  NA  >2.16
maze words as % of total wordsa  <8.38  8.38 - 11.06  >11.06
% utterances w/ discourse errorsb <50%  50% - 60%  >60%
abased on Loban (1976)
barbitrarily set

Tables of Conversational Discourse Results (Must view with Adobe Reader. Follow instructions at this site. The page will either open or download as a file to your computer.)

Narrative Discourse Analysis
(Story Re-telling)

  • Definitions for Narrative Discourse
Measure  Within normal limits
 At risk 		 Language impaired
# episodes (max. 4)a  4  3  0 - 2
# complete episodesa  3 - 4  2  0 - 1
Maze words as % of total wordsb  <8.38  8.38 to 11.06  >11.06
Average words per mazeb <2.15  N/A  >2.16
aBased on Westby (1992)
bBased on Loban (1976)

Tables of Narrative Discourse Results (Must view with Adobe Reader. Follow instructions at this site. The page will either open or download as a file to your computer.)

SUMMARY

Prevalence of Language Impairments Among Elementary Students with Behavioral Disorders

  • Standardized Measures
  •  3 of 12 students displayed language impairments
  •  5 additional students displayed at-risk behaviors
Conversational Discourse
  •  10 of 12 students displayed language impairments on one or more measures
  •  2 additional students displayed at-risk behaviors
Narrative Discourse (story re-telling)
  •  10 of 12 students displayed language impairments on one or more measures
  •  2 additional students displayed at-risk behaviors

Summary Table (Must view with Adobe Reader. Follow instructions at this site. The page will either open or download as a file to your computer.)

Types of Language Deficits

  • Semantics:
  •  4 of 12 students displayed language impairments
  •  2 additional students displayed at-risk behaviors
Syntax
  •  4 of 12 students displayed language impairments
  •  1 additional student displayed at-risk behavior
Discourse (Conversational and Narrative)
  • 8 of 12 students displayed language impairments on at least one measure both in conversational and narrative discourse
  • 4 additional students displayed at-risk behaviors
 DISCUSSION
  • Language impairments and challenges are pervasive among the population of students with EBD. Educators and speech-language pathologists need to consider the possibility that students with EBD have concomitant language impairments that are masked by other behaviors.
  • Administration of standardized language assessment measures is insufficient, by itself, to identify the language challenges of students with EBD.
  • The most prominent areas of challenge relate to discourse, although some students display semantic and syntactic impairments as well.
  • Further research is needed to determine whether provision of language intervention for students with concomitant EBD and language challenges improves behavior.