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Training Procedure
The aided language stimulation program comprised three activities. Each activity was implemented for five consecutive days, that is, in five sessions. The sessions were conducted in the mornings and lasted for between 15 and 25 minutes per day. During each session the participants were exposed to the target receptive vocabulary items three times. All the sessions were video taped. The sessions were loosely scripted by the limited vocabulary items on the facilitator board, and by the nature of the activity.
The sessions comprised the steps outlined in Table 3.12 below. Appendices 22, 23, 24 are transcripts of a session for each activity. A second rater rated 40% of the transcripts, as discussed in section 3.7.3.3.
A probe has been defined as the introduction of a change in a condition at some point in the intervention, in order to evaluate the intervention (Horner & Baer, 1978). The probes in this study served as the independent measure. Three times each week, namely on days 1, 3 and 5, the participants were tested or probed for comprehension of the target receptive vocabulary items being taught in that week, as well as of items for the other two activities (Appendix 15). The participant sat at a table in front of the researcher, who placed the target objects in front of the participant (Appendix 9). Three distracting stimuli or foils were also presented. The researcher conducted the probes by instructing the participant to point to the correct object, for example: “ Show me the ____”. The researcher provided non-specific intermittent feedback (e.g. “keep going” or “you’re doing fine”) to sustain participation. After each item was presented, the researcher marked the probe sheet (Appendix 15) with a positive or negative sign, indicating a correct and incorrect response respectively. The participant assisted the researcher in putting the objects away. The researcher then moved on to the next item.
Frequency of aided language stimulation
The frequency of aided language stimulation is defined as the number of times aided language stimulation is provided. Aided language stimulation is defined as the simultaneous pointing to the symbol as spoken input is provided. Goossens’ et al., (2000) suggest that the frequency of aided language stimulation should be 70%. The frequency in the current study was calculated using the transcripts and videos. Each time the researcher provided aided language stimulation, that is, named and pointed at the symbol simultaneously, was marked in blue on the transcripts. Thereafter the transcripts were observed for missed opportunities to use aided language stimulation.
The missed opportunities were marked in pink. The frequency of used opportunities and missed opportunities were then counted and tallied in the respective column on the transcript (V1 and V2). The totals for each session were added.
Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)
The MLU was computed for each session transcript using the adapted procedures of Brown (1973). The procedure used in the current study differs from Brown’s only in that (a) 50 instead of 100 utterances were analyzed and (b) the first pages of the transcript were not omitted. The adapted procedure outlined by Miller (1981) was therefore also used. The first 50 consecutive utterances in the sample were counted.
The morphemes in each utterance were counted, and tallied in column V5. A morpheme was defined as a minimal meaningful unit of a language. Decisions on what constitutes a morpheme were based on Brown’s (1973) recommendation, and included:
· Stuttering is marked as a repeated effort at a single word, unless it is produced for emphasis (example “no, no, no”). In the latter case, each occurrence is counted separately.
· Fillers such as “mm” or “oh” were not counted.
· Compound words forming proper names were counted as single words.
· Irregular past tense (“got”, “did” and “went”) were counted as one morpheme.
· Diminutives were counted as one morpheme.
· Auxiliaries (“will”, “have”, “can”) were counted as separate morphemes.
· Catenatives (“gonna”, “wanna”) were counted as single morphemes.
CHAPTER 1
PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RATIONALE
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Problem statement and rationale
1.3 Terminology
1.4 Abbreviations
1.5 Chapter Outlines
CHAPTER 2
THE USE OF GRAPHIC SYMBOLS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Language acquisition
2.3 The language environment
2.4. The Partner: the role of his or her input
2.5 The child
2.6 AAC systems
2.7 Instruction
2.8 Conclusions
2.9 Summary
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Methodology
3.3. Research design
3.4 Pilot study
3.5 Main study
3.6 Equipment and materials
3.7 Data collection
3. 8 Data analysis and statistical procedures
3.9 Summary
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Reliability
4.3 Description of the Aided Language Stimulation Input
4.4 Impact on Receptive Language Abilities
4.5 Comparison of the frequency of aided language stimulation input and correct responses
4.6 Impact of aided language stimulation program on general receptive language abilities
4.7 Summary
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS, EVALUATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Implications of the Study
5.4 Evaluation of the Study
5.5 Recommendations for Future Research
5.6 Summary
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
