Support Services Handout Series
Number 6002 Language Sheet
Language Learning Disability and Deafness
Intervention Strategies

The impact of deafness on the development of spoken and written English is well documented and is addressed in educational programming for deaf students. However, when deaf students are identified as having specific language learning difficulties in addition to deafness, the approach to language learning in the classroom must adapt to incorporate intervention strategies which address this specific need. Both sign language and spoken language development are impacted by language learning disability; therefore the techniques described below may be applied in classrooms for the deaf in addition to the techniques already designed to meet the needs of deaf students in either oral or signed environments.

General Strategies - applied generally to all learning activities

Order of Difficulty: The order of difficulty in learning is generally the same as for all children. Use established orders of difficulty in goal planning.

Word Familiarity: Language disabled children depend heavily on word, phrase, or clause meanings. When working on sentence structures, word combinations, grammatical features, or other specific skills, choose words that are familiar to the student. Vocabulary selections need to be carefully controlled and presented in the "best" (most familiar) environment. In other words, choose bird over penguin, and present a picture of a robin (or other familiar bird) rather than a less common species.

Phrase Length: Control the phrase or clause length when working with the student; watch for recall difficulties and shorten the input when necessary.

Pictures/Objects: Visual perceptual stimuli will be attended to over verbal (spoken or signed) stimuli; therefore utilize picture representations of words, or actual objects. Choose a picture which is the most common representation of a given word, referred to as "best environment."

Visual Stimuli: Visual stimuli can be emphasized when presenting the printed word by color coding words to focus attention on particular cues.

Repetition: When introducing a new vocabulary item, concept, or sentence structure, multiple presentations are suggested; at least 10 repetitions or presentations appear to be needed.

Concrete to Abstract: All learning will progress from the concrete to the abstract. This will affect selection of vocabulary, selection/order of concept presentation, selection/order of morphological and syntactical elements taught, as well as choices in materials and experiences presented.

General to Specific: Go from general to specific in choosing vocabulary items. Some words have more generalized meanings and can be used correctly in a variety of contexts. For example, big can refer to overall size, height, width, volume, weight, or length, whereas tall refers to a more specific meaning, namely height. Choose big before tall, or large before wide.

Language Learning Disability and Deafness, Intervention Strategies

Less Complex to More Complex: Words differ in semantic complexity. Complex words have a larger number of semantic features. For example, give and pay both refer to an act of transferring something from one to another, and therefore share that semantic aspect. But pay also includes an obligation to return something in exchange for what was given. Related words should be introduced according to the order of increasing complexity. Words with the smallest number of semantic features are first in the order of learning. Therefore select give before pay, introducing the less complex word first.

Positive to Negative in Antonym Pairs: Opposites pairs generally have positive (+) and negative (-) members. The "+" member is the preferred member and should be taught first. For example, in the pair on / off, the positive "on" is presented and learned first, and then contrasted with the negative state "off."

Picture Simplicity: Pictures chosen to introduce new or unfamiliar vocabulary/concepts should limit the range of concepts introduced. For example, introduce dog with a simple picture of a dog, rather than a picture of a dog eating, jumping over something, or laying inside a doghouse. The same principle applies to pictures strung together to create phrases or sentences utilizing new or unfamiliar structures. Limit the range of concepts pictured to the specific meanings required for sentence formulation.

Expand Contexts: Expand new words to 10 different contexts. Language disabled learners tend to develop a narrow definition of a given word. Therefore dog would first be presented in a simple picture with limited concepts attached; then it would be expanded by presenting pictures of different breeds of dogs, including different colors, sizes, shapes, or fur lengths to expand the meaning of dog to represent many forms of dog. In addition, the new features of dog may be introduced in an organized sequence. First introduce different sizes, then different colors, then breeds, etc. The end goal is that the student attaches the word dog to a variety of pictures, thus expanding the semantic contexts of the word.

In the example of the word door, the sequence would be as follows: The best or most common environment would be a wooden door with a round knob. Then expand to doors of different colors, or sizes, doors with windows, different sizes and shapes of windows, different shaped doors, glass doors, metal doors, revolving doors, doors in rooms, on homes, on cars. This way door is expanded to include different features.

Processing Precedes Production: In all lesson planning, keep in mind that processing of language features precedes production of language; move from receptive language tasks to expressive language tasks.

Developed by: Rita LaPorta, Support Services, Model Secondary School for the Deaf
(Source: Wiig and Semel) .

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