EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
Lesson title: Learners with Difficulty Communicating Materials:
Lesson Objectives: Activity Sheets
At the end of this module, I should be able to:
1. Analyze the scenario below and apply the concepts learned References:
on this topic Aligada-Hala, et.al (2020)
2. List at least 5 teaching strategies to cater a learner with Foundations of Special and
difficulty communicating Inclusive Education (1st Edition)
Rex Bookstore, Manila, Philippines
Productivity Tip:
By accepting you are not enough you become more. Always empty your cup. Arrogance will bring you
nowhere.
A. LESSON PREVIEW
1) Introduction (2 mins)
Have you experience losing your voice? How does it feel to communicate without your voice? Language
is a primary need for understanding. While most of our students develop this in a very typical way some
might not be on the same page of development. In one point of your classroom experience you will
encounter students that cannot express themselves though verbal language. In this chapter, we will
closely understand students with difficulty communicating.
2) Activity 1: What I Know Chart, part 1 (3 mins)
Let us determine if what do you know about our topic. Write your ideas in the first column.
What I Know Questions: What I Learned (Activity 4)
1 When do we say that a student
has difficulty in communicating?
2 What are the red flags to
determine a child with difficulty in
communicating?
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
B.MAIN LESSON
1) Activity 2: Content Notes (13 mins)
Read carefully the content notes and try to highlight or underline the key terms for greater level
of understanding.
Learners with Difficulty Communicating
Children with communication disorders have deficits in their ability to exchange information with
others. A communication disorder may occur in the realm of language, speech and/or hearing. Language
difficulties include spoken language, reading and/or writing difficulties. Speech encompasses such areas
as articulation and phonology (the ability to speak clearly and be intelligible), fluency (stuttering), and
voice. Hearing difficulties may also encompass speech problems (e.g., articulation or voice) and/or
language problems. Hearing impairments include deafness and hearing loss, which can result from a
conductive loss, a sensorineural loss, a mixed loss, or a central hearing loss.
Communication disorders may result from many different conditions. For example, language-based
learning disabilities are the result of a difference in brain structure present at birth. This particular difficulty
may be genetically based. Other communication disorders stem from oral-motor difficulties (e.g., an
apraxia or dysarthia of speech), aphasias (difficulties resulting from a stroke which may involve motor,
speech and/or language problems), traumatic brain injuries, and stuttering, which is now believed to be
a neurological deficit. The most common conditions that affect children's communication include
language-based learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder,
cerebral palsy, mental disabilities, cleft lip or palate, and autism spectrum disorders.
CHARACTERISTICS
Speech Impairments- There are three basic types of speech impairments: articulation disorders,
fluency disorders, and voice disorders.
Articulation disorders are errors in the production of speech sounds that may be related to
anatomical or physiological limitations in the skeletal, muscular, or neuromuscular support for speech
production. These disorders include:
Omissions: (bo for boat)
Substitutions: (wabbit for rabbit)
Distortions: (shlip for sip)
Fluency disorders are difficulties with the rhythm and timing of speech characterized by hesitations,
repetitions, or prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases. Common fluency disorders
include:
Stuttering: rapid-fire repetitions of consonant or vowel sounds especially at the beginning of words,
prolongations, hesitations, interjections, and complete verbal blocks
Cluttering: excessively fast and jerky speech
Voice disorders are problems with the quality or use of one's voice resulting from disorders in the
larynx. Voice disorders are characterized by abnormal production and/or absences of vocal quality,
pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration.
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
Language Impairments- There are five basic areas of language impairments: phonological disorders,
morphological disorders, semantic disorders, syntactical deficits, and pragmatic difficulties.
Phonological disorders are defined as the abnormal organization of the phonological system, or a
significant deficit in speech production or perception. A child with a phonological disorder may be
described as hard to understand or as not saying the sounds correctly. Apraxia of speech is a specific
phonological disorder where the student may want to speak but has difficulty planning what to say and
the motor movements to use.
Morphological disorders are defined as difficulties with morphological inflections (inflections on nouns,
verbs, and adjectives that signal different kinds of meanings).
Semantic disorders are characterized by poor vocabulary development, inappropriate use of word
meanings, and/or inability to comprehend word meanings. These students will demonstrate restrictions
in word meanings, difficulty with multiple word meanings, excessive use of nonspecific terms (e.g., thing
and stuff), and indefinite references (e.g., that and there).
Syntactic deficits are characterized by difficulty in acquiring the rules that govern word order and others
aspects of grammar such as subject-verb agreement. Typically, these students produce shorter and less
elaborate sentences with fewer cohesive conjunctions than their peers.
Pragmatic difficulties are characterized as problems in understanding and using language in different
social contexts. These students may lack an understanding of the rules for making eye contact,
respecting personal space, requesting information, and introducing topics.
Teaching Strategies
As with all students who receive special education services, collaboration of a multi-disciplinary team is
necessary. Students with speech or language disorders will receive services from many education
professionals, including general education teachers, special education teachers, and speech-language
pathologists.
Speech-language pathologists provide a variety of professional services aimed at helping people develop
effective communication skills. These services may include:
• Helping children with articulation disorders to learn proper production of speech sounds
• Helping children who stutter to speak more fluently
• Assisting children with voice disorders to improve their voice quality
• Helping individuals with aphasia to relearn speech and language skills
• Assisting individuals who have difficulty swallowing as a result of illness, surgery, stroke, or injury
• Evaluating, selecting, and developing augmentative and alternative communication systems
• Enhancing communication effectiveness
The general education teacher should work with the speech-language pathologist to incorporate strategies
to help the student generalize strategies mastered in speech therapy. This may include corrective measures,
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
helping with speech and language exercises, and providing the student with immediate feedback when the
speech-language pathologist is not present. The general education and special education teacher should
both collaborate with the speech-language pathologist for interventions and teaching strategies.
Assistive Technology
For students with speech and language impairments, the major types of assistive technology can be divided
into two areas.First, students with speech and language impairments have an array of computer software
packages available to develop their speech and language skills. An example is First Words, a language
program that has a number of applications for teaching those who are developing or reacquiring language
functions. The program uses graphic presentations combined with synthesized speech to teach high-
frequency nouns, and is one of many software packages that can help develop both speech and language.
Secondly, students with speech and language impairments may use augmentative or alternative
communication (AAC). AAC is the use of symbols, aids, strategies, and techniques to enhance the
communication process. This includes sign language and various communication boards, both manual and
electronic, that are used by individuals with impaired oral motor skills.
The most basic AAC devices are non-electronic communication boards. The boards usually are limited to a
number of choices (two to four). The choices can be represented by real items, pictures of items, and symbols
for items (including print). The objective of the communication board is to have the student make a choice,
typically of food or activity. Electronic AAC devices range from very simple devices with few buttons (such
as the Cheap Talk) to very elaborate systems that use a keyboard and synthesized speech (such as the
Dyna Vox and Liberator).
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
2) Activity 3: Skill-building Activities
Let’s check what you have learned. Analyze the scenario below and apply the concepts learned on this
topic.
Teacher Lyn has a new student who barely expresses himself in class. In the first few days, teacher
Lyn thought that the child was only shy but after a month in the classroom the child still does not
participate in class. He does not recite when asked but rather points his classmates because he
stutters. Most of the time he substitutes vowels in the words he spells.
Behavior Accommodation
3) Activity 4: What I Know Chart, part 2 (2 mins)
Now let us assess if you have learned something new, let’s go back to the What I Know Chart from
Activity 1 and write your answers to the questions based on what you know now in the third column of
the chart.
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
4) Activity 5: Check for Understanding (5 mins)
List at least 5 teaching strategies you can do in order to cater the needs of a learner with difficulty
communicating.
1)________________________________________________________________________________
2)________________________________________________________________________________
3)________________________________________________________________________________
4)________________________________________________________________________________
5)________________________________________________________________________________
C. LESSON WRAP-UP
1) Activity 6: Thinking about Learning (5 mins)
Congratulations for finishing this module! Shade the number of the module that you finished.
Great Job! Did you finish all parts of the module? Do you have any questions you may want to ask to
clarify the topic? You may write any question to further help you learn and your teacher will get to you
on the answers.
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EDU 537: Foundations of Special and Inclusive Education
Student’s Module #18
Name:______________________________________________________ Class number: _______
Section: _______________ Schedule:____________________________ Date: _______________
FAQs
Food for Thought!
If you have questions that you cannot ask to your teacher, this may help you clarify things out.
1. What challenges do learners with speech and language difficulties encounter?
→ The learners may have difficulty understanding or following directions, need accommodation in seating,
or feel anxious when talking.
KEY TO CORRECTIONS
Answers on Skill-building Activity (Act.3)
(Answers may vary)
Answer on Check for Understanding Activity (Act. 5)
(Answers may vary)
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