JCPSLP November 2017

or listening exercises. Games facilitate a focus on comprehension skills (following instructions), problem- solving, planning, expressive language (including seeking clarification), and social and literacy skills (reading instructions). Three great multipurpose games are: 1. Man bites dog – Construct a “news worthy” headline using a hand of cards. This targets literacy skills (reading and comprehending written information and sentence construction), language skills (vocabulary development, inferencing) and social communication (humour, irony, factual/ inferential interpretations). Ask for a story to attach to the headline to extend the game into an oral or written language exercise. 2. Bop It – A game requiring players to follow a series of verbal instructions, used to address processing and comprehension skills. It also has the “active component” for those who have attentional difficulties and has the added benefit of a competitive element (either against the clinician or others). 3. JENGA – Players take turns removing one block at a time and placing it back onto the tower. Jenga can help with problem-solving, impulsiveness (cause–effect relationships), attention to details, and planning skills. It can be adapted to target vocabulary/semantics whereby the SP sticks names linked to different categories onto the blocks. The student rolls a dice and, depending on the number it lands on, they are asked to remove a block linked to that category. 6 Formal assessment tools It can be challenging to complete formal assessment with this population due to high refusal rates and difficulty attending and concentrating. If a formal assessment is required and deemed to be of value, use a test that is short and appears non-confrontational. A few to try are: • The Expression Reception and Recall of Narratives Instrument (ERNNI) (Bishop, 2004); • Test of Language Competence – Expanded (TLC – E) (Wiig & Secord 1989); • Social Emotional Evaluation (SEE) (Wiig, 2008); • Student version of the Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (S-FAVRES) (MacDonald, 2013; 2016). 7 Screening questionnaires As many children/teenagers spend much of their time in school or at home, the use of questionnaires to collect information is an important part of the assessment process. In fact, with disorders such as ADHD the assessment is considered incomplete without this information. A number of questionnaires can be used with individuals who have behavioural issues to gather information about functional activities and behavioural attributes. One that can be freely downloaded is the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997). This tool is suitable for children aged 3–16 years. The SDQ includes questionnaires for parents, teachers and a self-report version for adolescents (11–16 years). Another questionnaire commonly used in research to screen for language impairment, particularly pragmatic impairment, is the Children’s Communication Checklist – CCC-2 (Bishop, 2003). 8 Fun activities for assessment and therapy Having a collection of fun and engaging activities suitable for different age groups is an essential element of a

speech-language pathologist’s clinical tools kit. When working with children and adolescents who have EBD, ADHD and/or ODD, a wide range of engaging resources are a must. 1. Mr Bean clips: are effective for both assessment and therapy, covering a range of language and communication areas. Mr Bean is great for working on social communication skills including reading body language and facial expressions, developing emotional vocabulary, interpreting situations and looking at cause and effect relationships. 2. Comic strips: are an effective way to encourage written language. Students perceive comics to be “less demanding” because written language is limited and there are pictures to facilitate story ideas. To access a range of comic strips try www.Pixton.com (however, there are also a range of free options on the internet). 3. Spider web: the concept of a spider web representing the “trouble” and “problems faced” is a strong visual scaffold that students can use when trying to address cause and effect relationships and problem-solving skills. An example of how it may be used is as follows: • The student makes a spider web from string including a spider in the middle. • The student identifies the behaviours that get them into trouble or the problems they face as well as when these behaviours/problems happen. • Write the problem behaviours onto flies and stick the flies around the spider web. The riskier or more dangerous the behaviour the closer to the spider it is placed. • On a separate piece of paper the student lists positive consequences that occur when they don’t carry out the negative behaviour or think before acting. The web is continuously referred back to, with the emphasis being that they DON’T want the consequences of their actions to “get them stuck in the web”. 4. Pen pals: one of the best tools for literacy involving social communication skills is introducing pen pals (https://www.penpalschools.com/). Pen pals allow students to engage in monitored written exchanges whereby they need to think about grammar, sentence construction, and type and specificity of vocabulary and information. They learn that people’s experiences may be different to theirs because of where they live. It is a novelty for students when they find themselves taking on the role of teacher, as the person they are sharing the information with often states that they want help to learn how to read and write in English. 9 Books Despite the known importance of books in learning environments, they may be considered “taboo” by individuals with EBD, ADHD and/or ODD as they can represent a culmination of the difficulties that a student experiences with communication, literacy and higher level problem solving. It is therefore important to find books that students are prepared to engage with. Pick a path/ adventure books (also known as choose your own adventure) or Treasure Quest Magical Adventure Mazes by Bob Beeson are interactive as well as short and easily adapted in order to develop a range of age groups and literacy levels.

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JCPSLP Volume 19, Number 3 2017

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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