Assistive Technologies, Instructional Implications, Accommodations and Modifications

Nearly all students with speech and language impairments are aided with speech-language pathology services. As stated by IDEA, speech-language pathology services includes—

(i) Identification of children with speech or language impairments;

(ii) Diagnosis and appraisal of specific speech or language impairments;

(iii) Referral for medical or other professional attention necessary for the habilitation of speech or language impairments;

(iv) Provision of speech and language services for the habilitation or prevention of communicative impairments; and

(v) Counseling and guidance of parents, children, and teachers regarding speech and language impairments.

Above is an excerpt taken from http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/speechlanguage/ . This website is both excellent in information for teachers and parents of those with speech and language impairments. Another excellent and informing resource can be found at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2491683/.  

MODIFICATIONS: each student has their own set of needs- with this being said, modifications is adaptable to the child's personal needs. Different forms of adaptable technology can be used, such as hearing aids, written lessons, and other forms of technology that are specially designed for those with speech and language impairments.

Why Do People Face Speech and Language Impairments?

Impairments in speech and language have numerous causes. Often, the cause of speech impairment is unknown. Some frequent known causes include the following:

• hearing loss
• neurological disorders
• brain injury
• intellectual disabilities
• drug abuse
• physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate
• vocal abuse or misuse.

Click here to learn more about causes of speech impairments.

Characteristics of Speech and Language Impairment

• In an articulation disorder, a child will face issues in pronunciation. For example, a lisp, mispronunciation of letters such as "L" or "R".
• Impairments in fluency occur when the flow of speech is disrupted by different sounds, syllables, or word repetition. There may be periods of silence. Tension may been in shoulders or fists.
• Voice impairments may change the sound of the voice- nasal sounding, raspy, harsh. Often the voice is lost or there are drastic changes in the pitch.
• Issues with language are the improper use of words, the inability to express one's thoughts, limited vocabulary, and often the inability to follow directions. 

Speech and Language Impairment: What Does This Mean?

According to the IDEIA, "Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.” Speech or language impairment is a broad topic with many smaller parts to it- it is broken up into these four topics:
1. Articulation Disorder: the difficulty of making certain sounds
2. Fluency: the flow of speech- typically a stutter.
3. Voice: involves pitch, noise level, quality of voice
4. Language: impaired ability to understand/use words in context.