Case Study:

High School
Maria Moritz
Lauren Normoyle
Erin Rutkowsky
Teri Sikri

Student Demographics
-
-
-
-

Sex: Male
Age/Grade: Ninth
School: Whitewater High School
Race: Hispanic

Language Characteristics
- The student is an English Language Learner,
whose first language is Spanish.
- The student receives ELL services if he needs
additional academic support
- The student has strengths in the following areas:
- Math & Science
- Social interaction with teachers and peers
- Auditory comprehension

Language Characteristics (cont.)

- The students IEP states that he is supposed to be
provided with 40 minutes of speech and language
intervention per week.
- The students language is characterized by a delay
in receptive and expressive language, and his
IEP states that he experiences difficulty with reading
and writing skills.
- These delays make it difficult for him to keep up
with the curriculum.

Language Characteristics (cont.)

The students IEP reports that he experiences difficulty
with the following writing abilities:
- Sentence organization
- Paragraph organization
- Use of appropriate syntax
- Noun-verb agreement
- Use of appropriate punctuation
- Run-on sentences

Hallidays Functions
Observed the student using language in three settings:
- Large group
- Small group
- One-on-one
Overview:
- Context
- Language functions observed
- Did this context facilitate language?

Large Group Instruction

- 9th grade English classroom
- Reviewing a test
o Grammar rules related to punctuation
o Reviewing for a 2nd retake exam
- Lots of distractions
o Class was not focused or engaged in discussion
o Disruptive behaviors

Hallidays Functions: Large Group

- Heuristic (3): environmental exploration and
knowledge acquisition (Halliday, 1969)
o What number are we on?
- Informative/Representational (2): the language
of school (Halliday, 1969; Pinnell, 1985)
o Indicator. - answering a teachers question

Facilitating or Inhibiting Context?

- This context inhibited language use
o Teacher directed lecture
o No invitation for student participation
o Very distracting environment
o Fear of being judged by peers

Small Group Instruction

- The students broke into groups of three (assigned by
the teacher)
- Each group was given two-three punctuation rules
o They were instructed to prepare to teach the
class about their assigned rules
o Students were mostly goofing around and this
was evident when they were not prepared to
present

Hallidays Functions: Small Group

- Instrumental (1): I want language
o Can you help us? (Halliday, 1969)
- Interactional (2): Define and establish personal
relationships (Halliday, 1969)
o Hi.

Facilitating or Inhibiting Context?

- This context inhibited language use
o Placed in a group with another English Language
Learner
o Both students required additional support from
the SLP in English
o Very loud and distracting environment

One-on-One Instruction
- The student went down to the SLPs office
o Classroom was having quiet reading time
o Reading Of Mice and Men
- Listened to the audio-book and read along
- SLP frequently stopped the audio-book to ask
comprehension questions
- Comprehension and prediction worksheet

Hallidays Functions: One-on-One

- Heuristic (2): environmental exploration and
knowledge acquisition (Halliday, 1969)
o Should I write that?
- Informative/Representational (15): the
language of school (Halliday, 1969; Pinnell, 1985)
o Um...Crook was trying to scare Lenny but Crook
didnt. - answering a comprehension question

Facilitating or Inhibiting Context?

- This context inhibited language use
o Initiation-Response-Evaluation instruction style
(Wilkinson & Silliman, 2001)
o Lots of closed response question (yes/no)
o No time for open discussion (appeared to be rushing
through the chapter)
o No opportunities for social interactions

Classroom Discourse: Overview

- Directive scaffolds (No supportive scaffolds)
- Initiation/Response/Evaluation conversational
sequence (Wilkinson & Siliman, 2001)
- Some Indirect Language Facilitation Strategies (3)
(Paul, 2012)

Classroom Discourse: Overview

The classroom discourse inhibited the students
language development by:
- Rushing through the activity
- Ask teachers to use a slow rate of
presentation, (Paul, 2012, p. 640)
- Directive Instruction
- Initiation-Response-Evaluation conversational
sequence

Classroom Discourse: Recast #1

Student: Ok, number 2 is C because they are
adject-.
Teacher: Adjectives.
Student: Yes, that word.
Teacher: Ok, Now when you have a list of
adjectives, you need to separate them with a
comma.

When I look at number 2, I see that there are 3

adjectives. When I see these three words, Scary,
clever, and sassy, I know these three words are
adjectives because they are describing a noun.
Now, I remember when we talked about what to
do when I have a list of adjectives. I use a
comma to separate them.
So if I am describing my shirt by using 3
adjectives I would say, I am wearing a beautiful,
red, cotton shirt. Beautiful, red, and cotton are
the 3 adjectives I used to describe my shirt and I
separated them with commas.

Classroom Discourse: Recast #1

When I look at number 2, I see that
there are 3 adjectives. When I see
these three words, Scary, clever, and
sassy, I know these three words are
adjectives because they are describing a
noun. Now, I remember when we talked
about what to do when I have a list of
adjectives. I use a comma to separate
them.
So if I am describing my shirt by using 3
adjectives I would say, I am wearing a
beautiful, red, cotton shirt. Beautiful,
red, and cotton are the 3 adjectives I
used to describe my shirt and I
separated them with commas.

Recast #1 demonstrates:
explicit modeling type of scaffold
self-talk type of indirect language facilitation
strategy
How would Recast #1 facilitate our students
language development?
Scaffold provides support to our student in
order to understand, remember, and express
his own perspective (Wilkinson & Siliman,
2001)
Indirect language facilitation strategy
provides support to our student by using the
grammar rules (i.e., adjectives) in multiple
contexts in order to support language
development (Paul, 2012)

Classroom Discourse: Recast #2

Teacher: Ok, number 3.
Teacher: This is a title, somewhat.
Teacher: What rule is this?
Teacher: Do you know what rule it is?
Student: I dont know.
Teacher: Ok, when you have a title, something
like md., PhD., Jr., or Sr., those have commas
around them.

When I was growing up, I remember that it was

silly that my Fathers name was Robert and my
Brothers name was Robert, also. My mother
explained to me that my Fathers title is Robert,
Sr., and my brothers title is Robert, Jr. Now I
remember that when I write titles such as my
Fathers title, Robert Sr., and my brothers title,
Robert Jr., I need to put commas around the
title. So in my Father and Brothers titles, Sr. and
Jr., I will put commas around them.

Classroom Discourse: Recast #2

When I was growing up, I remember
that it was silly that my Fathers name
was Robert and my Brothers name
was Robert, also. My mother
explained to me that my Fathers title
is Robert, Sr., and my brothers title is
Robert, Jr. Now I remember that
when I write titles such as my
Fathers title, Robert Sr., and my
brothers title, Robert Jr., I need to
put commas around the title. So in my
Father and Brothers titles, Sr. and Jr.,
I will put commas around them.

Recast #2 demonstrates:
Explicit modeling type of scaffold
How would Recast #2 facilitate our
students language development?
Scaffold: this explicit model adjusts
the type of assistance the student may
need to comprehend (Wilkinson &
Silliman, 2001).

Interview: Outline
- Participants & Interview Contexts
- Themes
- Perspective on Professional Collaboration

Interview: Participants & Context

- Participants:
- English Teacher
- Speech-Language Pathologist
- Interview Context:
- Informal, one-one-one conversation in teachers
classroom and SLPs office (respectively)
- Meeting scheduled by appointment
- Received permission to use audio recorder to
record interview for later analysis

Interview: Themes
-
-
-
-
-

Preferred Service Delivery Model

Effects of Classroom Behavior
Collaboration
Influence of Common Core Standards
Perceptions of Communication Strengths and
Challenges
- Accommodations
- Effects of English as a Second Language

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Preferred Service Delivery Model
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

a lot of times, if theres work time in class he will go

downstairs and work with Ms. Palmer and get help that way.
And then shes got a much smaller group of kids that she works
with down there.

at the beginning of the year, I went into the classroom, but

the class is so large and it was really disruptive since there
were so many kids in the class that needed extra helpwe
ended up just having the teacher send the kids down when
they needed help. So he spends as much time as he can up
in the class, and then when he needs one-on-one support,
then he just is allowed to leave the class and come down
and get help which he does pretty often.

I do try to check in with him whenthey are working, when

he is here, to see if hes understanding [the material]. And he
usually does ask questions. Not too often, buta lot of times
the work that he does is downstairs. Hes just kind of gotten into
a habit where he feels comfortable going down there to get
helpits a smaller group. Angela has maybe 2, 3, 4 kids that
she works with down there. And so shes able to give him the
one-on-one work that he needs.

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Effects of Classroom Behavior
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

hes chatty, not necessarily on task. But he doesnt I dont

think hes shy when hes in the group either. I thinkhe feels
comfortable in the group that hes in. I just dont know if they are
necessarily doing what they are supposed to be doing. Or that
hes doing what hes supposed to be doing.

at the beginning of the year, I went into the classroom, but the
class is so large and it was really disrup;ve since there were so
many kids in the class that needed extra helpwe ended up just
having the teacher send the kids down when they needed help.

I think he gets lost with whats going on in the classroom and kind
of gets absorbed in other things and not paying a:en;on so much to
whats going on. Hes in a pre:y wild class.

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Collaboration
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

communicating with Angela when he does go to work on

something if I dont think shes gonna know what hes supposed
to be working on. I just shoot her an email and say this is what
he should be working on and making sure she knows so she
can help him.

I talk to the English teacher the most because hes usually

coming down and working on her assignments I would say
weekly. It varies. Last semester I had lunch with her so we would
talk aboutwhat was going on in class daily almost. And now we
have a dierent lunch period, so Itry to connect with her aLer
school at least once a week to nd out what theyre working on.
And theirwebsites are usually pre:y well updated too, so I can
go on and see exactly what chapters theyre supposed to be
working on and things like that...

We usually email, talk during lunch, whenever we pass each other in

the hallway we talkJust kind of on an as needed [basis].

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Influence of Common Core Standards
English Teachers Response
we revamped our entire English curriculum a couple years
ago to meet the common core standards
...have more time to teach it all. Its a year-long they are all
year- long courses and it seems like we are cramming things in
still...sometimes it has to be sped up a little bitand I dont get
to spend as much time on something as I would like to.
maybe spending more ;me on certain things and not trying to get
everything in. So maybe taking some things out of the curriculum and
focusing more on, like, persuasive wri;ng. You know, we didnt get to
spend a lot of ;me on that.

SLPs Response
These are his goals [referring to his IEP], and they go along
with the common core standardswe try to connect their
language goals tothe readinglanguage, speaking and
listening goals that are in the common core standards
because we know that theyre going to be coming to us and
needing help with those things. Sohere theyre working
onwhat the text says, so reading comprehension and
inferencinghere is a vocab goalthis is a grammar goal.
Writing, and then following directions and advocating for
himself.

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Perceptions of Communication Strengths and
Challenges
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

if I had to pick one, I think his wri:en is probably a li:le bit stronger I think his writing is a little bit lower than his verbal abilities
than verbalhes very soL spoken and some;mes its even hard to
if he could choose, he would choose verbal.
hear what hes asking. And so its just easier when I see his wri;ng to
really see what hes trying to say and what hes trying to get at.

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Accommodations
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

he goes right along with what other students are doing. We do

modify for him when neededtoday I just talked with Angela. They
had a quiz on their To Kill a Mockingbird chapters, and he wasnt quite
where he should be, so she took the quiz and he actually went down
and worked with her during classand she had him listen to the book
and then just ll out the quiz as he was listening so that he could pick
up from there instead of trying to read it all and then take the quiz.
We modify that he can belistening for the answers and wri;ng those
answers down. We give him more ;me to work on assignments when
he needs it. He is usually pre:y good about geUng things turned in,
but its usually like a day or two aLer the fact. But we give him that
;me.

we rephrase things for him, explain what directions mean,

or what we are looking forwe use technology sometimes to
look up vocabulary and examples for himwhen hes
reading we get audio books to help him with
comprehensionand then we can pause and talk about
what hesreading or what hes listening to, to make sure
that were checking for his comprehension along the way.

Interview: Themes (cont.)

- Effects of English as a Second Language
English Teachers Response

SLPs Response

we do narrative writing, persuasive writing. They have certain

grammar skills that we would like for them to know by the end of
their freshman year so they carry those with them to sophomore
year.

because hes not geUng as much prac;ce as his typical peers

are geUngI think it makes grammar really hard because the
grammar is so dierent so heshaving to separate and deal with
those two dierent types of languages and the grammar is so
dierent. And then vocabulary too, it makes it really hard for him
to acquire new vocabulary because hes not hearing it all the ;me
at home.

they need to have strong reading skills, and they dont. A lot of
them dont, so we have to work on their skills in reading, and
knowing their grammar. And it all kind of ;es in together and that
helps with the wri;ng.
[IMPLICIT]

[EXPLICIT]

Interview: Collaboration
- Perspective on Professional Collaboration
- Communication between English teacher and SLP
- Classroom Instructional Strategies Training

Curricular Analysis
-

Two different contexts in which the curriculum was presented

- large-group (whole class) instruction with regular ed. English teacherS
grammar and punctuation review
- 2-to-1 small group instruction with the SLP (in her room), about the fiction
novel Of Mice and Men
Two different pieces of curriculum presented that day
Review of a grammar (punctuation) test from the day before, along
with discussion of punctuation rules in grammar packet
Story elements and cohesive devices from the fiction novel, Of
Mice and Men

Curricular Analysis
- Text Type: Description
In-Text Examples
Describing the Salinas River:
The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over
the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the
narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill
slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan
mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with
trees- willows fresh and green with every spring.
Pg. 1; Of Mice and Men
Related CCS or ASHA Standard:
CCS:
-RI.9-10.2c
-SL.9-10.6

Modifications/Accommodations to the
Curriculum
-Visualization strategies as a descriptive tool
-SLP will work with A. in a group of two and have a larger piece of
paper in front of each group member. As students have eyes
closed, the SLP could read 1 sentence aloud at a time.
-After each sentence, students sketch a quick picture of what they
see in their minds after they open their eyes again
-They have to retell the main points of the description they heard
after each couple of short sketches are complete
-Continue on in this way for more descriptive recall
How these Modifications Support A.s Language Needs:
A. can later access this descriptive language through his visual
memories within his short-term memory (Berninger et al., 2010)
He will also practice with his goals of noun/verb agreement and
verbalization skills through verbal and written retelling

Curricular Analysis
- Text Type: Sequence or Procedure
In-Text Examples

Modifications/Accommodations to the Curriculum

Now you listen and this time you got to remember so we dont get
in no trouble. You remember settin in that gutter on Howard
Street and watchin that blackboard? Lennies face broke into a
delighted smile. Why sure, George, I remember thatbut
whatd we do then? I remember some girls come by and you
sayyou say. The hell with what I says. You remember
about us goin into Murray and Readys, and then they give us
work cards and bus tickets? Oh sure, George. I remember that
now, . (28 more lines of unrelated dialogue), then the two men
continue talking about where they will be going)You remember
where were goin now? Lennie looked startled and then in
embarrassment hid his face against his knees. I forgot again.
Jesus Christ, George said resignedly. Well look, were
gonna work on a ranch like the one we come from up north.
Pg. 5; Of Mice and Men
Related CCS or ASHA Standard:
CCS RI.9-10.3 and CCS SL.9-10.6 and ASHA Roles &
Responsibilities: Program Design

-To demonstrate sequence or procedure, the SLP could

do a whole-class lesson and bring in something physical (like
pieces of a PB & J sandwich) that need to be put together in
steps, and do explicit modeling and a talk-aloud with the class
where they have to all describe the actual steps needed to put
together the item in order. Then SLP could talk about different
transition words that were used in putting the pieces together,
like first, then, next, and finally, both in this example and in
the books dialogue (Paul, 2012)
How these Modifications Support A.s Language Needs:
-Works on his verbalization skills
-works on his social language skills
-works on using different verb tenses and subj./noun

Curricular Analysis
-

Cohesive Device: Commas as Punctuation Marks to mark additional information

In-Text Examples

Modifications or Accommodations to the Curriculum

Guys like us, that work on ranches, are

the loneliest guys in the world. (pg. 13, Of
Mice and Men)
2. On October 27, 2002, Marie Greuel, one
of my goddaughters, turned 18. (This was
actually #14 on the students grammar
quiz)

-The SLP would do explicit modeling during a talk-aloud with a small-group (2 on

1) in her room in which he/she would describe her interesting weekend events
(Justice & Kaderavek, 2004; Wright & Neumann, 2014)
-Then SLP would write one of the sentences with this type/function of comma in it
on whiteboard, along with a few other sentences that would make up the main idea
of the story.
-Announce, Oh, I just realized that as I was writing these sentences up on the
board, I used a sentence that had a comma used to set off an appositive or
additional information, and point to the two commas that had this function in the
sentence on the whiteboard. Oh, so I know that in this sentence, My sister, (the
lady with frizzy hair), is 5 years older than me, that the lady with frizzy hair is still
talking about my sister (and have students physically point back to sister
-Lastly, have students describe someone they know well, using a clause.
How these Modifications Support A.s Language Needs:
-draws on his strengths in auditory listening abilities
-works on verbalization skills and grammar/punctuation goals

Related CCS or ASHA Standard:

-CCS L.9-10.1b.
-CCS L.9-10.2
-ASHA Roles and Responsibilities: SLPs
Provide Contributions to Curriculum
-ASHA Roles and Responsibilities:
Program Design - SLPs design schoolwide speech language services that
employ a continuum of service delivery
models in the LRE

Curricular Analysis
- Cohesive Devices: Conjunctions
In-Text Examples
Far off toward the highway a man shouted
something, and another man shouted
back.

Related CCS or ASHA Standard:

CCS SL.9-10.6
CCS L.9-10.2
CCS L.9-10.2a.

Modifications or Accommodations to the Curriculum

-The SLP could have at least 3 children in large or small group time
physically demonstrate the concept of where to put the comma within
this sentence.
-One student could be the physical representation of the first clause,
while a second student physically inserts himself (and a visual of a
comma) between the first student who is the first clause, and the third
student would represent the second clause in that sentence.
-This would help give the students an additional physical and visual
representation of where to put commas in these types of sentences.
How these Modifications Support A.s Language Needs:
-provide an alternative (physical and visual) method of learning about
punctuation rather than most traditional, written ones
-Helps A. to further understand clauses and punctuation, and in effect,
subject-verb agreement and eliminating run-on sentences

Assessment,
Intervention,
& Service Delivery Model

Assessment
- Formal assessments completed to qualify the student
for speech and language services:
- Expressive-One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test
(EOWPVT)
- Language Processing Test
- Listening Test
- Concerns related to the formal assessments
completed:
- Language of administration (Patton Terry et al.,
2010)

Assessment (cont.)
- Further informal assessments to be completed based
on data:
- Test to identify current reading level and
comprehension
- Recent informal writing sample and language
sample analysis
- Observation of classroom and social discourse
- Teacher instruction (Paul, 2012)
- Peer interaction

Intervention
- SLP collaboration with teacher to model high quality
classroom instruction (Justice et al., 2008)
- Provide explicit instruction (Wright & Neuman, 2014)
- Provide appropriate accommodations for student
(i.e., time, environment, materials, instructions)
(CCS)

Intervention (cont.)
- Implement learning strategies to foster academic
independence (CCS)
- Facilitate social skills and collaboration by
encouraging group work (CCS)
- Discuss language or dialectal differences (Paul,
2012)

Service Delivery Model

- Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
- Large Group (Classroom): this is the ideal service
delivery model (IDEA)
- Small group within the Speech-Language
Pathologists room

References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2010). Roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists in
schools.
Berninger, V.W., Abbott, R.D., Swanson, H.L., Lovitt, D., Trivedi, P., Lin, S.J., Gould, L., Youngstrom, M., Shimada, S.,
& Amtmann, D. (2010). Relationship of word and sentence level working memory to reading and writing in second,
fourth, and sixth grade. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 179-193. doi: 10.1044/01611461(2009/08-0002)
American Psychological Association. (2015). Individuals with disabilities education act (IDEA). Retrieved from http://
www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/disability/ idea.aspx
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2015). Application to students with disabilities. Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/application-to-students-with-disabilities.pdf
Culatta, B., Horn, D. G., & Merritt, D. D. (1998). Expository text: Facilitating comprehension. In D. Merritt & B. Culatta
(Eds.), Language intervention in the classroom (pp. 215-276). San Diego, CA: Singular.
Halliday, M. (1996). Relevant models of language. Educational Review, 22, 26-37.

References
L.

Justice, & Kaderavek, J. (2004). Explicit emergent literacy intervention I: Background and description of
approval embedded-explicit emergent literacy intervention. Language, Speech ,Hearing Services in Schools, 35,
201211. doi: 201 01611461/04/35030201
Justice, L.M., Mashburn, A.J., Hamre, B.K., & Pianta, R.C. (2008). Quality of language and
literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 51-68.
Doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.09.004
Patton Terry, N., McDonald Connor, C., Thomas--Tate, & S.Love; M. (2010). Examining relationships among
dialect variation, literacy skills, and school context in first grade. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research, 53, 126--145. doi:10.1044/1092--4388(2009/08-0058).
Paul, R. (2012). Language Disorders from Infancy to Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention.
4th Ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Year Book.
Pinnel, G. (1985). Ways to look at the functions of childrens language. Observing the Language learner, 52-72.

References
Steinbeck, J. (1937). Of mice and men. New York, NY: Penguin Books
Wilkinson, L.C., & Silliman, E.R. (2001,February). Classroom language and literacy learning. Reading Online,
4(7). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_indexasp?HREF=/articles/handbook/wilkinson/index.h
Wright, T.S., & Neuman, S.B. (2014). Paucity and disparity in kindergarten oral vocabulary instruction. Journal of
Literacy Research, 46(3), 330-357. doi: 10.1177/1086296X14551474