Communication is the exchange of information and ideas. It involves encoding, transmitting, and decoding messages. It is an interactive process requiring at least two parties, each playing the dual roles of sender and receiver. Three elements are needed to qualify as communication: (a) a message, (b) a sender who expresses the message, and (c) a receiver who responds to the message.
Human communication does not have to use spoken or written or words to deliver or receive a message. Paralinguistic and nonlinguistic cues can also be used. Paralinguistice behaviors are non-language sounds (e.g., ooh, laugh) and speech modifications (e.g., variations in pitch, intonation, rate of delivery, pauses) that change the form and meaning of the message. Nonlinguistic cues include body posture, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, head and body movement, and physical proximity. Generally, the functions that communication serves are: (a) narrating; (b) explaining/informing; and (c) expressing feelings or opinions.
Language is a system used by a group of people for giving meaning to sounds, words, gestures, and other symbols to enable communication with one another. Language has been defined as a code whereby ideas about the world are expressed through a conventional system of arbitrary signals for communication. When we hear, speak, read, or write language, we transmit information. The dimensions of language include:
(a) Phonology, i.e., the study of the linguistic rules governing language’s sound system. The sound elements in the English language are called phonemes. Only the initial phoneme prevents the words, pear and bear, from being identical.
(b) Morphology, i.e., the study of how the basic unit of meaning is combined into words. For example the word baseball consists of two morphemes: base and ball.
(c) Syntax - syntax is the system of rules governing the meaningful arrangement of words into sentences.
(d) Semantics - semantics is a system of rules that relate phonology and syntax to meaning, that is, semantics describes how people use language to convey meaning.
(e) Pragmatics - pragmatics is a set of rules governing how language is used, e.g., to achieve various communicative functions and goals; using information from the conversational context; and knowing how to use conversational skills effectively, (e.g., beginning and ending a conversation, turn taking).
Speech is the actual behavior of producing a language code by making appropriate vocal sound patterns. Although not the only possible way to express language (e.g., gestures, manual signing, pictures, and written symbols), it is one of the most complex and difficult human endeavors. Speech sounds are the product of four separate but related processes: respiration (involves breathing), phonation (production of sound by the vocal folds of the larynx), resonation (involves the throat, mouth, and nasal cavities in determining the quality of the sound), and articulation (involves the lips, teeth, and mouth in forming specific sounds.
When does a communication difference become a disorder? A communication difference would be considered a disability when any one of these criteria is met:
· The transmission and/or perception of messages is faulty
· The person is placed at an economic disadvantage
· The person is place at a learning disadvantage
· The person is placed at a social disadvantage
· There is a negative impact on the person's emotional growth
· The problem causes physical damage or endangers the health of the person.
Eligibility -- To be considered eligible for special education services, a child’s communication disorder must have an adverse effect on learning.
IDEA 1997 defines a communication disorder in terms of “speech or language impaired” category of
disability and reads: “a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or voice impairment which adversely affects educational performance.”
Communication disorders can have physical or organic causes (e.g., cleft palate, absence of teeth, craniofacial abnormalities, etc.); however, most communication disorders are organic but are classified as functional disorders. Functional disorders cannot be directly attributed to physical conditions and its origin is not clearly known. Decades of research on the causes of communication disorders have produced few answers.
Speech and language impairments -- Most specialists make a distinction between speech disorders and language disorders. A person with impaired speech has difficulty producing sounds properly, maintaining an appropriate flow or rhythm in speech, or using the voice effectively. Individuals with impaired language have problems in understanding or using the symbols and rules people use to communicate with each other.
Both these impairments result in communication disorders such as difficulty in fluency, stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a student's performance. This subgroup of exceptional students is the most frequently (75.9% in the 1988-89 school year) served group in the mainstream. Approximately 4% of school-age children or between 2 and 3 million school-age children in the United States have communication disorders. This represents 21.6% of all students receiving special education services, the second largest group after learning disabilities. Often a speech-language pathologist provides specialized services on a regular basis in the classroom setting or away from the classroom.
Although highly individualistic, normal language development follows a relatively predictable sequence. Most children learn to use language without direct instruction, and by the time most children enter first grade, their grammar and speech patterns match those of the adults around them. However, communicative disorders may interfere with or limit to varying degrees a person's ability to formulate, express, receive, or interpret oral language.
Speech disorder - One widely quoted definition of a speech impairment is that of Van Riper & Emerick,
(1984). "Speech is abnormal when it deviates so far from the speech of other people that it calls attention to itself, interferes with communication, or causes the speaker or his/her listeners to be distressed."
Speech disorders are typically classified into five components:
a) articulation disorders - Articulation disorders are the most prevalent type of speech impairment among school-age children. The correct articulation or utterance of speech sounds requires us to activate a complicated system of muscles, nerves, and organs. Articulation problems occur when a person cannot correctly pronounce one or more of the phonemes of his or her language. For example, substitutions - substituting one sound for another (wake for lake or train for crane or doze for those); omissions - omissions occur when a sound that should be in a word is absent (top for stop or cool for school); distortion - distortion occurs when a sound is produced incorrectly, such as when air is emitted laterally when producing s or sh sounds; and, additions - additions occur when an extra sound is used in a word, such as sting for sing.
b) Voice disorders - voice impairments are characterized by abnormal pitch, quality, intensity, or resonance, or a combination of these disorders. For example, speaking with a pitch inappropriate for age and/or gender; speaking with a strained or harsh or breathy vocal quality; speaking too softly or loudly; and, speaking with inappropriate oral or nasal resonance, such as hypernasal speech. Dysphonia is a term that has been used to describe any condition of poor or unpleasant voice quality.
c) Fluency disorders - this is a disorder of rhythm in which a person's flow of speech is interrupted. Usually begins between the ages of 2 and 5. Cluttering is characterized by rapid but disordered articulation. Stuttering occurs when the flow of speech is broken by abnormal stoppages (no sound), repetitions (st-st-stuttering), or prolongations (ssssstuttering) of sound and syllables. Stuttering is situational. It appears to be related to the setting or circumstances of speech. It can be caused by neurological, psychological, or allergic factors or can result from rhythmic control or faulty learning patterns.
Observations about individuals who stutter:
· Are rarely disfluent while singing.
· Are rarely disfluent while speaking in unison or in synchronization with a rhythmic beat.
· Are rarely disfluent while alone or while swearing.
· Tend to experience disfluency on the same words when reading and rereading the same passage. They
may not have difficulty with these same words in other sentences.
· Tend to be able to predict their disfluency.
· Tend to be more disfluent in response to time pressure.
· Can learn to hear how their speech flows and understand what normal fluency means. They just cannot
attain such fluency.
a) Language disorders - of all the communication disorders, language disorders may be the most serious. Since oral and written language are the basis of communication in the classroom, impaired language can have a negative impact on all academic areas as well as social interaction with teachers and classmates.
Simply, a language disorder refers to any consistent difficulty in understanding or expressing language.
Receptive language disorder refers to understanding language, e.g., the sequencing of words may be difficult for some individuals. Expressive language disorder refers to difficultly in expressing oneself through language. This includes the form of language, content of language, and the function of language. The term aphasia is frequently used to describe a “breakdown in the ability to formulate, or to retrieve, and decode the arbitrary symbols of language.” Aphasia most often occurs suddenly, following a cardiovascular event (stroke) and is most prevalent in adults. Head injury is the most prevalent cause of aphasia in children.
So when does a communication difference become a communication disorder?
Generally, the following questions can assist the teacher in determining whether a student may have a communicative disorder.
a) Can I understand the student?
b) Does the student sound strange?
c) Does the student exhibit any peculiar physical characteristics when speaking?
d) Is the communication in a style inappropriate to the situation?
e) Do I enjoy listening to this speaker?