1. Vocabulary The ABC’s of it All…
Lillian Henderson, MSP, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT
Erin Thompson, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT

2. What we’re going to talk about today:
Vocabulary:
What is it?
How do kids learn vocabulary?
Impact of Hearing Loss on vocabulary development
Why is it important?
Vocabulary Development
How to Teach Vocabulary
The vocabulary hierarchy
Practice!
Strategies:
Different strategies for different stages of development
Selecting Vocabulary:
Where to find it?
What to pick!

3. Vo-cab-u-lary (noun)
: a sum or stock of words employed by a language, group, individual, or work or in a field of knowledge
The meaning of words, or symbolic language, but it becomes confusing in English because one word can have several meanings, as for example, the word “fly.”
Educational Audiology For The Limited-Hearing Infant and Preschooler (pg. 169)

4. How Do Children with Normal Hearing Learn Vocabulary?
Babies learn words by listening to their caregivers. Research that was conducted by Parents Report showed that children learn words faster by hearing more words consistently. – Richard Laliberte

5. The Word Gap in Hearing Children
Hart and Risley,(1995) found a vocabulary gap at the age of three, based on parents’ socioeconomic status.
Children of Professional families used 1100 words
Children of Working class families used 650 words
Children of Welfare families used 400 words
Children from high socioeconomic status had 16 times more language stimulation than children from lower status families.
Children from lower socieoeconomic homes have heard 32 Million words less than their peers from homes with ‘professional parents’ when they start kindergarten (Hart and Risley, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children)
83% of words used in normal conversation with a child come from the most commonly used thousand words. (Hayes & Ahrens, 1988). So you have to read aloud for further vocabulary growth past those 1000 5

6. What Happens In Kindergarten?
Scarborough (2001) showed convincing evidence that children who enter kindergarten with weak language (vocabulary) skills are likely to encounter difficulty in learning to read.
Vocabulary gap no longer widened (Farcus, 2001).
Vocabulary gap wasn’t narrowing (Farcus, 2001).
Beck (2002) & Juel (2003) Said that not enough was being done in the schools to close this gap.

7. Why Is Vocabulary SO Important?
“To read a book with ease, a child should be able to read about 19 out of 20 words on a page correctly. If not, the book is probably too difficult.” Shaywitz (2003)

8. Why Is Vocabulary SO Important?
Reading is a poor means of acquiring initial language skills. To learn a significant amount of language through reading, children must already have basic visual word recognition skills, a good vocabulary, an awareness of syntactic skills, understanding of the semantic properties of words and sentences, and extensive experience of the world around them. Only if such skills are present can children search a text for it’s meaning.” Ling, Foundations of Spoken Language for the Hearing Impaired

9. Why Is Vocabulary SO Important?
The child with severely delayed language and vocabulary is not ready to read. “Because one must know and be able to use the language that is to be read, the best way to work with such a child is to concentrate on his/her acquisition of lang. & vocabulary.”
(L. Robertson, 2000)
“Low oral vocabulary and poorer overall language skills begin to exact a heavy toll on reading achievement by grade 3 when text demands increase.”
(Storch & Whitehurst, 2002)
HOLD UP – Read Aloud Handbook!!!!
Okay…we said earlier that children with hearing loss typically have to be TAUGHT vocabulary. How do we do that??? We know now what to teach…but how to do we teach it? 9

10. 10

11. Vocabulary Development
Expressive
12-18 mo.
18-24 mo.
2-3 yrs.
3-4 yrs.
5-6 yrs
To go on to higher education, kids need to know 100,000 words!
Owens, R.E. (1992). Language Development: An Introduction, 3rd edition. New York: MacMillian.
What should kids have?
12-18: 1-20
NOTES: connection b/t syntax and semantics –
The consensus is that children learn words per year during elementary grades due to the rapid rate of which vocabulary is growing and the need for repetitions in order to learn the word. Researchers have concluded that most vocabulary is acquired through wide and frequent reading.
Children learn words per year during elementary grades. Researchers have concluded that most vocabulary at this age is acquired through wide and frequent READING! - Nagy & Scott, 2000

12. Bricks to Build Your House!
Age:
Vocabulary:
Syntax:
12 months
1st word emerges
one word
18 months
50 words
Maybe 2 word combos
2 years
300 words
Average 2 word phrases
3 years
words
Average 3-4 word sent.
4 years
1500 words
*Average 4-5 word sent.
5 years
2500 words
Average 5-8 word sent.
* Children are now using grammatically correct sentences, words are not being omitted.

13. By age 5, typically developing children are learning as many as _____ new words every day. 10 13

14. How Does This Affect Children Who are Hearing Impaired?
Children who have hearing loss & especially children who were identified later are not given the full benefit of “overhearing” their caregivers talking.
So, they may not quickly “pick up” vocabulary words that are said throughout the day.
This makes it critical for parents to focus on informal language stimulation techniques.
If the child continues to have difficulty learning vocabulary, a hierarchy should be followed to TEACH the vocabulary.

16. Vocabulary Hierarchy
INPUT
COMPREHENSION
IMITATION
USE

17. Vocabulary Hierarchy Input:
Repeatedly say new words in meaningful context.
The child participates in the activity and listens.
Auditory bombardment
parentese
Needs a lot of meaningful playful hands on experiences. Opportunities for child to hear word over and over again.
Data??? A child has to hear a word _________ times before understanding it??
Ex. With “throw”
I’m going to throw. Now you throw. Throw! Throw! Let’s throw! Throw it to me.
_________________________
SHOW INPUT CLIPS: 1. CK – wash w/ LFL (0:54) - See how many times Chrissy said wash, and in different ways… isolation and phrases!
2. ET – Flower and petal (3:17) – ways to combine children on different levels within the same activity and theme
3. ET – ahhh, airplane and jet (3:34) – children on two different levels, pairing what they know (airplane) with unknown (jet), or known (ahhhhh) with (airplane) ____________________________

18. Vocabulary Hierarchy Comprehension:
Ask the child to demonstrate comprehension of an idea. (Where is the ____?)
The child demonstrates comprehension by doing the action. He/She does not verbalize.
Check for nouns…by having child show an object
Check for actions – ask child to perform action or another animal
Descriptions – ask child to give object with specific characteristics (give me the little one)
SHOW COMPREHENSION CLIPS!!!
4. LH – big (0:35) - DID show comprehension (pretty obvious  )
5. ET – ahhhh, airplane and jet (6:18) - Did any have comprehension? Jet – no , Airplane – no, but appeared to really want that bus…so it might be good to do another comp check later! , Ahhhhh – unknown b/c he got a little help from his friend!
6. ET – Flower, petal (3:17)

19. Vocabulary word: Throw
How to check for comprehension:
Playing with a child and you give them a ball.
You ask them to throw the ball.
The child then throws the ball.
Does the child have comprehension of the word “throw”?

20. Checking for Comprehension
ANSWER?
ANSWER? We don’t really know!
We don’t really know because what else would they have done with the ball? There were FEW other options for the object that was given to them.

21. Checking for Comprehension
A more effective approach to check for comprehension of a word may be to hand the child sand and ask them to throw it!
If the child holds the
sand and does nothing
with it after you ask
them to “throw” it, then
they probably do not
understand “throw.”

22. Vocabulary Hierarchy Imitation:
Teacher says the word and asks the child to repeat.
The child repeats the word.
If child is not using after a considerable amount of input go to imitation.
ex. tell maria “throw it”
,leaning in and cupping ear, …say ___,
Articulation is not important at this time.
THESE KIDS HAVE ALREADY SHOWN COMPREHENSION!
_______________________________
SHOW IMITATION VIDEO CLIPS:
7. LH – Imitation – BIG (3:18)
8. CK – Imitation & Delayed Im. – UP (0:47) - Chrissy told him to do it, then switched roles so Leo had to say the word
9. ET – Imit. & Delayed Im – MORE (11:55) SKIP FIRST MINUTE – She needed wait time and an expectant look and a model in order to use the target word

23. Vocabulary Hierarchy USE:
Asks the child to use the word. (What’s that? Or Tell me about that?)
Child uses the word on his/her own.
SHOW VIDEO CLIPS:
10. LH – Big (off camera) (0:26)
11. LH – BIG (w/ strat start sentence) (0:27)
SHOW AT END:
Emily PPS video – (3:15)
ET - Comp check + Input – Flower (7:00)
ET – Comp check + use – L to L (8:44)

24. What comes first?
12. Emily PPS video – (3:15) - seeing the hierarchy explained to a parent then shown a comp check and parent decides where child needs to go next!
13. ET - Comp check + Input – Flower (7:00) - comp check then back to input
14. ET – Comp check + use – L to L (8:44) - comp check then using animals she comprehended in the activity and child has to now request them

25. PRACTICE!!
Groups of 5
Each pick: Noun, Verb and Concept (adj, preposition)
Come up with an activity for each word
How much time should we allot for them to plan, then how much for sharing?

27. That promote auditory learning of language targets
Strategies
That promote auditory learning of language targets
Language = language structures and vocabulary goals!!!
Now we know the hierarchy….are we done?
As you know, things are not cut and dry (unfortunately)…we’re going to need some help along the way = STRATEGIES.
These strategies are for both VOCAB development as well as LANGUAGE TARGETS.

28. Direct Strategies for INPUT!
Auditory Bombardment
Acoustic Highlighting
Modeling
Parentese
Repetition=Auditory Bombardment
Acoustic Highlighting—
Emphasis on key words, move closer, prolonging sounds
SEE ACOUSTIC HIGHLIGHTING HANDOUT
Modeling—letting child hear target; talk to stuffed animals, learn expected response
Role of parentese for late identified children - suprasegmentals and utterance types that highlight key vocabulary
1. VIDEO: CK – input “wash” (auditory bombardment) (0:54)

29. Informal Strategies for INPUT!
Self Talk
Parallel Talk
Descriptions
Repetition
Expansion
Expansion Plus
Self Talk: Describe aloud what you are doing by using short simple sentences
“Time to wash the dishes. I’ll turn on the water. Now, pour in the soap. First, I’ll wash the glasses.”
Parallel Talk: Describe aloud what your child is seeing, doing, hearing while he is doing it.
“You’re playing with the sand. You’re pouring it in the bucket!” Oh! You dumped out the sand.”
Descriptions: Describing objects and people. Refrain from commands.
“look here comes daddy. He has a big box. I want to open it.”
Repetition: repeat what the child says.
Expansion: Expand the child’s short phrases into a short sentence.
CHILD: “doggie all gone.” PARENT: “the doggie went away.”
Expansion Plus: Expand the child’s sentences and then add a comment or question to continue the conversation.
CHILD: “ice cream truck.” PARENT: “You hear the ice cream truck. What kind of ice cream do you want?”
VIDEO: ET – input – flower/petal (parallel talk) (3:17)
FROM: “For Families Guidebook” By Valerie Schuyler and Jayne Sowers. Hearing and Speech Institute 1998, Infant Hearing Resource.

30. Imitation Strategies WAIT TIME Model + Expectant Look.
Have child tell another person. For example, “Tell Susie, ‘I need that one.’”
Give a choice of two words/phrases with the target language being the last choice.
LAST DITCH EFFORT: Can you say, “_____?”
WAIT TIME: do you want some water? Wait…for them to say “water”
CHOICE: “the baby sleep” or “the baby is sleeping” OR knowing they need scissors – do you want the “glue” or the “scissors”
7. VIDEO: LH - Imitation – BIG (uses mom as a direct model, LH gives expectant look) (3:18)

31. Delayed Imitation Strategies Encourage child to think on his own a bit more…
Ask another person a question then immediately ask the same question of the child.
Direct child to tell another person, e.g., say, “Tell Susie, ‘I need that one.’” Then direct him to tell 2 or 3 more people (or stuffed animals or dolls.)
1. “Do you want rice or candy? ….. Candy. Direct straight to child. “Do you want rice or candy?”
2. Its in the …..

32. Prompting For USE!
Stop talking. Provide frequent pauses in your input and WAIT for the child to initiate conversation. This may take several seconds or even close to a minute. Resist the urge to continually provide input.
Look expectantly at child and WAIT.
Lean toward child, cup your ear and WAIT.
Set up a situation in a way that creates a reason (other than to please the adult) for the child to communicate his ideas, i.e., give the child a puzzle board and keep the pieces or give the child half of what he needs to complete a task. (SABOTAGE!)
Begin a sentence containing part of the target and wait to let the child complete it.
Wait time – pour yourself some juice (without talking) and wait for them to request “juice” for themselves.
Gesturing??? Should we add since in a couple “big” videos with Laurel?
VIDEO: USE – BIG with LH (start sent and let child finish) (0:27)

34. Rate of Expressive Vocabulary Acquisition
Vocabulary Goal: (to maintain “normal” rate of progress) Spontaneously produce a core vocabulary of 10 new words each week.
How to determine this goal: Child currently has a vocab. age of approximately 2 yrs, (i.e. ___ words expressively). By this time next year, they will need to use approximately ___ words, (i.e. gain __ new words) over the next year. This equals approximately 10 new words each week (10 words x __ wks = ___ words).
This goal only allows child to MAINTAIN, not close the language gap
It is estimated that children need to acquire about 3000 words a year. 34

35. Resources for Development of Expressive Vocabulary
In the beginning:
“Power Words” *pdf
Lexicon 1 *pdf
DON’T FORGET INCIDENTAL LEARNING AT ALL LEVELS!!!!
Power Words – These words have considerable power in enabling the child to communicate where he wants to go, what he wants to do, what he is expecting, what he wants (more), and what he doesn’t want (no).
* Primitive syntactic functions may appear such as the word UP with rising intonation to denote a question.
Lexicon 1 – this list is based on an article by Bloom and Lahey – the study of 100 first words used by typically developing children.
*Beyond power words, many therapists find it useful to use a list like the Lexicon 1 – the list has nouns, adjectives, verbs, prepositions. Used to guide the parent and teacher in helping the child reach the 50 word stage.
Lexicon 1 in Spanish* - This is just a translation of the English words. If anyone is aware of a list of Spanish first words please share.
In China most first words refer to the family (i.e. big sister, big brother, maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather).
In America most first words are objects and sound effects ( hello, bye, baabaa, grr, bottle, dog, no, kitty, baby, duck, cat, ouch, banan, ball, yumyum and vroom) 35

36. Resources for Development of Expressive Vocabulary
Ling Basic Vocabulary & Language Thesaurus Levels 1 & 2 (currently out of print)
Tina Bangs - 3 year old word list *pdf
Tina Bangs – Prepositions *pdf
Tina Bangs – Categories *pdf
Denver 230 Word List *pdf
Basic Word List – 250 words of highest frequency *pdf
DON’T FORGET INCIDENTAL LEARNING AT ALL LEVELS!!!!
Acquire ____ new words from daily routines (meal times, “out the
door” routines, prepping for homework routines, etc.)
3. Acquire ____ new words from weekly “topic” that child is interested
in (basketball words, swim team, beach trip, bugs, etc.)
4. Acquire ____ new words that come up in casual conversation
throughout the day that are synonyms for words he already uses, i.e., get rid of the “tired words” child is already familiar with!
o when child uses “my turn,” stop using that tired phrase and say “I’m
next”
o when child uses “time to go,” say “time to leave”
o when child uses “line up,” say “form a line” 36

37. Resources for Development of Expressive Vocabulary
Preparing for School:
(formal reading instruction)
Ling Basic Vocabulary & Language Thesaurus Levels 3 (currently out of print)
Children’s Classic Literature
Synonyms
Reading Text Analysis
Looking up definitions in a dictionary is not an effective way to teach vocabulary!!
****Acquire ____ new words from weekly home read aloud of a classic book.
o STRATEGIES:
Put the list on the fridge so ALL family helps (assign words?)
Use hands-on, meaningful context so the words “belong” to him
permanently (not just short term memory) rather than pictures
Choose words that HE is interested in, not words YOU think he should
know
Move quickly through the hierarchy: Input, ck for comprehension,
imitation, prompt, use
Synonyms – use for all possible vocabulary that comes up. If a child has t.v. – use television, if they have finished – use complete.
ADD KATHRYN’S CLIP ON TIRED WORDS.
Reading Text Analysis: picking out words from readings
You say the word
Child says the word back to you (ask the child to say the word back to you) repeating the word allows the word, child uses their auditory feedback loop, allows the word to get into their memory.
Give the child a definition of the word (simple def of what the word means….NOT WEBSTER!)
Use the word in a sentence
Ask child to use the word in a different sentence 37

38. Reading Text Analysis: Thundercake
On sultry summer days at my grandma’s farm in Michigan, the air gets damp and heavy. Storm clouds drift low over the fields. Birds fly close to the ground. The could glow for an instant with a sharp, crackling light, and then a roaring, low, tumbling sound of thunder makes the windows shudder in their panes. The sound used to scare me when I was little…..
Reading Text Analysis: picking out words from readings
You say the word
Child says the word back to you (ask the child to say the word back to you) repeating the word allows the word, child uses their auditory feedback loop, allows the word to get into their memory.
Give the child a definition of the word (simple def of what the word means….NOT WEBSTER!)
Use the word in a sentence
Ask child to use the word in a different sentence

39. Reading Text Analysis Steps
You say the word
Child says the word back to you (ask the child to say the word back to you) repeating the word allows the word, child uses their auditory feedback loop, allows the word to get into their memory.
Give the child a definition of the word (simple def of what the word means….NOT WEBSTER!)
Use the word in a sentence
Ask child to use the word in a different sentence

40. How Does This Effect Children Who are Hearing Impaired?
Pre-teaching
What is it?
Who does it?
How much and when?
Why?
What is it: introducing key concepts and vocabulary before they are introduced to the class.
Who does it? Since the classroom teacher can’t stop teaching in order to pre-teach, it’s the responsibility of the support team
How much and when? Two weeks before introduced in the classroom. Amount depends on the needs of the child
Why: Allows the child to anticipate the language which enhances auditory comprehension and confidence during group instruction.
5. If child is in school... acquire ____ new words from material child
will read in regular ed text books. These are words the child will need to be familiar with at a conversational level at least one-two full weeks before he is asked to comprehend these words in an academic context, in basal readers or in text books—This is especially critical for vocabulary the child will be exposed to during” reading lessons” in school.
STRATEGIES:
Scan story from reading program he will read in two weeks, pre-teach
academic vocab
Professionals can make a weekly list from school materials and send
the list home or parents can go to school, scan the materials and write the list themselves and send to school.

41. Prefixes, Suffixes and Root Words
Systematically teach children meanings of prefixes, suffixes and root words
The majority of English words are created through combining prefixes and suffixes with base words and word roots.
If a child understands how this process works, they possess one of the most powerful understandings necessary for vocabulary growth (Anderson & Freebody, 1981)

42. Link Spelling to Reading and Vocab.
Spelling knowledge applies not only to the ability to encode words during writing; importantly, it also underlies ability to decode words during the process of reading (Templeton, 2003a, 2003b).
Spelling patterns reflect meaning, which can lead to vocabulary growth
Bomb/bombard
Muscle/muscular
Compete/competition
Therefore spelling knowledge is a powerful foundation for reading and vocabulary development. Words that are related in meaning are often related in spelling, despite changes in sound. (i.e. condemn and condemnation)

43. Dictionaries, Thesauruses, References
Teach the effective, efficient, realistic use of dictionaries, thesauruses and other reference works.
Have vocabulary notebooks. Find out the history of words to establish the interrelationships (i.e. holiday/holy day)

44. Word Learning Strategies
Research shows that students can be taught strategic behaviors to improve their ability to learn the meaning or words (Kuhn and Stahl, 1998).
Step 1: Carefully look at the word, decide how to pronounce it
Step 2a: Look around the word for context clues
Step 2b: Look in the word for prefixes, suffixes, base words and root words that might offer clues
Step 3: Make your best guess at the word’s meaning
Step 4a: If you don’t have a good idea of the meaning, use a dictionary or glossary.
Step 4b: If you think you’ve figured out the meaning of the word or if the word doesn’t seem important, keep reading.
Written texts contain richer vocabulary than oral language BUT ther is only about a one in twenty chance of someone learning a new word meaning through reading alone. However it can be strategically taught.
Chunk the letters and decide how it may sound. Thinking about the sounds will at least leave a memory of encountering that word before the reader encounters it again.
Look within the sentence, Reread previous sentences, Read ahead for more context clues
Again this makes the word more familiar next time it is encountered- even if the meaning has to be revised (2.visceral – Viscera: The internal organs of the body, specifically those within the chest (as the heart or lungs) or abdomen (as the liver, pancreas or intestines).VS obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or observation)
This is especially important if the meaning is not clear.
It would be unrealistic for a reader to look up every word they do not understand. Mature readers do not do this.So move on if the word doesn’t seem important.

45. Create awareness and interest in words
Just as children have varying language levels, they have varying degrees of interest in words.
It’s important to develop an interest in words.
Create “word-a-day” routines to focus on interesting, challenging words
Vocabulary notebooks to encourage children to write down interesting words they come across.
Use fascinating stories and word origin information to help increase student interest in words .

46. 46

47. Have you read to your child today?
“Extensive research has proven that reading aloud to a child is the single most important factor in raising a reader”. J. Trelease 47

48. Have you read to your child today?
“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
Events where in addition to reading aloud to stimulate an interest in books and reading, there is also a deliberate teaching of skills that will promote independence in reading, such as an increased vocabulary.

49. Wide Reading
The importance of wide reading in the growth of vocabulary is critical (Nagy & Anderson, 1984)
Staggering numbers of new words children learn each year are impossible to teach directly. Anderson (1996) estimates that would require teaching 20 new words every day of the school year.
Through wide independent reading, students come in contact with vocabulary that rarely occurs in spoken language
High level vocabulary isn’t being learned from TV or conversation!!! (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998)
Prime time television vocabulary is less challenging than the vocabulary in children’s books
College graduate’s conversation includes vocabulary less challenging than preschool books
HAVE YOU READ TO YOUR CHILD TODAY?

50. QUESTIONS??

51. Special thanks to information contributed by:
THANK YOU!
Information in this presentation was gathered from prior workshops and Auditory Verbal Modules
Special thanks to information contributed by:
Kathryn Wilson
Beth Walker
Sherri Vernelson