Questions & Answers:
- Can
you tell me how you chose the vocabulary for First Words,
First Words II, and First Verbs Sterling Editions?
- Since
probe testing is built into Optimized Intervention® in
First Verbs Sterling Edition, when would I use the
Test activity?
- Does
a client or student need to understand some words before they
begin using First Words, First Words II, and
First Verbs Sterling Editions?
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Q. Can you tell me how you chose the vocabulary for First Words, First Words II, and First Verbs Sterling Editions?
A. Language acquisition research has provided a general description of the ages at which children can be expected to comprehend and produce various lexical items. The words included in the curriculum are acquired by typically developing children in the age range from about nine to twenty-four months, and as such are among the earliest comprehended and produced by children. In sequencing the words in developmental order for Optimized Intervention, we relied heavily on data collected by Fenson (1994) and his colleagues, who studied the typical course of language development in 1,803 children ranging in age from 8 to 30 months. We also exercised clinical judgment, giving special consideration to the fact that children using the Sterling Edition programs would usually be older than those included in the Fenson research. You can access these data at the MacArthur Communication Development Inventories website www.sci.sdsu.edu/cdi.
Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S. (1994) Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 1-173.
Dale, P., & Fenson, L. (1996). Lexical development norms for young children. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 28, 125-127.
Q.
Since probe testing is built into Optimized Intervention in
First Verbs Sterling Edition, when would I use the Testing
activity?
A. If you have clients or students that know or use only a few verbs, then you would probably not use the Test. If, however, you have students who know a lot of verbs and you would like to quickly see which ones might still need to be trained, the Test is useful. For example, in a pre-school setting where you have many children with varying language delays, those who are already using sentences would be good candidates for Testing. The maximum number of presentations to complete the test is 100 since each verb is only tested once with each stimulus item. After testing, you can set up Optimized Intervention with only those verbs the child has missed on one or both stimuli.
Q. Does a client or student need to understand some words before they begin using First Words, First Words II, and First Verbs Sterling Editions?
A. No, these Sterling Edition vocabulary-training programs can be used by anyone who is able to respond on a cause and effect level. If you feel that the student is not yet ready for vocabulary training, you can use the Word Introduction or Slide Show Supplemental Activities to begin exposure to words. Only one picture is presented and the student must activate a switch in response to a verbal prompt (basically a cause and effect task). If you want a cause and effect activity that actually provides initial word instruction, use Training by Level 1: Instructional Introduction.
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