Phac facilitating child lang developmt ahs revised final compr

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Facilitating Children’s Language Development in Aboriginal Head Start Programs

Jessica BallSharla Peltier

Prepared for the Public Health Agency of Canada

2014

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Preface

This presentation guides practitioners to facilitate language development of children in AHS programs. It is intended to build on skills developed in previous professional education in ECE, and to reinforce and enhance activities that practitioners can use with children and encourage primary caregivers to use at home.

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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About the presenters

Sharla Peltier, M.Ed., has over 20 years of experience in direct service to Aboriginal children to support their speech and language development and to address clinically significant speech-language difficulties. Sharla is a First Nations Education Learning Teaching Cultural Specialist in the Rainbow District School Board in Sudbury, Ontario. She is a member of the Rama First Nation and is Anishinaabe.

Jessica Ball, M.P.H., Ph.D., has over 30 years of experience in research on child development and 20 years of experience in projects involving service delivery to support optimal development of Aboriginal young children. Jessica is a Professor at the University of Victoria in B.C. She is a third generation English-Irish Canadian.

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Your turn!Hi! This is us. Who are you?

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Learning goal & objectives

Goal: Enhancing feasible and effective practices that practitioners can use with preschool children and their primary caregivers to facilitate language learning in developmentally and culturally appropriate ways.

Objectives: By the end of this webinar, you will be better able to:

1. Support developmentally on-time speech and language acquisition through everyday program activities.

2. Guide primary caregivers to facilitate language learning at home.

3. Know early signs of possible speech and language delays and difficulties.

4. Participate in skilled ways in early intervention work by professional clinicians with children who have been identified as needing extra support.

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“The Basics”

The broad context of language development

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‘Aboriginal’ diversity calls for local innovation

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Aboriginal Head StartA holistic model for Aboriginal children’s early learning

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Build on strengthsA deficit approach avails us nothing, and often evokes resistance.

Observe: What is a child or caregiver doing well?

What do they want to be able to say or do with their language?

Ask: What is this child or caregiver ready for next?

Engage in guided participation to support achieving this next step. (work in the ‘zone of proximal development’)

Use community resources, people, events and locations to make AHS part of the child’s holistic language socialization experience.

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Form trusting relationships

A practitioner who moved to a northern community to work in an AHS program commented:

“We need to begin with establishing a trustable presence, however many weeks or

months it takes, and to use that time to observe and listen to the natural flow of

interactions in order to pick out some of the features, and some of the strengths, of

language socialization in a family or in the community.”

Appreciating the magnitude of losses to Aboriginal families as a result of government interventions, we need to be patient, empathic, and creative in our efforts to develop partnerships with primary caregivers.

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Your turn!Create conditions for cultural safety

Reflect: How do some mothers, fathers or other family members show that they are not sure that AHS or talking with you will be culturally safe?

Awareness: What are your insights about why they may feel unsure about cultural safety in the program?

Action: What steps have you taken to try to ensure an experience of cultural safety for families of young children in the community you serve?

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Create conditions for families to feel culturally safe

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Respond to individual differences

“All children have a right to individually appropriate care that meets their needs, develops their gifts, and helps them reach their potential.”

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society (2004)

AHS programs can enhance program activities and resources that support language development of all children. Yet, each child will be at a different stage in their language development and will need different kinds of support. To the extent possible within large and busy programs, practitioners need to recognize and respond to each child’s strengths and needs.

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Language: A gift of the Creator

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Language connects the child to the world

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Language is foundational for success in life

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Support for improved speech-language development is a top priority for Aboriginal young children in Canada

Speech-language delays and disorders have been identified as one of the top four problem areas facing young Aboriginal children.

1. Respiratory disorders2. Speech-language difficulties3. Obesity4. Poor oral health (esp Baby Bottle Tooth Decay).

REF: Aboriginal Children’s Survey (2006); Regional Health Survey (2002; 2008); AHSOR report (2013); SLP Survey (2004).

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10 key contributors to language development

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Practitioners can mobilize supports throughout the child’s ecology

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Establish a relationshipwith the child & key family members

• Make positive comments about the child and about their family. This creates safety & engagement.

• Talk about what the child brings from home: their stories about activities, family members, pets, things in the home. This establishes a connection.

• Listen actively to the ‘personal event narratives’ by the child or family member. This creates bonds of common experience.

• Show interest, ask questions about stories from home. This deepens your understanding, shows interest, and creates a shared knowledge base.

• This also enables you to learn about the way language is spoken and used in the family.

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Child’s PLAY

Play is a form of learning.Learning to read, write and communicate verbally can be part of

children’s play activities.A central core of AHS programs.Yes, pay also allows children to develop social skills and gain

expressive and receptive language skills.

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Learn the features of local communication• Favourite topics of conversations• Common greetings• Forms of interaction between generations• Pace and pauses in speech• Non-verbal gestures used instead of words• Distinctive ways of pronouncing words or parts of speech

These may be features of the local Aboriginal English dialect.

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Tap into Aboriginal oral traditions

Facilitate language development, social and academic success • Listening is key• Personal anecdotes/personal event narratives• Legends• Historical accounts• Sacred teachings

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Why oral language & phonological awareness?• 20% of elementary school students require training in

phonological awareness• Many Aboriginal children start school with Standard

(school) English as a second dialect or as a second language.

• Many have mild to moderate hearing loss due to chronic ear infections that persist to age 10.

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Learning about words, syllables, & sounds• Practice speech sound perception• Focus on phonological awareness skills in preschool

every day during individual and group activities (manipulatives, link to interesting themes, stories, pictures, activities)

• Model target words – bombard and monitor

Black Bear, Black Bear

• ‘Pattern books’ emphasize the rhythm of the language

• Use voice in fun and interesting ways

• Show each word in a sentence

• Say each sound in a word

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Your turn!Turn and Talk

What is one of your favourite pattern books?

Think of the pattern sentence and key word.

Now, model playing with words (sounds, syllables, words, sentences) for a (real or imaginary) partner.

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Aboriginal English dialects

During the years I spent kayaking along the coast of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska, I observed that the local raven populations spoke in distinct dialects. Ravens from Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit territory sounded different from one another, especially in their characteristic ‘tok’ and ‘tlik.’ (Dyson, 2006, 136).

Note: there are likely Aboriginal French dialects as well, but no research has been found on this.

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Aboriginal English Dialects, Aboriginal Language Users

• Aboriginal English used within cultural community = valuable in social discourse, identity

• Non standard varieties of English• Regional varieties share common linguistic features (vocab,

grammar, speech sound systems) and discourse rules• Are learning English as a Second Language• May have an Aboriginal language as first language, may be

fluent in Standard English, may use a full-fledged Aboriginal English dialect influenced by Aboriginal language on English

• Standard English and Aboriginal English are distinct forms of the English language with consistent rules for pronunciation, grammar and usage

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Phonology (Sound System)

English Cree/Ojibway

b – p distinctly different sound between

d – t distinctly different sound between

k – g distinctly different sound between

ch – j distinctly different sound between

s – sh – z distinctly diff. sound between

f, v, th do not exist

r, l Do not exist in some dialects

1st and 2nd language differences in sound systems

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Aboriginal English vs Classroom English

Aboriginal children need exposure to:• Prepositions – words that explicitly tell the location of an item

(eg. “hide the button”, barrier games, one and two step instructions in-context)

• Gender terms – he/she, him/her• Past and future verb tense forms• Phonology/sound system

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Aboriginal English Dialects in AHS

For Aboriginal children, expression is most likely the top priority. Encourage children to:

• talk• grow their vocabulary• use full sentences• to re-tell what they heard• play with word sounds and ways of using language

Correcting children’s speech, from a local English Dialect to a ‘Standard’ (School) English dialect, could discourage a child from self-expression.

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Harness the potential of story-telling:A strong Aboriginal oral traditionI will tell you something about Stories (he said)They aren’t just entertainmentDon’t be fooledThey are all we have, you seeAll we have to fight off Illness and death

Spoken by a member of Laguna Pueblo, quoted in Westby, C. & Roman, R. (1995). Accommodating cultural differences in narrative style. Topics in Language Disorders, 15, 68-90.

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Be aware of cultural differences in story-telling

Different cultures have different ways of telling and re-telling stories, and judging what is a ‘good story.’

‘School stories’ follow a Euro-Western narrative style.Listen to the way a child tells a story.Ask a community member to tell a story.Ask a child to re-tell a story they have heard.Notice cultural aspects of their story-telling.

Children can be taught to tell and re-tell their own stories and ‘school stories’ – learning different story styles.

This is an aspect of ‘code-switching.’

Ref. Judith Johnston: Tell me a Story

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How to build vocabulary and conceptual knowledge

What does the child bring with them from home? And from community?• Use photos from the program and photos that the child brings

to understand shared participation in activities/outings/celebrations, accomplishments

• Use language that goes with explaining:• Who? What? When?• Re-count a sequence of steps• Create a story board• Record the child’s narrative for future reference and sharing

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Concept and word relationships

Synonyms big : large

big : little

Antonyms

Item and Category eg. Bird : Animals

Item and Feature eg. Mouse : Small

Part and Whole eg. Steering Wheel : Car

Item and Function eg. Knife : Cuts

Item and Location eg. Food : Refrigerator

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Your turn!Jot down your answers, prepare to share them

Synonyms (words with the same meaning)

_________ : _________

________ : ________

Antonyms(Opposites)

Item and Category ________ : ________

Part and Whole ________ : ________

Item and Function ________ : ________

Item and Location ________ : ________

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3 – 5 year-olds are “young readers”Use language for learning so the child hears you • think• solve problems• plan things out• guess what will happen • imagine

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Use books with local relevance

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Reading Books With Children

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BEFORE DURING AFTER

Create a purpose for reading the book to start a search for meaningRead title and ask what they think it is aboutTell the author’s name and show a picture of them and tell the illustrator’s name and show their drawings, photos

Respond briefly to comments, questionsWonder aloud what will happen Think aloudImagine out loudExplain a new word or conceptDraw on child’s life experience

Wait for child’s responseOffer a fun related activityEncourage ‘reading’ of the book by the child on their own

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Identify difficulties early Early identification by a health professional and early

intervention is more effective and prevents problems from growing.

Careful listening, observing, and recording can help you:o Understand a child’s strengths & challengeso Keep a developmental record o Have examples to share with primary caregiverso Estimate whether a child’s language learning is typicalo Decide whether to refer a child to a health professional

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Record observations

Record name, date of observation, examples of these behaviours:

1. Play behaviours:Preferred activities:Reciprocal play?Alone or with others?Watching and not joining in?

2. Expressive Language: telling, asking, conversing

3. Receptive language: follows directions, re-telling

4. Social language: turn-taking, starts topics, tells about events, listens to others

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Observe & record speech difficulties

Is the child difficult to understand?Is the child frustrated when others do not understand what

he/she says?

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Screening tools‘Screeners’ are:• Ways of summarizing observations.• NOT diagnostic.• Not meant to be used to create fear in a caregiver who seems to be ‘in denial’• Based on standard criteria about typical and atypical development• Based on research with non-Aboriginal children • Require specialized training to use well

Screening tools can:Be a useful way to focus and describe your observations about a child.Be used collaboratively with a primary caregivers.Create useful conversations with a primary caregiver about their child.

Your AHS program may have a commonly tool that practitioners are trained to use.The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and Nipissing District Development Screen are

commonly used tools.

There are many checklists available on Canadian websites about children’s language learning development.

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ReferralsGet to know health professionals serving families in your

programAsk what they need from youGet good at recording relevant observationsEach AHS program has (or should develop) a protocol for

referral, including asking the child’s primary caregiver to sign indicating whether they agree to their child being referred.

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Aboriginal language learning

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Aboriginal language as a first language

Less than 5% of Aboriginal children in Canada are learning an Aboriginal language as their first language (main home language).

About 15% of Aboriginal children are exposed to some (often very little) Aboriginal language at home.

Ask primary caregivers: What are your goals for your child’s language development?

If a goal is for children to be exposed to their Aboriginal language, work with the community to find ways to include this in programs.

More than half of AHS programs are doing this now, to varying degrees.

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Mother-tongue based preschool

Heritage ‘language nests’:• first documented in Quebec, with French immersion

preschool• widely used in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Te Kohango Reo

programs) and in Hawaii (Punana Leo programs)• requires full-time practitioners who are proficient

speakers of the heritage language• Language Nest Program:

www.fncc.ca/language/Programs/BCLI.aspx

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Bilingual learning

Young children can learn more than one language.Children do not ‘soak up languages like sponges.’

Learning more than one language requires:o Exposure to fully proficient speakers of each languageo Opportunities to interact with others in each languageo Guided participation by a more proficient language partner (e.g.,

older child, adult) to increase skills in each languageo With these conditions, research shows that children can benefit

from learning more than one language.o Bilingual learning does not ‘take up more space’ in a child’s brain.

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Primary caregivers as ‘first teachers’Parents as ‘first teachers’ is a familiar concept in AHSPractitioners can mentor primary caregivers.

Encourage:Confidence in their language skills (comment on their interesting use of words, gentle tone of voice, good

stories, carefully chosen words, humor, ability to notice and respond to their child’s interests)Reading aloud print materials from children’s books, recipes, newspapers, instructions

Ask: What are you noticing about your child’s talk?Do you have any hopes or goals for their child’s language that AHS might be able to help with?Do you have any concerns about your child’s wellness, speech, language, dental health, or hearing?Would you honour the AHS children with coming to tell a story (about their everyday experience, an outing, a

traditional story) or to have conversations with the children, perhaps sharing snack time or lunch?

Show:Responding to their child’s talk.Expanding upon their child’s talk with new words, questions.Introducing new words to teach the child vocabulary.Reading aloud and engaging the child in shared book reading.

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Encourage primary caregivers to read aloud early and often

One of the strongest predictors of language and literacy development.It is never too early to start!

Adults with low literacy can often read children’s books.Involve caregivers in AHS.

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Harness the ecology of language development

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AHS Practitioners need: Pro-D in language facilitation

Ongoing mentorshipLifelong learning!

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Best wishes for success and joy in the important work that you do!

Migwetch(Ojibwe)

Thank you

HISWKE SIAM (Sencoten)

Thank you good people

Mēyopimātisiwin Cree (Y dialect)

May the Creator bless you with the good things in life