Case Study – Language
Meet Eric
Eric is a first grade male who lives at home with his grandparents and two younger sisters. He hears and speaks English at home. Eric is passionate about animals and loves sharing stories about his sisters at home. Eric said his first word at 14 months and began using two-word phrases at three years old. Eric has received special education services under Developmental Delay for Motor (standard score 65), Communication (standard score 77), and Social Skills (standard score 69) since he was three years old. He is now turning seven and needs a re-evaluation to determine a better special education category to meet his needs. He has made a great deal of progress since his initial qualification for services! Eric currently uses four- to five-word sentences, which is typical, but he has difficulty knowing what people mean when they say things such as “ocean animals,” “vegetables,” and “tools.” His teacher has also noticed that he has trouble carrying out directions when she asks him to do something. Eric wants to follow directions, but he seems to get confused with positional words such as “under,” “next to,” and “behind.” It is time for the child study team to meet! You are an integral part of the conversation in determining the evaluation plan.
Think, Write, Share
- Do you support having the SLP look further into Eric’s language skills during the evaluation? Please provide your rationale for why you would or would not support the evaluation.
- What additional information would be beneficial for the team to know to comprehensively understand his current skill level before developing the plan?
- Even if he does not qualify for speech-language services following the evaluation, what could you do to support Eric’s growing language skills in your special education classroom?
- Eric has difficulty understanding what is meant by “ocean animals,” “vegetables,” and “tools.” What element of language is he having difficulty with?
- (a) Morphemes
- (b) Semantics
- (c) Syntax