Twisted Language

Oral and Written Language activities can greatly impact comprehension, fluency, and other aspects of reading. The following checklists are guides to the tasks that are common in those areas which point to deficits and which may need more comprehensive evaluation and /or remediation.

WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Dysgraphia
o Difficulty copying (far or near point)
o Difficulty with handwriting and written language organization

 o Poor fine motor skills
o Poor or slow handwriting
o Unorganized or illegible papers
o Unsure of right or left-handedness

Spelling
Involves the ability to spell by writing letters and letter blends that match specific sounds and writing words. Homonyms were included to reflect utilization of context clues to select the appropriate spelling.

• Alphabet principle (sound-letter awareness)
• Written spelling of regular and irregular words
• Written spelling of homonyms (integration of spelling and lexical comprehension)

• Difficulty spelling regular words suggests a review of spelling rules and word analysis skills.
• Good spelling of regular words but difficulty spelling irregular words suggests a review of the concept of “exceptions” to spelling rules.

• Poor spelling of homophones suggests instruction in detecting context clues in sentences, along with direct practice with homophones.

Written Language Tasks

1. Timed alphabet writing
2. Word fluency writing
3. Sentence combining

o Sentence generation

o Paragraph writing

1. Essay writing
2. Written responses to verbal and visual cues

1. Alphabet Writing (PreK-Grade 2) is timed and is a measure of automaticity and recall of sequential information.
2. Word Fluency assesses the ability to generate and write a list of words that match a prescribed category.
3. Sentences evaluate the ability to combine multiple sentences into one, meaningful sentence, or the ability to generate a sentence from visual or verbal cues.
4. The Paragraph (given to Grades 3-6) can be evaluated analytically using a rubric scoring system based on organization, vocabulary, and writing mechanics (spelling and punctuation).
5. The Essay (given to Grades 7-16) can be evaluated analytically using a rubric scoring system based on organization, vocabulary, theme development and writing mechanics. Both the Paragraph and the Essay can have a holistic score, but analytic scoring is also required and word count.

• Vocabulary
• Editing skills
• Formulating an idea
• Developing idea into coherent discourse
• Descriptive writing (organization, vocabulary, and mechanics)
• Persuasive writing (organization, vocabulary, theme development,
• and mechanics)
• Writing fluency (based on word count)
• Descriptive writing (extension, elaboration, grammar and usage,
• ideas and development, organization, unity and coherence, and sentence structure and variety.
• Narrative writing (extension, elaboration, grammar and usage, ideas and development, organization, unity, and coherence, and sentence structure and variety)

Qualitative Observations for Written Evaluation:

• Difficulty with single consonant letter/sound or consonant letter cluster/sound relationships.
• Spelling errors occur at the beginning, medial position, or ending of words
• Write and rewrites a word several ways to determine which “looks” right
• Spells phonetically
• Self-corrects errors
• Omits suffixes that mark tense or part of speech (-ed, -ing, -ly)
• Makes errors on contractions
• Writes the incorrect homonym
• The cross-checking of spelling and word-reading performance is reflective of the ability to visualize and manipulate the sounds in words.

Resources
Graham, Berninger, Abbott, Abbott, & Whitaker (1997), Berninger (1998; 2001), Moats (1995)

ORAL LANGUAGE

o Difficulty following directions
o Difficulty learning the alphabet, nursery rhymes, or songs
o Difficulty naming problems
o Difficulty pronouncing words
o Difficulty understanding language concepts and relationships
o Difficulty using age appropriate grammar
o Difficulty with language concepts: before/after, right/left, on/in

o Difficulty with word retrieval/ word finding
o Late in learning to talk
o Poor vocabulary acquisition

Oral Expression

Involves producing oral language to recall and repeat, categorize, describe, and provide information to direct others.

1. Sentence Repetition (PreK – 3)
   a. Auditory short-term recall for contextual information
2. Word Fluency
   a. Visual Passage Retell
3. Story generation
4. Giving Directions
5. Explaining steps in sequential tasks

Listening Comprehension

• Sentence Comprehension
• Receptive vocabulary
• Expressive vocabulary
• Listening-literal comprehension
• Listening-inferential comprehension

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