Speech Therapy -> Expressive Language -> Morphology

Morphology

Manipulating language by adding prefixes, suffixes, conjugations, and other endings on words (examples: -s, -ing, -ed, 's, past/present/future tense).

Reference links

  • Reading Longer Words: Insights Into Multisyllabic Word Reading 2
    pubs.asha.org     Author: Lindsay Heggie and Lesly Wade-Woolley - Students with persistent reading difficulties are often especially challenged by multisyllabic words; they tend to have neither a systematic approach for reading these words nor the confidence to persevere (Archer, Gleason, & Vachon, 2003; Carlisle & Katz, 2006; Moats, 1998). This challenge is magnified by the fact that the vast majority of English words are multisyllabic and constitute an increasingly large proportion of the words in elementary school texts beginning as early as grade 3 (Hiebert, Martin, & Menon, 2005; Kerns et al., 2016). Multisyllabic words are more difficult to read simply because they are long, posing challenges for working memory capacity. In addition, syllable boundaries, word stress, vowel pronunciation ambiguities, less predictable grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and morphological complexity all contribute to long words' difficulty. Research suggests that explicit instruction in both syllabification and morphological knowledge improve poor readers' multisyllabic word reading accuracy; several examples of instructional programs involving one or both of these elements are provided.
  • The Link Between Language and Spelling: What Speech-Language Pathologists and Teachers Need to Know 3
    pubs.asha.org     Author: Carol Moxam - SLPs have expertise in the key speech and language domains such as phonology, morphology, and semantics and are therefore well placed to play an important role in supporting learners in making links between these domains in relation to spelling development and intervention.
  • Language In Brief 1
    www.asha.org     Author: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association - Language is a rule-governed behavior. It is defined as the comprehension and/or use of a spoken (i.e., listening and speaking), written (i.e., reading and writing), and/or other communication symbol system (e.g., American Sign Language).

Activity List(s)

Goal Bank

  • Shirleen will use age-appropriate morphology (i.e., plurals, attributes, possessives, helping verbs) to describe photos and create grammatically correct phonemes with 80% accuracy in 4/4 consecutive therapy sessions as measured by clinician data collection to increase grammatical and expressive language skills. 5
  • Cassie will use the present progressive -ing form beginning with moderate verbal and visual cues, then fading cues with 90% accuracy across 3 consecutive sessions to improve overall expressive and receptive language skills. 2
  • During structured and unstructured activities, Sherill will use age appropriate morphology (irregular verbs, noun/verb agreement, comparatives/superlatives, etc.) with 90% accuracy given minimal assistance over 5 consecutive sessions to improve upon expressive language skills. 3
  • Bruce will understand and use age-appropriate morphological and syntactic markers including but not limited to pronouns, prepositions, comparatives/superlatives, and word-ordering, first through imitation, then spontaneously in words, phrases, and sentence, with 90% accuracy across 3 consecutive sessions to improve language comprehension and expression. 4
  • Yvette will show correct use of grammatical/morphological forms (e.g., for present progressive –ing, past tense-ed, 3rd person singular –s, plural –s, possessive –s, auxiliary verbs, noun-verb agreement, articles, objective, subjective and possessive pronouns) with accuracy at or above 90% given minimal assistance across 3 sessions to improve upon expressive language skills. 3
  • Palmer will identify and use developmentally appropriate syntax and morphology across different activities (e.g. when defining & using vocabulary, in response to questions), in structured & unstructured phoneme) with 90% accuracy across 3 consecutive sessions to demonstrate expressive language skills such as grammar, morphology, and syntax. 3
  • Given decreasing cues, Elisha will listen to a statement or question and identify if the grammatical patterns used in the phoneme are correct or incorrect and will provide the correct word to repair those utterances identified as ‘incorrect’ with 90% accuracy over 3 consecutive sessions to improve overall expressive and receptive language skills. 2
  • Randy will form grammatically accurate, age-appropriate phonemes given a word or picture with 90% accuracy to demonstrate expressive language skills such as syntax, grammar, and morphology over 5 therapy sessions. 2
  • During a 4 month therapy period, Portia will use the following morphological markers, first through imitation, then spontaneously: possessive -s, auxiliary verbs, plural –s, present progressive –ing, “wh” questions (who, what, where), and negation (no, not) with 80% accuracy over 4 consecutive sessions to improve overall expressive and receptive language skills. 3
  • Keiko will answer questions about classroom curriculum-relevant materials (e.g. vocabulary, concepts, passages, and story materials) using developmentally appropriate syntax and morphology with 90% accuracy across 3 consecutive therapy sessions as measured by clinician data and observation to increase language and grammatical skills. 2

Resources