When Lebo saw the psychologist, the psychologist mentioned that Lebo struggled with “speech articulation” (PR:L9-10) and he also struggled to express himself (PR:L43). He needed prompting to fully explain himself (PR:L43) and it was difficult to find words (PR:L44). During the psychological assessment, when Lebo was unable to find a word in English, he used some Afrikaans words (PR:L141). The psychologist also mentioned that Lebo had a poor understanding of spoken language (PR:L52).
The psychologist mentioned that Lebo had “auditory discrimination” difficulties (PR:L123- 124) and this may affect his ability to follow instructions (PR:L124). For this reason, the psychologist mentioned that instructions often needed to be repeated (PR:L125). Lebo speaks and understands English well (TPI1:L7). However, “when he is excited, he finds it difficult to express himself” in English (TPI1:L7-8).
Mrs T mentioned that Lebo “is not a learner who is scary or does not want to talk” (TI1:L44- 45). He often speaks off topic, and just wants to talk about anything (TI1:L45). In the LSEN class, before the school day started, the learners had the opportunity to “engage, to socialise a bit, speak to each other” (TI2:L44-45). Following this, the learners were formally greeted (TI2:L50) and there was some discussion (TI2:L51). The learners discussed the day, what
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external activities may be occurring that day (physical education, computers, media, extramural) (TI2:L51) and they talked about the weather (TI2:L51). There is also a weather chart that the learners fill in with the date, the day, the weather and the season (TI2:L52-53) (Figure 4.19.) (OBS25).
Figure 4.19. Weather chart that learners fill in
The learners are also given the opportunity to discuss any news that they may want to share with the class (TI2:L53-54). Once the learners have decided on the best news from the weekend, they write the story under ‘Weekend News’ (OBS26). All learners in the group wrote about the same story, with every learner having a turn to have the chosen story of the week (Figure 4.20.).
Figure 4.20. Weekend news
However, in contradiction to the psychologist, Lebo’s father claimed that he was quick to express himself in both English and his two home languages (PI2:L220). His father also noticed that Lebo doesn’t have any problems speaking to him, and did not have problems explaining himself or asking for help (PI2:L118-119), and never had any difficulty doing so (PI2:L119). Lebo’s parents have become accustom to his communication and language characteristics and
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could be less critical than the psychologist. Consequently, Lebo’s father may have believed that Lebo was more capable of speech and therefore communicated differently with him.
Lebo is exposed to three different language; isiZulu, Sotho and English. English is the Language of Teaching and Learning at ABC Primary School, but his father is Sotho-speaking and his mother and sister speak isiZulu.
Lebo’s father said: “When he’s with me, he speaks Sotho because I am Sotho. When he’s with his mum, he speaks Zulu because the mum is Zulu” (PI2:L220-222).
The psychologist mentioned that Lebo had not yet consolidated the days of the week (PR:L137) or the months of the year (PR:L137). To assist with that, Mrs T compiled posters that had number names, months of the year and days of the week in all three languages (Figure 4.21.) (OBS27).
At ABC Primary School, the Language of Teaching and Learning is English. Lebo has been exposed to the English language since he started at DEF Nursery School, which also used English as their medium of instruction. However, once Lebo started at GHI Primary School, he was introduced to Afrikaans as a First Additional Language. This may have resulted in his using Afrikaans words instead of the appropriate English words when being assessed by the psychologist (PR:L141). During Year One of this study, ABC Primary School introduced isiZulu as a Second Additional Language. However, in the LSEN class, Lebo does basic Afrikaans, mainly the greetings. Through observations, I noticed that more work is done in isiZulu in the LSEN class, than in Afrikaans.
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To assist with communication in the LSEN class, Mrs T did two activities outside; one with a soccer ball (OBS28) and one with a set of hula hoops (OBS29). When these activities were done, there was teamwork that needs communication between each member of the line or group in order to achieve the required goal.
With the soccer ball, learners were placed in a group, and were expected to hold hands and take the ball from one end of the tennis courts to the other without letting go of each other’s hands (Figure 4.22.). Each learner was expected to touch the ball at least once before they could get the soccer ball into the goal posts (TI2:L159-161). While the learners were grouped in class according to their abilities, outside and in the garden, they were placed in mixed ability groups.
Figure 4.22. Soccer ball activity to reinforce communication skills
The hula hoop activity was similar to the one with the soccer ball (Figure 4.23.). All learners were placed in a circle or placed in a line and they had to hold each other’s hands. If the learners were placed in a line, once they had gone through the hula hoop, they had to go back to the end of the line.
When the learners were placed in the circle formation, the teacher placed two hula hoops on opposite side of the circle. The hula hoop had to go around the circle without the learner’s hands touching the hula hoop and without letting go of the hands of the learners next to them. The learners had to climb in and out of the hula hoop with the assistance of the learners next to them.
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Figure 4.23. Hula hoop activity to reinforce social- communication skills
The activities described reinforced social-communication and other necessary skills. Children who were born preterm are at increased risks of facing socio-communicative impairments (Caldas, Grotti, Shiramizu, & Pereira, 2018). Preterm infants may also face delays in language development (Cusson, 2006; Ionio, et al., 2016; Stene-Larsen, et al., 2014). There are longitudinal studies that report the language difficulties that preterm infants may face (Milgrom, et al., 2013). Using both the chronological age and corrected age of infants, the preterm infants scored significantly lower than their full-term born peers on the language scales of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III) test (Ionio, et al., 2016). However, in relation to linguistic assessment, the chronological age of the subject is more suitable than the corrected age (Ionio, et al., 2016). Preterm infants may be at risk for social-communication difficulties, which may include the categories of behaviour, communication and sensory difficulties (Wong, Huertas-Ceballos, Cowan, & Modi, 2014).
These communication skills are important in language development as they may impact emotional, social and intellectual difficulties later in childhood (Stene-Larsen, et al., 2014). Counteracting these impairments is vital to development as communication skills form the basis of learning and social relationships (Stene-Larsen, et al., 2014). Children who were born with a VLBW have been reported to experience speech and language difficulties, in both receptive and expressive language as observed later in their childhood (Bühler, Limongi, & Diniz, 2009). Preterm born children are at a higher risk to experience language difficulties, than children born at full-term, in the areas of receptive and expressive language, with these areas being equally affected (Cheong, et al., 2017). Preterm born children may experience a delay in development, noticeably in the language domain in comparison to their full term born peers (Cheong, et al., 2017). Behaviour problems in children who were born preterm may occur along
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with difficulties in the language domains (Arpi & Ferrari, 2013). Hence the value of the activities Mrs T used with her class.