Sketch and Speak: An Expository Intervention Using Note-Taking and Oral Practice for Children With Language-Related Learning Disabilities

Purpose

This preliminary study investigated an intervention procedure employing 2 types of note-taking and oral practice to improve expository reporting skills.

Procedure

Forty-four 4th to 6th graders with language-related learning disabilities from 9 schools were assigned to treatment or control conditions that were balanced for grade, oral language, and other features. The treatment condition received 6 30-min individual or pair sessions from the school of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Treatment involved reducing statements from grade-level science articles into concise ideas, recording the ideas as pictographic and conventional notes, and expanding from the notes into full oral sentences that are then combined into oral reports. Participants were pretested and posttested on taking notes from grade-level history articles and using the notes to give oral reports. Posttesting also included written reports 1 to 3 days following the oral reports.

Results

The treatment group showed significantly greater improvement than the control group on multiple quality features of the notes and oral reports. Quantity, holistic oral quality, and delayed written reports were not significantly better. The SLPs reported high levels of student engagement and learning of skills and content within treatment. They attributed the perceived benefits to the elements of simplicity, visuals, oral practice, repeated opportunities, and visible progress.

Conclusion

This study indicates potential for Sketch and Speak to improve student performance in expository reporting and gives direction for strengthening and further investigating this novel SLP treatment.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7268651

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