Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Receptive Language

Responding to Spoken Language

Source: Quoting Jerry Webster on About.com

This article provides a clear understanding of receptive language.

Definition:
Language, like all communication, is a two way street. Incoming language is receptive language. When a child understands commands, directives or single words used as questions, we say that he or she has "receptive language." It is one way on the two way street, and indicates that children with disabilities understand that spoken words have meaning.

Receptive Language can be seen when a child is given a verbal command or prompt and responds appropriately. I.e.: The teacher says "John, please sit down." John sits down. That is an example of receptive language. Another example would be if a teacher asks a student "Lucy, point to the giraffe," and Lucy points to the picture of the giraffe, and not the picture of the gorilla.
Receptive language may or may not be the gateway to expressive language. The ability to understand simple commands may lead to language production, but some children may not physically have the ability to make spoken sounds (called aphasia.) Still, receptive language is critical for them to develop alternate means of communication, such as picture exchanges, American Sign Language (ASL) or augmented communication.
Receptive language can be built by pairing it with pictures, imitation and commands, using discrete trial training. The breakthrough skill for Verbal Behavior Analysis (VBA) is "manding" or making a request. Like the "exchange" part of picture exchange, it requires that the student make a verbal effort to initiate an interaction.

Examples: Julian does not speak: he will point to something he wants or take an adult to the refrigerator of television to get what he wants. In his discrete trial session, he is learning to follow simple verbal directives and to discriminate between pictures as a way to develop receptive language.