Each class will typically comply with the following format: There will be initial comments by Dr. Damico followed by questions and/or discussion of the previous assignments, then a lecture/discussion expanding on the day's topic by Dr. Damico.  At various points in the course, time will also be set aside to interact on various selected topics of interest to the students.  The outline and schedule presented here may change as the semester progresses due to the needs and interests of the class members.

                                                   Course Requirements

Grades will be determined by class participation and successful completion of the class requirements.  These requirements are as follows:
1.    Complete assigned readings by appropriate deadlines listed in the syllabus.  Students
       may be quizzed on content of readings at anytime after an assignment's deadline.  All
       assigned material may be covered on the examinations.  Readings will be placed on
       reserve at Dupre Library.
2.    Complete all class activities  as specified by Dr. Damico during the course.  This will
       involve various kinds of assignments as are appropriate to the needs of this course.
3.    Perform satisfactorily on the various quizzes.  These will usually involve the assigned
       readings.
4.    Perform satisfactorily on the final examination.
5.    Take part in class discussions.
6.    Attend Classes.

                                       Clinical Applications Laboratory

At times during the semester there will be an opportunity for students to see more direct and "hands-on" demonstrations and applications of procedures and methodologies discussed in this course.  These "clinical applications laboratories" will not be required but may help your grade if you are in need of extra credit.  Again, attendance is not mandatory.  The actual scheduling for these demonstrations will be determined once the semester begins.

                                                          Grading

Students will accumulate points for all assignments, quizzes, and exams.  The final grade will be determined as follows:
           the initial total number of points accumulated by the student on all assignments,
           quizzes, and the examination and expressed as a percentage (%) of the total points
           possible during the semester.  Letter grades will be assigned using the following
           percentage scale:
                       91  - 100       -    A
                       82  -   90       -    B
                       75  -   81       -    C
                       69  -   74       -    D
                       Below 69      -    F

           Distribution of Points:
                               Class Assignments:     Approximately 125 points
                               Quizzes:                      Approximately 40 points
                               Examination:               Approximately 250 points

                                 Notes on Class Activities and Readings

Class Activities
     There will be three types of class activities:
           Critical Listening Questions
                  One or several questions regarding the material covered in class that day or an
                   reaction to the material may be required at the end of the class period.  When
                   assigned, these are to be handed in before leaving that day.  These will account
                   for 10 % of the class activity points

            Active Learning Assignments
                  -- Both within and outside of class activities will be assigned
                  -- Based on lecture from previous class/readings
                  -- Based on reading assignments
                  -- Some focus on use of procedure
                  -- Some focus on problem solving and analysis
                  -- Discussion of particular topics using various grouping strategies
                                    Problem solving
                                    Structured Controversy
                                    Brainstorming
                  – These will account for 45% of the class activities points

           Reflection Journals
                  -- You must keep a reflection journal and enter comments at least four times a
                      week.  That is, every Thursday starting on 8-29, you should have entered
                      four new and separate reflections.
                  -- Comments should be in response to the material that has been covered in
                      class or that you have read.
                  -- These comments may take the following form:
                             Reactions to something read or heard
                             Reflection on an experience that meshes with the course content
                             Attempts at integration of material into practical implications based on
                                    planning and experience
                             Questions about the material and plans to follow up
                  -- Comments may not take the following form:
                             Notes taken from readings or class
                             Summations of notes or readings without practical (and creative)
                                     implications
                  -- Comments need not be any longer than ½ to 1 handwritten page per day.
                  -- Place in a loose leaf binder and date each page
                  -- Bring Reflection Journal to class every day
                 -- Dr. Damico will take the Journals on most Thursdays to review  them.
                     The journal must be turned in when he asks for them.
                        * Failure to turn in the journal will result in a "0" for that particular review.
                        * Not having an up-dated journal will result in a "0" for that particular review.

                                                       Readings and Discussions

This component of the class can hardly be over-emphasized.  Active learning requires discussion and analysis on the part of all participants.
          -- Reading assignments are listed below
          -- Discussions of assignments and/or quizzes may be required of any article on or
              after the expected day of completion.

                                                          Course Evaluation

Students will have the opportunity to evaluate the course by completing the student evaluation of instruction administered by the University towards the end of the semester.

                                                Emergency Evacuation Procedures

A map of this floor is posted near the elevator marking the evacuation route and the Designated Rescue Area.  This is an area where emergency service personnel will go first to look for individuals who need assistance in exiting the building.  Students who may need assistance should identify themselves to the teaching faculty.

                                                  Cursory Notes on the Lectures

Dr. Damico has provided a set of "cursory notes" for most of the lectures that he will do in the course.  These are reduced versions of his own notes, providing most of the significant content of the lecture (but not necessarily all of the important content).  These notes are intended to help the students follow the lecture and to only take notes that they feel are necessary.  These notes will be placed on Dr. Damico's Web page two classes prior to when they will be used in class and they will remain at his web site for one week.  If students want these notes, it is their responsibility to get them from his Web site.  Use of the provided "Cursory Notes" in highly recommended (but not required).  The Web site address is

                     http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jsd6498/damico/damicohomepage.html

                                                            Readings

The required readings are included in this syllabus.  Each student is required to read these articles/chapters and you will be responsible for them on the quizzes and examinations -- regardless of whether they are discussed in class.  Most of these readings are available in the Reserve Room at Dupre Library.

                                                             TOPICS

This course can be generally divided into three sections.  The first, orienting issues, will focus on an overview of language and aspects of language disorders in general, and practical implications of these more theoretical issues. The second section will focus on assessment/description of the child as a meaning maker in various settings.  The third section will focus on intervention techniques and strategies.  More specifically, the following topics will be discussed.  The actual time designation will be determined as the course progresses but the topics should roughly correspond to the class sessions.

                                                     Class Topics and Schedule

    8/20               An Orienting Discussion: Personal Experiences / Language
    8/22               An Orienting Discussion: Language and its Disorders
    8/27               Assessment: More than flipping pennies
    8/29               Social science: the promise of methodology
    9/3                 Principles of descriptive and authentic assessment
    9/5                 The Assessment Technologies: Observation I
    9/10               The Assessment Technologies: Behavioral Sampling I
    9/12               The Assessment Technologies: Behavioral Sampling II
    9/17               The Assessment Technologies: Behavioral Sampling III
    9/19               The Assessment Technologies: Protocols, Checklists, Rating Scales I
    9/24               The Assessment Technologies: Probe Techniques I
    9/26               The Assessment Technologies: Probe Techniques II
    10/1               Interpretation: Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses
    10/8               Interpretation: Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses
    10/10             Interpretation: Explanatory Analysis
    10/15             Turning Assessment Data into Intervention Planning
    10/17             Turning Assessment Data into Intervention Planning
    10/22             Principles of Intervention
    10/24             Principles of Intervention/ Intervention Components
    10/29             Intervention Components
    10/31             Literacy-based Contexts
    11/5               Literacy-based Contexts
    11/7               Interactionally-based Contexts
    11/12             Interactionally-based Contexts
    11/14             Play-based Contexts
    11/19             Story-based Contexts
    11/21             Academic-based Contexts
    11/26             Other Contexts
                         Final Examinaion
 
 

Some lectures have required readings.  The required readings are listed under each date. These papers are available at the Dupre Library Reserve Room.  The items are required reading and will be required for class discussion or examination -- even if they are not covered in class.

8/22                 Stiegler, L.N. (1995).  Reflections on working as a speech-language
                              pathologist in the public schools.  The NSSLHA Journal, 22, 36-41.
8/27                 Damico, J.S. (1988).  The lack of efficacy in language therapy: A case study.
                             Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 19, 51-67.
8/29                 Strum, J.M. & Nelson, N.W. (1997).  Formal classroom lessons: New
                              perspectives on a familiar discourse event.  Language, Speech, and
                              Hearing Services in Schools, 28, 255-273.
9/3                   Damico, J.S. (1993). Language assessment in the adolescent student:
                              Addressing critical concerns. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
                              Schools, 24, 29-35.
                        Pils, L. (1991). Soon anofe you tout me: Evaluation in a first-grade whole
                              language classroom. The Reading Teacher, 45, 46-50.
9/5                   Westby, C.E., Stevens-Dominguez, M., & Oetter, P. (1996).  A
                              performance/competence model of  observational assessment.
                              Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 27, 144-156.
9/10                 McCabe, A. & Rollins, P.R. (1994).  Assessment of preschool narrative skills.
                              American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 3, 45-56.
                        Nelson, N.W. (1992).  Targets of curriculum-based language assessment.
                               Best Practices in School Speech-Language Pathology, 2, 73-86.
9/12                 Kratcoski, A.M. (1998).  Guidelines for using portfolios in assessment and
                               evaluation.  Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 29, 3-10
9/17                 Damico, J.S. (1985). Clinical Discourse Analysis: A functional approach to
                               language assessment.  In C.S. Simon (ed.) Communication Skills and
                               Classroom Success: Assessment of language-learning disabled
                               students. (pp. 165-204) San Diego: College-Hill Press.
9/19                 Kaderavek, J.N. & Sulzby, E. (1998).  Parent-child joint book reading: An
                               observational protocol for young children.  American Journal of
                               Speech-Language Pathology, 7, 33-47.
9/24                 Maynard, D.W. & Marlaire, C.L. (1999).  Good reasons for bad testing
                               performance: The interactional substrate of educational testing.  In D.
                               Kovarsky, J. Duchan, & M. Maxwell (Eds).  Constructing (In)Competence.
                               (pp. 171-196).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence  Erlbaum  Associates, Inc.
                        Wade, S. (1990). Using think alouds to assess comprehension. The Reading
                               Teacher, 43, 442-451.
9/26                 Brinton, B. & Fujiki, M. (1992).  Setting the context for conversational
                               language sampling. Best Practices in School Speech-Language
                               Pathology, 2,  9-20.
10/1                 Creaghead, N. (1992).  Classroom interactional analysis/ script analysis.
                               Best Practices in School Speech-Language Pathology, 2, 65-72.
10/8                 Crais, E.R. (1995). Expanding the repertoire of tools and techniques for
                               assessing the communication skills of infants and toddlers.
                              American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4, 47-59.
                         Maxwell, M.M. (1997).  Communication assessments of individuals with
                              limited hearing.  Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 27,
                              231-244.
10/15               Stillman, R, Snow, R., Warren, K. (1999).  "I used to be good with kids."
                              Encounters between speech-language pathology students and children
                              with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD).    In Kovarsky,
                              J. Duchan, & M. Maxwell (Eds).  Constructing (In)Competence.
                              (pp. 27-48).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
                        Oller, J.W., Jr. Some working ideas for language teaching.  In J.W. Oller, Jr.
                              & P. Richard-Amato (Eds.). Methods that work. (pp. 3-19). Rowley,
                              MA: Newbury House.
10/22               Nelson, N.W. (1990).  Only relevant practices can be best.  Best Practices in
                              School Speech-Language Pathology, 1, 15-28.
10/24               Damico, J.S. & Damico, S.K. (1997). The establishment of a dominant
                              interpretive framework in language intervention. Language, Speech,
                              and Hearing Services in Schools, 28, 288-296.
10/29               Westby, C. (1997).  There's more to passing than knowing the answers.
                             Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 28, 274-287.
                        Freppon, P. & Dahl, K. (1991).  Learning about phonics in a whole language
                              classroom.  Language Arts, 68, 190-197.
10/31               Trelease, J (2001).  Why read aloud?  The Read aloud handbook.
                               (pp. 1-27). New York: Penguin Books.
                        Bode, B.A. (1989).  Dialogue journal writing.  The Reading Teacher, April,
                              568-571.
11/5                 Trousdale, A.M. (1990).  Interactive storytelling: Scaffolding children's early
                               narratives.  Language Arts, 67, 164-173.
                        Norris, J.A. (1988).  Using communicative reading strategies to enhance
                             Reading strategies. The Reading Teacher, 47, 668-673.
11/7                 Hadley, P.A. & Schuele, C.M. (1998).  Facilitating peer interaction: Socially
                              relevant activities for preschool language intervention.  American
                              Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 6, 22-32.
11/12               Brinton, B. & Fujiki, M. (1994).  Ways to teach conversation.   In J.
                              Duchan, L. Hewitt, & R. Sonnenmeier (Eds.), Pragmatics: From theory
                              to practice. (pp. 59-71).  Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
11/14               Culotta, B. (1994).  Representational play and story enactments: Formats for
                              language intervention.  In J. Duchan, L. Hewitt, & R. Sonnenmeier (Eds.),
                             Pragmatics: From theory to practice. (pp. 105-119).  Englewood
                              Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
11/19               Paley, V.G. (1994).  Every child a story teller.  In J.F. Duchan, L.E. Hewitt,
                              & R.M. Sonnenmeier (Eds.) Pragmatics: From theory to practice.  (Pp. 10-
                              19).  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
11/21               Damico, J.S. & Damico, S.K. (1993). Mapping a course over different roads:
                               Language teaching with special populations.  In J.W. Oller, Jr.(Ed.).
                               Methods that work: A smorgasbord of language teaching ideas
                               (2nd Ed.). New York: Newbury House.