Friday, April 29
01:30 pm – 03:00 pm

Multi-Interest
Session 12

Coronado I

Kasey Chandler, PhD, NCSP

Language is the number one vehicle for children to access their wants and needs as well as engage in social interaction. Impaired language disrupts one’s ability to effectively interact with peers and adults and establish relationships on all levels. Research has established a positive correlation between language skills and behavioral regulation in children. Communication and behavior disorders are common comorbid conditions. In fact, it is not uncommon for children with emotional disabilities and learning disabilities to have language delay in early childhood. Moreover, all children with autism have communication challenges. Many language impaired children have communication challenges throughout elementary and middle school years. Language services are often dismissed when children reach high school age. Speech/language pathologists are the psychoeducational team members charged with the task of evaluating and intervening with dysfunctional communicators; however these language impaired children are complex beings often requiring behavioral intervention as well. The flip side of this dilemma is that psychologists and behavioral specialists who intervene with maladaptive behaviors of children may miss critical sources of the behavior if the nuances of the child’s communication challenges are overlooked. Inclusion of the SLP in the process of conducting a functional behavior assessment is critical in determining the source of maladaptive behavior in many children. SLP expertise is also critical in the process of developing an effective behavioral support plan. Collaborative efforts from all team members supporting behaviorally dysregulated children are imperative in developing effective interventions.

Learner Outcomes: At the completion of this presentation, participants will be able to identify comorbid disorders with language impairment in children, identify steps to developing a functional behavior assessment for behavioral dysregulated children with communication impairment and identify interventions to support behavioral regulation in language impaired children.