Robert E. Owens Jr. - Language Disorders: A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Owens, Robert E., Jr., 1944- author.

Title: Language disorders : a functional approach to assessment and intervention in children / Robert E. Owens, Jr.

Description: Seventh edition. | San Diego, CA : Plural Publishing, Inc., [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022034971 (print) | LCCN 2022034972 (ebook) | ISBN 9781635504132 (paperback) | ISBN 1635504139 (paperback) | ISBN 9781635504149 (ebook)

Subjects: MESH: Language Disorders | Language Therapy | Child | Infant

Classification: LCC RJ496.L35 (print) | LCC RJ496.L35 (ebook) | NLM WL 340.2 | DDC 618.92/855--dc23/eng/20220826

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034971

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034972

T he seventh edition of Language Disorders: A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children is a special treat for me because I have joined a new publisher, Plural Publishing. I must admit that I was cautious but have found Plural to be welcoming and supportive. It already feels like home.

As with previous editions, this one is an exhaustive compilation of hundreds of professional studies conducted by my colleagues in the field. To this, Ive added my own scholarly and clinical work in speech-language pathology with both presymbolic and symbolic children with language disorders.

When I was a student, my academic department was called Speech and Hearing Disorders. There was no language. Im thankful for the pioneers and for my contemporaries who have brought the field of language disorders into its maturity.

The subtitle for the text is a functional approach. This approach goes by other names, such as environmental or conversational, and includes elements of several other models. Where I have borrowed someones model, ideas, or techniques, full credit is given to that person. I find assessment and intervention to be an adaptation of a little of this and a little of that within an overall theoretical framework.

Readers should read this text with my biases in mind. I do not approach language intervention as I might teaching arithmetic. One plus one may always be two, regardless of the context, but May I have a cookie, please only works when we consider the context. And thats my point, teaching language is different.

Context is essential to assessment and intervention with language. Now you can stop reading this book. Youve got it all.

Ive made some content decisions that should be explained. I group all children with language problems, both delays and disorders, under the general rubric of language disorders. This expedient decision was made recognizing that this text would not be addressing specific disorder populations except where applicable. In general, we address the generic child with a language disorder.

I hope youll be pleased with this edition. Professors whove used previous editions will notice some new additions and changes in emphasis. These are based on professional feedback, reviewers comments, student input, and the changing nature of speech and language services. Here is a partial list of updates and modifications:

The text is thoroughly updated with the addition of several hundred new sources. This is the result of many hours of reading or perusing journal articles. In all honesty, I also looked at some other texts on this topic to see how the authors organized and explained language disorders.

Youll find greater emphasis on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in view of the increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with this disorder.

Ive added a whole new section on developmental language disorders (DLD), a new and more inclusive term than those used before. These children have always been with us but under a variety of different names.

Chapter 2 of the previous edition has been divided into two chapters to accommodate the new information we have on language disorders. In this volume, Chapter 2 focuses solely on language disorders, such as DLD, and Chapter 3 focuses on language disorders associated with other disorders, such as ASD.

Ive gathered together the various discussions of assessment with children with culturally linguistically diverse backgrounds into a beefier chapter, giving this discussion its rightful place. Im thrilled by the increasingly diverse nature of U.S. society and believe its essential that we serve those children who need our services to the best of our ability.

Fortunately, the number of meta-analyses focusing on the best evidence-based practices continues to increase, enabling us to say more on evidence-based practice. Wherever Ive been able to find these professional articles, I have incorporated their results, even when they dont conform to what I might believe. Thats how we learn and grow, isnt it?

The chapters on language and narrative analysis have been strengthened and consolidated into one. Since the last edition, Ive devoted myself, with the expert help of Stacey Pavelko, PhD, to development of SUGAR (Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised), an easy, valid, diagnostically accurate, and totally cost-free language sample analysis tool. This development enabled me to discuss SUGAR in a text for the first time. As much as possible, Ive attempted to give other methods their due and to tone down my enthusiasm for my own work. Still, I invite you to visit sugarlanguage.org and see for yourself. We keep updating our development and research, so check back often.

I hope you are pleased with the results and will find this text useful.