Providing a Voice

There are some children who can't read or say even the simplest words, like red, cat or zoo. The severity of their disorder really brings home to Mary Ann Romski that "when you don't have language, it compromises your ability to do anything else."

As professor of communication and associate dean for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, her mission is to help people overcome these types of obstacles. She and more than 40 other investigators are working together on the Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL) initiative to examine the challenges surrounding language and literacy among people with disabilities, adult learners and people who are bilingual.

The program brings together faculty from eight departments as well as researchers with GSU's Language Research Center, the Regents Center for Learning Disorders and the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL).

Paul Alberto, co-director of the initiative and Regents' Professor of educational psychology and special education, said inadequate language and literacy often compound the challenges of disabled, disadvantaged or marginalized populations.

"In order to be integrated into our society, people need to be able to use language verbally, or read it," he said.

The researchers have been able to perform a variety of tests on ways to improve language and literacy, said Rose Sevcik, co-director of the initiative and professor of psychology.

One way researchers are improving language and literacy acquisition is through research into therapies to help children with significant developmental disabilities gain a greater boost in communication.

For example, Romski, Sevcik and their colleagues found that an intervention called parent-coached augmented communication - which uses a speech generating computer that produces words to correspond with pictures - helps children ages 21 months to 3 years acquire a larger vocabulary than through traditional methods.

Traditionally, augmented communication is used only at older ages, at least 3 years and above, after speech communication interventions didn't produce communication. This Georgia State study shows that there are benefits to using augmented communication at a much earlier age, Romski said.

"It should be used from the beginning because it facilitates spoken communication and the ability to communicate, which is the most critical piece," she said. "They can learn to communicate even when struggling to learn a spoken word."

By implementing different ways of tutoring, literacy curriculums and other therapies, Sevcik said, they have seen children who were unable to read simple words advance to reading at grade level or above.

"We're looking at what are the best combinations [to improve language performance]," she said. "We're looking to see how we can provide them effectively. If they work, a child can go on and succeed, because once reading takes hold, it's hard to go back."

For more about the initiative, visit http://researchlanglit.gsu.edu/.