Word Finding Definition & Characteristics

Definition

Students challenged with Word Finding have difficulty retrieving words in the presence of good comprehension of the words that they are unable to find. They appear not to know answers when in reality they know, but are unable to express their knowledge. These students may exhibit problems retrieving specific words in single word retrieval contexts and/or in discourse.

Single Word Retrieval Contexts

Students have difficulty retrieving specific words such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, dates, numbers, etc. In the classroom they have difficulty responding to questions that require retrieval of specific facts. Even though they know the information, they may have difficulty relating character names, locations, dates, or other specific facts from a story.

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Discourse Retrieval Contexts

Students with Word Finding difficulties in the discourse context have difficulty relating experiences and events. Their discourse may be brief and/or contain a high incidence of word finding behaviors such as word repetitions, word reformulations (revisions), substitutions, insertions, empty words, time fillers and delays.

Characteristics

The characteristic behaviors of children with Word Finding difficulties vary depending on whether they are engaged in single-word retrieval tasks or retrieval in the context of a discourse. This section of the web site highlights characteristics of Word Finding difficulties in these two communication contexts. In addition, this section provides references that present characteristics of Word Finding difficulties.

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Single Word Retrieval Contexts

The language patterns of students with retrieval difficulties in single word retrieval contexts are typically described with respect to their:

• accuracy and speed in retrieval,
• unique response substitutions, and
• secondary characteristics.
  
  Accuracy and Speed Profiles
  
  Students with Word Finding difficulties may be described as either inaccurate retrievers or slow retrievers or both. They may indicate one or all of the profiles below when answering questions in class or on tests that require the retrieval of single words or specific facts.
  
  # Profile 1: slow (4 sec. delay) and inaccurate retrievers
  # Profile 2: fast (no delay), but inaccurate retrievers
  # Profile 3: slow (4 sec. delay), but accurate retrievers
  
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  In response to the question, "What do we call the 4 for the term 4 x?" (coefficient), students with Word Finding difficulties may say:
  
  

  Time & Accuracy Profile	Behavioral Response
  Profile: slow and inaccurate retrievers	...."exponent" for coefficient (4 sec. delay)
  Profile: fast, but inaccurate retrievers	"exponent" for coefficient (no delay)
  Profile: slow, but accurate retrievers	...."coefficient" for coefficient (4 sec. delay)

  
  Unique Response Substitutions
  Students with Word Finding difficulties also produce unique responses when they have Word Finding difficulties. These responses usually indicate some knowledge of the target word's meaning or form (sounds). They provide insights as to potential disruption points in the lexical process that may underlie student's Word Finding errors (German, 2000; McGregor, 1997). Examples of response substitutions are highlighted in the table below. Students may produce responses in one or all of the categories indicated.

Response Substitution Category	Definition	Example
Semantically Related Substitution	Substitution of words that are related to the target word in meaning.	"exponent" for coefficient in Math
	Substitution of words that frequently co-occur with other words in a sentence or in a content area.	"light switch" for light bulb in a sentence
Form Related Substitution - Type 1	A failure to retrieve any of the sounds of the target word.	silence or "IDK"
Form Related Substitution - Type 2	Substitution of words that share some of the same sounds as the target word.	"complement" for continent in Social Studies
	A Substitution  that represents only some of the sounds of the target word.	"circumer" for circumference in Math

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Secondary Characteristics
Students with Word Finding difficulties may also produce secondary characteristics when they have Word Finding difficulties. These secondary characteristics often indicate a learner's knowledge of a target word's meaning and/or a target word's form. Typically, two types are observed: gestures and extra verbalizations. Each is described in the table below.

Gestures

Two types of gestures are often observed when students have Word Finding difficulties: iconic gestures and gestures of frustration.

Two types of extra verbalizations are often observed when students have difficulties with Word Finding: metalinguistic comments and metacognitive comments.

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• Profile 1: adequate language productivity (defined by the number of sentences and words produced) with high incidence of Word Finding behaviors, and
• Profile 2: low language productivity, with either low or high incidence of Word Finding behaviors.

Language behaviors that differentiate children with Word Finding difficulties from those without Word Finding difficulties are presented in the Table below.

Table: Types of Language Behaviors in Discourse

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